Being a retail focused board, it should be noted the majority of retailers are cutting lunches to 30 minutes as they reduce their staffing. If fast food is severely curtailed then these employees will not be able to leave the store and eat. They certainly can't go to a sit down restaurant. You can say "well they should bring their lunch" but I always hated the break room experience and needed to get out and breathe fresh air. Fast food is a necessary evil.
At In & Out the employees have about 10 minutes to eat their lunch. They can order their food only after they punch out. Good luck with that. Indigestion?
That is highly unlikely, as it is a fabulous class action lawsuit that would pay out in the billions based on their store and employee count in California. If you know someone actually getting a ten minute lunch when mandated to have a 30 they should call a lawyer as they're going to be fabulously rich. As in they're going to get about a months pay for every single missed lunch. There is no employee law subject that is more litigated in California than meal and rest break law where the employer is assumed guilty until proven innocent under the law. They can however be compensated with PIL or Pay In Lieu, where they get one hour of additional pay for not being able to take their 30 minute uninterrupted off the clock lunch. Free food is not considered compensation. With the ample staffing of In-N-Out I do not see why they would ever have a need for PIL payouts, but I could see that at bare bones fast food places that these days are running with a supervisor and only one or two employees.
I know several ex employees and managers from In-N-Out and I hear the good, the bad and the ugly. None of them ever had any issue with meals and rest breaks aside from unexpected nightmare rushes like a sporting event down the street that nobody scheduled for like a playoff game, and they did delay meals, extend shifts and compensate for the missed breaks as per the law. They also spoke of the occasional religious posting like you shared today, and prayers said at the grand opening of a new store but that was about it. Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby amongst others are far more religious, yet I've seen the Pride flag on pins worn by CfA employees at least half a dozen times in recent years. They all said the worst part of working there was cleaning the bathrooms where unspeakable atrocities would seemingly happen daily. If one was told "Hey Bill, need you to go check out the restroom" that was code for a massive cleanup operation.
If you're saying that they only have about ten minutes left once they get their food, yeah I can see that but it is probably better than the many times I had to eat and drive back to work in the bad old days of 30 minute lunches where I might have had three minutes to eat before running back in and clocking back in. Although the cook process for a burger at INO is 6 minutes so unless the entire grill is full and no lines are moving once again I have trouble understanding how one could only have ten minutes to eat once served.
One of the topics I did hear is that the so called "Fast Food Council" is looking for all lunches to be a minimum of one hour, basically to force the restaurant to staff even more people on duty for coverage. I think it will just result in even more closures as they're forced to overstaff.
Let me clarify:
They are given a 30 minute lunch. They have to clock out first (cannot pre order). By the time they put their order in and finally receive their food, they have about 10 minutes (barely) to eat it.
I get this info from a few folks I know in California and Colorado that work there. Some of them work in "Platinum" rated stores (rated by corporate). In these Platinum rated stores, according to their observations, it's more like Bronze type of ongoings (chaotic).
The local Togo's Sandwich shop is really understaffed today. They have stopped putting out chairs to eat outdoors. Apparently they think this will make for less cleanup since there is no more outdoor dining.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 30th, 2024, 10:40 am
So really the joke is on everyone who was picketing for these big wages, because most of the raise is going out the door to the IRS and FTB as soon as it becomes anything close to a "living wage" negating the entire activity.
Taxes are marginal. If a single person is making 50k a year, then 22% of any additional money they make will go to federal taxes, and (in California) 6% to state taxes. There is no way "most" of the raise can go to taxes, because the highest marginal tax rate in the US is 37%, for income over 500k.
Employers often tell their employees that they don't need a raise because most of it will go to taxes. This is a lie designed to get employees to accept lower wages.
Apparently it will be enough for most to no longer qualify for the Earned Income Credit. That means they are going to lose most of their tax refund.
The other scenarios were based on households and not individuals.
Went to Dairy Queen tonight for BOGO Blizzards.
No increase in the ice cream or burger prices.
But sides through the roof. Sodas between $2.79 and $3.19, fries were insane at $4.19 for a small, $5.19 for a large and no middle size anymore. Want a dipping sauce, it's 99 cents. Large fried cheese curds, my fave, now $8.49 which is really insane.
Apparently Taco Bell is trying to get 20 cents for taco sauce packets too... They're charging that for the new Verde sauce but I'm sure they're going to try to get it for the other varieties soon too.
I wonder when it's going to be like Dick's Drive-in where they charge for ketchup... Everyone has decided to pass along the wage change through the sides and not entrees. We will see how long it lasts as they panic when average order value goes down instead of up....
At In & Out the employees have about 10 minutes to eat their lunch. They can order their food only after they punch out. Good luck with that. Indigestion?
That is highly unlikely, as it is a fabulous class action lawsuit that would pay out in the billions based on their store and employee count in California. If you know someone actually getting a ten minute lunch when mandated to have a 30 they should call a lawyer as they're going to be fabulously rich. As in they're going to get about a months pay for every single missed lunch. There is no employee law subject that is more litigated in California than meal and rest break law where the employer is assumed guilty until proven innocent under the law. They can however be compensated with PIL or Pay In Lieu, where they get one hour of additional pay for not being able to take their 30 minute uninterrupted off the clock lunch. Free food is not considered compensation. With the ample staffing of In-N-Out I do not see why they would ever have a need for PIL payouts, but I could see that at bare bones fast food places that these days are running with a supervisor and only one or two employees.
I know several ex employees and managers from In-N-Out and I hear the good, the bad and the ugly. None of them ever had any issue with meals and rest breaks aside from unexpected nightmare rushes like a sporting event down the street that nobody scheduled for like a playoff game, and they did delay meals, extend shifts and compensate for the missed breaks as per the law. They also spoke of the occasional religious posting like you shared today, and prayers said at the grand opening of a new store but that was about it. Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby amongst others are far more religious, yet I've seen the Pride flag on pins worn by CfA employees at least half a dozen times in recent years. They all said the worst part of working there was cleaning the bathrooms where unspeakable atrocities would seemingly happen daily. If one was told "Hey Bill, need you to go check out the restroom" that was code for a massive cleanup operation.
If you're saying that they only have about ten minutes left once they get their food, yeah I can see that but it is probably better than the many times I had to eat and drive back to work in the bad old days of 30 minute lunches where I might have had three minutes to eat before running back in and clocking back in. Although the cook process for a burger at INO is 6 minutes so unless the entire grill is full and no lines are moving once again I have trouble understanding how one could only have ten minutes to eat once served.
One of the topics I did hear is that the so called "Fast Food Council" is looking for all lunches to be a minimum of one hour, basically to force the restaurant to staff even more people on duty for coverage. I think it will just result in even more closures as they're forced to overstaff.
Let me clarify:
They are given a 30 minute lunch. They have to clock out first (cannot pre order). By the time they put their order in and finally receive their food, they have about 10 minutes (barely) to eat it.
I get this info from a few folks I know in California and Colorado that work there. Some of them work in "Platinum" rated stores (rated by corporate). In these Platinum rated stores, according to their observations, it's more like Bronze type of ongoings (chaotic).
That's a better explanation, but I would question the leadership sending people to lunch when the restaurant is excessively busy. With the approximate 6 minutes turnaround unless the grills are all full this should not happen, and if they are this backed up nobody should be sent to lunch. Like I said before, I wish I had ten minutes to eat whenever I had to take a 30 minute lunch and drive even just across the street to McDonald's or other fast food. I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was drive and eat (dangerous) or wolf it down in like 3 minutes. I personally think lunch breaks should be 45 minutes.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 30th, 2024, 10:40 am
So really the joke is on everyone who was picketing for these big wages, because most of the raise is going out the door to the IRS and FTB as soon as it becomes anything close to a "living wage" negating the entire activity.
Taxes are marginal. If a single person is making 50k a year, then 22% of any additional money they make will go to federal taxes, and (in California) 6% to state taxes. There is no way "most" of the raise can go to taxes, because the highest marginal tax rate in the US is 37%, for income over 500k.
Employers often tell their employees that they don't need a raise because most of it will go to taxes. This is a lie designed to get employees to accept lower wages.
Apparently it will be enough for most to no longer qualify for the Earned Income Credit. That means they are going to lose most of their tax refund.
The other scenarios were based on households and not individuals.
But the loss of the EIC is still significant.
If their employers cut their hours, they will not lose EIC as they will get the same income for working fewer hours.
Depending how the wage thing shakes out for each individual/family, upwards of 28% of the raise as you point out could go to taxes. That is still 72% they get to keep but that is a big chunk to taxes.
The increased income if the employer does not cut their hours could also impact various other benefit programs such as WIC and a host of other benefits. But I don't think much of that will happen because I think the more likely scenario is the employers just cut hours down at least initially to keep everyone employed. But once the Council gets going I expect that game to stop and forced benefits/minimum hours to start.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑April 1st, 2024, 9:22 pm
Went to Dairy Queen tonight for BOGO Blizzards.
No increase in the ice cream or burger prices.
But sides through the roof. Sodas between $2.79 and $3.19, fries were insane at $4.19 for a small, $5.19 for a large and no middle size anymore. Want a dipping sauce, it's 99 cents. Large fried cheese curds, my fave, now $8.49 which is really insane.
Apparently Taco Bell is trying to get 20 cents for taco sauce packets too... They're charging that for the new Verde sauce but I'm sure they're going to try to get it for the other varieties soon too.
I wonder when it's going to be like Dick's Drive-in where they charge for ketchup... Everyone has decided to pass along the wage change through the sides and not entrees. We will see how long it lasts as they panic when average order value goes down instead of up....
The Dairy Queen sauces are a 2 ounce cup as I recall (maybe larger)...
Condiment prices have gone up significantly so many operators are starting to limit even basic condiments like ketchup. I haven't seen anyone trying to charge for ketchup yet but I had a McDonalds try to charge me for mustard packets. The app offered mustard packets at .00. The employee told me it would be .25 each. I now make sure to request lots of condiments via the app when I go to that location. They have syrup in the app at .00. Not bad syrup. So I no longer buy syrup at the store, just have stacks of those in the cabinet to use at home for waffle/pancake etc. They ask me do you really want that with your burger/fries. Yes I do. I ordered it... They have a nice "NO FREE REFILLS" sign posted too and don't even have napkins available to take freely. You get 1 napkin per item ordered period. Asking for extra even to "clean up a mess" and they make you feel like you are robbing them.
storewanderer wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2024, 12:57 am
Condiment prices have gone up significantly so many operators are starting to limit even basic condiments like ketchup. I haven't seen anyone trying to charge for ketchup yet but I had a McDonalds try to charge me for mustard packets. The app offered mustard packets at .00. The employee told me it would be .25 each. I now make sure to request lots of condiments via the app when I go to that location. They have syrup in the app at .00. Not bad syrup. So I no longer buy syrup at the store, just have stacks of those in the cabinet to use at home for waffle/pancake etc. They ask me do you really want that with your burger/fries. Yes I do. I ordered it... They have a nice "NO FREE REFILLS" sign posted too and don't even have napkins available to take freely. You get 1 napkin per item ordered period. Asking for extra even to "clean up a mess" and they make you feel like you are robbing them.
Must depend on the location, as I usually have a few spare napkins in the car (or at the house) just from what they decided to stuff in the takeout bag (like 10 of them for one meal or a couple sandwiches).
storewanderer wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2024, 12:57 am
Condiment prices have gone up significantly so many operators are starting to limit even basic condiments like ketchup. I haven't seen anyone trying to charge for ketchup yet but I had a McDonalds try to charge me for mustard packets. The app offered mustard packets at .00. The employee told me it would be .25 each. I now make sure to request lots of condiments via the app when I go to that location. They have syrup in the app at .00. Not bad syrup. So I no longer buy syrup at the store, just have stacks of those in the cabinet to use at home for waffle/pancake etc. They ask me do you really want that with your burger/fries. Yes I do. I ordered it... They have a nice "NO FREE REFILLS" sign posted too and don't even have napkins available to take freely. You get 1 napkin per item ordered period. Asking for extra even to "clean up a mess" and they make you feel like you are robbing them.
Must depend on the location, as I usually have a few spare napkins in the car (or at the house) just from what they decided to stuff in the takeout bag (like 10 of them for one meal or a couple sandwiches).
These remodeled McDonald's, many of which are on their second remodel since being torn down or redesigned entirely from the classic Mansard into a ugly McBox, are being stripped of every expensive amenity. No self service soda, no condiments, no straws or napkins, no menu board (the screens now show a QR code and tell you to scan it or look on the kiosk or app). The TVs they had around the restaurant showing the news get ripped out. The kids touch screen game computers ripped out. Some are now hard plastic booths only and fixed seating as if they're afraid someone is going to steal the chairs. They basically act like they need to make the McBox into a prison cafeteria. It's really terrible and this is happening even in really nice neighborhoods. Takes away any remaining reason to go there.
In-N-Out has pushed all California jobs to at least $22 an hour for "level one" with more expensive areas at $23. I don't see any price changes. The wage scales are all over Reddit and are topping out in the high twenties.
