Restaurants are adding labor surcharges to help offset minimum wage increases

[frigidweirdo]

Not all restaurants will be adding the surcharge. If you have that much of a problem with it, eat where it isn't imposed.

If you increase labor costs to restaurants of 40% then those costs WILL get passed along to the consumer. The profit margins for the restaurant industry are far too small to absorb such a massive hit.

But why are restaurants letting it get to that point in the first place? You put up prices to go in line with what is happening around you. You can't force your workers to live below the poverty line just so you can have great profits.

You know nothing of the restaurant business.

Oh really? And how much, exactly, do you know about ME?

 

[Papageorgio]

Not all restaurants will be adding the surcharge. If you have that much of a problem with it, eat where it isn't imposed.

If you increase labor costs to restaurants of 40% then those costs WILL get passed along to the consumer. The profit margins for the restaurant industry are far too small to absorb such a massive hit.

But why are restaurants letting it get to that point in the first place? You put up prices to go in line with what is happening around you. You can't force your workers to live below the poverty line just so you can have great profits.

You know nothing of the restaurant business.

Oh really? And how much, exactly, do you know about ME?

From your posts you know nothing about how business is run.

 

[danielpalos]

And our current Minimum Wage is an absolute embarrassment. We can and should do much better.

You have done nothing to justify your allegations.

just hearsay and soothsay from the right wing.

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Apparently math isn't your strong suit. The first wrong assumption you're making is that the higher wage person has a job at all. 3-4% increased not inflation but wages is a problem if your entire business is making 5%. Are you too dumb to follow that?

Labor is a significant cost, but not the only cost a business has; any more hearsay and soothsay from the right wing?

 

[danielpalos]

We're the richest nation on the planet. We can afford to help our fellow Americans out.

We're the richest nation in the world BECAUSE anyone and everyone is allowed to work hard, advance and enrich THEMSELVES more than they ever dreamed possible. If someone makes bad decisions in their life, that's on them, not me.

Petulant former President Barack Hussein Obama worked hard to shift as many people as possible from the payrolls to the welfare rolls. By enticing workers to the welfare rolls as opposed to payrolls he made them dependent. When welfare ran out, they applied, and millions fraudulently got themselves onto the disability rolls. This fraud hurts not only the taxpayer but also those legitimately in need of the disability payments.

Disgusting!

Did you hear about the corrupt Booosh economic meltdown? lol

the right wing didn't have any problem when their, "Ivy League MBA", almost single handedly overturned a maxim that states, it merely takes massive federal budget surpluses, to make more money.

 

[danielpalos]

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Where has there been 3-4% inflation? What does that have to do with the minimum wage?

My first "job" I earned $0,75 per hour working at a tropical fish farm in South Miami, before that I delivered newspapers. At sixteen I started working for $0.85 per hour bagging groceries at a large grocery store near our home. The minimum wage was $1.00 per hour. Because we also earned tips, we could be paid less. It was GREAT we made a LOT of money.

Tell me, at any point did I merit a "living wage"? Of course NOT. I was learning how to work.

being capitalist enough to make like, "Henry Ford" and double wages in order to achieve gains from efficiency.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Restaurant diners are footing the bill for rising minimum wages.

I go out to dinner and lunch (or have it delivered in) quite a lot -- six to ten times a week. I haven't noticed any material increase in the prices I've been paying. Fast food restaurants seem to be moving toward automation as a way to keep operating costs low.

I have to wonder whether the people working in the restaurants I frequent are even affected by the minimum wage increase. AFAIK, the waiters don't earn minimum wage as their earnings are mostly tip-based. The hosts are paid more than minimum wage as are the kitchen staff -- chef, sous chefs and line prep person -- except perhaps the dishwasher(s).

From the OP's cited article:

Many restaurant owners say they have added surcharges because jacking up menu prices can turn off customers who are sensitive to how much a sandwich or bowl of soup should cost.

How absurd! Does a customer have an option whereby they can obtain the bowl of soup without paying the surcharge? If not the bowl of soup still costs the same thing. Moreover, have any of you actually made soup? The way restaurants do it, it's not a labor intensive thing....you take leftovers and scraps from the stuff you serve as entrees and appetizers, add water salt, pepper, maybe toss in rice, noodles or beans, and heat it at a low temp for a long time. It's not like a steak or rack of lamb or whatever that's made to order.

To the extent restaurants are separating their charges by labor and food, they are doing so to make a point, but what they aren't doing is showing anyone what their "before and after" food and labor costs were. They are just leveraging the fact that the wage hike has been widely publicised and is a "thing" as a result.

the average customer check at casual-dining restaurants, which doesn’t include surcharges, rose to $14.70 last year, up nearly 11% from 2012.

Okay....So we're talking a $1.62 increase. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying that a $1.62 is a great burden to the customers of the those restaurants. I realize I'm being a bit callous with other people's money by writing that, but the fact remains that we're still talking about $1.62. It's just not enough to alter the business viability of the restaurants or their customers' willingness to spend it to have a time out with friends or family.​

/---- Only $1.62? Do you recall the discussion about throwing a frog into boiling water and he will jump out, but put him in cold water and slowly raise the heat and the frog will cook without realizing it. Only $1.62??? What happens in a year when they decide $16.00 minimum wage is only fair? What will the price increase be then?

/---- Only $1.62?... What happens in a year when they decide $16.00 minimum wage is only fair? What will the price increase be then?

What is it called when one presents an argument that relies upon creating concern about events that have not transpired and for which there is no rational basis for expecting they actually will come to pass as stated? Click here to find out.

 

[Rooster]

That's the way it is now. Try reality.

No, it's not.

At some point, someone (likely a minimum age wage earner) decided that he should be able to support a family of four on $7.50 an hour.

Deciding that it should be like that, however, doesn't make it so...

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Also noticed how you side stepped all the links proving your Democrats are the party of the rich.

The party of the GOOD rich who want to raise their own taxes and invest in America. Not
the lying cheating greedy idiot GOP rich, dupe.

Democrats the GOOD kind of rich? That's rich.

Like Hollywood rich. They aren't usually greedy or conservative. They know they hit the work lotto and don't mind paying a progressive tax

You know this, how? Got a source or just imagination?

Just look at how you Republicans attacked them during the Oscars.

You mean unlike Hollywood liberals do to Trump and Republicans all the time?


Sent from my iPhone using USMessageBoard.com

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

And the worst thing that ever happened to middle-class workers.

Unions brought everyone's wages up. The GOP have destroyed unions and no coincidence wages have gone down

The GOP had nothing to do with the unions. That's just urban legend. The Republicans never supported unions, but that's a far cry from destroying them.

Unions destroyed themselves. They were good at the beginning, but got too greedy as time went on.

Yup, Reagan was a Dem and the GOP is against Right to Work etc etc...

You liberals are all for pro-choice except when it comes to working.

We know collective bargaining raises wages. You don't get to go work for a union shop, benefit from the union and then not participate.

We know what a company would do with that.

You have a choice. Work for another company

I like our way better: work for any company you desire and allow the company to make the hiring decisions. Nobody in free America should be told they can't get a job because of some union, or that they have to join a union against their will just to earn a living.


Sent from my iPhone using USMessageBoard.com

 

[hadit]

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Where has there been 3-4% inflation? What does that have to do with the minimum wage?

My first "job" I earned $0,75 per hour working at a tropical fish farm in South Miami, before that I delivered newspapers. At sixteen I started working for $0.85 per hour bagging groceries at a large grocery store near our home. The minimum wage was $1.00 per hour. Because we also earned tips, we could be paid less. It was GREAT we made a LOT of money.

Tell me, at any point did I merit a "living wage"? Of course NOT. I was learning how to work.

being capitalist enough to make like, "Henry Ford" and double wages in order to achieve gains from efficiency.

And there's the stupid again. I nuked this multiple times, yet you keep going back to it. That's kind of dumb.

 

[danielpalos]

That's the way it is now. Try reality.

No, it's not.

At some point, someone (likely a minimum age wage earner) decided that he should be able to support a family of four on $7.50 an hour.

Deciding that it should be like that, however, doesn't make it so...

you think that is Bad; the right wing thinks they can "wage wars on multiple fronts" while lowering taxes.

 

[danielpalos]

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Where has there been 3-4% inflation? What does that have to do with the minimum wage?

My first "job" I earned $0,75 per hour working at a tropical fish farm in South Miami, before that I delivered newspapers. At sixteen I started working for $0.85 per hour bagging groceries at a large grocery store near our home. The minimum wage was $1.00 per hour. Because we also earned tips, we could be paid less. It was GREAT we made a LOT of money.

Tell me, at any point did I merit a "living wage"? Of course NOT. I was learning how to work.

being capitalist enough to make like, "Henry Ford" and double wages in order to achieve gains from efficiency.

And there's the stupid again. I nuked this multiple times, yet you keep going back to it. That's kind of dumb.

dear, you have nothing but fallacy. that doesn't count.

Historical fact: Henry Ford doubled autoworker wages not minimum wages. You are claiming capitalists cannot do it in modern times.

Why expect more of the poor, in these same, modern times.

 

[hadit]

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Where has there been 3-4% inflation? What does that have to do with the minimum wage?

My first "job" I earned $0,75 per hour working at a tropical fish farm in South Miami, before that I delivered newspapers. At sixteen I started working for $0.85 per hour bagging groceries at a large grocery store near our home. The minimum wage was $1.00 per hour. Because we also earned tips, we could be paid less. It was GREAT we made a LOT of money.

Tell me, at any point did I merit a "living wage"? Of course NOT. I was learning how to work.

being capitalist enough to make like, "Henry Ford" and double wages in order to achieve gains from efficiency.

And there's the stupid again. I nuked this multiple times, yet you keep going back to it. That's kind of dumb.

dear, you have nothing but fallacy. that doesn't count.

Historical fact: Henry Ford doubled autoworker wages not minimum wages. You are claiming capitalists cannot do it in modern times.

Why expect more of the poor, in these same, modern times.

Apparently, you just weren't paying attention the last time I nuked that stupid argument. We'll just leave it at, you are wrong, I proved you wrong, and yet you continue to spew nonsense.

 

[danielpalos]

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Where has there been 3-4% inflation? What does that have to do with the minimum wage?

My first "job" I earned $0,75 per hour working at a tropical fish farm in South Miami, before that I delivered newspapers. At sixteen I started working for $0.85 per hour bagging groceries at a large grocery store near our home. The minimum wage was $1.00 per hour. Because we also earned tips, we could be paid less. It was GREAT we made a LOT of money.

Tell me, at any point did I merit a "living wage"? Of course NOT. I was learning how to work.

being capitalist enough to make like, "Henry Ford" and double wages in order to achieve gains from efficiency.

And there's the stupid again. I nuked this multiple times, yet you keep going back to it. That's kind of dumb.

dear, you have nothing but fallacy. that doesn't count.

Historical fact: Henry Ford doubled autoworker wages not minimum wages. You are claiming capitalists cannot do it in modern times.

Why expect more of the poor, in these same, modern times.

Apparently, you just weren't paying attention the last time I nuked that stupid argument. We'll just leave it at, you are wrong, I proved you wrong, and yet you continue to spew nonsense.

No dear; all You have is fallacy. Diversion is just a normal fallacy, for You.

 

[Dschrute3]

Ok, Archie Bunker. Sure thing. Stop beating Edith and get real. You're just demonizing so you can feel 'justified' in being so hateful and greedy.

Food Stamps Exchanged For Drugs, Weapons, Contraband - Judicial Watch

Detroit Lotto winner found dead.

Incredibly rare scenario. One that you personally will never encounter. So stop trying to play it off that all struggling fellow Americans are like this woman. Because that's just not reality. You just wanna believe it's the norm so you can justify treating fellow Americans poorly.

What can I do? If you want to live in your own make believe world, there is nothing I can do to help you. I can post ten thousand stories just like this one, and as long as you insist on putting the palms of your hands against your ears and sing aloud, then you're not going to acknowledge one of them.

I told you about my experiences at work, I told you about my experiences with these people at the store, I told you about my experiences with these people in my very own neighborhood, and everything I told you were anomalies in your mind.

In your mind, poor people are dad and the kids sitting at the kitchen table under a light socket hanging from it's wires with a 25 watt bulb in it. Dad is in his dirty torn tee shirt tired from working 12 hour days, and the kids too are dirty wearing hand me down clothing. Everybody is skinny because they don't eat properly, and mom is sweating over a pot of stew trying to sneak in more water to make it go farther. In your mind, this is reality to you.

This woman isn't the norm. And i'm sure you greedy white Republican folks know that. She isn't representative of average struggling fellow Americans. Y'all just wanna live your hate fantasies. It helps you feel you're justified in hating fellow Americans. You see them as the 'Bad Guy.' But in reality, you're the Bad Guy.

Yes, I am the bad guy that thinks people who are physically and mentally capable of working should work. I'm the bad guy that thinks if you force employers to pay more for labor than the labor is worth, it will have a negative effect on our economy, and may drive even more jobs overseas as we have witnessed the last couple of decades.

Maybe this woman isn't "the norm" but there are plenty like her who just never took it to the limit. I see them at my grocery store with the SNAP's card with four kids and a SUV she puts her groceries in.

I would love to have a SUV; even one with a plow. But I can't afford it. I can't afford to buy expensive vehicles, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to afford the gas.

There is something seriously wrong in a society where the so-callled poor have more than the working. As I stated, I work every day to live in the suburbs, and the lowlifes next door to me don't work a day and can do the same. But in reality, I'm the bad guy???

More hateful demonizing generalizations. Ya ever think that maybe poor struggling fellow Americans aren't the 'Bad Guy.' Maybe it's y'all who are the Bad Guy? Think on that some.

 

[Dschrute3]

Restaurant diners are footing the bill for rising minimum wages.

I go out to dinner and lunch (or have it delivered in) quite a lot -- six to ten times a week. I haven't noticed any material increase in the prices I've been paying. Fast food restaurants seem to be moving toward automation as a way to keep operating costs low.

I have to wonder whether the people working in the restaurants I frequent are even affected by the minimum wage increase. AFAIK, the waiters don't earn minimum wage as their earnings are mostly tip-based. The hosts are paid more than minimum wage as are the kitchen staff -- chef, sous chefs and line prep person -- except perhaps the dishwasher(s).

From the OP's cited article:

Many restaurant owners say they have added surcharges because jacking up menu prices can turn off customers who are sensitive to how much a sandwich or bowl of soup should cost.

How absurd! Does a customer have an option whereby they can obtain the bowl of soup without paying the surcharge? If not the bowl of soup still costs the same thing. Moreover, have any of you actually made soup? The way restaurants do it, it's not a labor intensive thing....you take leftovers and scraps from the stuff you serve as entrees and appetizers, add water salt, pepper, maybe toss in rice, noodles or beans, and heat it at a low temp for a long time. It's not like a steak or rack of lamb or whatever that's made to order.

To the extent restaurants are separating their charges by labor and food, they are doing so to make a point, but what they aren't doing is showing anyone what their "before and after" food and labor costs were. They are just leveraging the fact that the wage hike has been widely publicised and is a "thing" as a result.

the average customer check at casual-dining restaurants, which doesn’t include surcharges, rose to $14.70 last year, up nearly 11% from 2012.

Okay....So we're talking a $1.62 increase. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying that a $1.62 is a great burden to the customers of the those restaurants. I realize I'm being a bit callous with other people's money by writing that, but the fact remains that we're still talking about $1.62. It's just not enough to alter the business viability of the restaurants or their customers' willingness to spend it to have a time out with friends or family.​

/---- Only $1.62? Do you recall the discussion about throwing a frog into boiling water and he will jump out, but put him in cold water and slowly raise the heat and the frog will cook without realizing it. Only $1.62??? What happens in a year when they decide $16.00 minimum wage is only fair? What will the price increase be then?

/---- Only $1.62?... What happens in a year when they decide $16.00 minimum wage is only fair? What will the price increase be then?

What is it called when one presents an argument that relies upon creating concern about events that have not transpired and for which there is no rational basis for expecting they actually will come to pass as stated? Click here to find out.

Anytime you propose helping struggling Americans out, greedy white Republican dude loses it and goes into loony 'Sky is Falling-Mode.' And that's interesting, because they have the exact opposite reaction when it comes to giving the filthy rich their breaks. Says everything about them, no?

But raising the Minimum Wage will not result in the sky falling. It never has and it never will. It's just greedy white Republican dude fear mongering nonsense. This surcharge thing is pretty dirty, it's a way of punishing the slaves. Its intention is to turn the People against the Workers. But i'll pay the surcharge if i have to. I'll take comfort in knowing some hard-working fellow Americans are getting treated better. It certainly won't turn me against the Workers.

 

[Skull Pilot]

And our current Minimum Wage is an absolute embarrassment. We can and should do much better.

You have done nothing to justify your allegations.

just hearsay and soothsay from the right wing.

three to four percent price inflation, is what the right wing has a problem with.

Apparently math isn't your strong suit. The first wrong assumption you're making is that the higher wage person has a job at all. 3-4% increased not inflation but wages is a problem if your entire business is making 5%. Are you too dumb to follow that?

Labor is a significant cost, but not the only cost a business has; any more hearsay and soothsay from the right wing?

Labor is often THE largest expense

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Anytime you propose helping struggling Americans out, greedy white Republican dude loses it and goes into loony 'Sky is Falling-Mode.' And that's interesting, because they have the exact opposite reaction when it comes to giving the filthy rich their breaks. Says everything about them, no?

Sure does. It says we believe that when a person makes money, they should be allowed to keep it vs forcing somebody to overpay their help.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Food Stamps Exchanged For Drugs, Weapons, Contraband - Judicial Watch

Detroit Lotto winner found dead.

Incredibly rare scenario. One that you personally will never encounter. So stop trying to play it off that all struggling fellow Americans are like this woman. Because that's just not reality. You just wanna believe it's the norm so you can justify treating fellow Americans poorly.

What can I do? If you want to live in your own make believe world, there is nothing I can do to help you. I can post ten thousand stories just like this one, and as long as you insist on putting the palms of your hands against your ears and sing aloud, then you're not going to acknowledge one of them.

I told you about my experiences at work, I told you about my experiences with these people at the store, I told you about my experiences with these people in my very own neighborhood, and everything I told you were anomalies in your mind.

In your mind, poor people are dad and the kids sitting at the kitchen table under a light socket hanging from it's wires with a 25 watt bulb in it. Dad is in his dirty torn tee shirt tired from working 12 hour days, and the kids too are dirty wearing hand me down clothing. Everybody is skinny because they don't eat properly, and mom is sweating over a pot of stew trying to sneak in more water to make it go farther. In your mind, this is reality to you.

This woman isn't the norm. And i'm sure you greedy white Republican folks know that. She isn't representative of average struggling fellow Americans. Y'all just wanna live your hate fantasies. It helps you feel you're justified in hating fellow Americans. You see them as the 'Bad Guy.' But in reality, you're the Bad Guy.

Yes, I am the bad guy that thinks people who are physically and mentally capable of working should work. I'm the bad guy that thinks if you force employers to pay more for labor than the labor is worth, it will have a negative effect on our economy, and may drive even more jobs overseas as we have witnessed the last couple of decades.

Maybe this woman isn't "the norm" but there are plenty like her who just never took it to the limit. I see them at my grocery store with the SNAP's card with four kids and a SUV she puts her groceries in.

I would love to have a SUV; even one with a plow. But I can't afford it. I can't afford to buy expensive vehicles, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to afford the gas.

There is something seriously wrong in a society where the so-callled poor have more than the working. As I stated, I work every day to live in the suburbs, and the lowlifes next door to me don't work a day and can do the same. But in reality, I'm the bad guy???

More hateful demonizing generalizations. Ya ever think that maybe poor struggling fellow Americans aren't the 'Bad Guy.' Maybe it's y'all who are the Bad Guy? Think on that some.

I already did hence my above response. Perhaps it is you that should think about it.

 

[ricechickie]

And then there's the horse who never gets a decent bite of the carrot and falls down dead from exhaustion. But by God, that horse had self-respect!

The part you can't see is that people come here barely speaking the language and do well. some very well. If you can't get a decent bite of the carrot it's not the carrot's fault. It means you lived life as a victim in a land of opportunity.

Bullshit. Of course it's not the carrot's fault; it's the fault of the asshole dangling the carrot just out of reach.