Seattle raises minimum wage to $15/hr

I always think of the minimum wage discussion as just another government forced redistribution mechanism.  The unstated "intent" is always to make the "greedy" business owners pay their employees a fair wage, but what results is the "greedy" business owners simply pass the costs onto their customers or reduce staff to cover the additional overhead.

Whomever the customers of said business/industry are is who the income is redistributed from, and as was mentioned more times than not the skilled labor type jobs already pay more than $15/hr. so it's the unskilled grocery/convenience store type employees that are effected and those establishments serve the poor just as much (or more) than they do the rich.

What are the benefits?  Obviously the person getting the pay raise gets a (usually big) raise which gives them a quick boost to the top line, but often times a poor person spends a significant portion of their income on groceries and gas, which will both likely go up due to increased labor costs.  So, the argument is always that it ultimately puts them in the same place they were before the raise.  I personally think it's not a 1:1 ratio, so they probably do ultimately benefit to some extent on the bottom line, but it's still simply at the expense of somebody else's bottom line.

At least with "tax" redistribution they can target specific income groups to take money from, whereas with minimum wage mandates it's much less predicable and a significant portion of the redistribution is from poor to poor.

.... and in related news...  all Seattle McDonalds owners recently announced that they are doing away with dollar menu and will be replacing it with a new and improved 10 dollar menu. 

Who's right about what?

Honestly, I'd like to hear what you think the result of raising the minimum wage to $15.00 will be? What was the minimum wage prior to this?

First post of the month in PCOJ?

I was good right up until you said we would all get Ebola....now I can't unlock myself from this fetal position of fear and despair.

I wonder if/when the U.S. is going to stop the ridiculous separate system for tip-earners.

It was SO NICE being in New Zealand earlier this year.  Go out to a restaurant.  Order something.  Pay what the listed price is.  The end.

Word.  China is also awesome that way. 

I have a couple of people on my facebook feed that would occasionally go on a rant about people that don't tip, or "under" tip, or post things about people "deserving" tips.

I would always just post back something to the effect of:  "Don't blame others for a broken business model."  

Wow, this shows such a lack of understanding of human nature.  I just don't know where to begin JMK?!?!?!?!?!?

We have it both ways. It's so weird. We pay at least minimum wage, but still tip.

How much do you normally tip?  Is it the same everywhere in Canada?  When we were in Edmonton for worlds we tipped our usual 20% and the waitresses (we didn't encounter and waiters) seemed overly appreciative....or maybe they were just friendlier than people here.

Tips are definitely expected. I'm not sure how tipping started, but it's been that way for my entire lifetime. 15% is usual. It's similar there right? I'm not entirely sure, but pretty sure that servers all across Canada get paid at least minimum wage.

Possibly a better place to start would be you explaining this and your rational behind it.

"You can certainly demand a raise, but if your value to the company, in terms of your experience, skills, productivity, and work history, hasn't changed, I wouldn't be so sure that you'll get one. There is only one reason (excepting COLAs) that a person has a right to expect a raise: Are they bringing more value to the company than they were a year ago? The fact that the new guy in the mailroom who used to make $8 now makes the same as you after 7 years on the job might sting your ego, but that by itself is not a reason that your boss should pony up more money if you're still doing the same job and delivering the same results that you were last year. If a person came to me and said, "XYZ used to make 20% less than me, and he just got a raise, so I demand that you give me a raise so I still make 20% more than him" I'd tell him that he'd better be back at his desk by the time I finish laughing."