$17+ per hour @ Walmart!

[Crbn79]

One Picture Puts An End To Everything Dems Say About Walmart And The Minimum Wage[152710]/0/

In short, North Dakota has no State mandated Minimum wage. A local Walmart is offering $17+/hr for cashiers and floor staff. Almost $20/hr for lube & tire techs. All those are starting pays.

 

[cosermann]

A rising tide lifts all boats.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Actually it is a very poor argument because ND is facing a severe labor shortage right now which essentially increases the cost of living for everyone. The experience ND has is not transferable to most other states. If someone is trying to find a cogent argument against a state mandated minimum wage, using this one is specious as ND has one of the higher costs of living in the US. It looks great on the surface, but it doesn't withstand scrutiny.

 

[87iroc]

I say it stands scrutiny. Law of supply and demand. Walmart treats their employees like crap. (My mom is one...I speak from data...not from hearsay). If people aren't willing to work for the money being offered...pay goes up. ND has a labor shortage...so pay is high. If Walmart nationally had a labor shortage...pay would go up at walmart.

 

[CHCRandy]

That town happens to be the most expensive county in the country to live in. A 700 sq foot apartment is $2500 a month, with a 3 bedroom fetching $4500+ per month. 20,000 people in the county and half of them make 6 figures a year in the oil industry.....the other half live off royalties.

 

[terrehautian]

So you mean that basically is that since cost of living is higher, that means everything costs more (labor, goods). So if the inverse happens everywhere, cost of labor goes up, that means everything else goes up because cost of living is higher. Say hello to more self check outs in stores when minimum wage goes up. Why pay for one person at $15 an hour for one register when you can get one person running six to eight registers at $15 an hour and save on labor? McDonalds, they already have touch screen registers where you can do it yourself.

 

[Crbn79]

So you mean that basically is that since cost of living is higher, that means everything costs more (labor, goods). So if the inverse happens everywhere, cost of labor goes up, that means everything else goes up because cost of living is higher. Say hello to more self check outs in stores when minimum wage goes up. Why pay for one person at $15 an hour for one register when you can get one person running six to eight registers at $15 an hour and save on labor? McDonalds, they already have touch screen registers where you can do it yourself.

Therein lay the issue, if pay goes up, so does costs. You can't expect labor costs to skyrocket and nothing else be touched.

As for McDonalds, I hope they replace all the cashiers with those machines. Maybe then I'll get exactly what I ordered.

 

[KagA152]

I wish they would replace all Walmart cashiers with the self check out lanes. On the rare occurrence I'm left with no choice but Walmart I'm left standing in a long line. They will not install the self check outs at the Walmart here because theft rates are so high.

 

[LP1]

One Picture Puts An End To Everything Dems Say About Walmart And The Minimum Wage[152710]/0/

In short, North Dakota has no State mandated Minimum wage. A local Walmart is offering $17+/hr for cashiers and floor staff. Almost $20/hr for lube & tire techs. All those are starting pays.

Proves nothing. A worker at that Walmart still can't afford the basic necessities in that location due to the high cost of everything else - it's still not a living wage.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Labor is a commodity. Just like 22LR, oil, and cabbage patch dolls, when the demand out paces supply, prices rise. You don't have to pay a cart pusher in Bedford $17-20/hour because there're people willing to do it for less. When there are plenty of alternatives for folks that are in the business of supplying labor, purchasers of labor must compete for that business. It's really not that difficult to understand. All other things being equal, if you had the choice of 2 jobs, which would you select? The one paying $9.50/hour or the one paying $17? Conversely, if you are purchasing a service offered by two equal providers, again--theoretically all other being equal, nobody picks the higher cost provider.

 

[jamil]

Proves nothing. A worker at that Walmart still can't afford the basic necessities in that location due to the high cost of everything else - it's still not a living wage.

Because every job on the planet must pay enough for a person to live on. Every zitty teen should make a living wage. Because s/he deserves it, what with all the expenses of living with working parents who pay the bills and living costs.

 

[Arthur Dent]

One Picture Puts An End To Everything Dems Say About Walmart And The Minimum Wage[152710]/0/

In short, North Dakota has no State mandated Minimum wage. A local Walmart is offering $17+/hr for cashiers and floor staff. Almost $20/hr for lube & tire techs. All those are starting pays.

Because there is a labor shortage in North Dakota.

 

[ModernGunner]

​

 

[91FXRS]

Proves nothing. A worker at that Walmart still can't afford the basic necessities in that location due to the high cost of everything else - it's still not a living wage.

Its not called a living wage its called a minimum wage. A living wage is up to the person earning it and how hard they want to work for it.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

​

Stolen.

 

[littletommy]

Its not called a living wage its called a minimum wage. A living wage is up to the person earning it and how hard they want to work for it.

I just wanted this post to be seen more than once. Repped!

 

[terrehautian]

Did some digging, if you want a descent studio apartment. Around here in Terre Haute, it might run about $400. The one I found there was $995. A really nice three bedroom/two bath apartment. $3,000 to $4,000. A single wide trailer, $2800 a month. If you get on pushing carts at $17 an hour, you would get $2800 before taxes and everything else. People who are calling for the minimum wage need to attention to this town.

 

[gravitas73]

I'm from western North Dakota and saw my hometown double in size in just a few years.

Everything is more expensive there now, not just housing.

For a while builders weren't even building houses, they were raising as many apartments and hotels as possible due to the demand. If you wanted some remodel work done on your house, you had to find someone 200 miles away to come do it because everyone closer was expanding the town.

Now they have "man camps" outside of town for the oil workers to live, which is like a big trailer park. It also isn't uncommon to share a trailer with a few different guys.

Local, non oil company businesses have turned to supporting the oil companies and the well building. Rather than goto college, kids out of high school can make more money working than they will when they graduate college. This leaves a demand in other traditional low paying jobs like Walmart or McDonalds, so those places were forced to raise their wages.

They finally opened a Menards, the town's first respectable hardware store, but it was delayed for two years because there wasn't enough workers to run the store.

Hell, the smartest strippers in the country moved there to make over $3000 a night.

So I guess the moral of the story is, the rest of the country simply needs to man up and find a fortune of oil beneath their feet to solve all our low wage problems.

 

[ryancantshoot]

Glad to see this dishonest article meant as anti-democrat bait get trampled on, even on a mostly-republican forum.

There are threads on other forums of dudes working the oil fields out there making 50 an hour who sleep in wal mart parking lots, such is the housing situation.

"rural north dakota has a housing shortage, pays 17 an hour for retail therefore minimum wage law is useless"...how did these people get out of college w/ a degree?

 

[Double T]

So you mean that basically is that since cost of living is higher, that means everything costs more (labor, goods). So if the inverse happens everywhere, cost of labor goes up, that means everything else goes up because cost of living is higher. Say hello to more self check outs in stores when minimum wage goes up. Why pay for one person at $15 an hour for one register when you can get one person running six to eight registers at $15 an hour and save on labor? McDonalds, they already have touch screen registers where you can do it yourself.

however how much do they pay the IT guys to get all that info to jive on one central hub. It's really not cheaper...