Dunkin' CEO makes $10 million a year but $15 minimum wage is "absolutely outrageous"

Empiricism sometimes hurts. So be it.

It’s called inflation.

Seriously. How is that not sufficient grounds for raising the minimum wage by itself?

It’s funny though. I know someone who went to school for free (In-state free tuition program) whose mother had a college fund for her and who never ever had to work to survive. She’s a decent person who has always advocated for a higher minimum wage, but she is for the first time in her life having to live on it between semesters during grad school. She told me that she never knew how hard it is to make anything work on minimum wage while working two jobs, and that’s while not having to pay for health insurance. Her circle of friends never had to do this either, and it’s been somewhat isolating for her. I’m utterly fascinated by this, it never occurred to me that there genuinely exist people who’ve never experienced how the other half lives. I suppose I should know better, I grew up in a solidly upper-middle, lower-upper class family and was educated in a private school.

Still, I had forgotten that a lot of people don’t understand that $7.25 an hour is downright insulting for the sheer effort expected in a lot of these jobs. It’s honestly not worth the labor, which is why a lot of companies are being forced to pay above the legal minimum to find people who are willing to work for them at the bottom rungs. I genuinely would not work for a company that paid that little unless it was just making ends meet till I found something better. Even then, I would put in rock-bottom effort at that price for my labor.

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I can’t speak to Dunkin Donuts, but the large chain fast food restaurants like Mcdonald’s pay a living wage and good benefits and have child care leave etc. in all of Europe, and yet still make a profit. So, it can be done. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to steal our money.

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yes. those that do vote on this page will continue to vote for the most affluent based on successful business careers rather than either moral or artistic ability. it’s always easier. “Live close to work and play” has been my mantra.

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I was surprised to learn recently that McDonald’s in Australia is thought of a somewhat nice dining option.

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So we are all in favor of murdering and eating this guy?

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People like this are so out of touch with regular people they likely don’t even realize how ridiculous they sound. Time for a purge.

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If the maximum compensation were set as a multiple of the entry level compensation, that sounds pretty reasonable to me. That way, if you’re a rich fuck like him, and you’ve hit the ceiling but want to go higher, just raise the wages of your peons.

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Another thought. I really don’t like the idea of eating food prepared by underpaid, depressed, angry and sleep deprived employees. So please have the proper attitude when you kill and serve up the rich.

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Since the 1% own the government for the most part, that won’t happen.

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Probably a good idea to head to Montreal to get Schwartz’s smoked meat recipe, and do his brisket up right.

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Someone might have already raised this point in another post, but a reason for the wage hike not being feasible could be because of franchise owners of the brand. After their monthly franchise fee, and separate marketing fee, franchise operators can eek out 2% - 3% of profit. Raising the minimum wage can put franchise owners at a net loss each month. Also, the CEO’s income is derived from from other sources of revenue not tied to their donut shops; such as their coffee grounds sold in supermarkets. I just think it’s good to understand the mechanics behind the why to things to make sure one doesn’t get manipulated to support a solution that creates more unseen consequences than other possible options to correct the problem.

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I think you are missing the sheer simple fact that a man being compensated $10 mil annually is stating that paying someone $15 an hour is outrageous. Seriously
he makes TEN million a year, but thinks paying someone $15 an hour is outrageous.

You don’t see a problem with that?

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Ironically, I think the welfare system has kept wages artificially low. If there was no welfare system, or one more of a short term emergency vs long term life style, people would be protesting and unionizing like they did nearly a century ago. You need X dollars to live, and right now the extra money from the gov is what is giving a lot of people that amount. So they are basically subsidizing low wage jobs and companies whose work force is mainly comprised of low wage workers.

I would rather see higher wages and higher cost of goods and lower taxes because the money to the person is a more direct route: customer > Company > employee. Get the government involved and you have a huge bureaucracy you have to pay for to distribute funds. I would like to see what the numbers are, but if half of every tax dollar towards welfare actually makes it to the person in need, I would be surprised.

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To be fair, that’s an opinion held by Australians.

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Maybe we got too risk adverse. 110-80 years ago people were getting shot over union activity.

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“But if you raise the minimum wage it will just cause more inflation and the poor people are back where they started!”, claim the naysayers. No word yet if they think we’d all still be paying 1920s prices for everything if Congress had just let the minimum wage stay at 25 cents an hour.

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If true that’s a relatively new development. McDonald’s restaurants were common in Australia when I spent a year there in the late 90s but it occupied about the same culinary status that it does in the U.S.

No, McDonald’s is still crap here. There’s a sub-brand called McCafĂ© that is passable for a quick cup of coffee and a muffin or whatever, but McDonald’s itself is still regarded as junk.

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I would like to see a source for what franchisees can reasonably expect to make. Some have suggested that it’s these franchisees that really are driving the CEO’s statements, but without knowing A. The % of locations that are franchisees and B. what their average margins are, it’s difficult to really make sense of what the CEO is saying (or omitting
).

I’ve heard anecdotally that Dunkin Donuts has an insane number of franchisees, compared to other brands. This seems to check out based on the sheer number of them, and many crammed into incredibly tiny spaces.

I have little doubt that even the smaller franchisee locations could find a way to deal with it, but assuming that Mr. 10-Million a Year Asshole CEO is speaking about his own bald-faced exploitation of labor is maybe not warranted.

I’m sure he’s at least speaking on some asshole bald-faced exploiter of labor’s behalf, but a lot (and maybe most) of those asshole exploiters might not actually be members of the 1%.

Side note: At what pay grade does the pitchfork carrying BB community label someone as a “Rich Asshole” instead of just an “Asshole”?

EDIT: Apparently the average franchisee profit margin after costs is detailed in a ‘UFOC’ document, but these don’t appear to be free to acquire. A mishmash of docs ranging from 2004 to 2014 suggest that costs are highly variable. Without forking out hundreds of dollars for the official disclosure docs, it’s hard to pin down the truth of if it’s the company-owned locations hardest hit by a wage increase, or the franchisee locations. (I suspect the latter, tbh)