OPEN on Christmas for the Tuesday thread
CrazyLegsKC | Wikimedia Commons | Text by Dan
Here’s an interesting story about how McDonald’s Corp. is urging franchises to remain open on Christmas Day. Workers would be paid their regular rate, of course — minimum wage or a bit more. Working the holiday is voluntary, the company says.
Last year, the average McDonald’s that was open on Christmas average $5,500 in sales. The average profit margin for franchisees is around 10 percent. Thus, the franchise owners stand to net about $550 per store open on Christmas, on average.
So let’s do a little math on the lowball side, eh?
Let’s assume they’ll be open for 12 hours, and that it takes 4 staff to keep the place humming, and that they’re all earning minimum wage.
That’s 48 worker hours, or $348 in wages the franchise would spend to earn his or her $550. If they paid traditional OT wages, (time and a half) that would total $552, which means the franchise would earn only $376.
And if they paid traditional holiday OT wages (doubletime) that would leave the workers with $696 in pay, while the franchisee would wind up with only $202.
So the franchise owner more than doubles his or her money by screwing the workers on Christmas — but after all, they are VOLUNTEERS, so they’re not being screwed, right? Keep in mind these are lowball estimates. It’s possible that any profit whatsoever would be eliminated if they paid doubletime wages and if the crew was bigger, or earned a little more, or they were open longer hours.
It’s the direction we’re heading in that’s most concerning about this scenario, however.
Because if that continues, in 5 years it’s not going to be “voluntary” to work the Christmas holiday. Then, RWers will be asking:
“Why should it be voluntary? Why should I have to suffer a loss of $550 in profits simply because my lazy workers want to enjoy the holiday with their families? Those should be assigned days!” By then there will be no question of any holiday pay.
And 5 more years down the road, they will be raising the question: “Why should I have to pay OT to workers who WANT to work more than 40 hours/week? I can’t afford that and it limits their opportunity to earn more. It limits their freedom, and that is wrong!”
And a few years later, the question will morph into this: “Why should I pay sick time? Do you realize how much that costs me ever year? And half the time my lazy SOB workers are faking illness! Sick time encourages sloth, and that is wrong!”
And then the mainstream-conservative questions will veer into the unfairness of the minimum wage (a few idiots are already raising this question now), and child labor laws (ditto) worker safety laws (ditto), and other aspects of employment regulation that seemed settled decades ago. Seeking more and more profit, employers are going to wring them out of the sweat of labor, and there will be workers desperate enough, and inculcated with such a mindset, that they’ll fall for it.
At some point, perhaps then, perhaps sooner, the pendulum will begin swinging back. It always does. The question is, when is that gonna happen?
December 18, 2012 - 10:00 AM
Unrelated, but just wanted to remind everyone of Friday’s 12/21 Weather forecast.
http://www.laughnessmonster.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Weather-for-12-211.png
Don’t worry about watering the tree anymore
LOL Pete!
Hilarious PP!
Funny forecast…not so funny trend here, though:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/333-straight-months-of-warmer-than-normal-temperatures-worldwide/2012/12/18/8c12edf8-492a-11e2-b6f0-e851e741d196_blog.html?wprss=rss_local
Interesting notes:
November 2012 marks the 36th consecutive warmer than average November.
Climate Central’s Andrew Freedman notes the last cooler than average month globally occurred in February, 1985.
“To put it another way, if you are under the age of 27, you have never experienced a month in which global average surface temperatures came in below the 20th century average,” Freedman writes.
Indicative of how little value is placed on mental health in this country.
http://thebloggess.com/2012/12/today-and-forever-2/
“One of the hardest things to accept about this tragedy is that Dan did ask for help. When things got bad he went to the VA but was told that he couldn’t get the specific help that he needed because he didn’t serve during wartime. I don’t know if he tried again for help, but personally I know how incredibly difficult it is to fight for your own mental health when depression lies about how you aren’t worthy of that help, and I know how hard it is to find good mental health in America when you barely have the strength to get out of bed.”
Thanks for the laugh PP… Now where did I put my bomb shelter?
Comment by pistol pete — December 18, 2012 @ 11:25 am
LMAO!
I thought this was an interesting article about the Second Amendment. I’m sure John Wilburn and the other gun rights experts on this blog will be informed.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/12/jeffrey-toobin-second-amendment.html
This childs parents should be arrested.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/student-brings-gun-to-school_n_2324143.html
This has to be one of the silliest threads I have seen.
Simple solution; outlet stays closed… anyone wanting to work has no “choice” (get no pay)… customers get food elsewhere.
If you’ve been freaking out about Instagram all day…
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57559710-38/instagram-says-it-now-has-the-right-to-sell-your-photos/
…now’s the time to stand down.
http://globalgrind.com/style/instagram-responds-terms-services-photo-privacy-outrage-statement-kevin-systrom-details
Re: Ron May @ 6:20 pm
Or this http://tinyurl.com/ah67f6x
Or something in-between.
Most major stores and retailers still stay closed on Christmas day and dodge the presumed overtime issue by opening their shops after 6pm to eliminate overtime and family issues. If a retailer wants to stay open on Christmas day, have at it. If a citizen wants to spend their day working in lieu of spending time with Family, have at it.Blue laws are a thing of the past and let commerce ring year round freely at the owners and citizens decision and independent discretion.
Since the global warming crowd predicts it will be warm, I’m thinking most of the golf courses may be open that day too.
“Since the global warming crowd predicts it will be warm, I’m thinking most of the golf courses may be open that day too.”
Not sure where you heard that one. Forecast in the Roanoke area right now is for a little cooler than average. Theaters will be open, however.
“9.Support the creation of local organizations to act as “neighborhood watch” for schools. Had George Zimmerman been at the front door instead of some mechanical card reader those children would still be alive. Perhaps it’s time we start asking for volunteers to protect our children. It will require security checks, but isn’t that worth it? This dovetails with the union problem; the unions will fight this measure tooth-and-nail.”
Above is a quote from the National Tea Party website and advises us on how to avoid future attacks on schools. Below is the link to the entire article. God preserve us from these folks.
http://www.teapartynation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3355873%3ABlogPost%3A2364503&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post
“Had George Zimmerman been at the front door instead of some mechanical card reader those children would still be alive.”
As long as the children weren’t black and carrying Skittles.
Debbie:
“This childs parents should be arrested.”
I’d like to know the other (parents’) side of the story before declaring that they should be arrested, but if they indeed authorized this, it was a grossly irresponsible thing to do. At least where that school is, Utah, teachers can be armed if they so choose.
There is a part of me that thinks all business should close on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, but in truth one Christmas memory from childhood involves trying to find a store that was open to buy medication for one of us who was sick. It was very hard to do back in the early 60′s. I feel conflicted about it, but I love the convenience of being able to “run to the store” at virtually any time of the day or night.
My hope is that those who need the time for their families are allowed to have it. I confess I have never needed a hamburger or pair of shoes in the middle of the night or on a major holiday.
Until I left home to go to college, and even then while in college, I worked 365 days a year.
You all will remember that I grew up on a dairy farm. Dairy cows dont’ stop needing to be milked on holidays. But that was how my family made a living and it impacted no one but us.
This is obviously a different issue it seems to me. It is convenient to have places open on holidays, but employees should be appropriately compensated when they work on holidays.