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CEO who set his firm's minimum wage to $70K hits hard times
Daily Mail ^ | August 2, 2015 | DailyMail.com Reporter

Posted on 08/02/2015 11:51:39 AM PDT by rickmichaels

He hit headlines earlier this year for declaring every one of his 120 employees would earn a minimum wage of $70,000.

But now Dan Price - CEO of Seattle-based credit card processing firm Gravity Payments, who lowered his $1 million salary to better compensate employees - has fallen on hard times as a result of his bold move.

However the 31-year-old, who is renting out his house to keep the salary increases going, refuses to give up.

'I'm working as hard as I ever worked to make it work,' he told The New York Times.

'I haven’t made this little amount of money since I was in my early 20s.'

Two weeks after making the announcement in April, two of Price's 'most valued' employees quit.

They said they were angry that lower-skilled employees were being paid a similar salary.

'He gave raises to people who have the least skills and are the least equipped to do the job, and the ones who were taking on the most didn't get much of a bump,' Gravity's financial manager Maisey McMaster told The Times.

McMaster, 26, who has quit the company, said Price treated her as if she was being selfish when she told him of her concerns with the wage changes.

'That really hurt me,' she said.

'I was talking about not only me, but everyone.'

Clients also left, worried the salary increases would cost them more in fees.

Then Price's older brother, Lucas Price, a co-founder of Gravity Payments, filed a lawsuit against his sibling.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: ceo; danprice; gravitypayments; maiseymcmaster; maximumwage; minimumwage; seattle; washington
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To: rickmichaels

21 posted on 08/02/2015 12:34:01 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< | :)~)
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To: HamiltonJay

I read the article,. I did not see where they claim they have had an increase in customers. But, even if there was an increase, it would take a massive influx of new customers to cover the 50% plus increase in labor cost. This will not end well.


22 posted on 08/02/2015 12:47:26 PM PDT by martinidon
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To: rickmichaels
Thanks for the advice Baraq, I'll get back to Seattle and do it right away!


23 posted on 08/02/2015 12:49:28 PM PDT by nascarnation (Impeach, convict, deport)
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To: rickmichaels
'I haven’t made this little amount of money since I was in my early 20s.'

It is good for an owner to try to personally consume less and save more in order to invest more in his business.He is able to increase his production expenditure and demand more for labor and/or demand more for capital goods.But that does not mean that he should pay higher than market level wage rates and pay higher than market prices for capital goods.

24 posted on 08/02/2015 12:58:07 PM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: Norm Lenhart

> Men who ride unicorns should not be handling other peoples money.

We think alike...: )


25 posted on 08/02/2015 1:05:02 PM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: jsanders2001

I am shocked that when this idiot’s liberal PR stunt went public that he didn’t lose all his customers. Apparently he attracted other Uniquestrians.


26 posted on 08/02/2015 1:08:22 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: rickmichaels

and the RATS, take another one in the.........HA ha!!!

27 posted on 08/02/2015 1:12:03 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: nhwingut

I doubt the mail room kid is working any harder than he ever did. In fact, he probably sits around and smiles a lot.


28 posted on 08/02/2015 1:33:03 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (Since you're so much smarter than me, don't waste your time insulting me. I won't understand it.)
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To: nascarnation

A love that doesn’t need to be spoken!


29 posted on 08/02/2015 3:08:23 PM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: DesertRhino

“The hard times seem to be trivial. Two whiners left because they want to make more than others who they deem less valuable. (not their call to make)

This only matters if they weren’t immediately replaced by two other people with similar skills. The story didn’t say those two jobs haven’t been filled to the satisfaction of the company. They likely found two skilled people, who believe in his concept, and like the idea of 70k a year.”

Thanks. Read this earlier and thought the same thing. It’s his company; he is free to make decisions. I frankly don’t understand the FR and other conservative outrage over this.


30 posted on 08/02/2015 5:31:04 PM PDT by suthener
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To: martinidon

Not the link from here that’s just an biasedly edited down claptrap. The original NYT article discusses that they have lost some customers but have gained others etc etc.

The linked article is a warped filtered ideologue spin.


31 posted on 08/02/2015 7:27:12 PM PDT by HamiltonJay
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