No employees no business

a reply to: Ohanka

The entire economy has been turned into a giant ponzi scheme.

If you ask me, it always has been. It's been well hidden though because in a true ponzi scheme there is no product, no service, merely monetary advantage based on borrowing from one hand to feed the other and so forth. The way it HAS been has offered product and or services but only as a by-product of the system. So Ponzi scheme, just with trinkets.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I’m paying up to 22 an hour. I’ve got employees but it’s not easy. I was paying 10-12.

On of the problems is that they don’t look at it as a chance to make more. They see it as a chance to work less.

I’ve increased cost 15% across the board. More next year. I don’t know where the breaking point is but it’s near.

The problem is not what businesses are paying. The problem is what it costs to live.

Restaurant jobs were never intended to be careers. They were always intended to be low-skilled jobs that almost anyone could do, to let people who did not yet have skills work while they acquired skills. The same goes for grocery store stockers, gas station attendants, cashiers, etc. The business model for restaurants was developed to take advantage of these situations.

There have always been those who just didn't have the drive to get better skills, and they have always been the poorest among us. That's on them. I'm speaking of those who want a better life and are willing to improve themselves to get it.

I already pay close to $20 for my wife and I to grab fast food. Sometimes I find deals or have coupons, but otherwise, yeah, close to $20. That limits how many times we can stop for fast food. I would rather eat once for $50 in a sit-down restaurant than three times at a drive-thru, so every nickel price increase is just more incentive for me to decide to live with the hunger a while longer until I get home. I don't think I am the only one who thinks like that.

So when a fast food place raises its price, it means fewer customers. Fewer customers mean less profit. Too little profit means the doors close... for good. That limits what the business can pay their employees. The business owners are not going to work for substandard wages either, you know.

The real problem is people deciding that they should be paid more just because they exist. There are help wanted signs everywhere, including the "day job" arrangements that have been mentioned. There is also high unemployment. Why? It's not because there aren't enough people to fill the positions. It's because there aren't enough people willing to work to fill those positions. Businesses need employees who will do their job, not skip work because they're busy playing "Call of Duty," and who will actually be nice to the customers. That is extremely hard to find and getting harder to find with every passing day. And it's not just fast food or restaurants or grocery stores... even engineering firms have trouble finding employees wiling to work!

I was in the hospital last Sunday... heart is trying to do weird beats and stuff. The doctor was good; he can be a little gruff sometimes because there's only so many doctors on call. But nurses do not get that luxury... there are nurses everywhere looking for work. All of mine were great, except for one. I had to have blood drawn twice and the nurse that drew it the second time literally blew out the vein and then continued to take the blood... with me kicking and screaming in pain! I later found out that it wasn't the first time she had done something like that, and she had even backtalked the doctor on call when approached about it. She's likely unemployed right now. That attitude is the real problem. She was not worth what a nurse makes (and I know they don't make a lot).

Some people complain about high living costs being a reason for businesses to pay more. In one respect it is, but it does no good for a business to be forced to close because it can't afford to pay high prices. We call that "cutting one's nose off to spite their face." That equates to businesses being forced to hire less people to do that same amount of work, and that puts more people out of work. But you can only cut labor so much, so at some point the prices have to rise. As prices rise over here, it increases costs over there. More people complain about needing more money to live, which raises labor prices, which raises the cost of living, which raises labor prices... it's an endless cycle.

And of course, the government, always ready to "help" (read: make the voters happy so they get re-elected) gets involved with minimum wage increases. Every minimum wage increase in history has raised the cost of living more than the raise. It doesn't increase the pay; it devalues the dollar. Sure, you're making an extra 40% working a menial job, but the cost of living rose by 60%. You actually lost money! You've got more green paper, but overall it's worth less than it was before.

Now we can't drop the minimum wage; people would literally starve. So we're trapped in this spiral of economic doom with no way out. The end result is one of two things: economic collapse (aka the "Great Depression") or revolution/invasion. And we have no one but our own lazy butts to blame when it comes. And in the end, guess who will be the winners? The big corporations who can weather the storm. Everyone else will lose... the people, the business owners, everyone who does not have an office in a high-rise with their name emblazoned on a solid oak door.

We live in a society where our poorest are wealthy compared to the wealthy in some other countries. But it isn't enough... we want more! More! More! Grab your seat belts and place you tables in the upright position, kiddies... we're going for a ride!

TheRedneck

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Are businesses stupid?

No employees = no business, which equals NO MONEY.

Would not be at all surprised, if in the very near future, retailers expect us to pull the goods out of the trucks at the dock, THEN self-checkout and bag.

Businesses aren’t stupid (though other terms come to mind). As one rep said to me “During Covid we discovered the bottom minimum staffing we can just squeeze by with”.

In my opinion, this is a result of a combination of increased cost of living while the wages have basically stayed the same. Sure, companies increased their wages a little bit, but the problem is they say inflation is at about 9%, when in reality everything most people pay for on a weekly to monthly basis has increased in cost by over 30% at a bare minimum and more likely to be over 50%. So effectively everyone took an immediate pay cut and a pretty hefty one. My 2 boys look at this economy and don't even want to participate and I really don't blame them.

a reply to: gb540

I really wonder if there will be many stores in the future.
Too many problems with theft, employees.

I think we are going to see more automated warehouses with drones or self driving trucks and like you said, we might have to pick up the product ourselves..

a reply to: gb540

Sounds like a breadline! Right off the truck!
Except you would pay for it....

a reply to: JAGStorm

Sounds hellish. No society. Just robotic humans.

We like going to grocery shop and going to stores so we can try the things out.
I believe that's a natural human instinct to want to interact, talk, touch, see.

Not sit at home hitting a button.

a reply to: JAGStorm

We are currently in an adjustment period caused by several factors.
The pandemic obviously closed a lot of employers and all of the shipping costs skyrocketed. Fuel prices have changed things and added a great deal to material costs too.

One huge factor that goes unnoticed is the baby boomers retiring. They were the biggest generation of workers and they are being replaced by a much smaller generation.
People don't understand the amount of skilled labor and experience we have lost and are losing.

It's going to be another couple years until the dust settles on the job market

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: JAGStorm

We are currently in an adjustment period caused by several factors.
The pandemic obviously closed a lot of employers and all of the shipping costs skyrocketed. Fuel prices have changed things and added a great deal to material costs too.

One huge factor that goes unnoticed is the baby boomers retiring. They were the biggest generation of workers and they are being replaced by a much smaller generation.
People don't understand the amount of skilled labor and experience we have lost and are losing.

It's going to be another couple years until the dust settles on the job market

You hit the nail on the head. Boomers were also the generation that was like “just be happy to have a job”.
They put up with a lot and were always taught to be loyal to employers.

Then we had Gen X, oh boy. Gen X got lectured to be loyal to employers BUT now employers weren’t loyal to the employee, in fact they used and abused them. The kids of Gen X saw their parents slave away just to get laid off, or if they stayed in a job fighting over a quarter raise while executives were making billions. It didn’t take much…

So Millenials, Gen Y, Gen Z are like F the establishment…. CAN WE BLAME THEM???

a reply to: JAGStorm

Honestly the pendulum has swung to far in the opposite direction.
I understand expecting better conditions than your parents and grandparents but it's hard to even get people to show up to work today.

a reply to: Bluntone22

My wife's coworkers conveniently 'test positive for covid' when they don't want to come in. So much so that her job (healthcare) eventually just said 'I don't care, you're coming into work anyway' lol

a reply to: chris_stibrany

My wife can't get her bank tellers to show up.
Good pay, easy work....

Don't matter

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: JAGStorm

Honestly the pendulum has swung to far in the opposite direction.
I understand expecting better conditions than your parents and grandparents but it's hard to even get people to show up to work today.

Has it though?
Maybe there aren't enough bodies? The people that can and want to work are already working better jobs.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: chris_stibrany

My wife can't get her bank tellers to show up.
Good pay, easy work....

Don't matter

Two people in my family worked as bank tellers and I wouldn't recommend that job to anyone.
It also is not good pay, easy maybe when not dealing with Karens, but it is very very low pay.

I just looked to make sure pay hasn't changed, places here are $15 an hour and not full time so no benefits.

super easy!....
i noticed my bank usually only has one teller now instead of 2.


a reply to: Bluntone22

originally posted by: sarahvital

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: JAGStorm

Places around here advertising "Work today, get paid today. End of shift". Theyve no real idea if youre ever comin back...

Know a woman who runs A+W Orders hopping cars, on the spkrs, talkin, pickups, change....alone. She doesnt stop.....

Chinese place...young lady doesnt answer phone, call back busy, call back on hold, call back...shes alone and pacing herself the 7-8 hrs 5 days they are open.

thats how the italian immigrants got their nick name.

daygo.

they didn't trust the boss for a weekly check.

before your time, i'm sure

I hope you were joking with this. Its not even close to true.

Diego was a nickname for deckhand in Portuguese. It became westernized as dago and used as a reference (not in polite conversation) to Portuguese and Spanish people but was later expanded to include Italians and others of Mediterranean decent.

a reply to: TheRedneck

I agree. Its not about the pay scale for the work being done. If it was, $15 an hour would be way too high. Its about entitled people believing that they are owed a living wage just because they have a job. Its the whole, "No one should have to work 2 or 3 jobs to make a living" thing. If you don't have marketable skills that are worth more than that, yes, you will have to work more than one job to make a living. No one owes you anything but you. You owe yourself a better skillset so you can earn the big bucks and live the life you want to live.

That would normally be enough said but for this generation a qualifier is required. Not only do you need to have that skillset, you will be required to use it on a daily basis. In other words, just having a piece of paper saying you have the skills gets you nothing. You need to demonstrate those skills 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for the rest of your life if you want to get paid.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Businesses need employees who will do their job, not skip work because they're busy playing "Call of Duty," and who will actually be nice to the customers.

Yup.....they can just call in and say I might have Covid, lie about getting tested, then say it was negative, and be back at work, and the employer is powerless to stop it, or even know what really happened.

originally posted by: Brotherman

originally posted by: Lysergic
Rents 1500 for a #ty 1 bedroom lol.

After taxes I don't make that much in 2 weeks.

As a welder? I don't believe you.