Posted on 02/05/2007 8:18:10 AM PST by george76
Before Amendment 42 passed in November, some restaurateurs weren't concerned about a minimum wage increase, but as it turns out, the law is impacting restaurant budgets significantly.
"It's a huge change," said Barb Richard, marketing manager for the Dillon Dam Brewery. "We've had to tighten our belt everywhere, from ads to raises, and cut costs dramatically. (But) there's no way to absorb it completely."
Eric Mamula, owner of Downstairs at Eric's in Breckenridge, said he's paying his waitstaff $75,000 to $80,000 more annually because of the amendment, which calls for waitstaff to earn a minimum of $3.83 an hour, up $1.70 from the previous minimum. When the Dam Brewery's management team analyzed the additional cost, it came up with tens of thousands of dollars a year, ...
"It's already expensive to go out, and it's going to be even more expensive," Mamula said. "I don't know if people realized that when they voted."
Meanwhile, the waitstaff isn't benefiting much.
"They're paying much higher FICA, and we're paying much higher FICA. And the capital for raises isn't there anymore," ...
Perhaps most concerning is the fact that the increase is tied to the Constitution, which means it's no longer in the hands of policy makers.
"To us, it was not well conceived," ... "We could not understand why it belonged in the Constitution..."
(Excerpt) Read more at summitdaily.com ...
I find it deeply insulting. Do you have a soul?
The minimum wage for people not hired because of labor costs and government regulation is $0.00 an hour.
Do YOU have a soul?
Free Market Fundamentalism is as evil as Bolshevism.
Small businesses get hit with lots of government mandates. They have to pass some of them along.
The downside can be fewer customers, etc...
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The higher the meal the less often I'm likely to eat out.
This is a strange Colorado provision.
This Colorado minimum wage increase and future mandated annual ? increases are now in the constitution.
The formula is crazy ( I am not sure how it works exactly ).
Somehow, if the cost of living goes up in Boulder and Denver ?, then the minimum wage goes up everywhere inside of the state. Rural areas like Craig, Meeker, Walden, Alamosa, etc. may get stuck by the liberals in Boulder again ?
Others may correct me if I missed ?
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That really doesn't help the unemployed person now does it?
There are businesses that turn away customers to maintain operations using only family members. Why? Because it costs MUCH more than the minimum wage to hire an individual.
Social security payments, unemployment insurance payments, disability insurance payments, additional insurance for their business.
Without the mandated pay rate and shakedown by the government for the privilege of hiring an employee, they COULD afford to pay them more.
I ask again, when government makes it a losing proposition to hire and there a willing workers making $0.00 an hour, where is your soul?
How does one italicize quotes in html?
We agree.
Parking is a pain. That is one thing that many businesses do not seem to understand. How many times do we drive around looking for a spot...before we give up and leave ?
Eating at home has lots of benefits. We do not get stuck near some screaming idiots; our $10 bottle of wine does not cost us $30...
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The higher the meal the less often I'm likely to eat out.
Beau Gest?
Fine. In the 1970s the 55mph was, indeed, arbitrary. However, the speed limit set on a highway or road is determined, generally, by optimizing a function of a number of variables. Basically, if the limit is too high, existing automobiles and road materials result in uncontrollable vehicles. If the limit is too low, there is too much noncompliance and the speed differential causes more safety problems than the absolute speed.
Surely you're not advocating noncompliance with minimum wage?
The proper analogy is a minimum price for, say, milk or cigarettes.
Then you just may be right. Although I still would bring up the quality issue.
That said, I do believe we are reaching the point with meals that we reached decades ago with clothing - that it is cheaper to buy it pre-made than to do it yourself. Quality and selection may suffer though. Right now I'm eating a bratwurst with hash browns, onions and jalapenos. Where the heck am I gonna find that, and for the ~$.75 I paid for the ingredients.
Actually, our traffic laws are made for the lowest common denominator driver.
And traffic lights are, even in todays computer automated society, arbitrary in their function. That is why, for more and more people, they are optional - assuming there are no cops around.
I like your minimum price analogy.
If one employee works six tables in an hour and, conservatively, there are two at each table, that's twelve meals. It works out to a little more than $.10 a meal.
OTOH, when you factor in all the other expenses per employee like workmans comp, unemployment insurance, etc., it comes to $5.23 per meal. Aproximately.
>>...instead of getting $1.70 per hour.<<
Plus tips.
Man, this really DOES remind me of thos ill-conceived laws passed to make things more "fair" in the book Atlas Shrugged. Every one of them just made things worse. As John Galt said to all the law making do-gooders: "GET OUT OF MY WAY!".
Who is John Galt?
>>I find it deeply insulting. Do you have a soul?<<
Are you kidding? This HAS to be sarcasm.
>>What the heck, if they find people desperate enough, the pay could be NEGATIVE.<<
Actually, that happens. "Originals" bands will actually PAY to play or play for free in clubs to get their music out. The owner of the club keeps what he makes selling food and drinks as well.
Of course, if your GOOD, they pay you.
People pay to bowl and play softball too.
>>Free Market Fundamentalism is as evil as Bolshevism.<<
I think you are actually partly right. It is VERY successful in a culture with Christian values. Outside of that it is an evil thing indeed. Like all things powerful, it can do great good - or great harm. It all depends on in whos hands the tool rests.
As the US gets more and more secular, it will become more and more repressive in it's churn of human beings.
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