4 ms·

Why stop at $10? Why not $15? You know people can't live with $10 working at McDee.

by ethana 13y ago

jsnk 13y ago
Because very smart people with pointy hats know the exact price of the labour just like Soviet Russia was so accurate in predicting price of goods.
mjn 13y ago
It's $20 here in Denmark (de-facto, via the union wage-negotiation system) and I have no complaints. It means service-industry things like restaurants are considerably more expensive, but then since everyone makes at least $20/hr, that isn't a huge problem for affordability. It basically makes everyone middle-class.
- ahallock 13y ago
  It sounds like all that's happened is a form of inflation.
  - elnate 13y ago
    I'm from NZ and lived in Denmark for three months so here's some anecdata. Some prices increased but most are comparable to home, where the minimum wage is approximately half. The only things that are increased greatly are ones with the primary cost in personnel. Clothing and groceries are about the same, fuel too.
    - mjn 13y ago
      That's also my impression. Groceries are about the same as the U.S., restaurants considerably more. It's not general inflation, but specifically an increase in the cost of goods/services where the difference between paying employees $8 or $20 equals a large proportion of the good/service's total costs. For example, a typical 'premium lager' category beer (Heineken or Carlsberg or the like) typically costs $6-10 in a bar, which is somewhat higher than in the US, but a six-pack typically costs $4-7 in a grocery store (tax included), which is somewhat lower than in the US. An interesting aspect is that you can get quality increments relatively cheaply, because you've already paid for the labor: a fancy meal costs maybe 50% more than a burger, and a microbrewed fancy beer in a bar costs maybe 20-30% more than a Carlsberg lager— versus in a store, where the microbrew might be 3-5x the cost of the Carlsberg.

Why stop at $10? Why not $15? You know people can't live with $10 working at McDee.

by ethana 13y ago

Why stop at $10? Why not $15? You know people can't live with $10 working at McDee.

jsnk 13y ago

Because very smart people with pointy hats know the exact price of the labour just like Soviet Russia was so accurate in predicting price of goods.

mjn 13y ago

It's $20 here in Denmark (de-facto, via the union wage-negotiation system) and I have no complaints. It means service-industry things like restaurants are considerably more expensive, but then since everyone makes at least $20/hr, that isn't a huge problem for affordability. It basically makes everyone middle-class.

ahallock 13y ago
It sounds like all that's happened is a form of inflation.
- elnate 13y ago
  I'm from NZ and lived in Denmark for three months so here's some anecdata. Some prices increased but most are comparable to home, where the minimum wage is approximately half. The only things that are increased greatly are ones with the primary cost in personnel. Clothing and groceries are about the same, fuel too.
  - mjn 13y ago
    That's also my impression. Groceries are about the same as the U.S., restaurants considerably more. It's not general inflation, but specifically an increase in the cost of goods/services where the difference between paying employees $8 or $20 equals a large proportion of the good/service's total costs. For example, a typical 'premium lager' category beer (Heineken or Carlsberg or the like) typically costs $6-10 in a bar, which is somewhat higher than in the US, but a six-pack typically costs $4-7 in a grocery store (tax included), which is somewhat lower than in the US. An interesting aspect is that you can get quality increments relatively cheaply, because you've already paid for the labor: a fancy meal costs maybe 50% more than a burger, and a microbrewed fancy beer in a bar costs maybe 20-30% more than a Carlsberg lager— versus in a store, where the microbrew might be 3-5x the cost of the Carlsberg.