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by icelancer 3316 days ago
You are not factoring in benefits that increase as a result of the minimum wage hike, vacation time that acts as employees working on the floor even when they are not, and the fact that while the store is "open" 56 hours per week, that is certainly not the number of hours that people work there. Inventory, store cleanup, store redesign, meetings, any number of things go on before and after hours.
2 comments
hackunomatter 3316 days ago
Typically you get 2 weeks of vacation a year. That's 4% of the cost. Not a significant amount.

As for work outside store hours: sure, there is some. But it's not a restaurant where you have to sterilize everything in the kitchen. It's a bookstore. At most you have to sweep the floors, maybe re-shelf some misplaced books, and shelf the newcomers. It's not a tremendous amount of work that has to be done before opening or after close.

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ArchReaper 3316 days ago
I'm sure your armchair math is much more valid and accurate than their own projections. You should go over there and shower them with your perfect knowledge of the inner workings of their business.
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hackunomatter 3316 days ago
That is assuming they're telling the truth. Won't be the first time a business blames "overpaid labor" for its woes.
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icelancer 3316 days ago
>Typically you get 2 weeks of vacation a year

Even for those who work 10 years for a company, like Borderlands has?

I also don't think you've run retail operations at any sort of scale, given your comments.

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tehwebguy 3316 days ago
Yeah there are definitely off hours when employees still need to work. But I would guess that hourly employees earning minimum wage are almost never given vacation or sick time.
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icelancer 3316 days ago
>But I would guess that hourly employees earning minimum wage are almost never given vacation or sick time.

Why? Just because they make ~$12/hr? I have employees making $15/hr (lowest we pay) who have 2-4 weeks of PTO plus flex days, and I don't consider myself exceptionally generous.

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tehwebguy 3315 days ago
> Why? Just because they make ~$12/hr?

Yes, if the employer is paying the minimum wage my guess is they are also paying for the minimum number of hours.

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