Where are all the employees ?

[deersniper]

1. Those that pay at, or marginally more than minimum wage.

There should be no minimum wage. It causes inflation and kills jobs and kills learning opportunities for young, green or dumb people.

It makes it illegal to hire people worth less than $xx.xx

People that should be doing manual labor / clean up etc are on wwlfare sitting around doing drugs
People thar should be driving trucks etc are “working” for .gov sleeping in yellow trucks when they aren’t driving to the next convienence store
That doesn’t even get into the nonprofits being funded by tax dollars / big business getting time and materials contracts etc



If you think the labor market is a free market you are delusional.



All those people mentioned above are parasites on society

 

[lariat]

There are lots of jobs here, for 1/2 what an experienced person expects in pay. Either businesses are built on an unsound model, or are just too cheap. Good employees are working, just not for the employers whining about staffing levels. If you can not attract quality employees, up your game or close your business. Why the fuck should I work cheap so you can get rich off my efforts. I’m working now, but I will continue to trade up jobs without a lot of loyalty unless an employer steps up. I’m a experienced, qualified trades person with very broad skills. I am the super model of employees, but employers are mostly chubby geeks with sweaty hands wanting a kiss.

You sound like someone who needs to quit working for everyone and go to work for yourself. I mean, since you have all the skills. Yes, definitely do this. Let us know after you get going when you realize that as a business owner you are STILL working for everyone else and they are cheap asses that want everything for as cheap as possible and that you are not the only one providing them the commodity services you describe. That they have no loyalty to you and that you will need to bid out every job and fight for it.

Let us all know how that works out for you. And how it went with the capital investment to get going. And the employees that you obviously will want to pay a "fair wage" to while your customer slow pays and you take on the cheap jobs to get started in the industry. Yes, I think you should go down this path in 2022.

 

[lariat]

One thing that I have found to be true in a lot of workplaces is that management will not pay anyone under their control more than they make themselves. When they can't find any suckers to work for their below market wages, they end up bidding the work out at 3x-4x what they were willing to pay an in-house employee. Stupidity should cost and it often does!

Another finding of mine over the years is that management will not hire anyone smarter or more qualified than they are. Most managers and supervisors are more about self preservation than actually getting the job done.

Not true here. I have employees that make more than I do.

 

[addertooth]

Lariat,

Yep, in the early 1980s I made a go of doing electronic fabrication in my garage. I would do the artwork for the printed circuit boards by hand, etch and drill printed circuit board, and then populate them with components. The initial numbers looked attractive. But, as my shop gained abilities, my cost of equipment started eating into the profits rather markedly. It proved to not be as "profitable" as I initially imagined it would be. I was the cheapest in town, which is how I got the work. But it was the two edged sword. If I won a contract, it was usually because the bigger shops knew there was no profit at that price margin.

I eventually went back and got a "real job". I am happy to let someone else invest in all the tooling and overhead, and pay me an acceptable rate.

I had several companies come and beg me to get back into the fabrication business. They had apparently built their profit/loss business model upon getting fabricated assemblies at a low cost. When I got out, they were forced to pay more for the same assembles from another company.

 

[MadDuner]

Unfortunately, most employees are not capable of seeing the entire picture when it comes to costs of manufacturing, labor, overhead - as compared the reality of what the market will bare as far as what you can sell the finished product for. All they know is they want to work less, be less productive, call out for any reason at all, show up late, leave early, check their cell phone every 4 minutes, text for the next 5 - and of course want more money for doing it.

Reality sucks for all involved.

 

[Mater2009]

Having a skilled trade puts you in a different group. I've been a doing the same thing for 27 years. Don't need a shop to do it as I have a small shop at the house. Don't need a boss telling me how to do what needs to be done because I probably have more experience and knowledge on the subject than they do. Some people go for the cash money and stay away from all the bullshit. I honestly prefer my $100 an hour over your $30.

 

[E. Bryant]

Do you also complain when repair shops charge $120 (and that is cheap) or more per hour to fix your vehicle or equipment? Every time our labor rate is raised we lose customers, and get complaints about how expensive we are. Yet when their equipment breaks due to lack of maintenance, etc. it's our fault or the machines fault.

My pay is directly related to labor rate.

If I'm a mechanic getting paid $30/hr when they owner is getting $120/hr for my time, then I'm gonna ask what the owner is providing for that $90/hr - and there better be a good answer (especially if I'm expected to show up with $20k in tools on Day 1). There are a lot more bad answers than good ones to this question, and employees tend to hear more of the former and less of the latter.

It's easy for a manager to say that "the math is complicated" instead of "I don't run my crew very efficiently and the owner still wants to make fat profits", and employees intuitively know this even if they can't articulate it, and it's pretty annoying to have it chewing away at a subconscious level when taking service calls at 10PM.

 

[TurboTrout]

Pro tip: It isn't coded by Indians and it costs less than the workers it replaces.

There's an old Unix admin joke: "Begone or I shall replace you with a shell script"

For the cost of 1 worker, I could do automate the efforts of over 100 (Real world example of a call center--I outsourced the outsourcing....). Imagine if I used my powers for good....

Why pay a bunch of lazy people to take your order at MacDonalds, when my server has better accuracy and costs less, and never is late......

The janky software produced lately and web development reflect this.

 

[roostercogburn98]

Taco Bell says 18 an hour. The poverty line is about to be a six figure number. Hang onto your underwear

 

[lariat]

Unfortunately, most employees are not capable of seeing the entire picture when it comes to costs of manufacturing, labor, overhead - as compared the reality of what the market will bare as far as what you can sell the finished product for. All they know is they want to work less, be less productive, call out for any reason at all, show up late, leave early, check their cell phone every 4 minutes, text for the next 5 - and of course want more money for doing it.

Reality sucks for all involved.

This is the reality. For the life of me I cannot understand why people will miss work almost every Monday, shit on the shitter for 25 minutes at a time and not understand that they are actually affecting their own jobs as well as everyone else too. These types you do not get through to, so just let them go when you can. Paying more doesn't help, tried that. In some instances it gave enough freedom in the personal budget to miss MORE time at work and put projects at even greater risk. One dude messed with me like this so bad I outsourced most of his work and let him play his game - he almost starved his family to death as he was the only breadwinner. It was literally a game of chicken that I let the timeclock record for unemployment income rejection when the time came. Funny thing, once I fired him he then came back and told me that he had gotten his family into a serious financial hole and needed to work. Tough shit, Mac. You now get to travel an extra 45 miles to do the same thing somewhere else.

Other people show up 15 minutes early. Guess which ones get raises and extra time off if they need it?

 

[E. Bryant]

Unfortunately, most employees are not capable of seeing the entire picture when it comes to costs of manufacturing, labor, overhead - as compared the reality of what the market will bare as far as what you can sell the finished product for. All they know is they want to work less, be less productive, call out for any reason at all, show up late, leave early, check their cell phone every 4 minutes, text for the next 5 - and of course want more money for doing it.

Reality sucks for all involved.

THEN EXPLAIN IT TO THEM IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE.

It takes maybe a 6th-grade knowledge of math to go through a balance sheet. Takes maybe 5-10 minutes each month. Early in my career, I worked for private companies that did this, and naively thought that it was standard practice. Heh, nope.

If employees ask these questions and in return get a bunch of hand waving and "it's complicated" remarks and other platitudes, then will automatically assume the worst - that ownership is playing hide-the-weenie (or maybe not even trying to do that when they parade their wealth).

I know others that have put their entire life savings on the line to make stuff happen, and certainly don't begrudge them a healthy profit. Just don't treat employees like they are stupid.

 

[TexPatriot]

I hear that. Full time employed as a carpenter, been in the trade a long time. Never stopped working throughout this mess.

Yet, can't catch a fucking raise, and 80% of the crews around here can't get any help......

My pool business has all but ground to a halt. I even asked the crew shooting my Gunite, where is all the labor? They said maybe selling drugs or everyone is 'beezy.'

My plaster sub said he had to go all the way to Houston to find a crew and finally gave up. He said his old crews spends their time sitting at home drinking beer and grilling fajitas. I asked him what do they do for money and he didn't have an answer.

Me thinks they're getting government checks to not work so to further crash America's capitalist economy. To Build Back Better Socialist you have to first destroy capitalism.

Remember when Trump would say his presidency produced the lowest unemployment numbers? Did you see how pissed off Pelosi and the other Democrats looked? They weren't having any of that.

 

[E. Bryant]

This is the reality. For the life of me I cannot understand why people will miss work almost every Monday, shit on the shitter for 25 minutes at a time and not understand that they are actually affecting their own jobs as well as everyone else too. These types you do not get through to, so just let them go when you can. Paying more doesn't help, tried that. In some instances it gave enough freedom in the personal budget to miss MORE time at work and put projects at even greater risk. One dude messed with me like this so bad I outsourced most of his work and let him play his game - he almost starved his family to death as he was the only breadwinner. It was literally a game of chicken that I let the timeclock record for unemployment income rejection when the time came. Funny thing, once I fired him he then came back and told me that he had gotten his family into a serious financial hole and needed to work. Tough shit, Mac. You now get to travel an extra 45 miles to do the same thing somewhere else.

Other people show up 15 minutes early. Guess which ones get raises and extra time off if they need it?

As Pete Roberts (owner of Origin) puts it, you've got three types of employees - squatters, renters, and owners. Where you put your attention will determine where the workers want to be. Eliminate the squatters ASAP, and then focus on those with an ownership mentality by creating an attractive culture, paying them more than is comfortable, and giving them challenging work.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Where have the Workers/employees gone?
They are now bloggers, TikTok stars, YouTube stars, internet influencers and a bunch of other things.
From many of the posts here I can tell most of you don't have a clue to the meaning of overhead and profit margin.
I find it comical that even here that people are slamming the company for making a profit. You don't like how much you are getting paid? Open your own business and find out. Average profit margin for a business is about 7%. The only two ways to make more money is to cut overhead or sell more product. To sell more product you have to dig into that 7% to expand and then you may have a payback period of years. If I spend a hundred K to expand how long before that expansion is paid for and the profit is seen from it? Aww Fuck it! Hey China, can you make this for me? Yes we can and your profit margin will be 15%!!! Pink slips all around!!

 

[JMGlasgow]

If I'm a mechanic getting paid $30/hr when they owner is getting $120/hr for my time, then I'm gonna ask what the owner is providing for that $90/hr - and there better be a good answer (especially if I'm expected to show up with $20k in tools on Day 1). There are a lot more bad answers than good ones to this question, and employees tend to hear more of the former and less of the latter.

It's easy for a manager to say that "the math is complicated" instead of "I don't run my crew very efficiently and the owner still wants to make fat profits", and employees intuitively know this even if they can't articulate it, and it's pretty annoying to have it chewing away at a subconscious level when taking service calls at 10PM.

You clearly have no understanding of how a business works. There's this thing called overhead, and it isn't cheap. Just heating the shop is expensive. Not to mention the specialty equipment required, the land, insurance, etc. There is also the employees that don't earn the company money, but are necessary to keep the place open.

 

[deersniper]

If I'm a mechanic getting paid $30/hr when they owner is getting $120/hr for my time, then I'm gonna ask what the owner is providing for that $90/hr - and there better be a good answer

Lmao id fire you immediately for your attitude.


Yiu al should run a business and deal with
Mortgage/rent
Slow times
Insurance
Employer payroll contribution beyond your paycheck
Unemployment insurance
Having to eat jobs and redo them that employees/ act if god etc fucked up
Multitude of taxes personal property tax etc
Employees not showing up or showing up high/ hung over


Employers are supposed to take all the risk but get no reward ?




You people have no idea

 

[TurboTrout]

Per osha, I’m very much in the same mindset as Mike Rowe

 

[TurboTrout]

Lmao id fire you immediately for your attitude.


Yiu al should run a business and deal with
Mortgage/rent
Slow times
Insurance
Employer payroll contribution beyond your paycheck
Unemployment insurance
Having to eat jobs and redo them that employees/ act if god etc fucked up
Multitude of taxes personal property tax etc
Employees not showing up or showing up high/ hung over


Employers are supposed to take all the risk but get no reward ?




You people have no idea

In many industries it can be the other way around, skilled licensed “labor” takes most of the risk, the shop just pays the store front and does payroll etc.

But REAL free market fixes all, if you don’t offer enough you won’t get help, if a employee sucks he won’t keep that nice gig, etc.

God bless free market, and god bless America.

 

[deersniper]

They are now bloggers, TikTok stars, YouTube stars, internet influencers and a bunch of other things.
From many of the posts here I c

Anon explains why many companies go "woke": Larry Fink, your new overlord - AR15.COM

Firearm Discussion and Resources from AR-15, AK-47, Handguns and more! Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear.

www.ar15.com

This has some effect also with .gov printing money and funneling it to big business cronys


Everyone should read that ^. Crazy crazy stuff

 

[Bradu]

Spoken like a true union slug


You’re too old but a lot of people are going to be in for a awakening when all these business owners throw their hands up and say fuck it and you turds are forced to work for Walmart and Amazon who give zero fucks about you and you and everyone else will have a zero upward mobility


Go do all the work ourselves but still pay an ever increasing confiscatory tax rate to pay for all the welfare parasites , .gov parasites and crony capitalism big business parasites

There is actually some interesting articles and videos on what he's saying. People that got laid off or let go because of covid figured out there is more to life than working 50 plus hours a week. Especially, when they got paid to stay home. This is worldwide, not just in the US.

One thing that I have found to be true in a lot of workplaces is that management will not pay anyone under their control more than they make themselves. When they can't find any suckers to work for their below market wages, they end up bidding the work out at 3x-4x what they were willing to pay an in-house employee. Stupidity should cost and it often does!

Another finding of mine over the years is that management will not hire anyone smarter or more qualified than they are. Most managers and supervisors are more about self preservation than actually getting the job done.

The last job I had is a great example of this. Tried to tell management we needed more help to do our job along with diagnostic software instead of sending out a lot of repairs because we didn't have time to fix it or the capabilities. I said the other option is sell off the junk and upgrade equipment.

I finally got the software and it paid for itself the first week we had it. Then they determined sending out the work we didn't have time to work on was too expensive. They decided to park equipment and wait until we had time to get to it, instead of sending it to get repaired at outside vendors. They could have paid for two mechanics for what we spent on outside repairs. One harness was billed 30 hours of labor after I diagnosed it for them. Should have taken 6.

They also decided to sell a bunch of equipment after walking the lot and having me tell them which machines they should sell and which ones to keep. They did the exact opposite of what I said and sold the equipment we just stuck money into and we're good machines again and left us with the junk.

 

[MadDuner]

THEN EXPLAIN IT TO THEM IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE.

It takes maybe a 6th-grade knowledge of math to go through a balance sheet. Takes maybe 5-10 minutes each month. Early in my career, I worked for private companies that did this, and naively thought that it was standard practice. Heh, nope.

If employees ask these questions and in return get a bunch of hand waving and "it's complicated" remarks and other platitudes, then will automatically assume the worst - that ownership is playing hide-the-weenie (or maybe not even trying to do that when they parade their wealth).

I know others that have put their entire life savings on the line to make stuff happen, and certainly don't begrudge them a healthy profit. Just don't treat employees like they are stupid.

I've worked very hard at explaining it to them.
I've also been trying to find somebody to take my job and replace my old ass.
I'm tired, and ready to retire.
Nobody is interested in taking on the responsibilities or learning anything beyond what they currently do.
They just want to show up when they want to, take as little responsibility as possible, then bail at the end of the day without a care in the world. I guess that's fine if a person never plans on growing or learning anything beyond what they do now.

That appears to be the way of the world right now.
Why learn anything if you are happy doing what you do now?

 

[Cherodjr]

Ive had two positions open for weeks now. One is over 40k and the other is closer to 50k, no experience required, full comp package, etc. etc.

-One kid that showed up for an interview was wearing a t-shirt and nasty ballcap, knew nothing of the job or company.
-Second that showed up brought his Mtn Dew in and put it on my desk. He had done at least 13seconds of research on the company and then proceeded to explain, with a high level of condescension, how he was sure this would be an easy gig and asked if the company phone had unlimited data.

 

[deersniper]

Early in my career, I worked for private companies that did this,

Well if you now receive a check from the tax payer, that explains a lot.

 

[MadDuner]

Where have the Workers/employees gone?
They are now bloggers, TikTok stars, YouTube stars, internet influencers and a bunch of other things.
From many of the posts here I can tell most of you don't have a clue to the meaning of overhead and profit margin.
I find it comical that even here that people are slamming the company for making a profit. You don't like how much you are getting paid? Open your own business and find out. Average profit margin for a business is about 7%. The only two ways to make more money is to cut overhead or sell more product. To sell more product you have to dig into that 7% to expand and then you may have a payback period of years. If I spend a hundred K to expand how long before that expansion is paid for and the profit is seen from it? Aww Fuck it! Hey China, can you make this for me? Yes we can and your profit margin will be 15%!!! Pink slips all around!!

Because of Trump's work - we were able to stop buying product from China and manufacture the product here. Yes, it did take a little while to recoup the expense, but it was worth it. The end result was buying more steel and aluminum and fasteners and welding equipment and consumables from my local suppliers, and of course hiring 5 more guys to manufacture that product. No telling if the increase in requirements added to my local suppliers workforce. But the results were and remain good!

 

[E. Bryant]

You clearly have no understanding of how a business works. There's this thing called overhead, and it isn't cheap. Just heating the shop is expensive. Not to mention the specialty equipment required, the land, insurance, etc. There is also the employees that don't earn the company money, but are necessary to keep the place open.

Lmao id fire you immediately for your attitude.


Yiu al should run a business and deal with
Mortgage/rent
Slow times
Insurance
Employer payroll contribution beyond your paycheck
Unemployment insurance
Having to eat jobs and redo them that employees/ act if god etc fucked up
Multitude of taxes personal property tax etc
Employees not showing up or showing up high/ hung over


Employers are supposed to take all the risk but get no reward ?




You people have no idea

Guys, I run a business. I've been on both sides of this table, and I've been fortunate enough to experience messages that was good, and messaging that was really shitty, and can tell the difference.

If you cannot clearly communicate where these various costs accumulate beyond waving your hands and saying "it's overhead!" or accusing an employee of having a bad attitude, then the blame is on you, not the employee.

The thread seeks an answer to the question of why there is a worker shortage. If owners want to be selective in what they hear from the market, then they can try that approach and see how it works.

 

[TurboTrout]

The reason the third world idiot answers the phone is because companies are too cheap to pay a third world intelligent person. Too many companies try to beat Walmart at their own game. Pay a fraction of NA costs, but a premium compared to overseas wages. Set standards, and do not just race to the bottom. Management teams are almost always about short term solutions and “looks good for now”. It’s the way to success in the make believe world they live in.

And I, as well as other I know, have ended professional relationships when they called for help, we’re on hold for a lifetime only to get a Indian who was dumb as a brick and provided less help than just searching for the answer on the internet.

 

[Billdoe708]

Do you know what keeps SOME people from getting paid what they are worth?

 

[E. Bryant]

Well if you now receive a check from the tax payer, that explains a lot.

LOL, quite the opposite - have literally never taken a dime of unemployment in my life. But you just keep on creating this fantasies about those who don't answer the question in your thread title in precisely the manner you wanted. Sorry-not-sorry for not being the 50th guy to jump into the thread and blame lazy millennials or stupid Boomers or extended unemployment benefits that ended months ago.

 

[E. Bryant]

Do you know what keeps SOME people from getting paid what they are worth?

Spending too much time posting in this thread instead of working through what was supposed to be his vacation?

 

[Mike Ryan]

I run a biosolids fertilizer plant. My company designs, builds, and operates these facilities for municipal wastewater treatment plants. I have had two entry level operator positions open and posted on Indeed since February. I rarely get a resume and when I do, they are either embarrassingly bad, even for an entry level plant operator or from some middle easterner wanting to come to America and work in a fertilizer plant (yeah, that's not at all suspicious). You wouldn't believe some of the resumes I have seen. I keep a folder with the hall of famer's in it. I received a decent resume the other day and sent an email to set up an interview. The reply I received was:

Well, that was disappointing... I guess I should be happy I got a reply. I usually don't. I really don't get it. We pay $22-26/hr with ot available, offer great benefits, $3k sign on bonus, a very secure job that is not at all dependent on the economy, and a great boss and we still can't get anyone. It is unfortunately Massachusetts and so I'm sure they make about the same to stay home. Crazy times.

 

[TexPatriot]

I've seen both sides of it.

On one hand I have these geezer owners I "supervise" construction sites for who want everything to go back to 1990s dollars and on the other hand I have subcontractors who are so busy that they cannot get back to you for months.

I got a framing quote for two houses at 8$ a foot, sheeted everything. Around here 10-12 is the norm. Guy was all ready to go with a crew. Owner blew him off because he used to frame houses in the 80s for a dollar a foot and goddammit nobody wants to work and...now he's trying to frame them himself and it's northern arizona so he is snowed in lmao.

Could you re phrase that?

In my business, materials have doubled in price since Biden stole the election. Customers can't or won't pay for the increase for luxury items. The company owner can't work just to pay for materials and increased labor if the market won't bear the increase so he retires or goes to work for Home Depot.

 

[308pirate]

The only two ways to make more money is to cut overhead or sell more product.

Not so, at least in my world there are at least two more.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

THEN EXPLAIN IT TO THEM IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE.

This is the simple explanation I gave to every employee that asked me for a raise.
E: Hey boss, I need a raise.
Me: I am paying you $15/hr. After paying Fed payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers compensation insurance, general liability insurance, vehicle and vehicle maintenance and insurance and a few other things. You cost me about $35 per hour. That's $ 70,000 per year. At 10% profit margin I have to come up with $700,000 of business just to employ you.
E: Yeah but I got bills and shit!
Me: Maybe you shouldn't have bought something you could not afford?
E: Man, you're making a killing and I ain't getting shit.
Me: I didn't hire you to give you a job so you could keep up with the Joneses. I hired you to make me money. I have ten of you that piss off for an hour or more every day. That's 10 hours a day and 50 hours a week. That's 2500 hours a year which costs me over $80,000 per year. How much of my time do you think it takes to drum up business for you and the guys to piss it away?
You want a raise? Get your ass to work and get your buddies to quit fucking off and I will give you a raise.
BTW, you just cost me $15 explaining it to you and every dollar you fuckers waist costs me time with my family.

 

[deersniper]

Guys, I run a business

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Add in that dot gov is writing checks every month for child tax credit. I can't wait to see Feb and all these people find out that they are not going to get the child tax deduction.

Anon explains why many companies go "woke": Larry Fink, your new overlord - AR15.COM

Firearm Discussion and Resources from AR-15, AK-47, Handguns and more! Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear.

www.ar15.com

This has some effect also with .gov printing money and funneling it to big business cronys


Everyone should read that ^. Crazy crazy stuff

Heads are going to explode.

 

[TurboTrout]

LOL, quite the opposite - have literally never taken a dime of unemployment in my life. But you just keep on creating this fantasies about those who don't answer the question in your thread title in precisely the manner you wanted. Sorry-not-sorry for not being the 50th guy to jump into the thread and blame lazy millennials or stupid Boomers or extended unemployment benefits that ended months ago.

Lol why?

With all the shit that’s taken out of my paycheck, if I’m unemployed, which for me would be a max of like a month or two in my adult life, you bet I’m taking everything I can, especially if the peasants and gov induced mass hysteria fucked my job up.

If you’re going to fuck me, you can sure as hell pay me.

 

[TurboTrout]

Add in that dot gov is writing checks every month for child tax credit. I can't wait to see Feb and all these people find out that they are not going to get the child tax deduction.

Heads are going to explode.

Encouraging breeders is not wise

 

[atomic41]

You think it's bad now, just wait. The SCOTUS is about to give the green light to force the death jab. Millions more will be out of work soon. It will start with 100+ employees then spread like wildfire everywhere.

The NWO ain't getting their Great Reset until they crush the economy and kill off more of the sheep so they need to ramp it up.

 

[E. Bryant]

View attachment 7772344

Well, my name isn't Tinkerbell, so your belief or lack thereof is of absolutely no consequence.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Agreed but.... Trump ain't here no more. It's back to the good old days of Let's Make America A Shit hole.

Because of Trump's work - we were able to stop buying product from China and manufacture the product here. Yes, it did take a little while to recoup the expense, but it was worth it. The end result was buying more steel and aluminum and fasteners and welding equipment and consumables from my local suppliers, and of course hiring 5 more guys to manufacture that product. No telling if the increase in requirements added to my local suppliers workforce. But the results were and remain good!

Ask anyone in Congress. We are a consumer economy not a manufacturing economy. They get much better kickback funneling money back from offshore than direct from American manufacturing

 

[ken226]

All these people who aren't working are still somehow eating, or graveyards would be filling up.

When people have to choose between starving and working, they will work. Free money is the problem.

 

[MadDuner]

Agreed but.... Trump ain't here no more. It's back to the good old days of Let's Make America A Shit hole.

Ask anyone in Congress. We are a consumer economy not a manufacturing economy. They get much better kickback funneling money back from offshore than direct from American manufacturing

Lucky for us - customers continue to order the product from us that we used to import. The quality is much better, but you know how difficult it is to convince some customers of that when all they look at it the out the door price.

 

[BCP]

have literally never taken a dime of unemployment in my life.

Me neither, nor Union, although I kinda wish I had gotten in with one because of retirement and healthcare.

Because of Trump's work - we were able to stop buying product from China and manufacture the product here. Yes, it did take a little while to recoup the expense, but it was worth it. The end result was buying more steel and aluminum and fasteners and welding equipment and consumables from my local suppliers, and of course hiring 5 more guys to manufacture that product. No telling if the increase in requirements added to my local suppliers workforce. But the results were and remain good!

Two years of Trump were more productive than 15 years of Bush/Obama. Shows how terrible our country's political leadership really is.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Raising the price? Depends on your market and how competitive it is. Ask Facebook or Chevrolet.

Not so, at least in my world there are at least two more.

 

[BCP]

Agreed but.... Trump ain't here no more. It's back to the good old days of Let's Make America A Shit hole.

Ask anyone in Congress. We are a consumer economy not a manufacturing economy. They get much better kickback funneling money back from offshore than direct from American manufacturing

HALF of Americans voted for this. Not to mention that voting Democrat also means voting for all their bizarre social policies and stuff about how America is a racist hellhole country full of evil white men.

 

[E. Bryant]

Lol why?

With all the shit that’s taken out of my paycheck, if I’m unemployed, which for me would be a max of like a month or two in my adult life, you bet I’m taking everything I can, especially if the peasants and gov induced mass hysteria fucked my job up.

If you’re going to fuck me, you can sure as hell pay me.

Because it's not the way I'm wired, and because I enjoy the irony of being accused by a farmer of taking government handouts.

 

[BCP]

Lol why?

With all the shit that’s taken out of my paycheck, if I’m unemployed, which for me would be a max of like a month or two in my adult life, you bet I’m taking everything I can, especially if the peasants and gov induced mass hysteria fucked my job up.

If you’re going to fuck me, you can sure as hell pay me.

I don't have that wiring but there are times when I wish that I did. They literally did this shit to us on purpose.

 

[Alpine 338]

This shit has been going on before Covid for much longer than most realize. Slow death of America. Now it's amplified with Covid excuses.

Almost 20-years ago I put out a job opening (directed at a younger person who was going to school, and not working in the Summer). $18 an hour to pull slash and build burn piles from clearing my property for a future home.

Zero calls for the job.

Local restaurant/bar had to stop doing employee drug testing because they could get anyone to pass a drug test.

 

[Mater2009]

1099 your people. With the insurance and 401k difference you should be able to pay better.

 

[JMGlasgow]

@E. Bryant,

Are you involved in a repair industry? I explained examples of overhead, and why labor rates are $120 or more per hour. You just conveniently dismissed it as me making a blanket statement of "overhead". I know that my employer pays over $40k per month just to keep the doors open and make payroll. It's a small company, less than 10 employees, and that kind of money doesn't come from thin air.

I repair heavy equipment and tractors, that shit isn't cheap to buy or maintain. I think the current labor rate isn't enough quite honestly. The manufacturer forces us to buy the diagnostic software (with a monthly subscription), the service manuals, the shop must buy special tools as part of the required tool list to keep a certification, and none of that is cheap. Not to mention the required training every year, and we have to travel to go to these schools.