An interesting take: the government is proposing minimum wage standards for gig workers. The paper went with ‘Now you might have to pay up to $15 to get fast food delivered’.

  • Marin_Rider
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    8 months ago

    i used to work in fast food management, food cost and labour cost used to run at about 30% each on average.

    if labour cost went up 10% suddenly (yeah right), the businesses total expenses would have increased by a massive 3%. So you’re $12 big mac meal would need to rise to $12.36 to keep up with the increased cost.

    When was the last time any of us saw such a small increase in anything when it goes up? And when was that due to increased labour?

    • abhibeckert@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      if labour cost went up 10% suddenly (yeah right)

      Uber is saying the cost will go up by 85%…

      They’re probably full of shit - but I’d expect it to be more than 10%… Labor isn’t raising the cost of labour, they are improving worker rights. For example ordinary casual workers often have a minimum pay of 4 hours work.

      You can give someone a 20 minute shift if you want, but you better pay them 4 hours for that day… otherwise the manager could spend the next five years in jail for wage theft.

      I have’t read through the proposed changes, but if they bring that to the gig economy… it won’t be possible to pay a worker $6 to deliver a burger. You’ll likely have to pay the worker at least a hundred bucks or so, and it’s up to the business to figure out how to give the worker at least half a day of jobs back to back.

      • Marin_Rider
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        nah it can easily be done. the question is how much of a hit does the backend need to cop. when a delivery charge is $10 for example and the driver gets $4 of that, something is wrong.

      • Salvo
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        If they claim that increasing Gig economy wages to minimum wage increases costs by 85%, they have just admitted that their business model is seriously flawed.

        Anyone who has money invested in these corporate leeches needs to cut their losses and cash out ASAP.