Monday, April 18, 2016

Nobody told me that labor costs money

MassLive: "Haymarket Cafe in Northampton eliminates table service six months after ending tipping, increasing wages."

In my younger (childless) days, I used to frequent the Haymarket Cafe where one book section was "Marxism" and "Labor Struggles."  So it didn't surprise me a bit when the owner of the cafe raised everybody's pay to $14/hour rising to $16 in 2017, but eliminated tipping.  Guess what happened?
Simpson made the shift in an effort to address inequities between waitstaff and back-of-the-house workers, He said that overall, the cafe is doing well but the novel system has put pressure on labor costs.
Do tell.  So they cut table waiting leaving only counter service and the mostly part-time staff will see a couple hours cut from their schedules.

4 comments:

Roger Bournival said...

I used to go to Revolution Books in Harvard Square and steal as many books as I could put into my briefcase while my buddy sweet-talked the hippy chick at the counter. Does that make me a bad person?

Property is theft, man!

Moral Economics said...

What must the rage inside progressives be like, over the fact that the laws of economics and mathematics are not optional?

Eric said...

Was one of them "Steal this Book" by Abbie Hoffman?

Roger Bournival said...

Eric - that brings me to another story. I'm about 13 years old, and my brother Dave mentioned that book to me. He explained that as part of my 'rites of passage' I had to go steal that book. So I go into Osco's, grab the book, was chased by a store employee and outran him easily. A few minutes later, gasping for breath, I dropped the book in front of Dave and a few of his buddies, who started laughing hysterically. I'm like, 'what gives'?

"I was just kidding - nice work, though!"