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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I really go back and forth on this. While I applaud the intent - to inform customers of the true impact of such foolishness - it has been used in several industries merely to hide the true costs in what I consider a "bait and switch." For example, I travel a lot. I usually get a rental car. The quoted price is meaningless anymore, as the tacked on "taxes and fees" now comprises fully 1/3 of the total charge incurred. It has gotten so bad that there are fees for tire replacement, battery recycling and replacement, license plate fees, etc. These are costs of doing business, but by separating them out, they can claim to have an $X/day cost when it really is 1.33 X.
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  • Posted by Solver 10 years, 8 months ago
    Might as well add a line,
    "Obama presidency tax"
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 10 years, 8 months ago
    I applaud the cafe owner. From the ignorant reaction, I can see too many people never took Economics 101. I'm a senior citizen who never was a businessman, but I could grasp the cause and effect of a rising cost as an immature teenager. Oh, well, I live in the country that voted in Obama twice. Hope and change and Candy Mountain.
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  • Posted by Esceptico 10 years, 8 months ago
    Airlines add the “fuel” surcharge when prices go up. I love this idea of adding the Minimum Wage Surcharge. We should do it with everything so those unfamiliar with doing business get the picture. I can see it now, Water Surcharge, Electric Surcharge, and best of all, the Etcetera Surcharge.
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  • Posted by JAL64 10 years, 8 months ago
    It never ceases to amaze:
    “We believe that the industry is overreacting,” Wade Luneburg of the MN State Council of UNITE HERE Unions told the Star Tribune this week. “Putting (minimum wage) fees on tickets and passing the cost on to consumers directly is strange at best, and creates an ‘us against them’ mentality while ordering dinner.”

    Why don't these boobs just call for FREE food and be done with it. They simply cannot come to grips with the TRUTH that businesses are not in business to provide employment and wages. Businesses are in business to STAY in business. Any increase in the COST of doing business has to be borne by someone, otherwise the business goes out of business or moves away.
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  • Posted by conscious1978 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "It is supposed to be hidden and the higher product price (inevitably) can then be blamed on greedy capitalists."

    So true! +1
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  • Posted by eddieh 10 years, 8 months ago
    Average customers are concerned only about the bottom line they could care less how much your rent and other overhead is or even if you make a living. They want a lower price.
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 8 months ago
    DAMN RIGHT YOU RAISE YOUR PRICES. if your costs go up the price of what ever product or service you offer gets more expensive. that is just the way it is. hell with the wage going up the taxes go up as well. as for the comment from the union guy; he's as much an idiot as 0.
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    Posted by strugatsky 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Actually, this is not really a private business' fee. It is a government tax. The government often gets upset when it's taxes, which are often intended to be hidden, are exposed. I have a business which the state taxes (additional to a multitude of other taxes) with what it calls a "meals fee." It is calculated as a percentage of sales. I call it an additional sales tax. The county people got very upset when I called it that since they didn't want the county residents to even be aware of it. It is supposed to be hidden and the higher product price (inevitably) can then be blamed on greedy capitalists.
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  • Posted by richkinley 10 years, 8 months ago
    The owner should have titled it "Directive 10-289 Fee/Tax". 99+% of the yay-hoos would never get it.
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  • Posted by Snoogoo 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That is a great idea, he should stage a sad puppy and a crying baby next to them too. I think it's great liberals have so much sympathy for the central american illegal immigrant kids, but when people like this business owner show actual concern for other human beings they are *evil* and morally bankrupt. (sarcasm intended). As a Minnesota resident, I am going to drive all the way to Stillwater to eat there, at least I'll know he didn't skimp on the food quality due to the wage hike.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    He could conduct a social experiment in which he posts a photo of an employee with the caption, "This person will be eliminated due to increased wage costs unless you voluntarily donate to cover his wages." I bet he'd get little or no donations.
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  • 10
    Posted by conscious1978 10 years, 8 months ago
    Kudos to the cafe owner for covering his increased costs in a novel way. He exposed the disconnect that many people have regarding how costs are passed along. I hope his business continues to grow.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 10 years, 8 months ago
    What would people think if they saw an itemized list of a private business' overhead? And how much of an end-user's price accounted for it? That's all this cafe owner wanted to show.
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  • Posted by Snoogoo 10 years, 8 months ago
    Good for him. Do the idiots protesting him ever stop to think that without that fee he would have had to let go at least one person? He saved someone from losing their job and that makes him evil, go figure.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Are you saying the minimum wage hike is dumb or the fee"
    People getting angry at a private business's fee is dumb.
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  • Posted by $ KahnQuest 10 years, 8 months ago
    Nice exposition of the minimum-wage hypocrisy. Of course they're mad; they wanted higher minimum wages for the workers, but they didn't want it coming out of their pockets! Or maybe they're mad because they can now see just how their minimum wage hike means nothing.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 8 months ago
    I see no reason for anyone to complain about the fee. They can just go somewhere else. I'm glad they're getting free publicity, even though it's for something dumb.
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