Would you be willing to pay an extra 68 cents for a Big Mac if McDonald's decided to double the pay of employees to $15 an hour. Hell's yeah.
According to Forbes, the cost of a Big Mac would only go up $0.68.
The beauty of this is that it comes from Forbes, which in no way is part of the librul (sic) media conspiracy.
Follow me below the fold for details.
A research assistant at the University of Kansas School of Business decided to check what effect a raise might have on the overall cost of food at the world's largest fast food chain. Forbes has previously run similar articles about how much paying for employees health care would add to the cost of a Papa John's pizza.
Pouring over annual reports and investor generated data, Arnobio Morelix discovered that if McDonald’s workers were paid the $15 they’re demanding, the cost of a Big Mac would go up 68 cents, from its current price of $3.99 to $4.67. A Big Mac meal would cost $6.66 rather than $5.69, and the chain’s famous Dollar Menu would go for $1.17.
“Some folks online are complaining they will not pay $2 for their Dollar Menu, but the truth is that even if McDonald’s doubled salaries the price hike would not be 100%,” Morelix said. “I will be happy to pay 17 cents more for my Dollar Menu so that fast food workers can have a living wage, and I believe people deserve to know that price hikes would not be as high as it is often portrayed.
Claire O'Connor of Forbes reported that Morelix said his number crunching assumes profits and other expenses are kept at the same absolute number. His calculations are based on increases in salaries and benefits for every McDonald’s worker, from minimum wage line cooks paid $7.25 an hour to CEO Donald Thompson, who made $8.75 million in 2012.
In light of the growing number of fast food walkouts in major cities, this data could not come at a worse time for the Illinois-based fast food giant. July has been a particularly bad PR month for McDonald's with its ridiculous bogus McBudget that magically allowed McDonald's workers to survive on a minimum wage job by adding a second imaginary job and not paying for such frivolous expenses such as heat.
Snip.
The impossibility of doing so has been attested to by everyone from writer Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Nickel and Dimed to noted obstetrician Cliff Huxtable, in that episode of The Cosby Show where he uses Monopoly money to teach young Theo the value of a good income. It has also been attested to by the people trying to do it. But all that notwithstanding, the McBudget insists it can be done.
It envisions monthly take-home pay of $2,060 from working two (!) jobs. Out of that, you pay $600 for rent, $150 for a car note, $100 for insurance (home and auto), $100 for cable and phone, $90 for the electric bill, $20 for health insurance, etc. You save $100 a month and have $750 to play with — if, by “play,” you mean pay for clothing, child care and water. Also, gasoline, maintenance and repair for the 1997 junkmobile you’re able to buy for $150 a month. Oh, and food. Can’t forget food.
I don't eat McDonald's that much anymore, which is a good thing. I only tend to eat it while on long road trips because many highway rest stops have McDonald's or when I am coming back from the airport at 3 am and nothing else is open in my town. I would certainly pay an extra 68 cents for a Big Mac. I think most Americans would as well.