California: New minimum wage ($20/hr!) for fast food workers

[Deuce]

I'd rather see debt free post secondary education and job training. Then fast food wages wouldn't have to support a family. They'd most just support the miscellaneous needs of teenagers. Our system doesn't launch kids properly.

"Fast food jobs are for teenagers" is one of the most persistent and dumbest American myths.

 

[Airyaman]

A major Burger King franchisee in California says he can't roll out order kiosks fast enough due to the state's new $20 fast-food minimum wage

The franchisee, who owns about 180 fast-food restaurants in California, said he'd already raised prices as much as he could.

www.businessinsider.com

A major fast-food franchisee in California says he's rushing to roll out digital order kiosks as part of plans to cut costs over the state's new $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers.

"We can't move fast enough on this," Harsh Ghai told Business Insider in an interview in early April.

"We have kiosks in probably about 25% of our restaurants today," he said. "However, the other 75% are going to have kiosks in the next probably 30 to 60 days."

 

[jaypatriot]

"Fast food jobs are for teenagers" is one of the most persistent and dumbest American myths.

Fast food jobs can be educational for teenagers.
I believe it is beneficial for a teen to have a job in a fast food industry in order to teach a teen what it is like for a young person with a long future to find out what a teen does or does not want to do in the future.
I have had jobs in my teens where worked in a gas station; I had a newspaper route; I sat at a bench assembling parts for submarine trackers and missiles; I worked in a fast food delivery van selling coffee and lunches; a caddied at a golf club; I rode in a truck delivering bundled magazines to stores in NY City. All of those part time jobs taught me what I did not want to do for a living in the future. Those types of work experiences, I believe, are invaluable to a young person who is thinking about survival in the future.
The more a teenager can do jobs involving manual labor the more they can think about avoiding such jobs as they grow older, wiser, and hopefully better educated.

 

[Deuce]

Fast food jobs can be educational for teenagers.
I believe it is beneficial for a teen to have a job in a fast food industry in order to teach a teen what it is like for a young person with a long future to find out what a teen does or does not want to do in the future.
I have had jobs in my teens where worked in a gas station; I had a newspaper route; I sat at a bench assembling parts for submarine trackers and missiles; I worked in a fast food delivery van selling coffee and lunches; a caddied at a golf club; I rode in a truck delivering bundled magazines to stores in NY City. All of those part time jobs taught me what I did not want to do for a living in the future. Those types of work experiences, I believe, are invaluable to a young person who is thinking about survival in the future.
The more a teenager can do jobs involving manual labor the more they can think about avoiding such jobs as they grow older, wiser, and hopefully better educated.

Yeah man this was the kind of mindset I was talking about.

"Some jobs are supposed to suck and keep you in poverty" is a mindset that only benefits the people who are pocketing that extra money. Your cheeseburger shouldn't be subsidized by someone else's poverty and suffering, and only a monster thinks it should be.

Fast food for teenagers? Who the **** is supposed to serve lunch on a weekday?

 

[TamleeB]

Fast food jobs can be educational for teenagers.
I believe it is beneficial for a teen to have a job in a fast food industry in order to teach a teen what it is like for a young person with a long future to find out what a teen does or does not want to do in the future.
I have had jobs in my teens where worked in a gas station; I had a newspaper route; I sat at a bench assembling parts for submarine trackers and missiles; I worked in a fast food delivery van selling coffee and lunches; a caddied at a golf club; I rode in a truck delivering bundled magazines to stores in NY City. All of those part time jobs taught me what I did not want to do for a living in the future. Those types of work experiences, I believe, are invaluable to a young person who is thinking about survival in the future.
The more a teenager can do jobs involving manual labor the more they can think about avoiding such jobs as they grow older, wiser, and hopefully better educated.

So get this. I racked blueberries at the age of 15. Day after day in the hot sun. Ten hour days. Then I got wiser…and moved on to picking apples at an apple orchard after school when I was 16…another very physical job. By the time I was 17 I was on my own. I quickly learned through my past experience that I wanted better. That is part of growing and realizing life does NOT hand you good things on a silver platter. For the most part…fast food jobs are geared toward teens or young adults (maybe retired individuals looking for extra income). One must work to improve their lives and move beyond relying on a fast food job being your life ambition.

 

[armycowboy]

So get this. I racked blueberries at the age of 15. Day after day in the hot sun. Ten hour days. Then I got wiser…and moved on to picking apples at an apple orchard after school when I was 16…another very physical job. By the time I was 17 I was on my own. I quickly learned through my past experience that I wanted better. That is part of growing and realizing life does NOT hand you good things on a silver platter. For the most part…fast food jobs are geared toward teens or young adults (maybe retired individuals looking for extra income). One must work to improve their lives and move beyond relying on a fast food job being your life ambition.

The problem here is that not everyone is intellectually capable of moving past a fast food or retail job. Not everyone is a 100 watt light bulb. If someone is a 25 watt light bulb with an 85IQ, now what?

 

[RF667799]

The problem here is that not everyone is intellectually capable of moving past a fast food or retail job. Not everyone is a 100 watt light bulb. If someone is a 25 watt light bulb with an 85IQ, now what?

That's a good point to ponder. Sad to say, we've probably all run into someone who is working a job at least one or two levels beyond where they should be....even at the most basic job level.

 

[armycowboy]

That's a good point to ponder. Sad to say, we've probably all run into someone who is working a job at least one or two levels beyond where they should be....even at the most basic job level.

Did you ever serve in the military? I served with plenty of guys who got promoted beyond their ability and they were just lost. Civilian or military, most folks have a ceiling on their production. It is what it is and sadly, fast food is the ceiling for some folks in our country.

 

[RF667799]

Did you ever serve in the military? I served with plenty of guys who got promoted beyond their ability and they were just lost. Civilian or military, most folks have a ceiling on their production. It is what it is and sadly, fast food is the ceiling for some folks in our country.

Yes, 10 years in the Army. I've seen what you describe there and in civilian life.

So far as military though, I've often thought there should be a place for a career E4 who gets COLA and longevity raises every year, and doesn't have to fear being put out for failure to advance in grade. I've had soldiers that were damn good "worker bees" as the officers used to say. Good at their jobs and good at soldiering too. They just didn't really have what it takes to be an NCO, or desire attaining that rank- but I often think there's a place for those guys.

 

[jaypatriot]

So get this. I racked blueberries at the age of 15. Day after day in the hot sun. Ten hour days. Then I got wiser…and moved on to picking apples at an apple orchard after school when I was 16…another very physical job. By the time I was 17 I was on my own. I quickly learned through my past experience that I wanted better. That is part of growing and realizing life does NOT hand you good things on a silver platter. For the most part…fast food jobs are geared toward teens or young adults (maybe retired individuals looking for extra income). One must work to improve their lives and move beyond relying on a fast food job being your life ambition.

You write the truth.
Some young people, fortunately, learn what they don't like doing for a living and work toward doing something else - out of the sun, the mud, the freezing cold, wearing professional attire, and away from the criminal types.
Hope you landed where you wanted to.
Staying with the fast food theme of this thread, two years ago I got past being amazed at signs offering $15 an hour to start at McDonalds restaurants. A young person living at home could possibly be mesmerized by the prospect of making $2500 month if he/she worked full time at a McDonald's restaurant and did not have to pay too much monthly rent to the parents for the privilege of living in the basement.
That could be a fateful temptation to someone who cared very little for college and only wanted to have a good time after work.

 

[armycowboy]

Yes, 10 years in the Army. I've seen what you describe there and in civilian life.

So far as military though, I've often thought there should be a place for a career E4 who gets COLA and longevity raises every year, and doesn't have to fear being put out for failure to advance in grade. I've had soldiers that were damn good "worker bees" as the officers used to say. Good at their jobs and good at soldiering too. They just didn't really have what it takes to be an NCO, or desire attaining that rank- but I often think there's a place for those guys.

Spot on brother. I did a little over 20 and retired as a Master Sergeant. You're 100% on point that we had some very good Soldiers, who didn't have leadership potential that we kicked to the curb, because we didn't think they would be good NCOs. There's nothing wrong in retaining those Soldiers, even though they might not make good NCOs.

Same goes in the civilian sector.

 

[RF667799]

Spot on brother. I did a little over 20 and retired as a Master Sergeant. You're 100% on point that we had some very good Soldiers, who didn't have leadership potential that we kicked to the curb, because we didn't think they would be good NCOs. There's nothing wrong in retaining those Soldiers, even though they might not make good NCOs.

Same goes in the civilian sector.

Yep, and that's how you can end up with someone promoted beyond their ability. Their Chain of Command recognizes them as a hell of a good soldier, they're well liked, they're sent to the board and they're suddenly a turtle on a fence post NCO. They can still do some sort of job and perhaps do it well, but they're now taking up a slot where someone capable of leading would be more useful and assist with the load of some of those who are performing as serious NCOs.

 

[Taylor]

People getting fewer hours and many out of a job as theirs becomes automated. Gee - who could have predicted that would happen?

Fast food chains have found a way to get around minimum wage hikes

Fast food wages are rising across the US - driven up by the $20-an-hour minimum wage in California. But it is having some unintended consqequences.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[imagep]

Your theory of inelastic demand for shitty-but-speedy foodstuffs is about to be put to the test. The price of a McDonald's meal is approaching that of a more traditional sit-down eatery. Why would I pay one price for McDonald's when I can pay just a little more and have a quality meal? Just because I can drive up? Maybe. But fewer people will make that choice the more expensive the meal.

Maybe because they like fast food, or because of convenience. Regardless, it may be a good thing if we ate less fast food.

 

[imagep]

this will drive prices up on everything - poor will still be poor, middle class will be poorer (because they're not getting wage increases) and rich will stay rich

Yes, it will drive prices up by a few percent, but the poor will get a bigger raise than the inflation rate, the middle class will get bigger raises because they still have to compete in the market for employees, and yes, the rich will stay rich, but if low paying companies have to pay a little more for labor, and assuming that they cant jack up prices enough to cover that (due to competition), then the rich wont get richer at such a fast rate.

Many decades ago, I was an assistant manager at a McDonalds, and during lunch hour one french fry cook could produce something like $400 worth of fries. Now pretending that the price isnt higher today, in order to bump up wages by $5 an hour, McDonalds would only have to raise prices by 1.25%. If you give me a 25% or 33% raise, I would gladly pay an extra 1.2% or even 5% in prices.

 

[stealthycat]

Yes, it will drive prices up by a few percent, but the poor will get a bigger raise than the inflation rate,

link to prove that please

the middle class will get bigger raises because they still have to compete in the market for employees, and yes, the rich will stay rich, but if low paying companies have to pay a little more for labor, and assuming that they cant jack up prices enough to cover that (due to competition), then the rich wont get richer at such a fast rate.

link to prove the above please

Many decades ago, I was an assistant manager at a McDonalds, and during lunch hour one french fry cook could produce something like $400 worth of fries. Now pretending that the price isnt higher today, in order to bump up wages by $5 an hour, McDonalds would only have to raise prices by 1.25%. If you give me a 25% or 33% raise, I would gladly pay an extra 1.2% or even 5% in prices.

I worked two McDonalds jobs in college

 

[Peter]

The minimum wage in the UK just went up by about 9% to £11.44p.

That's $14.34 at todays rate.

 

[EnigmaO01]

People will continue to but fast food even with rising prices. The system works.

They are here. McDonalds isn't cheap anymore but at times when I drive by the drive up window is not stop. Even with slow service people keep coming back.

 

[post]

People getting fewer hours and many out of a job as theirs becomes automated. Gee - who could have predicted that would happen?

Fast food chains have found a way to get around minimum wage hikes

Fast food wages are rising across the US - driven up by the $20-an-hour minimum wage in California. But it is having some unintended consqequences.

www.dailymail.co.uk

It's 2024. This is no big deal. Cost of living in higher paying states results in lower quality of life than in states paying the least because necessities like food and
shelter are much cheaper in poverty stricken states.

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/What-Is-the-Average-Mcdonalds-Restaurants-Salary-by-State

 

[----------]

I'd rather see debt free post secondary education and job training. Then fast food wages wouldn't have to support a family. They'd most just support the miscellaneous needs of teenagers. Our system doesn't launch kids properly.

I remember back to my teen years. Fast food work was never considered a career. You would be laughed at if that was all the ambition you had.

 

[post]

I remember back to my teen years. Fast food work was never considered a career. You would be laughed at if that was all the ambition you had.

There were likely 40 percent of today's locations seeking workers and a baby boom providing as many staffing candidates as needed.

I don't think you can make a relevant comparison to today's environment.

https://archive.ph/XBNvc ....Or,

A Fast-Food Problem: Where Have All the Teenagers Gone? (Published 2018)

A shortage of workers is changing the equation that many restaurants have long relied on.

www.nytimes.com

May 3, 2018

 

[Visbek]

A major Burger King franchisee in California says he can't roll out order kiosks fast enough due to the state's new $20 fast-food minimum wage

The franchisee, who owns about 180 fast-food restaurants in California, said he'd already raised prices as much as he could.

www.businessinsider.com

Yeah, that's bullshit. Employers have spent decades automating everything they possibly can, and kiosks have been in use at fast food restaurants for years now. No one is waiting around and saying "y'know, if my cashiers only cost me $1 less an hour, then I'll never install an order kiosk!"

 

[Helix]

I remember back to my teen years. Fast food work was never considered a career. You would be laughed at if that was all the ambition you had.

Thanks for sharing that.

 

[HangLow]

Are these graphs representing average margins for unit operations, or the margins for the actual umbrella corporations? McDonalds, Burger King, and many other fast food companies do not run many of their own restaurants anymore. They are mostly franchises. The corporations merely do R&D and collect royalty checks from the franchisees.

​

 

[multivita-man]

View attachment 67508107​

lol, McDonald's thinks their McNuggets are made of gold, I guess.