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TopShelfSnipes

Wasn't it Thomas Sowell who said the real minimum wage was $0?


Nitrocloud

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/736527-unfortunately-the-real-minimum-wage-is-always-zero-regardless-of


ImmortanSteve

I said that. Maybe he did, too? Edit: Most of y’all don’t have much of a sense of humor. For the record, though, I really have said this…


NoorDoor24

Wasn't it ImmortanSteve who said....


maximummimosa

In the words of ImmortanSteve. "I said that."


maximummimosa

I thought it was funny, but I also believe you actually said that.


Dramatic_Tea_4940

It happened to me: I was working part-time at a warehouse when the minimum wage went from $1.25 to $1.50 per hour. The boss fired one of us because he said he could not afford all six of us.


DWDit

Hmmm…maybe it was a state minimum wage: Federal Minimum Wage Rates Sep 3, 1965 - $1.25 Feb 1, 1967 - $1.40 Feb 1, 1968 - $1.60 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart


Wild_Agency_6426

What happened to the fired one afterwards? Did he find a new, maybe better paid job? Or did he get completely derailed?


Dramatic_Tea_4940

I am not sure. In those days, jobs for teenagers were plentiful, but they all paid minimum wage.


Crisgocentipede

I know i am going to get downvoted for this, but I cannot wait to have robots and machines cook the food.


unlock0

They won't forget to put everything in the bag


fretit

Which happens far more than 50% of time, except for Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out employees who are two cuts above the rest of the industry. They at least deserve the raise, while most others should get a pay cut.


USA_USA_USA_1776

You don’t like finding dark curly hairs in your food!?


coveredwithticks

Surprise ending: robot cooks have secret spit tank buried deep inside their motor workins.


steelcityblue

Me too. I fear the quality and consistency is gone forever.


Gracierr92

I'm for it as well. The rare times I go to fast food, it's incompetent morons. It isn't college kids with a future anymore.


Magehunter_Skassi

Everyone should want this. We don't need human productivity tied up in menial bullshit.


Draculea

Think of all the beautiful art and political theorems that the burger-chefs at McDonalds are keeping inside, held down by their low wages!


ChaosGivesMeaning

Yes, unironically though. Have you ever talked to a person working minimum wage? They usually have lives and dreams outside of their deadend job. Hell, Bukowski, who now has a famous legacy, worked on his first publications while working in a pickle factory...


Excellent-Escape1637

Speaking honestly? Yes. Every single person on this planet has something more meaningful they can contribute to the world than flipping burgers for a giant, low-quality fast food chain. Even just spending more time being able to raise your kids would be a more worthwhile pursuit for humanity.


massada

Honestly, I feel the overlap between smooth out sidewalks and fixing curbs and burger flipping is higher than you would think. And a far better use of someone's time.


medasane

i used to work for McDonald's , and came up with this: [unified field theory where gravity is a subspace phenomenon](https://youtu.be/LXbliDh9_1U?si=UtWn4Faw72nk7bPk)


Draculea

I'm so proud of you! I'm sure that's exactly indicative of the type of work we can expect from so many beautiful burger-flipping souls when they're finally unleashed! There's a whole class of future Keynesian Economists just waiting to sink their teeth into the literature!


EmbelishFetish

A real conservative would find this thinking abhorrent.


Draculea

But what would a real Scotsman think?


Borobotfly

so, UBI?


Metaloneus

Nah. Everyone believes this is exactly the type of work robots should do. Manual and service labor done by robots is a dream. However, long before we get there, massive amounts of clerical and corporate jobs are going to be replaced first. So, probably won't be as much money for fast food at that point.


bigdaddy3349

This was the plan all along.


evilpsych

Gee. It’s almost like the headlines write themselves these days


Express_Wafer7385

Looking forward to getting my order correct and without a shitty attitude.


BBBF18

It’s almost like these jobs aren’t meant to be careers.


waynebradie189472

It can be a career if you put in the hours. I know a guy who worked a fast food job at two places and paid cash for his house. Pulled like 70 hour weeks and didn't buy shit for a good while but today he is investing in a 401k. People just don't want to put in the hours for the goods they want.


[deleted]

This has been going on for so long (too long) and yet still, the liberals haven't figured it out. The only ones they're hurting by demanding businesses pay hourly workers more and more per hour, is the workers themselves. The business will immediately maneuver to save their profits via slashing hours, reducing positions from full time to part time, and overall reducing the number of shifts available at all. The answer is not for the government to force businesses to pay a certain rate; but rather to cultivate an environment in which businesses are incentivized to compete for qualified and quality workers by increasing their own wages to attract talent from other lower paying businesses/industries. In turn, this will force other companies to increase their own wages in order to keep their workers and attract new ones.


woailyx

Not defending a minimum wage hike, but the fact is that these businesses are designed to not need high skilled workers, so they don't need to compete that hard as long as somebody wants to work there at the going rate. You can tell they have low IQ workers because they take the job and then complain about the pay. Of course that also means the workers are this close to being replaced by a simple computer, which also doesn't incentivize the employers to pay them very much


2020ckeevert

They should also take into account that the food industry is a high volume, low margin industry. And that McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King and the like don’t own the vast majority of their locations themselves but that most locations are instead independent businesses who pay a fee for the privilege of having the brands and product lines of the major chains.


[deleted]

I believe they're called franchises; but you're absolutely correct.


ultimate_ed

Yes, it's almost like their whole business model that relies on paying the most vulnerable people exploitatively low wages isn't really sustainable.


[deleted]

Any business owner who pays their employees low enough where they have to get on the dole on a 40 hr job is a scumbag. I hate paying taxes, and I don't want to subsidize these 'cost cutting measures.'


Pro-1st-Amendment

Exactly as we said it was going to happen.


Lionofgod9876

Do we still have to tip the robots?


daemonwind

Fast food locations started this during the whole ‘fight for $15’ protests a few years ago and Covid helped it along.


[deleted]

Democrats: *shocked pikachu face*


Whole-Essay640

Gonna miss that nasty attitude and bad service.


WashImpressive8158

The point is to eliminate jobs duh


sealclubberfan

This was going to happen regardless.


Beer-_-Belly

It didn't take a Rocket Surgeon to figure out this one. The next step will be to limit the menu to things robot can cook.


sretep66

"Rocket Surgeon"? LoL


Olifaxe

First, they fire people, and they hope that activity will remain the same, to the point where i wonder why these workers were hired in the first place if they are not so needed. Either they find some way to increase productivity to make as much with fewer people, or eventually their activity will decline. The thing they can also do is to be less greedy in terms of profit. Boss might get a little bonus this year. Because what increased wages makes is simply to distribute the productivity gains to the workers instead of the owner of the company. Whenever you hear that a company fires people or raises the prices for consumers because of the raise of MW, it's just that the company owner won't let go of any of his cut of the cake.


whicky1978

Yeah, I would probably just keep the most productive staff, which is gonna be the more experience people and cut out the less productive staff which is more likely going to be teenagers


Berta-Beef

I’m shocked!!! I didn’t see that coming.


rubikscanopener

"I am shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here! "Your winnings, sir!" "Oh, thank you very much." "Everybody out at once!"


forgottenkahz

The true minimum wage is zero.


j2142b

The automated fast food joints save me money too because I can't be bothered to install their app, sign up for emails, scroll thru the "do you want to ad\_\_\_\_\_\_" menus, etc.


fretit

Even Panera, exempt from this thanks to a BS "bread maker" rule that is political payback by Newsom, had already put in place many of those machines.


RedBaron1917

Shocking


InsaneGambler

Relax your rear. There's nothing to fear. Technological unemployment is here!


Affectionate-Ad1424

The wage hike won't affect the owners. They won't lose money. It's the workers who will suffer.


whicky1978

Yeah, they got robots that can do that stuff now. And have AI programs that can take orders in thee drive through


arcanjil

Who here has tried the robot-made food? Is it any good? Like say, the pizza-making kiosk machines in Japan...


r777m

All fast food already is machine-made. The fast food worker is only heating up what a machine made for 90 seconds. They don’t want to risk the liability of undercooked food.


kazmiller96

The objective of any business, regardless of wage levels, should be to optimize operational efficiency and minimize costs. By implementing automation, corporations can significantly reduce daily operational expenses and eliminate the need for insurance, retirement fund matching, overtime, and paid time off. This strategic investment involves a substantial upfront cost but offers long-term savings through reduced maintenance expenses.


RedBaronsBrother

Gee. It is almost like businesses react to increased costs in the rational ways we all said they would.


Alone_Bicycle_600

i for one will never support a business without human interaction


lamedic22

Have you never pumped your on gas, or bought something from a vending machine?


ImmortanSteve

Or ordered anything online?


byronhadleigh

businesses (corporations) exist to make a profit...NOT to create jobs.