The Economic Case for Paying Your Cashiers $40K a Year

The average American cashier makes $20,230 a year, which in a single-earner household would leave a family of four living under the poverty line. But if he works the cash registers at QuikTrip, it’s an entirely different story. The convenience store and gas station chain offers entry-level employees an annual salary of around $40,000, plus benefits. Those high wages didn’t stop QuikTrip from prospering in a hostile economic climate. While other low-cost retailers spent the recession laying off staff and shuttering stores, QuikTrip expanded to its current 645 locations across 11 states.

Many employers believe that one of the best ways to raise their profit margin is to cut labor costs. But companies like QuikTrip, the grocery store chain Trader Joe’s, and Costco Wholesale are proving that the decision to offer low wages is a choice, not an economic necessity. All three are low-cost retailers, a sector that is traditionally known for relying on part-time, low-paid employees. Yet these companies have all found that the act of valuing workers can pay off in the form of increased sales and productivity.

Full article at The Economist

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Bag of Randomness

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  • Yea, springtime!  Boooo, allergy season.
  • It was a bit interesting seeing Wise county lead the national news and be the top story on CNN.com yesterday evening.
  • I’m no Jay Leno fan, but NBC sure does treat the guy like dirt.
  • Remember when Jimmy Fallon got the ‘Late Show’ job and no one thought he’d last but a few weeks?  And now it appears he’s gonna take over the ‘Tonight Show’.
  • If the rumor of Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show’ being in New York is true, I bet that is a huge win for Letterman not having to compete for guests who are busy on the West coast.
  • I was in Target the other day and heard a lady on the phone ask what the Harlem Shake was because her office was going to do it on Friday.  In today’s fast paced world, that’s soooo last year.
  • In high school I had to read Cheaper By The Dozen and then watched the movie.  Great book, and some of their time saving techniques, such as how to quickly bath, still stick with me, especially now that I bath my children.  And it was nice to read about the husband and wife in some of my management classes.  I didn’t care much for the remake with Steve Martin, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I discovered their was a sequel book and movie called Belles on Their Toes.  To my surprise, someone uploaded the whole movie to YouTube which I watched recently.  And her I thought YouTube was picky on video length and copyright.
  • Pixar has a spin off of Cars called Planes, here’s the trailer.
  • The Syfy channel makes some movies that are so bad it’s entertaining to watch.  Airing this weekend is Chupacabra vs The Alamo with Erik Estrada.
  • Until this week I had no idea the song the Harlem Globetrotters come out to is called “Sweet Georgia Brown”.
  • With the latest Star Trek trailer release, every Trekkie now knows who Alice Eve is.
  • In the past year, JCPenny’s stock has dropped from over $36 a share to about $15.53.  Their CEO days have to be numbered.  He’s laid off around 20,000 employees and he commutes between here and his Northern California home in a private jet.  I think he’ll be gone by the end of the year, and when he’s let go, that stock is gonna shoot up.
  • Instant Google Street View
  • Teen Sentenced To Not Say ‘Bingo’ For 6 Months
  • Apple Patents iPhone Drop Protection Mechanisms That Are Built Right Into The Device
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