San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business

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San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015 fiogf49gjkf0d The café will keep going though. For now. Yahoo Finance Minimum Wage Hike Closes San Francisco Bookstore By Yuval Rosenberg February 3, 2015 An independent San Francisco bookstore says it will be closing its doors by March 31, despite having its best year ever in 2014. And it’s pointing at San Francisco’s newly enacted minimum wage law as the reason. Borderland Books, which specializes in science fiction and horror, says it has withstood a host of challenges since it opened in 1997, including the rise of Amazon.com and e-books, a landlord who supposedly doubled their rent while dotcoms were first booming, and a deep recession that the owners say “hit us very hard.” A higher minimum wage, though, would take the business from being modestly profitable to being a money loser, the owner says. “Throughout the years we've managed to plan for the problems that we could predict and, when we couldn't plan for them, we've just worked our asses off to get through. Overall, Borderlands has managed to defeat every problem that has come our way,” Borderlands owner Alan Beatts wrote in a blog post announcing the planned closure. “Although all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principal (sic) and we believe that it's possible that the new law will be good for San Francisco — Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to that minimum wage.” San Francisco voters easily approved a measure last November that would lift the city’s minimum wage from $10.74 to $12.25 an hour as of May and then gradually raise it to $15 an hour by July 2018. That hourly wage works out to a minimum salary of $31,000 a year for a full-time worker. The blog post went on to say that the Borderlands café business will stay open and should have “no difficulty at all” with the new minimum wage because it will be able to raise prices as needed. The bookselling business is different, the blog post argued, because book prices are set by the publishers and clearly printed on the books: “The change in minimum wage will mean our payroll will increase roughly 39%. That increase will in turn bring up our total operating expenses by 18%. To make up for that expense, we would need to increase our sales by a minimum of 20%. We do not believe that is a realistic possibility for a bookstore in San Francisco at this time.” Opponents of a higher minimum wage have argued that it would kill jobs and businesses in just such a fashion. Proponents point to studies that have found little to no negative effect on employment from minimum wage hikes, and they argue that a higher minimum wage will helps businesses overall by giving consumers slightly more purchasing power.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Fred G* on Tue Feb 3 19:32:36 2015, in response to San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d Bookstores are on the ropes nowadays. How many employees do you suppose this place has? 3? How is a couple bucks an hour gonna make or break them? your pal, Fred
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by SelkirkTMO* on Tue Feb 3 19:37:56 2015, in response to San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d Of course, aside from the political agenda, sure does seem like the real issue here is price-fixing in that the publishers do not permit a markup for more expensive places. Whatever happened to "prices slightly higher in the west?"
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Tue Feb 3 19:46:54 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Fred G on Tue Feb 3 19:32:36 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d iawtp
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by italianstallion* on Tue Feb 3 21:01:59 2015, in response to San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d They are blaming the minimum wage for their own shortcomings.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by gp38/r42 CHRIS* on Wed Feb 4 07:52:09 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Fred G on Tue Feb 3 19:32:36 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d That's just the small mom and pop type of business that is hurt the most
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Fred G on Wed Feb 4 08:05:02 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by gp38/r42 CHRIS on Wed Feb 4 07:52:09 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d I suspect their sales are down by the nature of their business and they're making excuses by blaming the minimum wage. Your pal, Fred
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by cortelyounext* on Wed Feb 4 09:29:48 2015, in response to San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d I'll be in the area tomorrow. I planned to do a reconnaissance in force of the Tenderloin district after noticing a bunch of losers were out protesting at the intersection of Bush and the 101 the last time I was there. The signs? You guessed it - "Bush. War Criminal" - I am unsure the underlying reasons for the protest since I was in a car heading to the airport. Anyway, I think I will go to Borderlands instead to see if there are any young whites with dreads wearing those Alice in Chains shirts and Guy Fawkes masks carrying "Occupy This" and the simple "F--k Greed" signs. In the highly likely event I cross paths with said individuals I fully intend to stir up trouble believe that. I'll be back in San Jose, C.R. on Saturday to eat sea bass and look for those green parrots in the trees at 5:00 PM. Ironically, my Paint-by-Numbers Watercolor kit has a sheet depicting parrots or toucans one of those birds in a forested landscape with mountains in the background - I'll tackle that project at a time and place of my choosing. Again, I want to thank you for reading my post.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by cortelyounext on Wed Feb 4 09:30:54 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by cortelyounext on Wed Feb 4 09:29:48 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d You're welcome... I think.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by FYBklyn1959 on Wed Feb 4 11:17:23 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by cortelyounext on Wed Feb 4 09:29:48 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d EWR-SFO? Seems UA might put something larger than a 737 on a hub-to-hub, even if it is a -924ER. But what do I know. Enjoy SJO, watch out for dinosaurs :) (Caption: THIS is for all those Jaws movies!!) :)
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by cortelyounext on Wed Feb 4 11:29:22 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by FYBklyn1959 on Wed Feb 4 11:17:23 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d I'm working UA 1120. There is a lot of movement of fleet equipment and pilot vacancy bids going on now. As you probably know EWR - SFO is served by a mix of -800s, -900s, and 757-200s with the occasional baby Airbus mixed in just to keep things interesting. The new 9s carry essentially the same loads as the 752s... pax anyway.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 4 12:34:27 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by gp38/r42 CHRIS on Wed Feb 4 07:52:09 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d And the bigger corporation. NYC's relatively modest MW increase is having a drastic effect on my employer's staffing. We have roughly 60% of the staff in the store I now work in as opposed to last year, despite sales being up. It also offends me that most liberals would say "so what" to something like this. Even if Fred is right, that's 3 people who are now out of work.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Wed Feb 4 12:39:09 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 4 12:34:27 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d And that is something the leftists don't understand. Business is not going to absorb it, they will adjust, and adjust by firing people.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 4 12:40:42 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Wed Feb 4 12:39:09 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d They then use that to bash corporations, which helps them electorally. Progressives aren't as stupid as you'd think. Voters are, FTMP.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by italianstallion* on Wed Feb 4 12:43:20 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Fred G on Wed Feb 4 08:05:02 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d Exactly.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by italianstallion* on Wed Feb 4 12:48:28 2015, in response to San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d Several bookstores in that area have closed recently. The honest ones are blaming the recession, the longterm trends towards online buying, the turn to e-books, competition with Amazon, etc. Even Borderlands said this in its statement: “The steady movement towards online shopping, mostly with Amazon, has taken a steady toll on bookstores throughout the world and Borderlands was no exception,” the store said in a statement on its website. The store also blamed the Great Recession of 2007-2009, which “hit us very hard,” especially since it had recently opened a cafe.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Feb 4 13:09:34 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 4 12:40:42 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d Progressives aren't as stupid as you'd think "The Soviet system isn't working because the workers aren't working!" — Grigory Yavlinsky, to Mikhail Gorbachëv Progressives are treading the same path.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Feb 4 13:10:32 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by gp38/r42 CHRIS on Wed Feb 4 07:52:09 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d Bigger businesses are hurt only slightly less. Remember Subway?
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by Fred G on Wed Feb 4 17:03:51 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 4 12:34:27 2015. fiogf49gjkf0d How much did they staff up for the holidays? your pal, Fred
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by SUBWAYMAN* on Wed Feb 4 19:32:48 2015, in response to San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Feb 3 19:25:33 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d You can't always blame wages. Some businesses make bad decisions that affect them in the long run.
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by SelkirkTMO* on Wed Feb 4 19:46:01 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by SUBWAYMAN on Wed Feb 4 19:32:48 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d And many others are stuck with the cartels that supply them. And sadly, there are antitrust laws but enforcing them would be communism. :-\
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Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business
Posted by SUBWAYMAN* on Wed Feb 4 20:56:59 2015, in response to Re: San Francisco minimum wage hike kills Borderlands' bookselling business, posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Feb 4 19:46:01 2015.* fiogf49gjkf0d Heh.
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