TL/DR; There needs to be some way to help (i.e. governmental assistance) small businesses that would be destroyed by raising the minimum wage.
I have had an issue with a misconception I’ve seen on this sub that is troubling me. The idea that if a small business can’t afford $__/hr, they shouldn’t be in business. I’m here to tell you that this is not a cut and dry issue.
Backstory:
My wife founded and owns a very small outdoor recreational gear store. She has 10+ employees and did roughly $600k in business last year. That’s not good as far as bigger retail stores go (REI’s stores usually make millions/year). It is definitely not what someone would call profitable, but it is actually a ‘successful’ business in that it is making more money every year than the previous and is extremely loved by the community and the employees. Most of her employees make ~$12/hr with no benefits (other than pro deals on gear). Management and even the accountant only makes ~$15/hr. You’d think they’d be miserable right? They love it! There’s very little turnover and they even hang out off hours for clubs, classes, and events. Definitely above what most would consider normal employee loyalty. One of the reasons they don’t mind the low pay is they know that my wife makes the same pay as them, about $30k, as the owner! The only reason she’s able to make a living is because she’s that type-A person who has another full time job, a couple rental properties, and helps manage my (very small) roofing business. Basically she never stops working.
So your saying to yourself, “what’s the big deal? If their pay goes up, just raise the prices”. Well it’s already what you would call ‘high-end’ prices. She already charges more than REI for most things. She can get away with that because of customer loyalty, most who appreciate small local businesses and know that that comes at a price. But obviously that loyalty can be pushed only so far.
If you can’t tell from my short description, trust me, this is exactly the type of business r/antiwork people would love to patronize. But paradoxically I get the feeling that if you judged it solely on r/antiwork’s principals, most of you would hate it. My biased opinion is that without this type of business, the REI’s of the world would take over and price gouging would ensue, ultimately hurting r/antiwork’s agenda.
So I want have a discussion about what you all think. Is there a way for businesses that are already barely surviving to continue to exist in an ideal ($23/hr) r/antiwork world?