REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

San Fran bookstore closes thanks to city's $ 15 min wage law

POSTED BY: AURAPTOR
UPDATED: Saturday, February 14, 2015 08:07
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Monday, February 9, 2015 11:03 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


When a minimum wage hike hits home: Small San Francisco bookstore forced to close after latest city-mandated wage increase


The store’s owners explained in on its website:

“In November, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed a measure that will increase the minimum wage within the city to $15 per hour by 2018. Although all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principal and we believe that it’s possible that the new law will be good for San Francisco — Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to that minimum wage. Consequently we will be closing our doors no later than March 31st.

Many businesses can make adjustments to allow for increased wages. The cafe side of Borderlands, for example, should have no difficulty at all. Viability is simply a matter of increasing prices. And, since all the other cafes in the city will be under the same pressure, all the prices will float upwards. But books are a special case because the price is set by the publisher and printed on the book. Furthermore, for years part of the challenge for brick-and-mortar bookstores is that companies like Amazon.com have made it difficult to get people to pay retail prices. So it is inconceivable to adjust our prices upwards to cover increased wages.

The change in minimum wage will mean our payroll will increase roughly 39%. That increase will in turn bring up our total operating expenses by 18%. To make up for that expense, we would need to increase our sales by a minimum of 20%. We do not believe that is a realistic possibility for a bookstore in San Francisco at this time.
The other obvious alternative to increasing sales would be to decrease expenses. The only way to accomplish the amount of savings needed would be to reduce our staff to: the current management (Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman), and one other part-time employee

Alan would need to take over most of Jude’s administrative responsibilities and Jude would work the counter five to six days per week. Taking all those steps would allow management to increase their work hours by 50-75% while continuing to make roughly the same modest amount that they make now (by way of example, Alan’s salary was $28,000 last year). That’s not an option for obvious reasons and for at least one less obvious one — at the planned minimum wage in 2018, either of them would earn more than their current salary working only 40 hours per week at a much less demanding job that paid minimum wage.

Although the major effects of the increasing minimum wage won’t be felt for a while, we’ve chosen to close now instead of waiting for two reasons. First, the minimum wage has already increased from $10.74 per hour to $11.05 (as of January 1st) and it will increase again on May 1st to $12.25. Continuing to pay the higher wage without any corresponding increase in income will expend the store’s cash assets. In essence, the store will have less money (or inventory) six months from now, so closing sooner rather than later makes better business sense. But more importantly, keeping up our morale and continuing to serve our customers while knowing that we are going to close has been very painful for all of us over the past three months. Continuing to do so for even longer would be horrible. Far better to close at a time of our choosing, keep everyone’s sorrow to a minimum, and then get on with our lives.”


http://redalertpolitics.com/2015/02/03/minimum-wage-hike-hits-home-sma
ll-san-francisco-bookstore-forced-close-latest-city-mandated-wage-increase/#i8RT2lqYr22TkuBc.99




( Bizarrely, they claim it's still a good idea, but for them, it's unworkable. Go figure. )

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Monday, February 9, 2015 11:49 AM

JONGSSTRAW


I was in San Francisco right after Thanksgiving. The prices for everything are insane, about 50% higher compared to what things cost back home. A lot of people I spoke with said you gotta make $100 grand a year minimum there just to survive with the basics. It's a real libtard paradise.

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Monday, February 9, 2015 4:17 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!



Remember the premise of You've Got Mail ?

Meg Ryan played the owner of a quaint, little bookstore. Tom Hanks was the greedy, large capitalist bookstore chain exec, whose company was going to engulf and devour all the mom and pop stores , across America ?



San Franciscans did this TO THEMSELVES !!!


Progress !


Liberals themselves are the very people they warned us about !!!!

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Monday, February 9, 2015 5:09 PM

JONGSSTRAW


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:

Remember the premise of You've Got Mail ?

Meg Ryan played the owner of a quaint, little bookstore. Tom Hanks was the greedy, large capitalist bookstore chain exec, whose company was going to engulf and devour all the mom and pop stores , across America ?



San Franciscans did this TO THEMSELVES !!!

Progress !


Liberals themselves are the very people they warned us about !!!!


Hanks and Ryan had some great chemistry in that movie. My wife just adores them together and will stop anything she's doing when "Mail" or "Sleepless In Seattle" is on tv. I usually just go hide out in the garage and pretend to fix something.


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Monday, February 9, 2015 5:21 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!



Hey..didn't Hanks play a guy named FOX in YGM ???




Sleepless and 'Mail are basically the same damn movies.

Both ridiculous.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Monday, February 9, 2015 5:36 PM

JONGSSTRAW


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:

Hey..didn't Hanks play a guy named FOX in YGM ???
bbb


Yes, and one full year before another evil corporation named Fox was born.


Quote:

Sleepless and 'Mail are basically the same damn movies.

Both ridiculous.


LOL!!

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Monday, February 9, 2015 11:24 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:

San Franciscans did this TO THEMSELVES !!!

Progress !

Liberals themselves are the very people they warned us about !!!!

Look what Bobby Jindal did that is bigger than a bookstore closing: a Baton Rouge ER is closing because he won't accept Medicaid expansion. People will die because of Bobby's beliefs. -- http://theadvocate.com/home/11508381-125/baton-rouge-general-to-close

If only Bobby Jindal were willing to accept Obamacare's offer of virtually free Medicaid expansion, but he's not. Bobby's political career is more important than anything else to . . . Bobby. -- www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-lesson-of-louisiana-2015
0206-column.html


Bobby harbors fantasies of running for president. As other Republican governors have seen the light on Medicaid expansion -- ten who are not running for President have reached agreements with the federal government recently -- Bobby has become ever more obstinate. Bobby wants to look good for the Tea Party voters. If his looks kill, too bad for the dead. Not Bobby's problem.

Bobby says, "America doesn't need two liberal parties."


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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 9:27 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by G:

So, like I almost would be with any bank closing (has anyone ever seen a bank close?), I'm not too sorry that this human bank's business model didn't work.


Because he is running for President, Bobby Jindal is not accepting Medicaid for all of Louisiana, not just Baton Rouge. Medicaid expansion was not designed for funneling money to Baton Rouge doctors and administrators. It is money for the patients. The Baton Rouge newspaper will not even notice sick people who die because those people are invisible, but it will notice one ER about to die.

Poor people not getting medical help in Louisiana and dying is not news; it happens all the time because there is no Medicaid for them. Shutting down an ER is news that got noticed almost as much as a bookstore shutting in San Francisco and the ER news has a connection to Bobby Jindal's political ambitions.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 10:52 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Poor people aren't dying in LA because Jindal isn't taking federal $.


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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 3:07 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


OMG Bookstore closes. Everyone PANIC. What could be a factor here - the fact that bookstores are CLOSING EVERYWHERE due to the expansion of kindles and online books, or the fact that they could no longer employ slaves.

Oh woe. The sky is falling in.

Great story Rap.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 3:17 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
OMG Bookstore closes. Everyone PANIC. What could be a factor here - the fact that bookstores are CLOSING EVERYWHERE due to the expansion of kindles and online books, or the fact that they could no longer employ slaves.

Oh woe. The sky is falling in.

Great story Rap.



If you bothered to read the story, clearly you didn't, this bookstore actually weathered the recession and the e-book shift, and was doing quite well.

* This is a bookstore that has survived the doubling of rent in San Francisco, the impact of Amazon and other online retailers on book sales, and the recession. But despite all of that, it is the city’s new $15 an hour minimum wage that will finally put them over the edge.

However, due entirely to the jump in min wage demands by the city, this shop is closing.

Your response = " who cares ? " .

Classic Leftist. Screw the little people.



* http://redalertpolitics.com/2015/02/03/minimum-wage-hike-hits-home-sma
ll-san-francisco-bookstore-forced-close-latest-city-mandated-wage-increase/#i8RT2lqYr22TkuBc.99


Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 4:15 PM

REAVERFAN


Losing out to Amazon, blames wages that hadn't gone up yet. Sure, it's the min wage, and nothing else.

Jindal, OTOH, has totally butchered healthcare for the "little people" you're so worried about, and you ignore that true fact.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 4:52 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
When a minimum wage hike hits home: Small San Francisco bookstore forced to close after latest city-mandated wage increase


The store’s owners explained in on its website:

“In November, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed a measure that will increase the minimum wage within the city to $15 per hour by 2018. Although all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principal and we believe that it’s possible that the new law will be good for San Francisco — Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to that minimum wage. Consequently we will be closing our doors no later than March 31st.

Many businesses can make adjustments to allow for increased wages. The cafe side of Borderlands, for example, should have no difficulty at all. Viability is simply a matter of increasing prices. And, since all the other cafes in the city will be under the same pressure, all the prices will float upwards. But books are a special case because the price is set by the publisher and printed on the book. Furthermore, for years part of the challenge for brick-and-mortar bookstores is that companies like Amazon.com have made it difficult to get people to pay retail prices. So it is inconceivable to adjust our prices upwards to cover increased wages.

The change in minimum wage will mean our payroll will increase roughly 39%. That increase will in turn bring up our total operating expenses by 18%. To make up for that expense, we would need to increase our sales by a minimum of 20%. We do not believe that is a realistic possibility for a bookstore in San Francisco at this time.
The other obvious alternative to increasing sales would be to decrease expenses. The only way to accomplish the amount of savings needed would be to reduce our staff to: the current management (Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman), and one other part-time employee

Alan would need to take over most of Jude’s administrative responsibilities and Jude would work the counter five to six days per week. Taking all those steps would allow management to increase their work hours by 50-75% while continuing to make roughly the same modest amount that they make now (by way of example, Alan’s salary was $28,000 last year). That’s not an option for obvious reasons and for at least one less obvious one — at the planned minimum wage in 2018, either of them would earn more than their current salary working only 40 hours per week at a much less demanding job that paid minimum wage.

Although the major effects of the increasing minimum wage won’t be felt for a while, we’ve chosen to close now instead of waiting for two reasons. First, the minimum wage has already increased from $10.74 per hour to $11.05 (as of January 1st) and it will increase again on May 1st to $12.25. Continuing to pay the higher wage without any corresponding increase in income will expend the store’s cash assets. In essence, the store will have less money (or inventory) six months from now, so closing sooner rather than later makes better business sense. But more importantly, keeping up our morale and continuing to serve our customers while knowing that we are going to close has been very painful for all of us over the past three months. Continuing to do so for even longer would be horrible. Far better to close at a time of our choosing, keep everyone’s sorrow to a minimum, and then get on with our lives.”


http://redalertpolitics.com/2015/02/03/minimum-wage-hike-hits-home-sma
ll-san-francisco-bookstore-forced-close-latest-city-mandated-wage-increase/#i8RT2lqYr22TkuBc.99




( Bizarrely, they claim it's still a good idea, but for them, it's unworkable. Go figure. )


say it isn't so.
couldn't happen to a more deserving place. Reap what they sow.
They are all illiterate there anyway, right?

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 6:23 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by reaverfan:
Losing out to Amazon, blames wages that hadn't gone up yet. Sure, it's the min wage, and nothing else.



Read the article. It's clearly spelled out EXACTLY why the shop is having to close. They even use small words, so you can understand.

Quote:



Jindal, OTOH, has totally butchered healthcare for the "little people" you're so worried about, and you ignore that true fact.




Except, he didn't. It's no where near a 'true' fact. It would be an 'imaginary, ridiculous ' fact.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 7:14 PM

JONGSSTRAW


Tea Party racist whores Reaverfag and Sloppy Second hate Bobby Jindal because of his skin color.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015 11:21 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Tea Party racist whores Reaverfag and Sloppy Second hate Bobby Jindal because of his skin color.

I'm not merely racist; I am super-Brahman. Neither Jongsstraw nor your living descendents are good enough to kiss the dirt I walk upon.

Advice from Bobby Jindal is all about helping yourself: The poor don't need a higher minimum wage; the poor should start their own business and be their own boss and pay themselves. Poor people don't need medicaid; poor people should look after their own health and learn to be doctors. I don't say Bobby Jindal's advice is wrong; I say his advice is worthless, which is the quality of thinking out of the Tea Party from California to Carolina.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 2:58 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:

.

Classic Leftist. Screw the little people.




Oh my, that's the funniest thing I've read all day.

You know, businesses employ people when they can afford to do so. If you cant afford to pay thewages, you don't employ people until you do. It's pretty easy maths (or math as you Americans annoyingly say)

I know you don't think that any other system except brutalist capitalism works, but lots of well functioning societies pay minimum wages as well leave entitlements, and other costs of employing people and still do business okay. Last time I checked we have bookshops and cafes and supermarkets where people earn at least minimum wage. So why should the great land of the free be unable to pay livable wages?

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 8:04 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:

Oh my, that's the funniest thing I've read all day.


The poor won't be the rich man's tax burden once the poor get rich. Bobby Jindal got that right.


Ted Cruz says, "We've seen minimum wages stagnate." Good point, Ted.


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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 8:51 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Stagnate ? Hell, they need to wither off the fine and die.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 9:21 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
Stagnate ? Hell, they need to wither off the fine and die.

The Tea Party knows not what it speaks of.

The highest minimum wage was in 1968 at $1.60 per hour ($10.88 in 2014 dollars). It was a different country back then, going to the Moon, going somewhere, not spinning its wheels while stuck in Tea Party mud. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/History_of_US_feder
al_minimum_wage_increases.svg


But white racist Southerners were preaching the virtues of endless war back in 1968. At least that will always be the same. I love that Bobby Jindal, who also thinks the minimum wage is too high as does AURaptor, had his official portrait show him as a white clown.


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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 9:34 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Yeah, Democrat LBJ sure was a piece of work, huh?


And we're stuck in Obama's mud ( eww ) , if anyone is being sincere about all this.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 9:50 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
Yeah, Democrat LBJ sure was a piece of work, huh?

Funny how white Southerners like LBJ get themselves into funny wars like Vietnam. George Bush the second, another white Southerner, maintained that tradition of the Confederate States. Ted Cruz or pseudo-white (see his Louisiana Governor portrait) Bobby Jindal could carry the proud & honorable tradition forward when they are elected President. And also lower the minimum wage.

Did you notice that President George Bush the First did not follow the Confederate tradition of starting wars that they lose? The First was the New England President of Kennebunkport Maine. He also raised the minimum wage in his last year of office.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 6:10 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Is Republican Concern About Middle-Class Wage Stagnation Just a Big Con?

In the last few weeks the Tea Party's Ted Cruz claimed he is very concerned about wage stagnation, but because of OBAMA Ted Cruz can't do a thing about it. When the Tea Party President is inaugurated in Jan 2017, people will learn that nothing can be done because _________insert excuse here_________.

"The danger for Democrats is that they will lose ownership of the issues of stagnation, opportunity and fairness. But they also face what may be a deeper problem: What happens when their candidates are not the only ones who can harness the emotional power that stems from the anger many Americans feel as they helplessly watch the geyser of wealth shooting to the top?" -- www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/02/republican-concern-about-middle
-class-wage-stagnation-just-big-con


As a member of the top 1% ( born above a Texas oil reservoir, thank-you Great Grandfather ) my sympathy is with the Republican Party. But Cruz is getting a little too cynical in manipulating the gullible voters. The voters might notice by 2018. But the Democratic Party will probably serve it's traditional role of taking the blame for the failures of the Republican Party.

Democrats: the universal scapegoat party for Republican failures. Doing the work of governing so the Republicans don't have to.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 6:47 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!



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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 7:07 PM

JONGSSTRAW




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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 7:14 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!




I say YES ! To what ever she just asked me.



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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 7:15 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


You can not really tell who I will be voting for because whichever party wins, I win. My politics are opposite of what is best for my family's wealth. I can tell who you will be voting for at the next election. The multimillionaires on the inside of the Republican party will smile and graciously accept your vote, all the while knowing you are a dumb-ass. Seriously. I'm not joking.

The rule is to never let Republican voters know they are being conned. So long as they remain ignorant, they can be conned again. Every two years to be more precise.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 7:25 PM

JONGSSTRAW


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:


I say YES ! To what ever she just asked me.




Say YES to her with sugar on it and anything's possible!

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 7:44 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

Say YES to her with sugar on it and anything's possible!

So much is not possible in the USA.

On average, by age 40 Americans are within about $1,000 of their peak earnings. They get inflation adjustments after that, but for the bulk of them, that's it. Real earnings plateau after 40. -- www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/02/age-40-your-income-probably-goo
d-its-going-get

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Thursday, February 12, 2015 8:30 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
When a minimum wage hike hits home: Small San Francisco bookstore forced to close after latest city-mandated wage increase


The store’s owners explained in on its website:

“In November, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed a measure that will increase the minimum wage within the city to $15 per hour by 2018. Although all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principal and we believe that it’s possible that the new law will be good for San Francisco — Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to that minimum wage. Consequently we will be closing our doors no later than March 31st.

Many businesses can make adjustments to allow for increased wages. The cafe side of Borderlands, for example, should have no difficulty at all. Viability is simply a matter of increasing prices. And, since all the other cafes in the city will be under the same pressure, all the prices will float upwards. But books are a special case because the price is set by the publisher and printed on the book. Furthermore, for years part of the challenge for brick-and-mortar bookstores is that companies like Amazon.com have made it difficult to get people to pay retail prices. So it is inconceivable to adjust our prices upwards to cover increased wages.

The change in minimum wage will mean our payroll will increase roughly 39%. That increase will in turn bring up our total operating expenses by 18%. To make up for that expense, we would need to increase our sales by a minimum of 20%. We do not believe that is a realistic possibility for a bookstore in San Francisco at this time.
The other obvious alternative to increasing sales would be to decrease expenses. The only way to accomplish the amount of savings needed would be to reduce our staff to: the current management (Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman), and one other part-time employee

Alan would need to take over most of Jude’s administrative responsibilities and Jude would work the counter five to six days per week. Taking all those steps would allow management to increase their work hours by 50-75% while continuing to make roughly the same modest amount that they make now (by way of example, Alan’s salary was $28,000 last year). That’s not an option for obvious reasons and for at least one less obvious one — at the planned minimum wage in 2018, either of them would earn more than their current salary working only 40 hours per week at a much less demanding job that paid minimum wage.

Although the major effects of the increasing minimum wage won’t be felt for a while, we’ve chosen to close now instead of waiting for two reasons. First, the minimum wage has already increased from $10.74 per hour to $11.05 (as of January 1st) and it will increase again on May 1st to $12.25. Continuing to pay the higher wage without any corresponding increase in income will expend the store’s cash assets. In essence, the store will have less money (or inventory) six months from now, so closing sooner rather than later makes better business sense. But more importantly, keeping up our morale and continuing to serve our customers while knowing that we are going to close has been very painful for all of us over the past three months. Continuing to do so for even longer would be horrible. Far better to close at a time of our choosing, keep everyone’s sorrow to a minimum, and then get on with our lives.”


http://redalertpolitics.com/2015/02/03/minimum-wage-hike-hits-home-sma
ll-san-francisco-bookstore-forced-close-latest-city-mandated-wage-increase/#i8RT2lqYr22TkuBc.99




( Bizarrely, they claim it's still a good idea, but for them, it's unworkable. Go figure. )



In an unregulated free market, which is what some on this site advocate, businesses are subject to the ebbs and flows of market forces, and may at any time close or go bust. The GFC, a result of the unfettered greed and shocking practices of the financial sector, largely in the US, caused countless businesses world wide to fold, and caused untold hardship.

Minimum wages will impact a market and the market will adjust, that wont be without loss for some businesses that have relied heavily upon cheap wages. However, introduction of a minimum wage is not catastrophic and has many advantages. Firstly, if every one has the same minimum, then competition - at least local competition wont change. as for the international market, unless trade agreements prohibit it, businesses in wealthy countries already contend with competing with overseas markets who use, let's call what it is, slave labour. You can never outcheap a slave on wages, so sensible businesses dont try.

There are other larger impacts from having a better paid workforce. From information I have read, the US has a large proportion of working poor. It's not quite the story that some here paint - low wages for students and those starting out. The evidence indicates that there is a huge number of poorly paid working people who rely heavily upon food stamps and other government hand outs to live. ANd you know what that is, that's government SUBSIDISING business so that can pay lowly and reap the profit returns. Better wages mean less government top ups, and more money circulating in the economy. So that's a good thing, ultimately.

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Friday, February 13, 2015 5:55 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Oh I can see that. And no issues either. We all think first of our livlihood quite rightly. However, small business are always vulnerable to changes in the market, changes that would not give pause to Rap and his ilk because they are considered 'natural' adjustments or if you like, or as I might see them flaws or manipulations of the economy.


In the end, we are never going to have the market stability of say 50 years ago. Whole industties vanish or a sucked overseas by technological advances and the use of cheap overseas labour. Bookshops do it hard anyway. There has been a lot of closures here and nothing to do with changes in labour laws, but as a result of Amazon under pricing the market as well as the increasing preference for kindles and electronic devices. And these changes can take place very quickly. It's also increasingly hard for employees to determine whether their skill base will be redundant shortly, whether they should retrain and in what.

But you know this is the system that we're all supposed to revere, isn't it?

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Saturday, February 14, 2015 4:29 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
The rule is to never let Libtard Democrat voters know they are being conned. So long as they remain ignorant, they can be conned again. Every two years to be more precise.


Fixed that for ya. No sense in insisting on being wrong when you were oh so close to getting the facts right.

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Saturday, February 14, 2015 4:31 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:


I say YES ! To what ever she just asked me.




Say YES to her with sugar on it and anything's possible!


She is so much more agreeable in Twilight

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Saturday, February 14, 2015 8:07 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Quote:

Originally posted by second:
The rule is to never let Libtard Democrat voters know they are being conned. So long as they remain ignorant, they can be conned again. Every two years to be more precise.


Fixed that for ya. No sense in insisting on being wrong when you were oh so close to getting the facts right.

Republican politicians who are long gone have promised to end Social Security, Medicare, and minimum wage, the subject of this post. They didn't really push hard because it wasn't a priority to end these programs. Even capturing Osama bin Laden wasn't really a priority. Ending Obamacare is not really a priority, even though Republican politicians who are still in office talk as if it is their number one goal. If Obamacare is terminated, it will have to be the five GOP Supreme Court justices who do the work that the GOP politicians won't do because the politicians face election every two years.

I'm staying with the idea that Republican politicians are conning Republican voters more energetically than Democratic politicians are conning their people. -- www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/08/congress-really-truly-doesnt-ca
re-about-middle-class


What source for my no-longer so secret love for Republicans? That's GOP pols, not GOP voters, by the way. I truly love tax cuts directed toward people making more than middle class income, $250,000 and higher incomes. I love paying less Federal taxes than my employees. Voting Democrat, yet getting Republican tax cuts makes me feel special and blessed. --
www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/02/republicans-are-cutting-taxes-r
ich-and-raising-them-poor

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