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

a reply to: kimar

Ah...love the personal attack. I guess I hit a nerve, eh? I respect people who work at all levels, but any one who thinks that flipping burgers or mowing lawns is a great career choice is a idiot. If they use it as a stepping stone to become a franchise owner or to become management, then they are not. Your reading comprehension is lacking and you immediately jumped onto a emotional level.

I would say that your level of willfull ignorance is showing. You fail to see or recognize what is in front of you because it doesn't fit your world view.

Jobs are out there. There are plenty of them and they pay decent wages. But people these days don't want to lower themselves (or so they think) to the level of a trashman, or trucker, or welder, etc, etc. Or they don't want to move to where the jobs are. So, yes, I feel no sympathy for people like that. They made their bed, not the CEOs.

It's interesting. Most of the people (if not all) that I see that push this so hard and advocate for wage increases so high like this have clearly never owned a business...

While places like Mcdonalds will probably still survive.

You're effectively cutting the throat of mom and pop and family owned businesses. Which actually provide the most jobs in America.

They will be forced to compete with these wages. While big corps like Mcdonalds have massive revenues and can increase process to offset. Smaller businesses do not have this luxury

You think the middle class is dying now? Wait till you kill off your local home grown stores and businesses....

People talk about coorporate greed. What about personal accountability.

These jobs aren't meant to be careers. They are meant to be stepping stones to move up Into the job market to better opportunities.

a reply to: theMediator

Seriously, I think all those places should just accept tips. I don't mind paying a buck or two more if I know it directly goes in the employees pockets.

I totally agree with that sentiment.

a reply to: TDawgRex

Oh you have to increase the buyer price $2 do you? What BS think tank cooked up these numbers? "Conservative ninny nannies Esq." ??

McD's 5 employees on at one time max.

Increase of $2, they only sell 10 Big Macs an hour? 100 Big macs a day? $800 total revenue a day? I think not. It's been calculated before and it's only like a 2-10% price increase. Try $0.05-0.50 increase...

There are some smaller chains that actually pay their employees that much.

originally posted by: AccessDenied
a reply to: TDawgRex

The prices you posted as an increase if employees were to earn a $15 an hour wage, are basically what we are paying now in Canada for those menu items, and minimum wage falls between $10.30- $11.00 per hour depending on the province.

That's exactly what I noticed. Those are Canadian prices. Just a burger by itself is $5 up here, and the idea of a real meal (small steak meal as described in an above post), is closer to $18 than $8.

We've been paying those prices for years, and the restaurants don't seem to suffer.
If anything, people cook at home more often, and are likely healthier because of that.

Imo it the greedy 1% that want more profit what happend to the companies that actually cared
About there employees? ?

a reply to: TDawgRex

Complete alarmist BS.

What will happen just like in any other industry where employees are payed well.

Only the best and most efficient workers will be hired. Those employees will be productive enough to eliminate the need for extra lower quality employees. Higher quality employees will improve customer relations. Thereby attracting more customers.

In the end fast food joints will be paying roughly the same and do better.

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.

What makes money important is the buying power. The more money people have the less buying power. Two class of people will get the $hit end of the stick when minimum wage is raised, one will feel it a bit the other will feel it even more.

1. The minimum wage people today that get the increase will see a temporary slight increase in buying power , but soon after they will actually be worst off than before. When a business raises prices to cover operating expenses they typically add a little extra because customers don't like seeing the prices go up all the time. So when business raise their prices to accomodate the new minimum wage they will pad some extra which will actually diminish the buying power of the minimum wage earners below what they had.

2. The middle class and the people slightly above the new increased minimum wage which loose buying power and this will further increase the gap between the middle class and the poor.

Notice how the poor and middleclass are getting closer to each other, while the rich are going galatic on our @rses.


So when you pay those extra couples bucks you are not going to boost the quality of the whole fast food experience. You are just putting a little bonus into the owners pockets when he raised the prices. The same quality level of people will be applying to those jobs and they will have the same at best buying power as before.

Raising minimun wage is just politics which in real world translates to B$ solution and look over there squirrel.

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

These jobs aren't meant to be careers. They are meant to be stepping stones to move up Into the job market to better opportunities.

This is what people fail to understand most of these employees are lazy and will only work a minimal job, just enough so they can still qualify for welfare.

I dont understand why people think businesses shouldnt pay a living wage?
we have a minimum wage here in the UK and working for minimum wage still means you can't afford a place to live without government assistance. Surely a person day of abour should be enough for food and a place to live?

a reply to: grey580

I pointed that out in one of my replies. We would see a shift from the many part-time workers at these joints to a full time staff. I've seen in a lot of the interviews during the protests that people will say they work 3 jobs, so obviously, their fast food job is not full time. So I guess those individuals will end up losing in the long run. They'll either be hired full time if they are quality workers or they'll get laid off and have to find another part time job that fits their schedule.

a reply to: interupt42
Great post. Simple economics 1o1

The issue is all the people in this thread you see throwing mud don't get this concept

How I do not know. They want more money but aren't smart enough to have the foresight to see what this brings.

originally posted by: thesaneone
a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

These jobs aren't meant to be careers. They are meant to be stepping stones to move up Into the job market to better opportunities.

This is what people fail to understand most of these employees are lazy and will only work a minimal job, just enough so they can still qualify for welfare.

A statement that bold needs to be backed up by some empirical data. Not just your perception of fast food employees and their lifestyles.

originally posted by: thesaneone
a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

These jobs aren't meant to be careers. They are meant to be stepping stones to move up Into the job market to better opportunities.

This is what people fail to understand most of these employees are lazy and will only work a minimal job, just enough so they can still qualify for welfare.

I don't think I would go that far

I think plenty of these people work hard at their jobs.

But the mentality needs to change you're not suppose to make a career out of mcdonalds..

The other issue is. If the min wage goes up. Then they do need to adjust the federal assistance for this......

You get bumped to 15$ an hour. You're off gov assistance. Full stop

originally posted by: ManBehindTheMask
It's interesting. Most of the people (if not all) that I see that push this so hard and advocate for wage increases so high like this have clearly never owned a business...

While places like Mcdonalds will probably still survive.

You're effectively cutting the throat of mom and pop and family owned businesses. Which actually provide the most jobs in America.

They will be forced to compete with these wages. While big corps like Mcdonalds have massive revenues and can increase process to offset. Smaller businesses do not have this luxury

You think the middle class is dying now? Wait till you kill off your local home grown stores and businesses....

People talk about coorporate greed. What about personal accountability.

These jobs aren't meant to be careers. They are meant to be stepping stones to move up Into the job market to better opportunities.

Also, not for nothing. Isn't it amazing that this issue only pops up before an election? Then after the election it is business as usual!

This ploy is nothing more than a way to buy votes with empty promises.......

originally posted by: WilsonWilson
I dont understand why people think businesses shouldnt pay a living wage?
we have a minimum wage here in the UK and working for minimum wage still means you can't afford a place to live without government assistance. Surely a person day of abour should be enough for food and a place to live?

That would not change by making a living wage.
What is a living wage anyhow?
Nobody can ever answer that. Food and shelter?
How much food? Burgers or lobster once a week?
2000 square foot house with a pool or a 2 bedroom apartment?

a reply to: TDawgRex

Sadly, fifteen dollars an hour is not a livable wage anymore.

a reply to: TDawgRex

Why is it my responsibility to tip because they don't pay enough?

If they can't pay enough then they shouldn't be in business in the first place.

a reply to: Stormdancer777

No that's what I make and I have to work 60 hours a week to save.

originally posted by: TDawgRex
Ah...love the personal attack. I guess I hit a nerve, eh? I respect people who work at all levels, but any one who thinks that flipping burgers or mowing lawns is a great career choice is a idiot. If they use it as a stepping stone to become a franchise owner or to become management, then they are not.

Do you realize that not everybody can be a franchise owner or management? Not everybody can work their way to the top, because then there's nobody to do the low skilled jobs. There always have to be people at the bottom for this crummy system to work, as unfair as it is. Why people have such a big fetish for capitalism, I'll never know.