Posted on 08/22/2017 2:52:15 AM PDT by Cronos
Once a customer has barked their order into the microphone at the Popeyes drive-thru on Prospect Avenue, Kansas City, the clock starts. Staff have a company-mandated 180 seconds to take the order, cook the order, bag the order and deliver it to the drive-thru window.
The restaurant is on “short shift” at the moment, which means it has about half the usual staff, so Fran Marion often has to do all those jobs herself. On the day we met, she estimates she processed 187 orders – roughly one every two minutes. Those orders grossed about $950 for the company. Marion went home with $76.
Despite working six days a week, Marion, 37, a single mother of two, can’t make ends meet on the $9.50 an hour she gets at Popeyes (no apostrophe – founder Al Copeland joked he was too poor to afford one). A fast food worker for 22 years, Marion has almost always had a second job. Until recently, she had been working 9am-4pm at Popeyes, without a break, then crossing town to a janitorial job at Bartle Hall, the convention center, where she would work from 5pm- to 1.30am for $11 an hour. She didn’t take breaks there either, although they were allowed.
..More than that, she likes working in fast food. “I love it. I’m good at it. Just like Martin Luther King said, ‘If you are going to be a road sweeper, be the best damn sweeper there is’,” she says. “I don’t know. It’s just this society is all messed up.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“Those orders grossed about $950 for the company. Marion went home with $76.”
Leftist drivel; did Fran buy the ingredients and ovens, pay the utilities, buy the land, etc.?
The problem in this country is that when those who refused to work were at least as well off as those in low-skill jobs, there was no more incentive to work. Rather than pare back the freebies (which I’m sure would cost Popeyes many customers), the “fight for $15” is to try to motivate these workers again.
It is ridiculous to expect equal outcomes when one person buts their hump 40 hours in a low-skill job with millions of qualified replacements available and another spends years in school and/or training working 40 hours in a much more difficult role.
at 8% ‘profit’ - she is making more than the stockholders ( owners )
She might be getting overpaid based on her value added
If Marion was better educated with salable skills, she wouldn’t have this problem
Where is her husband?
Here is some evidence implying the bots are cheaper and better than $15/hr workers: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/07/tech-company-develops-robots-to-replace-15-hr-workers-can-produce-1-burger-every-10-seconds/
It is not economic slavery. It is the consequence of a series of very poor decisions.
Once you teach a child (the earlier the better) that what happens to hem in life if the consequence of their decisions, they learn to make informed and positive decisions.
If, on the other hand, you are raised to believe that everything that happens to you is the result of some inherent cultural boogie-man then you are free of guilt and can choose to wallow in your self-imposed “economic slavery”.
Marion, 37, a single mother of two,
A fast food worker for 22 years,
Marion has almost always had a second job. Until recently, she had been working 9am-4pm at Popeyes, without a break,
then crossing town to a janitorial job at Bartle Hall, the convention center, where she would work from 5pm- to 1.30am for $11 an hour. She didn’t take breaks there either, although they were allowed.
..More than that, she likes working in fast food. “I love it. I’m good at it. Just like Martin Luther King said, ‘If you are going to be a road sweeper, be the best damn sweeper there is’,”
Instead of reading this as one story, read it as bullet points.
If... all these bullet points are true... then why isn't she a store manager somewhere???
The fast food joints by me have signs up, some on the store windows, others the main marquis, that they are hiring, starting at $10 an hour.
22 years experience???
And she is still at the bottom of the pay scale???
I was a shift manager at a hot dog joint, after 6 months, at 18 years old.
I was a full time student at a jr college, working 30 hours a week.
When school was at break I was grabbing every hour I could. Working 40-60 hours a week.
Where is Paul Harvey???
We need the rest of the story.
Good day.
.
She earned around $12.35($9.50 + 30%) of which she may have received about $7.13 ($9.50 - 25%). The article says she took home $76 which means the article either ignored taxes or she makes more than $9.50.
Either way, if she is an economic slave it is to all of the various government taxes she is paying. Which, after she collects her $7/hr,!she will pay even more taxes.
The left wants to raise wages by fiat the populist want to raise them by restricting or taxing imports. Neither seem interested in cutting the taxes of the wage earner or the company that provides the job.
They are already putting in touch screens, kiosks and cell phone apps for automated ordering
They are also teaming with Uber to deliver orders to your house
Next phase is automated food processing which should be in place before the highest minimum wage phases in
One if the kid working the counter at our McDonalds commented that the minimum wage would kill his job and many of the rest of the employees jobs in 2 years
Let’s see. $950 minus labor. So let’s raise her pay 50% to $15.00/hr. Labor goes from %76.00 to $114.00. So now labor is 114/950 or 12%. A 4% increase. So Popeyes increase prices 4% and that is a catastrophe to you people?
Marion’s federal income tax refund is probably $4000 - $5000 due to $2000 child tax credit ($1000 per child under 17), earned income tax credit, and head of household filing status.
I suspect you’re right, but that’s the numbers the company was putting forth. I suspect they were quite conservative.
Here’s a related article from back then: https://singularityhub.com/2014/08/10/burger-robot-poised-to-disrupt-fast-food-industry/
Quote: “Momentum Machines says your average fast food joint spends $135,000 a year on burger line cooks.”
Their machine’s estimated price, back in 2014, was $30,000.
There’s an interesting discussion of the machine and the economics of it back then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8160904 It points out the math and $10/hour is shown to be more than reasonable.
See my post 51 above - has links that could be useful to you.
Responsible men don’t have children they are not going to take care of.
Responsible people don’t have children until they are married and financially ready.
Exactly! Story is fishy.
Those greedy bastards kept all the rest of the money for themselves. Minus, of course, the salaries of the other employees who contributed to the earning of the $950, social security, unemployment compensation, building rent, maintenance, local taxes, state taxes, county taxes, federal taxes, utilities, contingency expenses, and who knows what else.
Gotta give Marion credit
She works two full time jobs from 9 in the morning until 1:30 at night and still has time to be the driving force for Stand Up Kansas, a group dedicated to raising the minimum wage
Just how stupid do these people think we are
I live in Kansas City. Popeyes has good chicken, beans and rice. Kansas City has a housing problem and a transportation problem and is very corrupt.
Now, whether this lady has a budgeting issue or what is the problem, asking where is the dad is silly. It is people looking for the easy answer and sometimes there aren’t any answers.
If she's still working entry-level after 22 years, I'm going to guess she's either very low IQ, or very unreliable. In either case, she had no business having kids she can't really support.
You assume both are 40 hour a week jobs. The story doesn't say but it's doubtful that they are.
Staying with a friend is too homeless, mon frere
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.