4 ms·

Huge fractions of the US service industry are catastrophically understaffed right now, to the point where it's driving smaller businesses under. Somehow we seem

Huge fractions of the US service industry are catastrophically understaffed right now, to the point where it's driving smaller businesses under. Somehow we seem to have developed a series of industries (from fast food to hotel cleaning to receptionist work) that entail a combination of low prices and labor intensiveness which is completely unsustainable when you pay people living wages. For years the labor market was weak and this worked out. Now it isn't, and many of these businesses don't make sense anymore. Presumably we could rebuild them with a more European model that's more automated and less dependent on replaceable super-cheap labor, but most likely we'll just rely on the Fed to engineer a recession.

ghaff 4y ago
>more European model that's more automated and less dependent on replaceable super-cheap labor You see plenty of fairly obviously immigrants cleaning hotel rooms in Europe. To some degree, higher labor costs can also drive efficiencies with no real harm to consumers. I'm perfectly fine with (and may even prefer) a weekly "serviced apartment" sort of hotel model rather than daily room cleanings which invariably happen when I'm on a call or something.
- brodouevencode 4y ago
  Going to assume that you have some level of price increase in mind that would not be considered a harm to consumers. What would that be?
  - ghaff 4y ago
    I had no level of price increase in mind. (Obviously any increase has some harm at the margin.) Rather, I'm saying that certain services that cost money to provide--especially given higher labor costs--like daily room cleaning don't deliver much value, if any, to many consumers. Pre-pandemic some chains would even let you opt out in exchange for some points.
    - brodouevencode 4y ago
      Ah, I see your point. I was stuck on the Waffle House story - in which almost all the a la carte freebies have already been teased out. But if they start charging to use the Tabasco we're going to have a problem.
brodouevencode 4y ago
I would argue the notion of a living wage because that varies by locality even though the policies affecting it are rather universal.

ghaff 4y ago

>more European model that's more automated and less dependent on replaceable super-cheap labor You see plenty of fairly obviously immigrants cleaning hotel rooms in Europe. To some degree, higher labor costs can also drive efficiencies with no real harm to consumers. I'm perfectly fine with (and may even prefer) a weekly "serviced apartment" sort of hotel model rather than daily room cleanings which invariably happen when I'm on a call or something.

brodouevencode 4y ago
Going to assume that you have some level of price increase in mind that would not be considered a harm to consumers. What would that be?
- ghaff 4y ago
  I had no level of price increase in mind. (Obviously any increase has some harm at the margin.) Rather, I'm saying that certain services that cost money to provide--especially given higher labor costs--like daily room cleaning don't deliver much value, if any, to many consumers. Pre-pandemic some chains would even let you opt out in exchange for some points.
  - brodouevencode 4y ago
    Ah, I see your point. I was stuck on the Waffle House story - in which almost all the a la carte freebies have already been teased out. But if they start charging to use the Tabasco we're going to have a problem.

brodouevencode 4y ago

I would argue the notion of a living wage because that varies by locality even though the policies affecting it are rather universal.