Every weekend is a horrible weekend for retailers

Post #296,490

11/27/07 5:02:24 PM

This was worse. They work hours that "normal" people get off, presumably to go shopping or otherwise spend their disposable income. Retail people get a little above minimum wage and as little benefits as is legally possible. If the malls are not inundated, the retail guys will get their hours cut even further. Unfortunately, there is less and less disposable income. We're pretty much just grinding the last bit of juices through the financial chinois.

Wait, you meant the owners of the retail chains. They won't miss any meals. Although... their chains might break. And curiously, for them, that would be bad...

Post #296,498

by bepatient

11/27/07 8:16:33 PM

Ah, forgot. Everyone should get paid like a 6yr college grad

even if they didn't finish high school.

And noone gets paid a living wage at any of these stores...nor benefits.

Boy, we sure suck in the world...having jobs like that.

Too much of today's music is fashionable crap dressed as artistry._{Adrian Belew}

Post #296,517

by boxley

11/28/07 10:29:11 AM

a living wage in todays economy couple 1 child

2 bedroom apt $700
gas to get to work assuming a 20 mile round trip 5 times a week and 20 mpg (poor folks car) $120
phone $35 (minimum local costs)
utilities $250
Food $60 per week, base grub $240
clothing allowance $100
medical allowance $60 (one visit to a doc per month)
cable $35

this allows no slack for car repairs, medicine or any leasure activities much less furniture, pots, pans or oil for the car.
local rates for retailers are $8.00 per hour maximum 35 hours a week to keep them part time with no bennies and requires a wage of $9.00 per hour to cover the above nut. Kinda tight If you ask me.
thanx,
bill

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep

reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]

Post #296,520

by bepatient

11/28/07 12:29:37 PM

Overstating

you've been watching the Walmart "documentaries", havent you?

May Co and other retailers don't have the same practices of underpaying..so what you are doing is assuming that everybody operates the same way.

1) X-mas help is part time business and filled by flex workers, high school/college kids that are not supporting families. Many of the others are second workers in a homestead. (as is my sis-in law and my niece in law).

2) Full time jobs at retailers do exist and do pay benefits. Not everyone is an hourly front-liner.

3) Your estimates are a shade on the high side.

And there are places where it could be much worse to be unskilled labor...really my main point. I survived 2 years at min wage (5.75). Was it fun? No. Was it possible? Yes. (at least in the part of WV where I was located). Could I have raised a family on it. Not a chance. (your point).

Too much of today's music is fashionable crap dressed as artistry._{Adrian Belew}

Post #296,521

by Another Scott

11/28/07 12:37:48 PM

Ah, the good old days... I remember $2.90/h. ;-)

[link|http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.html|Minimum Wage History]. It sure didn't feel like ~$8+ an hour at the time, though.

Cheers,
Scott.
(Who is ambivalent about "living wage" rules, but thinks the federal minimum wage is too low.)

[link|http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=006978452673906630972%3A_5xhnlvpsn4|IWeThey Custom Search Engine]

Post #296,522

by boxley

11/28/07 12:44:45 PM

local prices, local wages

you are right, some retailers have full time with bennies. BJ pays 10.50 an hr for those. I know a woman who has 3 kids that works there, luckily her ex helps out with child support.
thanx,
bill

Post #296,602

by imric

11/30/07 6:22:37 PM

Ummm. No. Dead on.

I was there, remember?

And _I_ was working graveyard at $10/hour - pay that was extraordinary for Macy's. If it wasn't for the fact that I worked like a dog all the time, the job would have gone to the many others that wanted it.

1) X-mas help is part time business and filled by flex workers, high school/college kids that are not supporting families. Many of the others are second workers in a homestead. (as is my sis-in law and my niece in law).

Nope. By either those 'in' with the managers and were permitted overtime (NOT the norm) or by adults using these extra jobs to be able to survive. At least that's the way it was at Macy's.

2) Full time jobs at retailers do exist and do pay benefits. Not everyone is an hourly front-liner.

The ONLY jobs that paid anything more than a wage you could scrape by on were the managers above the sales managers. And THEY weren't rich.

3) Your estimates are a shade on the high side.

Not in my experience.

And it's gotten worse than when you got min wage in WVU. Hell, I wouldn't have believed how bad it is until I experienced it.

I only survived because I had good friends (you included!) that helped. I met people there that did not have friends better off than them. I've helped them when I could since.

The Christmas season and extra work that it provides is vital for the rank and file of America.

Imric's Tips for Living

Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.

Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.

Post #296,536

by static

11/28/07 7:53:13 PM

Morgan Spurlock tried it.

He of "Super Size Me" fame. He built a TV series around someone spending 30 days being in a lifestyle really different - usually opposite - to their own. He began the series by he and his wife trying to spend 30 days on minimum wage in Columbus Ohio.

[link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_30_Days_episodes|30 Days by Morgon Spurlock]

Wade.

Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please

-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne.

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