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Author Topic: Iowa minimum wage increase Chad Souder Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 962 From: Waterloo, IA, USA Registered: Feb 2000 posted 02-01-2007 01:56 PM                     Iowa's new governor, Chet Culver, made his first signing an increase in the state's minimum wage. It will go to $6.20 on 4/1/2007 and up to $7.25 1/1/2008. Politics aside, this will greatly affect Iowa theatres. I intend on making it no secret to the customer the reason for our inevitable price increases at both the box office and concession stand. This 40% increase in annual payroll will be a major expense to absorb. Forgetting about the possible federal increase, which of your other states are experiencing or have recently experienced increases and how will you/did you handle it with staff that is/was making more that minimum wage at the time of the increase?  |  IP: Logged Ian Price Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1714 From: Denver, CO Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-01-2007 02:31 PM                     I have now worked in two states that have increased the minimum wage. In California I owned a theatre and in Colorado I manage a theatre. The upshot is that increasing the minimum wage hardly ever puts a business in peril. If it does then your business wasn't going very well anyway. Most theatre employees are part time and the total hit on the payroll isn't that bad. Also most states that have increased the minimum wage have experienced positive economic growth. We have had much bigger hits when energy prices spike or when the candy supplier raises the case price of candy. How about when your insurance company doubles the premium. At least you are getting value for your money when you pay your employees. In every case where the minimum wage goes up, we weren't paying the minimum anyway.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 02-01-2007 03:14 PM                        We've also paid somewhat above the minimum. Still, it hit $7.93 this year, making our state (I believe) the highest in the country. I don't make any announcements about it, since it affects everyone in the state. It is what it is, and businesses have to set their prices accordingly. (edit) We START at above minimum. Everyone gets raises for each year they return. [ 02-01-2007, 07:25 PM: Message edited by: Jack Ondracek ]  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-01-2007 03:15 PM                     It's not going to make that much of a difference. You could bump up ticket and concession prices 25 cents and still end up making more money if you do the math. It only takes a couple dozen employees to run a theater with hundreds of paying customers in it.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-01-2007 06:19 PM                        Montana's minimum wage went up a dollar an hour to $6.15 on Jan. 1. (Yes, it's lower than other states but the cost of living here is lower.) All of our employees make more than the minimum, but we gave everyone a dollar an hour raise anyway. We raised our ticket prices a quarter, and "adjusted" the concession prices, but have had no complaints. If the Federal minimum goes to $7.25 we'll probably have to go up another 25 or 50 cents...that might not go down so easily!  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-01-2007 06:46 PM                        Would you rather have 10 kids at min. wage or 4 real people for (a lot) more per hour?? Your quality of life and that of your customers is worth something. Usually 2 good hard-working adults can out work 4-6 kids. Louis  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 02-01-2007 09:47 PM                     Ohio just went up to $6.85 from $5.15. I was paying some minumum, some over, depending on experience. Now everyone is making minumum except for one. We have 5 employees plus wife and I. Wife and I work vast majority of hours, so this didn't effect us too much. I have however raised some concession prices to offsett invetiable food cost increases and minumum wage increase.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 02-02-2007 02:57 AM                  California went from $6.75 to $7.50 this year and will go to $8.00 next year. As others have mentioned with their theatres, our prices adjusted accordingly (although, our price increase was company wide, so it wasn't entirely related to minimum wage). As for those who were making over minimum wage, some were adjusted, but most found themselves making closer to minimum. Basically, we tried to avoid individuals being "dropped" to minimum wage, but we didn't bump up those who would still be making more than minimum. We didn't have any real complaints from customers or staff; most people were quite understanding of the situation.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Lacey Film Handler Posts: 54 From: Canton, MI, USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 02-02-2007 03:50 AM                     I agree with Brad. It's just not going to make much of a difference. Certainly not a 40% increase in your payroll. The math has to be wrong on that! Michigan min wage went up from $5.15 to $6.95 in October.... Sadly, those under 18 got screwed and their min went up, but only 85% of the $6.95. Our 18 and older crew were already making $7/hr, and all of our minors were making $6. Since they got screwed by not getting the new min, we increased them all to the new 18+ min anyway, to $6.95. Our payroll went up only 6%, and I belive they are worth it. Now the new people we hire in get paid $6.50/hr, with 6 month reviews, but that will be adjusted in July when the new min goes up again. And again next year. We were able to eat the higher wage rates no problem without raising any prices whatsoever. Like another poster said, if paying your staff a higher wage breaks you, you just aren't doing all that good to begin with. Given the cost of things today, $5.15/hr is just an unreasonable and unliveable wage for anyone, be 16 or 60.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 02-02-2007 07:31 AM                        quote: Jeff Lacey Given the cost of things today, $5.15/hr is just an unreasonable and unliveable wage for anyone, be 16 or 60. True, but this is an old argument that's been made by the fast-food industries for years. Someone, still living at home and just entering the job market shouldn't need a "living wage"... especially if he's just learning (at his employer's expense) how to drop a basket of fries or serve a Coke. That other businesses get away with paying low wages is just a reflection of the fact that people WILL work for them. If the economy isn't overloaded with people looking for a job, you might be forced to pay better wages in order to find the kind of people you want. And... as Louis says, you can always choose to pay better wages for a higher calibre employee. Shouldn't that be the way it's done, rather than government forcing specific rates?  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-02-2007 10:05 AM                     What I cannot forgive is some cheap-ass convenience store chain paying cashiers minimum wage or a few pennies above it to risk their lives working the graveyard shift. I see lots of American citizens working those kinds of jobs and lots of other shitty jobs famous people stupidly think only illegal aliens would want to do. While the minimum wage is intended only as a starting point for teenage burger flippers there's a lot of people stuck working 2 or even 3 of those jobs through various circumstances. Real life is complicated. I see a lot of elderly people doing minimum wage work because many businesses who pay better just won't hire them since they're elderly. I have little problem with a movie theater paying high school age kids minimum wage. There's nothing wrong with a good restaurant paying servers next to nothing since the servers usually do pretty well on the tips. But there's lots of other businesses out there which abuse the minimum wage situation, and those outfits seem to be the first to gripe about a wage increase (unless they're already paying a bunch of illegals under the table to dodge workers comp insurance bills). As others have suggested, in the end you get what you pay for out of your workforce. Pay them minimum wage with no benefits and just few enough hours to keep them part time, you can't expect a whole lot in return. There's quite a few businesses in my town that shit on their employees, and yet these guys seem to be the first to bitch about their kids leaving town when they grow up and customers driving up to Oklahoma City or down to Wichita Falls to do business with their rivals. Maybe if they invested better in their most important asset for doing business (their workforce) their customer service and product might be good enough to keep people from driving elsewhere. Maybe if they invested better in their community all their town's young people wouldn't be looking to move to bigger cities for better paychecks.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Lacey Film Handler Posts: 54 From: Canton, MI, USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 02-02-2007 11:04 AM                     quote: Jack Ondracek Shouldn't that be the way it's done, rather than government forcing specific rates? To a degree, the wage should be a reflection of market conditions, however, every year the wage gap between the highest paid CEO and the lowest paid staff gets larger and larger. Basically many, many business take advantage of their workers. The only reason people work for the lower wages, is because they cannot find higher paying jobs or lack the skills to obtain higher paying jobs. Making $5.15/hour is not going to pay for college or even a tech school to get the skills needed either. This even applies to teen workers, as they will need money to pay for a college education, books, etc. It has been my experience that most of the people I have hired save their money for college expenses, not waste it on CDs, clothes, and other stuff, like most big businesses sugguest when they say minors do not need to make a lot per hour and every time the min wage is proposed. I guess the crux of what I am saying is that because many, many businesses take advantage of their empolyees, a higher min wage is a good thing. A CEO doesn't need to make millions and millions of dollars per year, while their workers have to work two or three jobs to get by or to better themselves.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-02-2007 12:39 PM                        quote: Bobby Henderson Maybe if they invested better in their most important asset for doing business (their workforce) their customer service and product might be good enough to keep people from driving elsewhere. Maybe, but if all these stores you mention were to raise their wages to say $10 or $12 an hour, they'd have to raise their prices to cover it, and then even more people would flock to the Wal Mart and you'd lose even more small businesses.  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 02-02-2007 12:50 PM                     The minumum wage issue is basically a bunch of third party busybodies butting their nose in saying "thats not fair!" Whatever someone is getting paid is fair to both the employer and the employee, or else they wouldn't do it!  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 02-02-2007 01:10 PM                    Raising the minimum wage doesn't make the people at the top make less. That might be the intention, but it never happens, so you can forget that. One of the things raising the minimum wage can do is lower the number of workers (or hours) at the bottom to cover the increased cost. Another thing it can do is make the price of the products go up to cover the cost. If either of those things happen, then it ends up hurting the people at the bottom the most. So, to cover the cost of the impending government mandated 14% increase in salary for the majority of our employees, our prices are going up (again) accordingly. Which probably will not do much to attract more customers to our business.  |  IP: Logged

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