Saturday, December 7, 2013

Another Good Reason to Hate the Minimum Wage


As temperatures plummet across the United States, keep in mind when you are out pumping gas in the frigid temperatures that at some hourly rate it would pay for gas station operators to hire attendants to pump the gas for you. The only thing preventing them from doing so is a minimum wage that is higher than the wage it would make sense to do so at. So, you freeze and a kid willing to bundle up for his first job, stays unemployed.

10 comments:

  1. One of these days, RW, you're gonna use your Talents to examine Portland - As in "Keep Portland Weird".
    They have some of the most exotic Land Use Restrictions and in that area and they do hire attendants to pump your gas because you are prohibited from pumping it yourself!

    All of this definitely has an impact of the Cost of Living but it certainly does keep the Riff-Raff out. Err...except for the Government Approved Riff-Raff, of course.

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    1. Like New Joisy. Except N.J. has the lowest gas taxes in the region, so the cost is significantly lower than, say, N.Y.
      Counter interventionism - what a concept.

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    2. New Jersey ranks 48th in gas taxes. So sure, if government's tax bite is so low that the cost of hiring someone can be added back in while still having a price lower than highly taxed neighbors, it can work. But keep in mind, the problem on both side of the equation is government.If NJ wasn't next to NY, the cost of full serve would be obvious.

      Let's mandate full serve in NY. Most highly taxed gasoline in the nation and see what happens. How about mandate it in cook county Illinois, often the most expensive gasoline by pump price including taxes in the country these days. (Illinois is 5th most highly taxed) See what happens then?

      Gasoline is very low margin product at the retail level. Often single digit percentages. Any cost of labor has to be immediately passed on.

      http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-gasoline-tax-rates-2009-2013

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    3. New Jersey requires an attendant to pump the gas. Service is always slow.

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  2. There are plenty of full service gas stations. Type in full service gas stations in google and you'll find them. My area is littered with them.

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    1. Where do you live Jerry, in 1985?

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    2. In my Midwestern city of 300,000 there is only one station in the city (indeed, in the tri-state region, and multiple other cities nearby) that has gas pump attendants. You have to pay quite a bit more for the service, too.

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    3. The dumbass probably lives in New Jersey.

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  3. I've never seen a single full service gas station in my state. We have one of the highest minimum wages in the nation. That wasn't always true. My dad's first job was a gas attendant as a teenager and college student. He now makes $120k+. Good thing he got that first job, maybe he'd be a homeless alcoholic if not? I'm exaggerating of course but you never know.

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  4. I understand the point, but I'd rather freeze and keep my property from being damaged by someone who is paid too little to care. A sloppy or malicious gas jockey could cause hundreds of dollars in "it was already like that" damage very easily.

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