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Michigan minimum wage law

PostPosted: 21-Oct-2022 12:17pm
by Udfleet
Any thoughts on prospective Feb 20, 2023 implementation of new Minimum Wage amounts, along with -- and this is this worrisome part, for already suffering restaurant owners -- proposed scheduled changes to the "tipped minimum wage" ratio, from the current 38% of Full Minimum Wage, to 100% in 2024?

Re: Michigan minimum wage law

PostPosted: 21-Oct-2022 1:12pm
by SumwunLost
Anent the restaurants, I think Michigan restaurant owners might be well advised to look at tipping culture in places like France (discouraged) and Japan (downright offensive) and then look at the effect of "tip creep" in the UK over the past 10-15 years.

There is no point in worrying about what you can't control. Instead figure out what you can do with something you can control.

Re: Michigan minimum wage law

PostPosted: 21-Oct-2022 3:06pm
by Udfleet
I'm obliged to defer to you, Sumwun, given the volume of your posts, as well as for your knowledge of ancient Scottish prepositions...your advice is well taken, however application of such will require a huge cultural shift, between both customers and owners, none of whom know about this, a mere four months hence.

Re: Michigan minimum wage law

PostPosted: 21-Oct-2022 3:39pm
by SumwunLost
Oh, I offer no opinion on the detail of the Michigan law. Yes, it will be a cultural shift. However, there have been baby steps towards this in the more metropolitan areas in the last few years, eg, a few restaurants in New York and San Francisco have paid their staff a proper wage and actively discouraged tipping except to reward truly exceptional service.

In places like France and Japan, being a waiter is considered an honorable profession - quite often a long-term one (think about that for a minute). In the UK, the chain restaurants have moved towards "service charges" in the last 10-15 years. Staff there must be paid the same minimum wage as any other employee and that is pretty much what most of them are on. Proper operation of troncs* is variable at best. Service in the chains is worse than here for the most part. The family restaurants and the posh places have generally paid either good wages, have decent working conditions or both. Tipping in those places is not expected, but is appreciated.

When I came here over twenty years ago, I had no clue about tipping in the USA. On a $30 check, I thought a dollar was being generous. Seriously. It was, as you say, a huge cultural shift. Although I see nothing wrong with the principle, I think four months is far too short a time in which to implement this.

*https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tronc

Re: Michigan minimum wage law

PostPosted: 24-Oct-2022 7:42am
by CornerstoneCPA
Tipping has gotten out of hand and has permeated into service businesses that used to never ask for tips. I have sarcastically thought about adding a tip line to my invoices.

In lower end restaurants charging $8-15/plate, this is an issue. Their margins are simply too small, partly because they serve too damn much food. That is another cultural change that needs to occur--cut back on portion sizes. But, higher end and well run restaurants can make A LOT of money, so they could easily afford to pay reasonable and livable wages to their staff while lining the pockets of various partners a bit less. There are two primary restaurant groups where I live and most of them have become multi-millionaires (of course, a lot of it has also gone up their noses) and the only reason they retained staff was because they earned so much in tips. I used to work with a girl that worked at one of these restaurants and she earned more working two nights a week than she did at her day job. I always felt really bad about that because she somehow found out what I made at the company (as did everyone else--still not sure how it occurred given I was the only one with access to that information) and yet because she was reliable, she was taken advantage of. But, she still works there while I resigned. Anyway, side tangent of sort.

This is not a stupid country, yet culturally speaking I remain stunned at some of the choices we make. The "x% of minimum wage because of tips nonsense" has always been one of those stupid choices. But good grief, we have fast food restaurants paying $15-20/hr and they cannot find help...