Here’s How the Price of Your Favorite Fast Food Would Change With a $15 Minimum Wage

We will not lie to you!

Published on Sep 5, 2014

Ted Cruz's dad, Rafael Cruz, in an effort to "reach out" to African-Americans for Republicans, says that "the average black does not understand” the minimum wage...

originally posted by: jhn7537
What people don't understand is that increased wages doesn't necessarily mean increased buying power. When the wages go up, the cost of everything goes up to...

Except that's not true at all and the very first post of this thread debunks that. Wages go up 100% ($7.50 to $15) and the price of goods is projected to go up 37.5%. Do you know why that is? It's because employee wages don't make up 100% of the cost of the product, they only make up a portion of the cost. The cost of that portion is increasing, but the portion of wages people are gaining is increasing at a much faster rate. This means that buying power is increased.

Furthermore, real world examples have shown the price increases end up being even less in actual practice because when people have more money they spend more money. A McDonalds is no longer trying to make 1000 burgers per day, with the increased spending power of the employees (roughly 45% higher) they buy more and the McDonalds is now trying to make 1450 burgers per day. With more volume comes the ability to take advantage of scale and make even more money.

a reply to: Aazadan

So, you are treating a projection as fact? Projections aren't concrete, it's just someones estimate... Until we see this actually happen I will remain skeptical..

originally posted by: jhn7537
a reply to: Aazadan

So, you are treating a projection as fact? Projections aren't concrete, it's just someones estimate... Until we see this actually happen I will remain skeptical..

If you want a fact how about looking at Australia? Their cost of goods is roughly 10% higher than ours while their minimum wage is more than double ours. Their taxes are higher too.

You're the one treating a projection as fact when you say higher wages will significantly increase the cost of goods. Except those projections still support my point of view. As do the other nations we can compare to in order to see what happens. Accurate projections would show little increase in the cost of goods. 37.5% is very exaggerated.

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: jhn7537
a reply to: Aazadan

So, you are treating a projection as fact? Projections aren't concrete, it's just someones estimate... Until we see this actually happen I will remain skeptical..

If you want a fact how about looking at Australia? Their cost of goods is roughly 10% higher than ours while their minimum wage is more than double ours. Their taxes are higher too.

You're the one treating a projection as fact when you say higher wages will significantly increase the cost of goods. Except those projections still support my point of view. As do the other nations we can compare to in order to see what happens. Accurate projections would show little increase in the cost of goods. 37.5% is very exaggerated.

To be fair, looking at some other country doesn't really help with us here in the US. It's not some apples to apples comparison, two totally different economic situations, so it's not like the US can just mimic Australia and all will be well.

That may be true jhn, but what the other posters above are saying is true as well, and shows the lie of the doomsayers. You are showing a worst case scenario (costs could go up 30%!!!!), and they are showing the other likelihoods. However, even if costs DID go up 30%, as they say, per cost of labor increase.....that's still less than the standard of living increases for those on minimum wage by a large margin. They have stated, and its clearly demonstrable looking at places with higher minimum wages, that the increase in wages, even by 100%, leads to significant standard of living increases. Now I would challenge you to find countries where the opposite is true.....where a higher minimum wage than we have here coincides with decreased jobs and a diminishing standard of living. Real world examples defending the point you guys are trying to make that high minimum wages destroy jobs, skyrocket prices, and bring about the end of the world as we know it.

originally posted by: jhn7537
To be fair, looking at some other country doesn't really help with us here in the US. It's not some apples to apples comparison, two totally different economic situations, so it's not like the US can just mimic Australia and all will be well.

We could use the US then. Our highest minimum wages were in 1955 and 1967 and involved significant buying power. At the peak a minimum wage from back then had the same purchasing power as a $50,000 wage today which is even better than our current median. Prices weren't out of control back then, infact it was the opposite... it was the best economy the country ever saw, our nations golden age.

Perhaps you would like to counter with some examples where a high minimum wage has lead to economic ruin?

originally posted by: Urantia1111
a reply to: TDawgRex

Maybe if these restaurants are forced to pay $15 per hour, they'll insist on decent intelligent workers and not just hire any brain dead moron off the street. I'd gladly pay a couple extra bucks for my food. Might boost the quality of the whole fast food experience.

The entire operation is designed for braindead morons. It would not be able to operate with people who were thinking, that's the experience. Every McD's has to be identical.

This would raise wages of EVERY job, meaning you would see similar increases in EVERYTHING. This would be so horrible for the economy.

Farmacy techs, Laboratory techs, and other professions requiring degrees start at $15hr, now any school drop out will start at $15hr????........I'm sorry but the only person who should earn $15hr in a fast food restaurant should be a manager and most of them don't even deserve $12hr.

Tell a teenager they can earn $15hr without a degree and they will drop out of school or college and start working on mc donalds flipping burgers. It will happen at high rates.

A lot of 3-4 year degrees end up paying $15-$20hr starting, you will have to pay your college, get into student loans and at the end, the kid next door who drop out from school makes the same as you......NOT FAIR

Other than a price hike in your food, the customer service in this restaurants will drop, because at $15hr they will be cutting personnel and by paying more to these employees will not improve their flipping burger technique or improve their order processing, they will be more busy, screwing your orders faster

There were so many great points mentioned in all of the postings on this contentious issue.

The fundamental problem is a macro one. This dysfunctional system in which we are embedded has become so corrupted. In the job markets we have fully grown adults who should be in(or were in) career level jobs now competing for fast food jobs that were only given to teenagers when I first began to work. Back then for $8.50/hour one could live very simply in a modest rental, have a used car, and even actually eat without assistance. That was my beginning pay for a skilled position for someone with no experience in my field. Minimum wage was $3.35. I quickly made way more money as my value increased too. The screwed up part is that it finally ended when it made me a target to be RIFd when my employer was acquired.

These fast food workers are screwed no matter what the outcome. They get $15.00/hour they lose their jobs via more work on fewer people or automation. They stay at minimum wage they cannot make bare ends meet w/o working multiple part time jobs. Every time the minimum wage goes up it sets up a chain reaction where others, rightly so, demand raises, and then the price of everything goes up leaving everyone a little worse off than they were once the cycle runs its course.

Personally, I've quit eating fast food. They've lowered the quality of the product to such a level that I wonder how they can charge those prices in good conscience. I can go to a local sit down burger joint and get a real burger made of real meat cooked to perfection for about $2.00 more. Fast food is fast reaching the point where they are pricing themselves out of business so I cannot really see them raising prices much more.

I think we're nearing an inflection point where this issue is simply a huge symptom of a lot of deeply embedded problems in our society. The way the middle class has been continually eviscerated for the past 30+ odd years due to governmental/corporate policies combined with technological progress across many fronts and globalization has lead us to a point where things will have to change. I hope they are in a good way though the odds are against it.

At least the Bankster class is doing quite well along with their owned politicians and corporatist cronies. /sarc

a reply to: TDawgRex

GOOD!

Raise the prices then.

Might give the workers a half decent standard of living, while causing obese and unhealthy people to cut down on their burger meal intake and prevent diabetes and heart disease / cancers at the same time!

Win win.

a reply to: TDawgRex

So the world of the cheap burger is going to come to an end, and capitalism shaken to it's very foundation if that damn f***ing burger flipper were to get fifteen dollars an hour. And this from the Heritage Foundation. Who would have thought that schmoo with the spatula would have that much power.

And about that seven cent a week raise that would come from the ceo's eight million dollar pay, s**t instead of giving that seven cents take seven cents from the schmucks, they will never miss it, and bingo the ceo gets sixteen million. That's the way you need to thinking around here. Capitalism's king. Those have the capital rule.

But on the lighter side, if we were to stop the race to the bottom, ie maximum extraction, and start building from the bottom since is upon the bottom which all built, it is possible that our economy could be solid and secure.

As to those increases quoted. I kinda doubt that they are written in stone. Don't forget competition, it's the American way.

GREAT !! Now all those kids won't need skills!! "I don't need to learn how to be a carpenter, I don't need to learn to be a plumber, I don't need to have ANY USEFUL SKILLS AT ALL!!!!!!!" "I can just flip burgers and ask if they want fries!".
Yep, just the kick in the pants these kids, who already think the world owes them a living, need.
And no, I don't care about the 30 somethings who are working there. Get a job digging ditches. At least it's hard, honest work, with a useful purpose. Think that's harsh? Fine, then the folks who sit behind a desk, typing page after page of useless crap, should get $20 an hour, with full benefits. That person who stuffs junk mail in envelopes needs to be making the same as the burger flipper at McD's. The check out clerk at the grocery store should get $15 too.The life guard at the local pool should be making at least $25, they're protecting people's lives for gosh sake! Or about the same as a cop. We certainly need to pay them more than that useless, lazy nurse's aid. I mean, they're worth it, right? Right? Let's make sure the most menial,make work job pays well, so no one has the incentive to try harder. Everybody can just Get By.

wow. Just WOW. There were several good posts showing statistics, examples from other nations with higher minimum wage, of times when the US minimum wage was higher and we were much better off, and explanations of how it demonstrably benefits the whole economy to have a higher minimum wage. And then a bunch of people come on here with their fearmongering and emotionally based responses about how horrible it is, and how the poor don't "deserve" it, and so we should all be screwed and our economy be tanked because ideologically these people don't think the poor work hard enough for a pittance. No evidence, no examples of how its bad, just talking points and emotional fear response. Good job guys. Deny ignorance. As I said, lets try to use facts, statistics, and examples to support our points.

Ugh.

Trying to find the answers by scouring the internet is not the best way to go about things.


The problem in this country is that NOBODY WANTS TO WORK, and if they do..... they want to be heavily paid.


If I paid you 10 cents an hour to listen to me talk would you take the job? Hell no. What if I paid you 10 dollars an hour? You would instantly send me a PM with a resume of all your past jobs, addresses, friends phone numbers, and even your social security number. Why? Because you think it is a steal.

At every place I have ever been employed at I see the exact same thing happening. It is ridiculous. A new company accepts a contract.... they phase out everyone they don't like. Then they have trouble finding people who are acceptable and able to work.... And above all want to continue to working there.


This has been happening for the last 10 years.

It is not really an attitude issue with this entire country. And it isn't learning disabilities or drugs alone. It is something that is so simple, and that companies say they offer... but when it comes down to it the bosses and supervisors are just too damn lazy to INVEST IN PEOPLE.


What I am talking about IS ACTUAL TRAINING.

Train people.

I think everyone here on ATS could actually gather together and put up enough funds to form a committee to build schools for people to learn how to do any job imaginable.

What I am sick and tired of seeing is that stupid ass X amount of years experience in Y field. Where the hell do you get experience from? Why does your corporate commercial sales website say you offer training BUT NEVER #ING GIVE IT?

What do you think ATS? get together to put up funds for creating a school for people above the age of 25 to learn how to be a janitor, housemen, cashier, teller, gamer (table worker), and other various jobs that keep posting up that stupid 2 year bull#? Charge people the amount of a small used car loan to actually learn how a job is done properly? (I am talking like 3 to 5 G's a person.) To get two years of experience working in a certain field in less than 6 months? it is very possible.

Have this school teach you the in and out of everything for any certain field. Take it as a day to day class, get government funding for these people trying to better themselves. I think it can be done. What do you think? Can we do it?

No.

Because everyone is too lazy to invest in such a wonderment of dreams.

Seriously this stagnant problem can be fixed. But the problem is that we are just too lazy in this country to even care.

Thank our forefathers for creating the laziest country on planet earth.

a reply to: TDawgRex

I really didn't want to wade through the whole thread, so
I hope this hasn't been addressed.

The article is a shill, probably by industry. Wages make up about 20% of
the cost of fast food. A raise from $9 to $15 should actually
mean about 15% rise in prices, not 40%

So paying workers will destroy the system. But giving ceos of the same places millions of dollars in raised every year keeps the system working perfect makes sense to me
We made 100 million dollars last year this year we made 99 million so now we lost 1 million dollars this year
This makes sense to some people I did not make what I made last year so I'm at a loss so I will take a bonus and then fire all full time workers for part time workers
I find it funny how some the places in my city that have fair pay set up make more money and workers work harder and do better jobs and all they did different then all the other company's is the closest and the lowest worker make the same pay. All the costs shipping receiving and all things that need to be bought are paid for first then some money is put in for growth then all the workers are paid

This is how we work and I would never go back to the old system if I don't have to
Democracy in the Workplace: All About Collectives: youtu.be...

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
This would raise wages of EVERY job, meaning you would see similar increases in EVERYTHING. This would be so horrible for the economy.

Then perhaps you would have no problem in providing some real world examples where you can show this? The people who actually understand economics as well as recent real world examples such as Scandanavian countries and Australia as well as previous examples such as the US minimum wage in decades past directly contradict your comment.

originally posted by: cdesigns
Tell a teenager they can earn $15hr without a degree and they will drop out of school or college and start working on mc donalds flipping burgers. It will happen at high rates.

Question for you: Minimum wage today if buying power kept up with 1967 would be $24/hour today (50k/year). It it kept up with the buying power of the minimum wage in 1995 it would be $19/hour today (40k/year). At either of those times did people cease attempting to excel and better their lives just because they could afford to live on minimum wage? Do people who make $50,000/year today cease trying to improve their skills and job position?

a reply to: cdesigns

College is too expensive. And it only builds on fundamental development. But jobs require experience now. Most teen agers are already figuring out that they waste their time learning about a possibility of only a small percentage of graduates actually obtaining a good position working somewhere.

They can do the math and figure out that they are going to end up at some minimum wage job anyway.

I know several college grads who are in debt, stopped college, and are working at some telemarketing firm. Only because it was all they could get. Even people with degrees end up working at minimum wage for several years and continue to get turned down for positions they went to school for.

Meanwhile companies are strategizing ways to squeeze the money out of their current businesses by taking advantage of foot soldiers.

I have been through 12 different companies already and each one is doing the same thing.

It disgusts me to think that college is required when I see drop outs making more doing mundane tasks like throwing luggage on a plane or telling you that your water bottle isn't allowed on a plane going through a security checkpoint. Even surveyors for construction companies don't do all that much. I see it every where. People are so obsessed with making more money that when they get money in a surplus THEY SPEND IT ON IMPULSE DECISIONS.

Anyone who starts making more money at any job immediately changes their spending habbits. If you raise the minimum wage we just might see circuit city come back to life.

It is just a theory. But no company, franchise, corporation or incorporation wants to risk their money on paying out more to its front line employees. When it is these people who generate income for other companies.

I know my post is all over the place because I don't want to vomit out an entire book of analysis in one post. But seriously.... if you hold onto every dollar you earn and pinch pennies.... you are actually choking out everyone.

Ugh this topic needs to be discussed more.

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
This would raise wages of EVERY job, meaning you would see similar increases in EVERYTHING. This would be so horrible for the economy.

Then perhaps you would have no problem in providing some real world examples where you can show this? The people who actually understand economics as well as recent real world examples such as Scandanavian countries and Australia as well as previous examples such as the US minimum wage in decades past directly contradict your comment.

originally posted by: cdesigns
Tell a teenager they can earn $15hr without a degree and they will drop out of school or college and start working on mc donalds flipping burgers. It will happen at high rates.

Question for you: Minimum wage today if buying power kept up with 1967 would be $24/hour today (50k/year). It it kept up with the buying power of the minimum wage in 1995 it would be $19/hour today (40k/year). At either of those times did people cease attempting to excel and better their lives just because they could afford to live on minimum wage? Do people who make $50,000/year today cease trying to improve their skills and job position?

Quite easy to do.

Why would you want to be a rock quarry splitter busting your ass with hard work when you can do nothing flipping burgers for the same amount? No one would. That means the wage of quarry splitters goes up. So now fast food prices increase, and the price of quarried rock increases. Secretaries would make the same as burger flippers. Secretaries would need a wage increase, increasing costs in almost every single sector, increasing prices. All of the jobs making more than burger flippers would need to increase wages, or lose employees. Most medical staff makes $15 or less. Where I live nurses make about $22 to start. All medical staff across the board would demand a 30%-50% increase in wages, making all medical expenses increase by near the same amount.

Seriously, this is basic economics.

www.businessweek.com...