Tim Hortons heirs cut paid breaks and worker benefits after minimum wage hike

[Molis]

Also who didn't see this from a mile away?

Companies will not simply absorb the cost of increasing minimum wages.

You can spout all you want how increasing minimum wage is a good thing with this study and that study, however companies are going to just simply cut costs.
Even if a minimum wage increase was the absolute best thing for mankind and the economy companies are not going to absorb this shit.

[Utinil]

I'm sorry, but that's bullshit. A business model dependent on paying people the absolute minimum possible and then freaking out when that gets changed by the government is doomed to fail. Your margins are too low to continue to withstand any other market factors at that point.

The minimum wage moved from $11.60/hour to $14.00/hour, and then to $15.00/hour next year. If you have a pool of let's say 5 people at minimum wage working 40 hours per week, your looking at at increased cost of $680 per week. This is completely offset by a small price increase or a strategy to increase volume. Is it nothing? Of course not. But does it require you to strip away benefits and perks to the point that your employees are now worse off than before the increase? Hell no.

It is clear you have never run a business. If you raise prices to much, you actually lose money. Businesses try to stay at the most profitable number, once there even a small increase in price will result in a loss of revenue. As for the next point, a strategy to increase volume, do you honestly not think that companies are always attempting strategies to increase volume? It isn't as simple as someone saying lets get more customers and bam it is done. Also if the store goes under you end up with employees with no job, relying on welfare/unemployment for their entire revenue which hurts everyone.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Just a mild correction but Tim Hortons isn't a small business >.> its basically an institution in Canada

I know. It was a jab at the OP that mentions it and then talks about how it's bad for small business.

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is that sarcasm? lol because Tim Hortons is NOT a small business.

Ding ding

[zlygork]

"Because the government is now forcing us to pay a dollar more to new hires, we're now cutting benefits by an average of $5 to everyone."

Corporations want to pay as little as possible to their employees, this only allows them to pass the blame to something they're against in the first place.

If even one person believes this rationalization, its made their job easier.

Pretty much this. Also, I don't see how Tim Horton's is a small business.

[d00mGuArD]

P.S. Education isn't free in America. No matter what you need a job to get an education. You need to be able to support yourself and be able to afford an education as soon as you leave your home, by yourself, as an American. It's called a catch 22.

It is not free in America but we live in the online world. You can study online
All this sentence says is that you don't have google to find cheap degrees online from top universities like LSE and UCL - cheaper than free
If that is the only reason, then it is pure laziness to not bother to google

[Spectral]

Increasing minimum wage poses no detriment to long term unemployment we have tons of data to prove that. The government gets involved because if not for minimum wages they would get paid dirty poor wages (see third world countries) because businesses will try to get away with as much as they can. A low paying job that does not keep up with inflation means the government has to subsidize private entities by giving their workers help to make a living.

Wait, you think the reason that third world countries have low wages is because of a lack of regulated minimum wage? Is your hypothesis that Bangladesh imposing a $10/hour wage would just result in their workers increasing their lifestyles substantially?

[Themius]

There's a lot of things wrong with the economy. Low minimum wage is one of them. Raising it won't fix every problem, but it's a good start. Also, I do feel for small businesses like Tim Horton's.

3bn in revenues net income over 500m

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This is exactly what everyone with a brain said would happen. Only idiots thought that the owners would simply bear the increased cost of wages and lower their margins.

Tim Hortons is extremely profitable... they can afford to one dollar increase.

They would make a bit less but nothing extremely drastic that the company would be in bad shape.

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Also who didn't see this from a mile away?

Companies will not simply absorb the cost of increasing minimum wages.

You can spout all you want how increasing minimum wage is a good thing with this study and that study, however companies are going to just simply cut costs.
Even if a minimum wage increase was the absolute best thing for mankind and the economy companies are not going to absorb this shit.

Companies like to run on the absolute minimum required.

This is why the only way to get wages up is to increase them or form unions.

Companies just tend to prefer to work their lower workers to death while making sure they can get a big bonus for executives.

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It is clear you have never run a business. If you raise prices to much, you actually lose money. Businesses try to stay at the most profitable number, once there even a small increase in price will result in a loss of revenue. As for the next point, a strategy to increase volume, do you honestly not think that companies are always attempting strategies to increase volume? It isn't as simple as someone saying lets get more customers and bam it is done. Also if the store goes under you end up with employees with no job, relying on welfare/unemployment for their entire revenue which hurts everyone.

Retail tends to run on razor thin staffing with overworked underpaid people. While the company tends to do very well.

Also papa johns was bitching about having to raise prices a few cents to pay for healthcare for all his employees... a few cents.. you don't think people would be wiling to pay a few cents extra

by the way

Tim Hortons has better margins than Starbucks.

[Notshauna]

This is exactly what everyone with a brain said would happen. Only idiots thought that the owners would simply bear the increased cost of wages and lower their margins.

They can't keep passing the buck forever, at some point there needs to be legislation that reduces the profit margins of the major corporations. At the end of the day we all know where the money is going and we as a society need to do something about it.

[jellmoo]

It is clear you have never run a business. If you raise prices to much, you actually lose money. Businesses try to stay at the most profitable number, once there even a small increase in price will result in a loss of revenue. As for the next point, a strategy to increase volume, do you honestly not think that companies are always attempting strategies to increase volume? It isn't as simple as someone saying lets get more customers and bam it is done. Also if the store goes under you end up with employees with no job, relying on welfare/unemployment for their entire revenue which hurts everyone.

Sigh... Yes I have. You are looking at this in a bubble where one place is affected and nobody else is. A hike in minimum wage affects everyone within the industry. Those that are better prepared will handle it, those that aren't have to adjust. If prices go up here, they are likely going up elsewhere. In this scenario, the operator needs to recoup $680/week to maintain the same level of profitability. They've decided to take it out on the employees. I'm saying that's shitty and a result of a poor business strategy.

And no, business aren't always trying to increase volume. That's idiotic. They increase at a rate that's sustainable, which includes times when they do not attempt to increase at all.

If a business folds because of such a wage increase then the business plan was terrible to begin with, and the company was already at risk. It sucks, it really does, but having people work for you for essentially peanuts and then dicking them over when things would actually improve for them is pretty shitty too.

[Rennadrel]

Increasing minimum wage poses no detriment to long term unemployment we have tons of data to prove that. The government gets involved because if not for minimum wages they would get paid dirty poor wages (see third world countries) because businesses will try to get away with as much as they can. A low paying job that does not keep up with inflation means the government has to subsidize private entities by giving their workers help to make a living.

Increasing it isn't the problem, it's the fact that the stupid spuds running the Ontario government have IGNORED minimum wage for almost 14 fucking years. Seriously, and now they want to levy that onto the tax payer's and businesses! If minimum wage was setup to adjust to increase annually with the rate of inflation, this would not be a problem and no one would be complaining. That isn't the case however, and now we are seeing the results of 14 years of stupidity and incompetence by the Ontario Liberals because of minimum wage, among all the other retarded things they have done.

[Amerrol]

What in the amateur bs is that letter? Looks like a high-school student wrote it. I would sue them.

Lol, for once I agree with you. Looks like some memo a condo association would send out informing people to pick up their dog's poop. How the fuck do you not even have a header as a franchise?

[Zyky]

There's a lot of things wrong with the economy. Low minimum wage is one of them. Raising it won't fix every problem, but it's a good start. Also, I do feel for small businesses like Tim Horton's.

Did you bother to read the whole thing? Them increasing minimum wage without protecting the employees from backlash like this has made them actually worse off than they were before the wage increase.

[Draco-Onis]

Wait, you think the reason that third world countries have low wages is because of a lack of regulated minimum wage? Is your hypothesis that Bangladesh imposing a $10/hour wage would just result in their workers increasing their lifestyles substantially?

Do you really think companies would pay people the minimum wage if they could get away with less? the fact that it has fallen far below inflation with no adjustment from the "free market" proves that wrong. Third world countries government have no reason to impose a minimum wage because there is no social safety net so they don't have to pick up the tab when people live in dirt poor poverty condition. Again the notion that companies like Macys just can't afford wage increases is debunked by the fact that their executive salaries have gone up several folds over that of inflation. The regular worker doesn't have a board filled with their buddies to pad their salaries so companies would have no problem screwing them without government intervention.

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Increasing it isn't the problem, it's the fact that the stupid spuds running the Ontario government have IGNORED minimum wage for almost 14 fucking years. Seriously, and now they want to levy that onto the tax payer's and businesses! If minimum wage was setup to adjust to increase annually with the rate of inflation, this would not be a problem and no one would be complaining. That isn't the case however, and now we are seeing the results of 14 years of stupidity and incompetence by the Ontario Liberals because of minimum wage, among all the other retarded things they have done.

Forgive me if I am wrong but wasn't Canada lead by this conservative prick for a long time forget his name he had a punchable face.

[jackofwind]

They can't keep passing the buck forever, at some point there needs to be legislation that reduces the profit margins of the major corporations. At the end of the day we all know where the money is going and we as a society need to do something about it.

It was utterly naive to think that just raising the minimum wage was going to put more money into the pockets of employees. Either employers were going to cut their benefits or cut the positions themselves. Obviously they could afford to take the hit but they were equally obviously not going to.

It's hard to believe people actually convinced themselves otherwise.

[Deleted]

They can't keep passing the buck forever, at some point there needs to be legislation that reduces the profit margins of the major corporations. At the end of the day we all know where the money is going and we as a society need to do something about it.

How funny the Faux-Weeb Avatar user from Canada wants to use communist politics.

You want to know an EASIER way to make wages rise? Make the Jobs valuable again.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Did you bother to read the whole thing? Them increasing minimum wage without protecting the employees from backlash like this has made them actually worse off than they were before the wage increase.

I did read the whole thing. Like I said, raising wages is one thing.

[Zyky]

I did read the whole thing. Like I said, raising wages is one thing.

So why would you say its a "good start" when clearly it only made things worse?

[Ealyssa]

The wage hike is being used as a scape-goat for companies to cut benefits.

Pretty much this. It's political manipulation "hey see those dirty democrats wanting you to earn more, but that actually cuts your paycheck. Vote for the republicans and their delicious business tax cut"

[Deleted]

Pretty much this. It's political manipulation "hey see those dirty democrats wanting you to earn more, but that actually cuts your paycheck. Vote for the republicans and their delicious business tax cut"

I find it funny while you talk from Switzerland, the place that invented the business tax cut.

[Rennadrel]

Do you really think companies would pay people the minimum wage if they could get away with less? the fact that it has fallen far below inflation with no adjustment from the "free market" proves that wrong. Third world countries government have no reason to impose a minimum wage because there is no social safety net so they don't have to pick up the tab when people live in dirt poor poverty condition. Again the notion that companies like Macys just can't afford wage increases is debunked by the fact that their executive salaries have gone up several folds over that of inflation. The regular worker doesn't have a board filled with their buddies to pad their salaries so companies would have no problem screwing them without government intervention.

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Forgive me if I am wrong but wasn't Canada lead by this conservative prick for a long time forget his name he had a punchable face.

Harper has no jurisdiction over the provinces on wages. Minimum wage is controlled by the provincial governments, along with a lot of other things, some of which should be federally mandated like liquor laws should be standardized by the government. Either way, he wasn't a bad PM in his first term and was alright for the first couple of years of his second, but the last two years were really bad. But he wasn't as inept as PM as the Ontario Liberals have been over the course of two premier's who have both been incompetent boobs and one of them is a horse faced old hag.