Higher minimum wages demanded by McDonald's workers is tanking the company.

X-Runner wrote:

econ101wejo wrote:

Higher prices passed along to consumers.

If they are getting lower sales dollars due to higher prices of their products then it is because they priced their products wrong.

Higher cost should only hurt their margins not their sales.

Same end result, no? CEOs and businesses in general are judged by profit, which is related to both total sales and profit margin.

A lower profit margin with the same level of sales would still lead to restructuring, which often means layoffs.

Debs wrote:

What's a wage when you can't live on it?

Generally that would be considered a starter wage. It's meant to introduce people to the working world and providing experience, which can be used to improve ones job prospects.

Only 2.6% of workers make the federal minimum wage. Of these, 50% are under the age of 24, a quarter are teenagers. Most live in the south, where the cost of living is lower. The current minimum wage is in line with historic highs.

vxcv wrote:

X-Runner wrote:

If they are getting lower sales dollars due to higher prices of their products then it is because they priced their products wrong.

Higher cost should only hurt their margins not their sales.

Same end result, no? CEOs and businesses in general are judged by profit, which is related to both total sales and profit margin.

A lower profit margin with the same level of sales would still lead to restructuring, which often means layoffs.

OK. But they aren't getting the same level of sales. Sales declined.

I am not saying that lower profits are OK.

I am saying that higher wages would not lead to lower sales like the subject line implies.

If sales were steady and the complaint was declining profits then you'd at least have argument about the problem being rising wages.

They're still doing pretty well.

In 2013 they made over $5.5 Billion dollars of profit off of $28 Billion dollars of company sales (nice 20% margin) and they had $70 Billion in franchise sales.

So what we are crying about here is the stock price takes small hit for a minute and some shareholders net worth has a smaller number for a quarter.

The wage workers shall now suffer!

They seem to have a nice gig with 35,000 restaurants.

Obvious conclusion: The company is tanking.

EmersonLakeandPalmer wrote:

Nice Try! Wages have nothing to do with MCD's failing. They serve bad food and more people are starting to realize it. You can't keep the doors open when less and less people want to come in.

Why does anyone still eat at McDonald's? The food is horrible- it's not like, it's unhealthy but tastes soooo good. It sucks- plain and simple.

So-- why would workers' demands for a higher minimum wage hurt profit?

Wouldn't they actually have to be paid the wage?

I love their southwest salads. Too bad all the hipsters around here are too busy smelling their own farts, to acknowledge McD's decent selection nowadays. Where else I going to get a salad that tastes so good for less than $5.

Mclovin dem healthy salads wrote:

I love their southwest salads. Too bad all the hipsters around here are too busy smelling their own farts, to acknowledge McD's decent selection nowadays. Where else I going to get a salad that tastes so good for less than $5.

+1 their fries as well

First job I ever had was in McDonalds. In three weeks over Christmas I learned about cleanliness, quality assurance, modern management, leadership. The team were from all possible backgrounds but we worked well together and had good fun.

Ever since then I trusted them to give me a clean, reasonable-priced meal with no surprises anywhere in the world. I am rarely disappointed.

From about 2000 to 2008, I trusted them to provide clean, safe break on a long car journey across Europe with play areas to allow kids to let off steam, usually a nice place to sit outside, and to serve an excellent freshly ground espresso for one euro (about half to a third of the price of a coffee shop). In the last decade I have also found them a great place to get on WiFi and do an hour of work.

But the grubbiest branches and the worst service have always been in the USA (alongside some really good ones). In most of Europe they are spotless. And the French somehow do amazing things to make it taste even better.

Note to Costas from the brand-new Newbury branch circa 1984, wherever you are: you are still a role model to me.

dfsdfsa wrote:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/23/investing/mcdonalds-earnings/index.html?iid=HP_LN

What's a higher wage when you get laid off?

Just when I think the right wing couldn't get more moronic, they up their game. I will confess, there is absolutely no doubt they they are the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet now.

This "meme" that's been going on for months now is abstracted from reality in several ways. First off they haven't gotten wage increases yet, so the fact that they're just asking can't have affected prices, and thus scared away customers. Sure, SeaTac and a couple states passed increases but no way they had anything to do with costs yet. Second, being a legal corporate citizen MCD is obligated to post statements of events that could affect earnings. For example when the Mad Cow scare was going on their earning statements stated it was a factor. Since I have a few hundred shares of MCD I can state they've made no statements saying that their forecast is reduced due to higher labor rates due to minimum wage increases. Lastly, the only noted impact to MCD sales due to minimum wage is not because they'd given wage increases, but because they haven't. Their sales have been impacted by some of the boycotts of minimum wage paying companies. So in reality if they'd just stop being insufferable pricks and pay a living wage their sales would most likely go up because then they'd be the good guys.

Now I realize that stupid people like yourself can't wait for the next opportunity bend over and spread those cheeks wide for ol' Limbaugh or Hannity to blow some smoke up there unobstructed, but maybe you should consider that for a change you could check a few facts and not look like such a fucking idiot.

Look at the average McDonald's worker.

Now look at the average Chick-fil-A worker.

That is the reason McDonald's is tanking. They are hiring crap employees. Chick-fil-A gets bright high schoolers and younger college kids. McDonald's gets people on parole.

The Cons are so screwed up now they don't realize their own self-inflicted con-tradictions.

"No Free Lunch!" cried their guru Milton Friedman.

Now cons complain about the quality of MCD's (and Walmart's etc) employees. Scum, they say, who should quit and go back to school (somehow) or should have paid more attention in high school (whose teachers these same cons also pour insults upon).

You get what you pay for. You want more articulate servers at MCD?

Pay for it. You want nicer looking people, more in your economic class, at Walmart? Pay.

Oh? It hurts sales? It takes value from shareholders?

Well now you really have a con-tradiction, don't you?

NEcommie wrote:

[...] the quality of MCD's (and Walmart's etc) employees. Scum, they say [...]

I guess it depends on areas and regions of the country (or the world). There is probably crazy variation. But I can speak for authority on my area: I've found Walmart employees to be quite decent and helpful. Down to earth people.

(I'm not saying I support the practices and history of the corporation) Whereas, pretty much every fast food place in my area and the majority of fast casual places, too, have consistently terrible service. If you're looking for hassles, mood killers and looking to sour your day, you can depend on them to deliver. Seems like thugs, felons, douchebags, slobs, incompetent immigrants with poor or no English skills or bad attitude middle-class and lower middle-class people are the staffing pool. Reflecting on it right now reinforces my desire to prepare food for myself and put in the work for groceries. I don't have land for a garden yet (every homeowner should aim for one--gardens are glorious)... come spring-time I'm going to start picking wild edibles. Get super powers for running.

Actually, in much of the service industry of daily life, bad service seems to predominate as does negativity on the roads and in society. When I get good service I let them know and am hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise. I passed by an elderly man cleaning up after his dog and such is the state of today's society that I felt compelled to praise him heartily. It's a common every day occurrence of able bodied adults in the prime of their life and health, with healthy incomes and comfortable lives, who don't clean up after their dogs.

I purposely Shit on the floor in Public restrooms

Hingle McCringleberry wrote:

I purposely Shit on the floor in Public restrooms

Hingle I'm sure you are not smart enough to know if you are shitting or not!

That is a great way of talking your way of having to care about other people's misfortune. If you can't live on the wage than that wage is too low for an employer to be getting away with paying. "Oh I'll just get a better job" is not as simple as you put it. It's little better than saying "why don't you just buy more money"

here's a thought: live your life in accordance with what you can afford. most everything in life is a CHOICE, with obvious exceptions such as sex, race, parents, etc. fast forward to obtaining this minimum wage job which, at $8.00/hr equals $1280/month, before taxes. assuming this wage earner is NOT smart enough to set up their deductions properly (as they will be paying close to zero taxes at the end of the year, so shouldn't have anything deducted), they'll likely see about $1000 net every month. Rent=$300-$400, Car expenses=$150-$200, Food=$250ish. Sure it only leaves around $100-$200 every month for other necessities, but I'm also going with CA pricing, whereas it's much cheaper elsewhere. ergo, a single person CAN afford to get by (emphasis on "get by") on a low wage (and low skill) job. Notice that the CHOICE to add a child to the mix totally changes this situation. Someone please explain to me why Mickey D's (or any other corporation) should pay a person more simply b/c of a CHOICE which that person made- I don't think it can be done, at least in a rational mannerfinally, to the poster who compared Chik-fil-A and McD's, yes, spot on about the hiring practices. And yes, at my local chik fil a, there's multiple african americans, so don't even try to argue that stupid racist BS angle.

hummm wrote:

Debs wrote:

What's a wage when you can't live on it?

Generally that would be considered a starter wage. It's meant to introduce people to the working world and providing experience, which can be used to improve ones job prospects.

Only 2.6% of workers make the federal minimum wage. Of these, 50% are under the age of 24, a quarter are teenagers. Most live in the south, where the cost of living is lower. The current minimum wage is in line with historic highs.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/

Carnivore 69 wrote:

Look at the average McDonald's worker.

Now look at the average Chick-fil-A worker.

That is the reason McDonald's is tanking. They are hiring crap employees. Chick-fil-A gets bright high schoolers and younger college kids. McDonald's gets people on parole.

What a load of garbage. Look at a plate of Chick-fil-A food. Now look at a plate of McDonald's food. That is the reason McDonald's is tanking. Their food is actually not cheap-- I can get an extremely filling, fairly healthy, GOOD TASTING meal from Chipotle for the same cost as a non-filling, unhealthy, flat out bad meal from McDonald's that may or may not give me constipation. Or I could buy 6 of their "cheesburgers" and feel disgusting. You know what I don't care about? I don't care about how many tattoos the dude behind the counter has. I eat at McDonald's for one reason: I want to eat something warm and nothing else is around. I don't know if I've changed or they have, but lately their burgers are so bad that I'll just stick to a convenience store hot dog.

econ101wejo wrote:

Higher prices passed along to consumers.

X-Runner wrote:

How could worker's higher wages lead to lower sales?

But McDonald's isn't actually paying higher wages now. They're just being pressured to do so. Whatever problems they're having are not because they're paying higher wages.