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McDonald's was used as an example due to their work at automating their franchises, and their comments about increasing this to full automation due to the $15 m

McDonald's was used as an example due to their work at automating their franchises, and their comments about increasing this to full automation due to the $15 minimum wage[0]. The bigger point (and the dirty secret of globalism) is that nobody can really afford labor, especially multinationals. 0. http://www.inquisitr.com/1594675/mcdonalds-counters-minimum-wage-hike-15-automation/ http://www.inquisitr.com/1594675/mcdonalds-counters-minimum-...

nickpsecurity 10y ago
"The bigger point (and the dirty secret of globalism) is that nobody can really afford labor, especially multinationals." That's a lie they tell you. McDonalds may not to some degree. I've worked with many companies that are low-margin, including food companies. The low-cost, food industry is tough enough that tradeoffs can be harsh. $15 might be too much to ask for them. But better than minimum wage, crazy scheduling (below), pushing them to skip breaks, and so on? Yeah, they can do it but don't want to. What's common in most of these are tons of highly-paid, corporate people with expenses, catered meetings, jets, 8-digit CEO's, and so on. Almost all I've ever worked for could afford all that but not labor that generates revenue. Strange, eh? https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/HarpersMagazine-2015-03-0085373.pdf https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/HarpersMaga... Anyway, I like citing rebels from low-margin industries to disprove the general claim that people can't be paid well. I mean, we had an article on Hacker News recently showing all the big companies used to do it but switched to a shareholder focus. But what about companies making pennies on the dollar? Two favorites: http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/07/24/the-wal-mart-slayer-how-publixs-people-first-culture-is-winning-the-grocer-war/#557e2bdc7676 http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/07/24/the-wal-... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/reasons-love-costco_n_4275774.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/reasons-love-costco... These companies operate in a very-rough industry where margins usually range from below 1 to about 3.5% for Walmart. Most companies in it are clear people can't and shouldn't be paid almost anything unless they're management, executives, or board members. Yet, these two do the opposite with more profit as a result than most of them. Also show you can get good executives in 6-digit range instead of 8-digits. Lean, too, with Publix having a 200 to 1 worker to manager ratio without breaking a sweat. Motivated people and their supervisors, esp with financial stake in earnings, tend to manage themselves mostly. So, even if I conceded McDonalds after seeing detailed accounting, I'd still like to take a closer look at the books and management practices of most of these other companies that say they can't afford labor. I think they probably can if a lower-margin business can. Just a hunch.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

"The bigger point (and the dirty secret of globalism) is that nobody can really afford labor, especially multinationals." That's a lie they tell you. McDonalds may not to some degree. I've worked with many companies that are low-margin, including food companies. The low-cost, food industry is tough enough that tradeoffs can be harsh. $15 might be too much to ask for them. But better than minimum wage, crazy scheduling (below), pushing them to skip breaks, and so on? Yeah, they can do it but don't want to. What's common in most of these are tons of highly-paid, corporate people with expenses, catered meetings, jets, 8-digit CEO's, and so on. Almost all I've ever worked for could afford all that but not labor that generates revenue. Strange, eh? https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/HarpersMagazine-2015-03-0085373.pdf https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/HarpersMaga... Anyway, I like citing rebels from low-margin industries to disprove the general claim that people can't be paid well. I mean, we had an article on Hacker News recently showing all the big companies used to do it but switched to a shareholder focus. But what about companies making pennies on the dollar? Two favorites: http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/07/24/the-wal-mart-slayer-how-publixs-people-first-culture-is-winning-the-grocer-war/#557e2bdc7676 http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/07/24/the-wal-... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/reasons-love-costco_n_4275774.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/reasons-love-costco... These companies operate in a very-rough industry where margins usually range from below 1 to about 3.5% for Walmart. Most companies in it are clear people can't and shouldn't be paid almost anything unless they're management, executives, or board members. Yet, these two do the opposite with more profit as a result than most of them. Also show you can get good executives in 6-digit range instead of 8-digits. Lean, too, with Publix having a 200 to 1 worker to manager ratio without breaking a sweat. Motivated people and their supervisors, esp with financial stake in earnings, tend to manage themselves mostly. So, even if I conceded McDonalds after seeing detailed accounting, I'd still like to take a closer look at the books and management practices of most of these other companies that say they can't afford labor. I think they probably can if a lower-margin business can. Just a hunch.