Costco CEO: Raise the federal minimum wage to $10/hr - Polidicks

[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;39837953]I always thought that Costco was nicer than Wal-Mart.[/QUOTE] Wal-mart used to be similar to Costco until Sam Walton died and his greedy family took over.

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;39837030]America can afford to raise it to $20 if they wanted to.[/QUOTE] and instead of having an 8% unemployment rate we can have an 80% one

[quote]"We pay a starting hourly wage of $11.50 in all states where we do business,[B] and we are still able to keep our overhead costs low[/B]."[/quote] Only because they completely dodge the tax man. :v:

What is Costco? Never seen one.

[QUOTE=FullStreak12;39838052]What is Costco? Never seen one.[/QUOTE] It's a warehouse-style big box store where everything is purchased in bulk packages.

[QUOTE=FullStreak12;39838052]What is Costco? Never seen one.[/QUOTE] If you want to buy something, they most likely sell it in bulk.

[QUOTE=FullStreak12;39838052]What is Costco? Never seen one.[/QUOTE] walmart is basically the poor man's Costco, if that makes any sense

Judging by the average work day and working week, folks at minimum wage working 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, under this $10/hr minimum wage scheme would in theory take home around $350-$400 a week, the former estimation being if employees have a designated lunch hour. If it gets to Obama's suggested $9/hr, then it'd be $315-$360 a week.

Wall Street hates this guy because he refuses to treat his workers like shit. Pays them a livable wage, closes the store on major holidays, and gives them halfway decent benefits. IIRC he only makes $500k a year, which is a pittance compared to CEOs of similarly profitable companies. Edit: That was the old CEO's salary. This guy makes $650k base plus a possible $350k in bonus. Still really low for a company as successful as Costco.

Hey you balding asshole. I don't admire you permabanning me from your stores for life. Give me my fucking job back and fire the mexican who took my position. [img]http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-argh.gif[/img]

[QUOTE=Chocolate.;39836935]Minimum wage in Alberta is about $10, even for part time workers. I can't believe some people in the USA live off of $7 wages[/QUOTE] 10.25 here in ontario

[QUOTE=elitehakor v2;39837176]$20 is insane for minimum wage, and the only thing it would do is increase unemployment[/QUOTE] [B]$20 is not insane.[/B] It is only a few dollars more than what the minimum wage [I]would[/I] be, if it hadn't stopped to a *relative standstill in the late 1960s: [URL="http://thecontributor.com/40-americans-now-make-less-1968-minimum-wage"]$16.50 per hour[/URL] *edit: To clarify - $16.50 would adjust for both inflation (from 1968's $1.60/hour to present-day's $10.59) and the cost of living. To contrast: Australia has a minimum wage of $15.96 per hour (though the grand majority of Australian workers are paid $1+ higher than the bare minimum), and the Australian dollar is virtually on par with the American dollar. USA has [URL="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/5601"]a lot to learn about fair work and pay[/URL]. Seriously, minimum wage in USA is absolutely bewildering. I don't understand why people aren't already protesting it.

[QUOTE=3noneTwo;39838273][B]$20 is not insane.[/B] It is only a few dollars more than what the minimum wage [I]would[/I] be, if it hadn't stopped to a standstill in the late 1960s: [URL="http://thecontributor.com/40-americans-now-make-less-1968-minimum-wage"]$16.50 per hour[/URL] To contrast: Australia has a minimum wage of $15.96 per hour (though the grand majority of Australian workers are paid $1+ higher than the bare minimum), and the Australian dollar is virtually on par with the American dollar. USA has [URL="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/5601"]a lot to learn about fair work and pay[/URL]. Seriously, minimum wage in USA is absolutely bewildering. I don't understand why people aren't already protesting it.[/QUOTE] I will repeat what I said earlier to show you how wrong you are [QUOTE=Pat4ever;39837996]and instead of having an 8% unemployment rate we can have an 80% one[/QUOTE] also you seem to think that $16.50 in 1960s is akin to $16.50 today

I've had this idea in my head for minimum wage to be some amount + a number based on the company profit divided by work force count.

[QUOTE=3noneTwo;39838273][B]$20 is not insane.[/B] It is only a few dollars more than what the minimum wage [I]would[/I] be, if it hadn't stopped to a standstill in the late 1960s: [URL="http://thecontributor.com/40-americans-now-make-less-1968-minimum-wage"]$16.50 per hour[/URL] To contrast: Australia has a minimum wage of $15.96 per hour (though the grand majority of Australian workers are paid $1+ higher than the bare minimum), and the Australian dollar is virtually on par with the American dollar. USA has [URL="http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/5601"]a lot to learn about fair work and pay[/URL]. Seriously, minimum wage in USA is absolutely bewildering. I don't understand why people aren't already protesting it.[/QUOTE] It would actually be $10.56.

[QUOTE=Saza;39837050]I make $7.79 an hour and I support this (who doesn't want more money) though I can also imagine there'd some problems and cuts for the businesses that would effect.[/QUOTE] There will definitely be cuts if the minimum wage was raised. I personally don't want a risen minimum wage for part timers, but full timers I would be okay with.

[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;39837023]Minimum in Manitoba is relatively the same, ~$10.25 CAD if I'm not mistaken. [editline]7th March 2013[/editline] But damn, the CEO of Costco Wholesale. I would most definitely go there in the (unlikely) event of a zombie apocalypse.[/QUOTE] you can climb ontop of the shelves and live up there safe from the hoard below you. You and your fort of bulk papertowels and cereals

[QUOTE=Chocolate.;39836935]Minimum wage in Alberta is about $10, even for part time workers. I can't believe some people in the USA live off of $7 wages[/QUOTE] Waitresses make like 2 or 3 dollars an hour.

Don't waitresses make most of their money from tips?

The minimum wage should increase slowly, not instantly jump to $10, just to help out small businesses.

[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;39838778]Don't waitresses make most of their money from tips?[/QUOTE] Yes, and if their tips don't meet minimum wage, then their employer is supposed to make up the difference, but instead they usually just fire them for not making enough and costing the business and hiring someone who pulls in tips, or simply just doesn't pay the difference at all. If you're good, a waitress can make 100$ on a busy day, but in most cases, you're talking far less than that, in work conditions that are borderline illegal to cut costs (and often are illegal- my own mother has worked something like 20 waitressing jobs in her life, and a majority of them didn't allow breaks, lunches, and didn't make up the difference, and I've heard it's alot worse in the South). That being said, you can't live off of the American minimum wage unless you're willing to go into debt indefinitely or live in absolute shit with no possibility of mobility. If I wasn't dirt poor and surviving off federal aid, then I would have no hope of paying for school and my loan debt is already more than I'll be able to pay off anytime soon. And this is me as a dependent- living on my own is out of the question with a minimum wage.

[QUOTE=Pat4ever;39838105]walmart is basically the poor man's Costco, if that makes any sense[/QUOTE] There's also Sam's Club which is directly related to Wal-Mart I believe. They sell everything in bulk. Sounds a lot closer to Costco than Wal-Mart, though I've never been to Costco either. I agree with the $9-$10 minimum, though it will probably make it harder for teens to get jobs in high school and early college since companies will most likely be more picky when paying that much more.

[QUOTE=Firo;39838870]There's also Sam's Club which is directly related to Wal-Mart I believe. They sell everything in bulk. Sounds a lot closer to Costco than Wal-Mart, though I've never been to Costco either. I agree with the $9-$10 minimum, though it will probably make it harder for teens to get jobs in high school and early college since companies will most likely be more picky when paying that much more.[/QUOTE] The majority of people in minimum wage jobs are over the age of 18 now anyhow. Because of underemployment, teenagers and college students are competing with graduates and the like for shifts at McDonald's as is. I think that you would be right to say that a rise in the minimum wage would further this problem. But I'm not convinced that we should further harm the working class by not raising the wage, because of the actions of the businesspersons in response.

Minimum is 10.00 an hour here in New Brunswick. Then I can look over the border and in Maine it's just 7.50 and only 3.75 for tipped workers! I dont understand USAmerica.

[QUOTE=assassin_Raptor;39838750]Waitresses make like 2 or 3 dollars an hour.[/QUOTE] In some states.

[QUOTE=MIPS;39838124]Hey you balding asshole. I don't admire you permabanning me from your stores for life. Give me my fucking job back and fire the mexican who took my position. [img]http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-argh.gif[/img][/QUOTE] You probably really deserved it.

Just applied to Costco. It begins.

[QUOTE=Yogkog;39838817]The minimum wage should increase slowly, not instantly jump to $10, just to help out small businesses.[/QUOTE] The best way to handle this IMO is use the increased tax revenue on the minimum wage increase to pay for subsidies/less taxes/less fees/less processes small buisnesses have to go through before the minimum wage goes up. So that way their bottom line ends up being close to before but their minimum wage employees work at $10/hr still That said they could just not pay their employees dirt cheap and instead try to do a business that doesn't rely on minimum wage being strictly adhered to in order to make your money. This is actually a big problem that the older workforce faces, is that nobody wants to hire them because everybody just wants cheapo disposable workers, even in career fields, versus someone with lots of experience that gets paid more. Costco manages just fine with this and does it with retail and via selling shit cheap. It's notoriously hard to make lots of money on retail alone, which is why you need super stores like costco to make enough per day to make it even worth bothering.

[QUOTE=Chocolate.;39836935]Minimum wage in Alberta is about $10, even for part time workers. I can't believe some people in the USA live off of $7 wages[/QUOTE] When I worked up there in Northern Alberta, as a Cashier, I got $12.04 an hour, and got promoted within a month to $12.79 an hour

[QUOTE=FullStreak12;39838052]What is Costco? Never seen one.[/QUOTE] Costco, the definition of American Mass Consumerism. (It's quite the sight actually if you're used to small scale European stores, etc)