Let's hear it for higher minimum wages

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot 358]

It's not just minimum wage.  It's also employer portion of payroll taxes and now healthcare mandates that make it a disincentive to hire.

 

That's why everything is moving to automation.  Not just key making.  Legal and pharmacy professions are getting decimated.  Even telemarketing is moving to realistic robotic telemarketing.

[Recon Racoon 49]

Yeahhhhh....so, jobs like key maker are lateral moves for employees in retail jobs like this. Unless there is a raise involved employees won't care about learning the proper way to do things.

 

Switching to a machine to do this job is going to save the company money, not only in labor cost but training and retraining as well. And on top of all that I'm pretty sure lowes has been making this switch machine for a few years now. It's not about raising the minimum wage just because, it's a way for them to save money.

 

The minimum wage increase, is to try and help decrease the cost of living gap that people with sucky jobs (in more cases the only jobs they can find) have to contend with in New Jersey. Yeah you're not supposed to be able to live on minimum wage, but if everyone struggles to pay for the bare basics even with government assistance than there is something wrong with this state.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mipafox 438]

Almost nobody working full time makes minimum wage. Then again, in 2012 80% of new jobs were full time. As has been the case more or less for 40 years.

 

In 2013 80% of new jobs were part time. Less than 30 hours per week.

 

Almost no adults earn minimum wage, either. Raising the minimum wage has nothing to do with helping people raise families. Or have a living wage. Only kids make minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage is 100%, not 99%, but 100% about increasing Union rates that are multipliers of the minimum wage and also Prevailing Wage which is tied to the higher of Union wages or multipliers of the minimum wage (and by extension for Union Wages).

 

And that doesn't even have anything to do with Union workers. It has to do with Union dues. Which doesn't even have anything to do with Union officers. It's the Communist slush fund. Unions are not regulated under law. In PA they can stalk you, make threatening phone calls all times of the night, and trespass at your home at all hours. I'm sure it's the same in NJ. Unions are exempt from stalking laws, they cannot be charged. Unions are exempt from nearly all federal fund raising, PAC, and political campaigning/advertising laws. Heck, CPAC is over, conservative political campaigning is now illegal in an election year. They can't even call anyone who might run for office on a telephone.

[BlueLineFish 615]

If its a union multiplier than more and more unions would be getting better contracts. Thats not the case. This is just democrats giving out more money at the expense of businesses to make it look like they are for the people. These idiots dont realize that higher wages lead to higher costs and job replacement by cheaper means

[Vlad G 345]

A

Almost no adults earn minimum wage, either. Raising the minimum wage has nothing to do with helping people raise families. Or have a living wage. Only kids make minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage is 100%, not 99%, but 100% about increasing Union rates that are multipliers of the minimum wage and also Prevailing Wage which is tied to the higher of Union wages or multipliers of the minimum wage (and by extension for Union Wages).

.

 

This is not entirely correct. There are a lot of adults working a lot of hours for minimum wage, just not around here because the cost of living makes impossible. Head south and west and the story changes.

 

There are a lot of statistics out there, but a lot of those don't account for unreported employment which while "under the table" is nevertheless affected by the rates around it.

[mipafox 438]

If its a union multiplier than more and more unions would be getting better contracts. Thats not the case.

A large percentage of existing union contracts have base multipliers based on minimum wage that are calculated with normal pay increases.

 

Sounds like your union let the Citizenry rip you off. I think you should start pushing them around more and let them know why.

[mipafox 438]

 

This is not entirely correct. There are a lot of adults working a lot of hours for minimum wage, just not around here because the cost of living makes impossible. Head south and west and the story changes.

 

There are a lot of statistics out there, but a lot of those don't account for unreported employment which while "under the table" is nevertheless affected by the rates around it.

 

 

3% of adults make minimum wage and 87% of them are part time workers. Of course, it's less than 1% of ALL Walmart workers that make minimum wage, including part time.

 

Who makes minimum wage has nothing to do with what the cost of living makes possible. Almost nobody is trying to live on the minimum wage.

[raz-0 1,259]

To all those that think higher minimum wage is the answer, I offer you the picture below. I was at Lowes this morning and took this picture of how they have replaced an employee that used to cut keys with this self-serve kiosk where you insert your key and your credit card and you get a duplicate key made. One more job eliminated (per store) due to government regulations which make it more cost effective to hire a machine than a person. Keep up the good work Democrats!

 

 

Hate to break it to you, but those were all over the place well before the minimum wage hike.

[brucin 923]

Lowes is a global company, the machine is a reaction to government induced costs all across the country (world) and not predicated on NJ laws alone.

 

It has nothing to do with costs and everything to do with corporate greed. Management would replace anyone to increase profits. That's the only thing that any corporation cares about. 

 

At one time corporations used to consider their employees a valuable asset but now they are nothing but a commodity to be used up and discarded and replaced with a cheaper model.

[checko 180]

my lowes has had this machine for well over a year, they also didnt have a key maker specific job, they would just grab the guy from hardware dept, dont think any jobs were lost due to this.

 

Checko can be more specific of time frame

 

We've fired 37 people after saving all the money we could with this machine.......

 

First off its not a Lowe's machine. We don't own or maintain it what so ever.

I forget how long we've been using this machine (2 years?) but its a win-win for both companies. They rent the space from us and we take a small % of each key. The key company just maintains its machine and waits for customers.

 

If you think anyone lost their job for this you are clinically insane. We don't have a "key person" and I have more than enough work to hand out. Not to mention the machine only cuts 2 types of keys in the first place (kwikset or schlage). The 80 some odd other keys are still cut by anyone who happens to be near the key machine at the time, including an assistant manager like myself.

 

I didn't see any posts here when redbox put blockbuster out of business.

 

[ogfarmer 138]

We've fired 37 people after saving all the money we could with this machine....... First off its not a Lowe's machine. We don't own or maintain it what so ever. I forget how long we've been using this machine (2 years?) but its a win-win for both companies. They rent the space from us and we take a small % of each key. The key company just maintains its machine and waits for customers. If you think anyone lost their job for this you are clinically insane. We don't have a "key person" and I have more than enough work to hand out. Not to mention the machine only cuts 2 types of keys in the first place (kwikset or schlage). The 80 some odd other keys are still cut by anyone who happens to be near the key machine at the time, including an assistant manager like myself. I didn't see any posts here when redbox & netflix put blockbuster out of business.

Great reference! but fixed it for you

[Newtonian 453]

However you slice Americans who desire honest pay for an honest day's work are screwed. It will only get worse.

You can blame both parties for "free trade" and immigration non-policies that essentially import third-world living standards to the USA.

 

When I was growing up in Hoboken we had Lipton Tea, Maxwell House Coffee, Levalor, Venus Pencil (if you remember those you're f-ing old!), Keufel and Esser (measurement instruments), Henkel Chemical, Todd Shipyards, Bethlehem Steel, Hostess bakery, Tootsie Roll, Standard Brands, a dozen steelworks (including a ship propeller company 3 blocks from my house), fifty clothing manufacturers, and let's not forget Hoboken Bamboo Works, Stevens Tech, etc. 

 

Supporting those enterprises were literally hundreds of bars, restaurants, lawyers, doctor offices, accountants. Nobody was rich but everybody seemed to have a job.

 

Every morning 15,000 janitors, secretaries, accountants, laborers, factory workers, engineers, scientists, and whatever whoever else grabbed their lunch boxes and walked to work. Many if not most were able to save enough for a house in the now-decrepit but at the time "luxurious" suburbs.

 

All those places are gone, kaput. Except for Stevens. 

 

If you're middle class in my former home town today, with a high school education, even a typical liberal arts bachelor's degree, you're pretty much f*kced. 

 

The Poster Formerly Known as Phosgene is correct about minimum wage stats. But to me the problem is not who and how many are making $8.25 an hour but the vast number of folks who must survive on $14, $16, etc., which is about $30,000 per year. Maybe I'm being nostalgic but I think $10/hr back in the '60s was solid middle class. $30k today isn't.

[SW9racer 262]

When you swipe your credit card in that machine, it knows your name and address. When you put your key in it, it generates a code to duplicate it. The company now has the key to your house, as well as anyone else that can access the data.

With your name they can scan facebook and know when you are not home.

So, you save a buck on a key but lose your TV.

[jackandjill 683]

I am in favor of best wage possible for hardworking folks. But (Un)ACA, minimum wage drama, voter ID and EO for illegal immigration are all part of same game. Carefully played.

[Guest]

It has nothing to do with costs and everything to do with corporate greed. Management would replace anyone to increase profits. That's the only thing that any corporation cares about. 

 

At one time corporations used to consider their employees a valuable asset but now they are nothing but a commodity to be used up and discarded and replaced with a cheaper model.

Every business is in business to make money for their stock holders and for themselves.

 

Do you go to work every day with a feeling of helping out your follow worker or are you there to put as money in your own pocket??

 

Better yet, grow a pair and start your own business, come back here in 6 months (or 6 years) and tell us how you're paying your employees $20/hr and how happy they are...

[jackandjill 683]

Look at economy as layers of sectors. Starting with local business, manufacturingand up. The concept of consolidate, contract, outsource and offshore model is slowly eating its way up. Domestic production is decreasing, imports increasing. Most of the lower layers turned from production to services only.

 

Unfortunately, the minimum wage is most prevalent in those sectors that are already under pressure. I am not sure how increasing minimum wage across without addressing critical contributing factors help.

 

Add to that, the smart ass in WH is going to EO for illegal. Somebody is going to have to pay for that additional labor supply. Its going to be you and I in cost, taxes and penalties. That is, assuming our sectors don't fall to same fate.

 

Good luck everyone.

[checko 180]

When you swipe your credit card in that machine, it knows your name and address. When you put your key in it, it generates a code to duplicate it. The company now has the key to your house, as well as anyone else that can access the data. With your name they can scan facebook and know when you are not home.So, you save a buck on a key but lose your TV.

And you have the evidence that the company sores and backs up this data?

 

[mustang69 505]

I'm willing to bet this machine actually created a small business owner and some jobs.  I doubt it's a Lowes machine - there is a vendor somewhere that owns it, so the vendor is responsible for maintenance/repair, stocking it, etc.  Granted, one person probably services an entire region, but as has been mentioned Lowes never hired anyone just to make keys.

[illy 1]

I'm just going to interject that the hackers who steal CC info from retailers are exceedingly unlikely to be doing home burglaries.

[Babyface Finster 45]

Why would the machine have the cardholder's address?

[brucin 923]

Every business is in business to make money for their stock holders and for themselves.

 

Do you go to work every day with a feeling of helping out your follow worker or are you there to put as money in your own pocket??

 

Better yet, grow a pair and start your own business, come back here in 6 months (or 6 years) and tell us how you're paying your employees $20/hr and how happy they are...

 

When i started 22 years ago at my company we had a private pension, a 401k match, free health care, employee access to the fleet gas pumps ( cheaper than a the gas station), company paid parties and performance reviews and raises every year.

 

Owner retired and left it to his kids. Now all of that is gone. It's either greed or gross mismanagement. Since the doors are still open i'll go with greed.

 

I also owned my own title search company in the late 80's. My two employee's were well compensated until the S&L failures of 87-88. That put most of my clients out of business and me along with them. I've already had the pair and do not wish to grow another one.

 

I look at my current job as a prison sentence that I have 9 years left to serve then I shall be released.

[Howard 538]

When i started 22 years ago at my company we had a private pension, a 401k match, free health care, employee access to the fleet gas pumps ( cheaper than a the gas station), company paid parties and performance reviews and raises every year.

 

Owner retired and left it to his kids. Now all of that is gone. It's either greed or gross mismanagement. Since the doors are still open i'll go with greed.

 

I also owned my own title search company in the late 80's. My two employee's were well compensated until the S&L failures of 87-88. That put most of my clients out of business and me along with them. I've already had the pair and do not wish to grow another one.

 

I look at my current job as a prison sentence that I have 9 years left to serve then I shall be released.

Well it could be greed, but most likely not. Our government has put the squeeze on businesses so hard that they need to cut most costs to the bone. It's not just taxes, but all the regulation and paperwork. Most of those funds could be used for compensation but now must go to keeping the government at bay. We need to get government off the backs of businesses. It's almost impossible to operate a business today without running afoul of some stupid rule.

 

 

In addition to that the Internet has actually hurt most businesses. While information is good, it has given customers so much move leverage that most businesses have much thinner margins than they used to. By hose margin pressures mean they must pare costs to the bone as well.

[njpilot 671]

Well it could be greed, but most likely not. Our government has put the squeeze on businesses so hard that they need to cut most costs to the bone. It's not just taxes, but all the regulation and paperwork. Most of those funds could be used for compensation but now must go to keeping the government at bay. We need to get government off the backs of businesses. It's almost impossible to operate a business today without running afoul of some stupid rule.

Very true. Companies talk about how many ridiculous man hours are required to deal with all of the bs that comes from the corrupt overseers.

 

Complying with Sarbanes/Oxley and other crap that comes out of that cesspool called DC is killing companies.

[Guest]

Well it could be greed, but most likely not. Our government has put the squeeze on businesses so hard that they need to cut most costs to the bone. It's not just taxes, but all the regulation and paperwork. Most of those funds could be used for compensation but now must go to keeping the government at bay. We need to get government off the backs of businesses. It's almost impossible to operate a business today without running afoul of some stupid rule. In addition to that the Internet has actually hurt most businesses. While information is good, it has given customers so much move leverage that most businesses have much thinner margins than they used to. By hose margin pressures mean they must pare costs to the bone as well.

Well said!!

 

But they may not offer those benies for a bunch of other reason also, bottom line is that no one is forcing anyone else to work for them.

 

 

When i started 22 years ago at my company we had a private pension, a 401k match, free health care, employee access to the fleet gas pumps ( cheaper than a the gas station), company paid parties and performance reviews and raises every year.

 

Owner retired and left it to his kids. Now all of that is gone. It's either greed or gross mismanagement. Since the doors are still open i'll go with greed.

 

I also owned my own title search company in the late 80's. My two employee's were well compensated until the S&L failures of 87-88. That put most of my clients out of business and me along with them. I've already had the pair and do not wish to grow another one.

 

I look at my current job as a prison sentence that I have 9 years left to serve then I shall be released.

 

With that attitude alone, I'm sure you are on a short list and my not last the next nine years. Unless you work in a union or for a govt. agency in which case that attitude is par for the course

[Oleg 8]

I know this is somewhat off-topic but you can go into pretty much any IT company in NYC and ask what is their biggest problem. Most likely answer is not taxes, is not government or minimum wages. It is hiring [the right people]. It is even worse; our company have open IT positions that we cannot fill in both NYC office and in Ukraine (we have partners there). There are more jobs than talent in many IT areas. And on completely side note; out of about hundred interviews I did in the last couple years almost everybody was a first or second generation of immigrants.

[Guest]

I know this is somewhat off-topic but you can go into pretty much any IT company in NYC and ask what is their biggest problem. Most likely answer is not taxes, is not government or minimum wages. It is hiring [the right people]. It is even worse; our company have open IT positions that we cannot fill in both NYC office and in Ukraine (we have partners there). There are more jobs than talent in many IT areas. And on completely side note; out of about hundred interviews I did in the last couple years almost everybody was a first or second generation of immigrants.

good point

 

As an employer myself, I cant find anyone to fill my open positions and all I ask of them is to drag a hose around a house for power washing. The younger generation does not have work ethics, self respect or pride

[SW9racer 262]

I'm just going to interject that the hackers who steal CC info from retailers are exceedingly unlikely to be doing home burglaries.

True, but there is a market for this information. Conspiracy theories aside, EVERYTHING electronic is stored, tracked, hacked, and used.

[Babyface Finster 45]

True, but there is a market for this information. Conspiracy theories aside, EVERYTHING electronic is stored, tracked, hacked, and used.

 

So you're saying that this machine requires you to enter your address to get a key made?  I don't know any way a retailer would have access to your address through a normal credit card transaction.

[almiz111 26]

I'll vote to increase the min wage when......they cut the wages of the ones...

-with a chip on their shoulder

-have an attitude problem

-don't really want to be there at work

-can't make change

-are racists

-don't know how to greet and smile

 

In other words, never.

[Springfield1911 22]

That machine is useless. It only cuts a couple of different more common keys. Hate to break it to you but that machine creates jobs. There is a company that manufactures it, stocks it, maintains it...etc.