Axulus
Veteran Member
Not always the case. Just look at the retail industry - tons of big retail companies have closed up shop over the years.
Big retail companies in particular tend to operate on lower margins and make up for it on volume.
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Features
About those restaurants closing in Seattle because of the looming $15 minimum wage
- Thread starter ksen
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Not always the case. Just look at the retail industry - tons of big retail companies have closed up shop over the years.
Big retail companies in particular tend to operate on lower margins and make up for it on volume.
Nice Squirrel
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Um, my point was the reasoning behind the laws.
I'm in favor of abolishing the minimum wage. The welfare system provides the safety net that the minimum wage supposedly provided. (The real purpose of the minimum wage was part of Jim Crow.) Furthermore, the minimum wage provides no protection at all against the real threat to the poor: a lack of hours.
However--if you see businesses failing at current wage levels isn't it obvious that more will fail if it's higher???
You make it sound like the welfare system is a subsidy for marginal businesses which can't afford to pay a living wage to its employees.
EricK
Senior Member
Does it matter if it is? A universal healthcare system (as exists in most advanced countries), and publicly funded education (as exists even in the U.S.) are also subsidies for businesses who can't afford to pay a living wage to their employees (assuming you count health and education as a necessary part of a life). But I never hear anybody argue against those things on those grounds.
Canard DuJour
Veteran Member
It isn't necessarily a bad thing IMO, but the benefactors, not the beneficiaries, should be entitled to set the limits. That's what MW is about - beyond this limit, we want to see the true cost of goods and secvices on the price tags. Not about welfare for teenagers or whoever.
No, but you do hear people condemn businesses which lie or use loopholes to avoid paying toward those things. We similarly condemn businesses which want others to pay for the upkeep of their employees in a fit state to turn out and earn them profit. And those things don't, in turn, bid their own wages down.
No, because I believe business has no such obligation in the first place. Welfare is the government's job.
And I note that you're not addressing the fact that the real issue is a lack of hours, not the hourly rate.
Canard DuJour
Veteran Member
MEANINGLESS. Businesses have whatever obligations the societies in which they must operate stipulate. What you mean is that you don't think businesses ought to have that obligation - ie you're trying to support an ought assertion with the same ought assertion. No one gives a fuck. Make a proper argument.
fewer hours, same money, what problem? for whom?
Canard DuJour
Veteran Member
MEANINGLESS. Businesses have whatever obligations the societies in which they must operate stipulate. What you mean is that you don't think businesses ought to have that obligation - ie you're trying to support an ought assertion with the same ought assertion. No one gives a fuck. Make a proper argument.
fewer hours, same money, what problem? for whom?
The issue of "lack of hours" was addressed by the description, "marginal." Should a marginal business be provided subsidized labor?
fast
Contributor
Will non tippers still be met with disdain?
KeepTalking
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Tips will still be factored into the equation. The employer can pay tipped positions below the $15 minimum wage, but their total compensation must be at least $15 with tips included. It will still be expected that you tip those who you would have tipped before the increase, as tipped workers will still have their work judged by their employers on the basis of whether or not the employer has to make up for their lack of tips.
I'd think most foreigners aren't quite as into tipping as Americans (and Canadians). It's a stupid practice for the most part, and while I know it is done in many countries to some extent, it seems few take it quite as far.
dystopian
Veteran Member
In much of the world, tipping simply isn't done. In some places (like Japan and China) it's even regarded as an insult to tip someone. In much of Europe (pretty much all of Western, Northern, and Central Europe) it is neither expected nor common. This is generally because staff in those countries are better paid than in countries where tipping is customary and covered by collective bargaining agreements. In some countries (like Italy), there's already a service cost calculated into bills which goes to the staff... so paying a tip on top of that is generally seen as a dumb thing to do.
In my country, tipping is something that's pretty rare. Staff aren't reliant on tips, so it's not expected for customers to tip. Tipping is done only when you think that the service was better than expected. Even then, the average tip is only between 5 and 10% of the total cost at most.
That said, unless we're talking about young people vacationing out of country for the first time, most people here would probably be aware that a tip is expected in certain countries and if they're not sure it is the case in their particular vacation destination they'd probably err on the side of caution.