Posted on 10/26/2017 9:23:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
McDonald's, Outback Steakhouse, and several dozen other food and hospitality retailers are using daily paychecks as a means to give low-wage workers more flexibility with their finances.
Steve Barha, CEO of Instant Financial, the technology company enabling retailers' move to same-day pay, said the option is partly meant to cater to a preference shared by millennial employees that quick cash is better than waiting two weeks for a lump sum.
"Basically, their life is real-time," Barha told Business Insider. "Their communication is real-time. Their transportation is real-time, with Uber and Lyft. So this program really aligns with their real-time life and being in control of their whole life experience."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Totally agree. In this day and age of instant cash transfer, why should employers be allowed to earn interest off services rendered? I have to pay instantly for a meal.
This is the way we ease govt into accepting a national sales tax and eliminating income tax.
Dear Government Overlords, how about you get your money instantly when I buy a Mcburger? Prerty good right?
Not such a big deal to me, though interesting. They are competing for workers with the likes of Uber and Lyft for worker hours.
Goes back to a time when many American workers were in this sense day laborers—rather than just illegals.
I have no problem with fast food (though as I get older it is hard to manage it); I have noticed it has become a very lower-class thing (as compared to the days when it was sold to middle-class family types). This is reflected in the high number of minorities in their commercials, and the “Mexicanization” of many fast food menus.
I’m pleasantly surprised at how things like soda are completely absent from my teens’ diet (by their own wishes); they also avoid fast-food chains while they’ll indulge in pizza (from one of our many family pizzerias rather than the chains) or something similar. No doubt, young people are much more aware of the crap in fast food...
This is bad for personal finances. Maybe it moves people away from credit cards, but can they pay the rent at the end of the month?
Gee, daily pay. That’s not fair! If you are paid an hourly wage, why not pay it hourly? </sarc>
Once I got on my feet, I stopped balancing my checkbook. A checking account got interest, and such "paycheck discipline" got me rich.
The question we should be asking is ‘Why do employees extend two weeks of zero percent credit to their employers?’
Never thought of that. Great question. Is it any wonder why the companies are flush with cash after they took away pensions, health care and keep the money for two weeks or more gaining interest for themselves but we get screwed. Americans put up with a lot of crap from their employers.
Try joining the military then!
The logistics of this for HR/Payroll would be a nightmare - calculating and printing checks on a daily basis. For mom-and-pop businesses it might be OK, but large corporations with centralized Payroll... shudder.
“A person would have to be totally insane ...... to go to McDonalds in this day and age!”
No kidding, with the crap they serve there.
“Their drinks — including coffee and ice tea — are very good and quite cheap. The same goes for their cones.”
Considering that McDonald’s uses SLAVE LABOR for their product, I’d sure hope so.
(just having some fun here with my tag line)
“Hamburgers wiped on armpits and drinks with extra saliva are wonderful, too.”
EXACTLY!
Perhaps those with problems should analyze their operating philosophy and bump it against those who don't seem to suffer the same problems.
Today “real time” is being a day laborer working for cash, paid at the end of the day.
They don’t wait two weeks for a lump sum. On average, the wait is 1 week, for a pay every 2 weeks. Get facts straight. Change it to “they can wait as much as two weeks” and it’s OK.
This is stupid. It caters to spoiled idiots who can’t think more than 5 minutes into the future. It rewards the desire for instant gratification. And it costs the company money.
So, how do they calculate those deductions? FICA, medicare, etc? eh?
Hourly pay, i.e. punching a time clock, is slowly fading away and is increasingly becoming the province of low-pay, low-skill workers. The trend is towards fixed salary with an incentive plan to earn monthly or quarterly bonuses based on performance metrics and financial results. The daily pay concept is easy for employers to implement from a technological standpoint but probably demeaning to the employees as it reduces them to the status of a hired hand as opposed to being a valued partner and contributor to the success of the enterprise as a whole.
Workers that use the service operate within a set of constraints.On a paired mobile app, an employee can request up to 50% of their current day's pay within an hour of their shift. That money goes into an Instant account, which comes with a debit card, known as the Instant card, that the employee can swipe as payment or use to withdraw money at an ATM.
The idea is that employees can have access to quick money in case something important comes up — an option that also helps older workers who, like many of their younger colleagues, aren't in the strongest financial situation, Barha said. The average amount that employees who use Instant Financial get at the end of a shift is $27. Having that money immediately could make the difference between having enough gas to get home and calling a tow truck, he explained.
The program isn't necessarily designed for people to make impulsive purchases whenever they feel like it, though.
"On day six of the pay cycle, you can't all of a sudden pull days three, four, and five of the pay cycle, and now you have a bunch of money," Barha said. "It's really a little bit of money, and it's there when you need it."
I had a job once that paid monthly. When I took the job, I had been unemployed for a few months so cash was extremely tight. That first month was a real challenge. the second got better and after that, no big deal.
My son works fast food. He just bought a used truck and it was about $1000 more than he had budgeted due to some inspection repairs.
He told me yesterday that he was planning to pay me in full next week when he gets paid but asked if he could keep a little of the money so he could buy gas.
I’m “thinking” about it.
I should tell him ‘No. That’s what you get for buying a truck with a V10.”
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