What do Delaware small businesses want? How about a boost to the minimum wage?
Raise the minimum wage, so that middle and lower-class families have more confidence in their earning power and spending more. Maintain small business incentives and encourage entrepreneurs to hire locally. Increase infrastructure spending to get more people back to work.
— Wilmington, Delaware —
That was taken from a Thumbtack.com. study recently released. Thumbtack.com (which appears to be a job matching site) partnered with George Washington University to ask small businesses about which issues are most important to them in this year’s presidential election. They’ve broken out rankings by state and party affiliation.
Since small businesses live and die by revenue (not tax savings Mr. Markell) it is not surprising that Delaware entrepreneurs rate the economy and jobs as the top priority in the election. Nationally, improved access to loans was the policy most commonly suggested by small businesses.
The Delaware results are here: www.thumbtack.com/de/
The data are based on a survey of more than 6,000 small business owners, “like wedding photographers, auto mechanics, and yoga instructors.” I don’t think the Delaware sample size was very large, but you can’t make the point THAT IT ISN’T ALL ABOUT TAX CUTS often enough.
Show me a small business owner who wants an increase in the minimum wage, and I’ll show you a business that’s destined for bankruptcy because it’s being run by a moron.
Not all small businesses that can get away with paying their employees minimum wage do so. Unless they are in a monopoly position in the market, they probably need an engaged, competent workforce.
For small business, investments in employees are like investments in marketing. Trying to economize by stiffing the front line is counter productive.
You are thinking McDonald’s or Wawa because that is probably your frame of reference.
Also, depending on your business model, an increase in the minimum wage can be like a short-term loan. It’s the “rising tide lifts all boats” thing. If the other guy has to raise his minimum wages by 30 cents an hour, and you’re already over that, his unthrifty failure to invest in his workforce has an immediate consequence.
But it’s partly about your customers. Small businesses know that most people would rather shop them than go to Walmart, and their wages make the difference.
The reason I frequent and rely on small businesses like Shinn’s Paints and Kreston’s Liquors is because of their highly educated, stable staff.
Sure, I’ll go to Home Depot or Lowe’s for Ceiling White paint, but they are a disaster when it comes to mixing colors – And yes, I am very picky with my paint colors. Eight out of ten times they mess it up – which means it takes me twice as long to get my paint. They also aren’t educated in choosing the correct paint for the job. They aren’t trained to ask a customer about the job. And that matters. Choosing a paint for a bathroom wall is very different than the paint you’d choose for a living room wall.
I love Kreston’s because their staff knows me and knows my taste. I have new favorite wines because their staff is educated and made great selections for me to try.
A low-turnover, educated staff is vital for small business, individually owned restaurants, and I can tell if a restaurant is in trouble by the caliber (and turnover) of its staff.
So… I guess I don’t use the McDonald’s/Wawa frame of reference.
Pandora, posts like yours are why DL needs a ‘like’ button. 🙂
Aw… thanks, heragain!
In Dom’s book, only a moron would want his employees to succeed as well as his business. No room for the Golden Rule in that philosophy.
How many small businesses has Dom run?
yeah, she has clearly only ever worked for greedy people, or is herself a greedy person. I’ve had a few jobs that have been small, local, and treated their employees well….. both celebrated their 25th anniversaries while I was employed there and are going strong today.
I run a small business and our owner is for increasing the minimum wage. We both believe our employees are an investment in the business and believe that all people should have a better shot at making a living wage. And, Dom, we’ve been in business for over 20 years.
The staff at Shinn’s is MUCH more knowledgable than the staff at Home Depot. The guy who painted my house told me to get a certain kind of paint, which I mentioned to the guy at Home Depot. The Home Depot guy had no idea what kind of paint that I needed but the man at Shinn’s knew (and knew that my house painter was wrong, in fact). The paint cost more but it was a much better quality so I didn’t neeed to use as much which evened it out in the end.
Not to poke too many holes in this argument, but I know for a fact that Lowes starts entry level stock folks better than minimum wage (at least in my area). And ther are opportunities for advancement.
I know there can be a difference in level of service and knowledge from store to store, but our (Millsboro) Lowes paint guy matched my daughters hot pink cell phone case dead on, first try. I go out of my way to hit the Millsboro Lowes. It can get annoying though, with all that eye contact and “can I help you with somethin?” crap vs. the “are you still here?” attitude at the Lewes Store. Our local Depot is worthless, they once ran out of CCA wood. YMMV.
Also, in this months issue of Consumer reports, they rate the high end Benjamine Moore paint as exactly the same as Home Depots premium plus. Well, except BM $16 more per gallon. BM has 3 in the top 10 Behr 2 and lowes 1 (number 10).
Raising the minimum wage is silly. There are better alternatives, like increasing the earned income tax credit or a negative income tax.
http://www.economist.com/node/8090466
Any small business owner who doesn’t want the best labor possible is a moron. I was self employed 35 years always paid above minimum. Never went bankrupt
Don’t fear folks Illegals are doing many of these jobs and will be happy to have their relatives fill even more positions if the minimum wage is raised.
If raising the minimum wage was a panacea for economic ills, then don’t you think the minimum wage would already be $100/hour or something silly like that?
Raising the minimum wage ultimately is counterproductive for many reasons. First, it raises costs for producers, thereby raising costs to consumers. So, although folks making minimum wage may get a slight raise, they will lose that purchasing power with the inflation caused by the increase. Second, raising the minimum wage will lead to less numbers employed. So you have some people who will make more money, but others who will not be employed.
The bottom line is that you can’t alter the basic laws of economics and supply and demand. Those who worship at the alter of a higher minimum wage don’t appreciate macroeconomics and don’t understand that they are ultimately causing more harm than good in the aggregate.