So what happens to the people that where making $15 an hour in a different field. For example a manager at walgreens make about $15 an hour now they're making minimum wage?


Edit: talking about this new law in New York where only the fast food industry is receiving a new minimum wage of $15 an hour

 

It's only fair that everyone should make the same wage anyway, so it progress toward the goal

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

Just to put my opinion on the record, I believe that raising the minimum wage reduces the number of minimum wage jobs.   If you raise the price of something, you usually reduce the demand for it.   So raising the price of a fry cook will reduce the demand for fry cooks.   Minimum wages are counter-productive.   They actually hurt the people they purport to help.  

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Okay. Whatever. Do you have anything to add in support of your assertion? Just saying "Umm no." does not refute what I said.


In a free market, if a business can raise their price, they will. Whether they can raise their price depends on what people are willing to pay for their product. When they cite rising costs as a justification for raising their prices, they are conning you. They are raising their price so they can make as much money as possible. That's the way a market-based economic system works.


The lasagna at the restaurant costs what it does because that is the most the restaurant can charge and still get you to buy it. The price isn't going to go up and down because of the cost of production. It's going to go up and down based on what you are willing to pay.

So businesses aren't allowed to try and make as money as possible within the confines of the law?


It's simple logic. Business A sells product A. To make product A, they need product B. Product B experiences a price increase due to varying factors (pick one you can't lose). Business A faces a choice; lose profit, or transfer the cost elsewhere. E.g. the customer. Now, if you're a private business who is very customer oriented, hey you may be altruistic and decide for now you don't want to raise cost to your customer. Or your profit margin may be razor thin (for instance a restaurant), and you're not running a business just to give away product. As a business owner you want to make money still, not just break even. Now if you're a large corporation with shareholders to answer to , the choice is easy. Businesses want to make money. That's life. Don't like the price, don't buy it

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So businesses aren't allowed to try and make as money as possible within the confines of the law?


It's simple logic. Business A sells product A. To make product A, they need product B. Product B experiences a price increase due to varying factors (pick one you can't lose). Business A faces a choice; lose profit, or transfer the cost elsewhere. E.g. the customer. Now, if you're a private business who is very customer oriented, hey you may be altruistic and decide for now you don't want to raise cost to your customer. Or your profit margin may be razor thin (for instance a restaurant), and you're not running a business just to give away product. As a business owner you want to make money still, not just break even. Now if you're a large corporation with shareholders to answer to , the choice is easy. Businesses want to make money. That's life. Don't like the price, don't buy it

 

This is 100% accurate.  To say that a business owner raises a price because they can instead of being forced to is asinine. 

 

If I make salads for a living and all the sudden the price of lettuce increases, I'm going to have to raise the prices on salads.  It's either make the customer happy and go out of business or raise the prices and give customers a good product.

 

My guess is that if the minimum wage spikes to that level, you will see a lot more automation from companies.  People will order with touch screen, the cooking and putting things together will become automated.  So people will be making money, with the risk of losing a good portion of the work force.  Pay a little bit of extra money for automation now to save a lot of money in the future.

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We just had an restaurant go out of business here because the rent was more than the sales. Yeah the place was packed all the time, but he was charging what the market would handle. He served Kangaroo burgers, Bison, elk, etc........

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Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution."

We just had an restaurant go out of business here because the rent was more than the sales. Yeah the place was packed all the time, but he was charging what the market would handle. He served Kangaroo burgers, Bison, elk, etc........

 

And?

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And?

 

 

No And about it, he couldn't charge more because the demand wouldn't be there. And he sure as hell wasn't going to allow himself to lose money. So either way, he was screwed...... Lose Money or go out of business.... choice was simple

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Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution."

Okay.  Whatever.  Do you have anything to add in support of your assertion?   Just saying "Umm no." does not refute what  I said. 

 

In a free market, if a business can raise their price, they will.   Whether they can raise their price depends on what people are willing to pay for their product.   When they cite rising costs as a justification for raising their prices, they are conning you.  They are raising their price so they can make as much money as possible.   That's the way a market-based economic system works. 

 

The lasagna at the restaurant costs what it does because that is the most the restaurant can charge and still get you to buy it.   The price isn't going to go up and down because of the cost of production.   It's going to go up and down based on what you are willing to pay.

Agreed. Costs have very little to do with it.

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No And about it, he couldn't charge more because the demand wouldn't be there. And he sure as hell wasn't going to allow himself to lose money. So either way, he was screwed...... Lose Money or go out of business.... choice was simple

 

Serious question, why didn't he change his location?  I know a lot of restaurants that have done that.

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“It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.”
― Albert Camus

Serious question, why didn't he change his location?  I know a lot of restaurants that have done that.

 

The Land values around here are astronomical along with the rent. We're 48 Miles from DC and more or less a bedroom community now, a suburb of DC if you will.

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Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution."

We just had an restaurant go out of business here because the rent was more than the sales. Yeah the place was packed all the time, but he was charging what the market would handle. He served Kangaroo burgers, Bison, elk, etc........

If the place was packed...did he not continue to raise his prices if he needed to make money? I'm curious because the way you lay it out makes no sense.


The business is packed but he closes.


Did he try raising prices to see if they would pay it?

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No And about it, he couldn't charge more because the demand wouldn't be there. And he sure as hell wasn't going to allow himself to lose money. So either way, he was screwed...... Lose Money or go out of business.... choice was simple

I should have quoted this one.


How did he know the demand wouldn't be there? If the place was packed, it sounds like there was in fact a chance the demand would be there.

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Serious question, why didn't he change his location?  I know a lot of restaurants that have done that.

 

 

I should have quoted this one.


How did he know the demand wouldn't be there? If the place was packed, it sounds like there was in fact a chance the demand would be there.

 


Here's the article from my local paper

 


The Lodge closes after financial struggles, owner says
 

<span>A Frederick restaurant known for its exotic meats such as elk, bison and kangaroo has closed, serving its patrons and fans of the farm-to-fork establishment for the last time Wednesday night.</span>

 

<span>http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/ec...df4b4.html</span>

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Instead of a sign that says "Do Not Disturb" I need one that says "Already Disturbed Proceed With Caution."

I sincerely doubt that many business raise their prices as a result of rising cost.   That's not the way the marketplace works.  Generally speaking, businesses raise their prices because they can.   Not because they have to.   Look at it this way: if a business can raise their prices for ANY reason, why wouldn't they do so?   Wouldn't they want to maximize their profits?   They don't need to justify it by citing rising costs. 

 

If I go to a restaurant and find out that the Lasagna now costs $20 when it used to cost $12, my decision to buy is not based on anything but whether I want to pay $20 for that lasagna.   It has nothing to do with whether the restaurant owner now has to pay more for his labor.  That's his problem, not mine.  

 

It's like when people say high NFL ticket prices are a result of high player salaries.  That is not true.  NFL ticket prices are based on what people are willing to pay for tickets.  It's the same with lasagna in a restaurant.   The price of the lasagna is based  on what people are willing to pay for it. 

 

That's not really true.  I have seen several cases where businesses, especially in the service industry have had to raise prices as a result of rising costs of doing business, though not necessarily tied to minimum wage laws (yet).  In the article that I linked from Investors Business Daily, the higher costs are tied to Obamacare.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Here's the article from my local paper

 

The Lodge closes after financial struggles, owner says
 

A Frederick restaurant known for its exotic meats such as elk, bison and kangaroo has closed, serving its patrons and fans of the farm-to-fork establishment for the last time Wednesday night.

 

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/ec...df4b4.html

 

Thanks, Drifter.

 

I still don't see where that answers the question but I appreciate the article.  It sounds like an interesting place.

 

If it was that busy as the article makes it out to be, why not try and raise prices as a last resort before just shutting the doors?  I'm not trying to judge and can only go by the information I've seen here but it seems like poor business choices.

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Thanks, Drifter.

 

I still don't see where that answers the question but I appreciate the article.  It sounds like an interesting place.

 

If it was that busy as the article makes it out to be, why not try and raise prices as a last resort before just shutting the doors?  I'm not trying to judge and can only go by the information I've seen here but it seems like poor business choices.

 

Most restaurants don't make it beyond 5 years.  It's a shame about this one.  Sounds like they tried, but couldn't make it for whatever reason.  I'm no sure I buy the rent excuse though, to be honest.  The first thing that a restaurant owner must do is figure out the break even point and strive to hit it.  He should have known how to cost account for the fixed costs to reach an achievable break-even cost point for the meals he was selling.  It's a shame he didn't have a better business advisor and taken some accounting/business classes.  

 

On the bright side, I'm sure he set up the business as an LLC and thus the closing of this enterprise can be used as a learning experience for his next project which hopefully will go better than this one.

 

The concept of the what the free market can or cannot handle is a complicated one.  But the first thing a business owner must figure out is what his fixed costs are and price his products accordingly.  Also, there's alot to be said about marketing (adverstising), I'm sure investing in more advertising might have helped.  Also, they were only in business 18 months.  I'm wondering if they start up money they had was not enough to really get the business going.  Lastly, after reading the comments by some of the readers of the newspaper, I really do think that they were first time restauranteers...  Again, if they created an LLC and the liabilities were limited only to the assets of the business that went bankrupt, they may be able to try again---  After hopefully learning some hard lessons.

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So businesses aren't allowed to try and make as money as possible within the confines of the law?


It's simple logic. Business A sells product A. To make product A, they need product B. Product B experiences a price increase due to varying factors (pick one you can't lose). Business A faces a choice; lose profit, or transfer the cost elsewhere. E.g. the customer. Now, if you're a private business who is very customer oriented, hey you may be altruistic and decide for now you don't want to raise cost to your customer. Or your profit margin may be razor thin (for instance a restaurant), and you're not running a business just to give away product. As a business owner you want to make money still, not just break even. Now if you're a large corporation with shareholders to answer to , the choice is easy. Businesses want to make money. That's life. Don't like the price, don't buy it

 

Marty's point is right. A business prices a product to maximize total profit, which is profit per item times the number of items sold. If the business can double the profit on an item by raising the price and still retain more than half the customers it will do so. At some point raising the price will result in less profit because the number of sales drops off too much.


 

If the cost of making a product increases, then the business has to reevaluate the price. It may be that the sales drop off from raising the price would mean that the price has to stay the same. If there is no profit at that price, then the business discontinues selling that item.

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"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

What would you like to see happen Drifter? Government regulation of rent prices?


If people are paid more they also have more to spend in wider economy.

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What would you like to see happen Drifter? Government regulation of rent prices?


If people are paid more they also have more to spend in wider economy.

 

And pay higher prices in the process.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

And pay higher prices in the process.

Correct, however go visit Norway, Switzerland Australia and see how much nicer and less poverty stricken they are.


For a people who are obsessed with tyrannical regimes you are very quick to oblige in enslaving people to corporations via poverty wages. Odd

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