Today I learned my brother is now the manager of seven different smoke shops. And while I am happy for his promotion I became a bit unsettled when he told me his pay rate of $14.75 an hour. Period.

Here's a breakdown:

• Working @ $14.75/hr
• 40 hrs per week ($14.75 × 40 = $590/wk)
• 52 weeks a year ( 40 × 52 = 2,080/hrs/yr)
• $14.75 × 2,080 = $30,680/yr pre tax
• (Or: $590 × 52 = $30,680/yr pre tax)

Multiply this by 7 stores and your total is $214,760/yr
…Which sounds great if this was actually what he was getting paid for managing 7 stores.

Keep reading…

In actuality, he is getting paid $30,680/yr for HAVING 7 stores! That was his raise!

So when I divide this up between SEVEN stores I get this:

• $30,680 ÷ 7 = $4,383¹/yr per store
• $4,383 ÷ 52 weeks = $85²/week
• $4,383 ÷ 2,080/hrs/yr = $2.11³
• $85 ÷ 40 hrs = $2.13⁴

Average of $2.12 an hour per store.

Can someone make this make sense?

I feel as though they are overworking him while underpaying him at the same time. I also think that because the minimum wage in Texas is $7.25/hr, it is widely accepted to work 7x as much to make a “higher” amount of pay that is 2x as much as the minimum wage.
Getting paid 7x the minimum wage would be $50.75/hr, or $105,560/yr.
That's a HUGE difference from $30,68 and slightly less than the $214,760 they would be spending on 7 individual managers for all 7 of their stores.

*Rounded up to nearest dollar

**Rounded up to nearest cent

Unrounded numbers:
¹ $4,382.8571428571

² $4,382.8571428571 ÷ 52 =
$84.2857142857

³ $4,382.8571428571 ÷ 2,080 =
$ 2.1071428571

⁴ $84.2857142857 ÷ 40 = $2.1071428571