NY sales tax is 8%, so the state makes 2.5 times as much as wally does on a buckThe average person is also now a public school-indoctrinated collectivist moron
I don’t doubt this. This is all they have been told in school or by the media. Why would they think anything else?
That’s what I learned at Temple U.
Profit about 7%.
2015 Article … but I suspect, still pretty accurate. The point is…. The NEA failed AGAIN and the MSM succeeded AGAIN!!
“Average people” who have never owned a business or been responsible for a P&L.
What is the number for Apple?
A company making between 7 and 10 percent is doing okay, 17 percent is ideal.
How about this? Who makes more money on the sale of gasoline, evil money-grubbing oil companies, or the government?
I’m a bit surprised that the average person doesn’t think they average 473% profit.
The number of people I know who are convinced that “investors\businessmen(women), etc” have a “secret stash (Uncle Scrooge-style)” in their basement or otherwise squirreled away is frightening! I know some supposedly well-educated people who thinks this!
Economic & business ignorance in this country is overwhelming. No wonder “Romney’s 47%” is correct number.
ML/NJ
My company would be quite happy to see 7%. Our CEO often says to us, “you know we are supposed to be a for profit company.”
Our employees, competitors, suppliers, and governments all notice if our profits get out of line and corrections follow.
"Typical business" is of course a big fudge factor. It would be interesting to disaggregate it and ask people about specific sectors. Or to categorize businesses by degrees of risk. Or by essentiality of the product or service provided. Or by the intensity of regulation.
I'd be particularly interested in what figure people chose for "businesses that enjoy monopoly status by virtue of government regulations or licenses." Or words to that effect to characterize the radio and tv industry license to exclusive use of designated bandwidths. One of my humble proposals over the years has been to put broadcast licenses up for auction every five years. Or even better, take each broadcast license (i.e., the exclusive use of a designated bandwidth) and open it up to an annual lottery in which every U.S. citizen would be automatically entered. Hey -- the bandwidth belongs to us, not to the broadcasters. Let the broadcasters buy it from the lottery winners, subject to whatever usage restrictions the winner wishes to impose.
I’m not surprised by this. It’s what the people have learned from the MSM.
OTOH, the author of the article plays way to loose with the term “profit margin”, That term is normally used to specify the markup of goods sold from the the cost of those goods. Or something similar.
Bottom line profit is what counts. What counts even more is “cash flow”. Good accountants and tax attorneys can help push your taxable profit down and your cash flow up.
In the end it is consistent after taxes cash flow that determines the financial health of a company.
I don’t think the average person knows the difference between markup and gross profit.
It’s not the amount of cost of goods, it’s the amount of dollars from people. Cost of goods keeps the doors open. The amount of money is the profit margin. If I am willing to make a few cents less for a like product, not the same, just like, and I am willing to invest in the advertising to display that loss, I will make up the lost revenue of the cost with volume. Walmart, K-mart, Hancock Fabric, Costco... There are many that work in this manner.
Walmart, the most famous, showed a 3.1% profit margin in the graph. In 1995, they garnished a $94M pure profit after everyone was paid off. And Walmart’s annual gross profit for 2018’s business was $129.104B, a 1.7% increase from 2017. That increase isn’t in profit margin, it’s in sales from people. So getting stuck on profit margin is good for conversation, but has nothing to do with the amount of money.
rwood
To the mindless socialists/communists among us, the higher the margin, the higher the level of “evil.” That’s why they lie about it to the public.
I think I just found the smartest profitable doctor around. I needed to get a DOT physical for a commercial driver license. Some doctor was advertising them for $70.
The doctor was a nice younger guy with a one room office in a ghetto area. Outside of a cup for urine sample and a test strip, his only cost was a few photocopies. It was just him and no staff.
At that rate, if he does 10 exams a day, he clears $150,000. Basically, if you can fog a mirror you pass the exam.
I worked for grocery store chains for a number of years. IF they have a Net profit of 1.5%, they are happy.
Bad checks, theft, and other problems keep their profits low.
NY sales tax is 8%, so the state makes 2.5 times as much as wally does on a buck