by Sandy » Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:39 pm
The general store (larger than a convenience market, smaller than a supermarket) across the road from my house (yes, it is nice to have it that close) pays its evening teenage clerks $12 an hour. They work part time, from 5 to 9. I'm not sure what the daytime people make, working full time on staggered shifts, but I know that they are unionized. The store is definitely a mom and pop business, owned by the same family since the mid 1970's. Not sure what their profit margin is, but there's no sales tax on food, so their non-food sales generated $50,000 in borough taxes, at 2%. It's a mom and pop business owned by the same family for three generations. Not sure where that falls in the mom and pop category. They are 12 miles from Wal Marts to the east and west, along with several other larger grocery chains, but their prices are competitive, and the service they provide is excellent. The store is always busy. The wages they pay give their employees incentive, and they get a lot of work done, and attract customers to the store.
I'll share another example. When we lived in Missouri in the early 90's, one of our church members owned three Dairy Queen franchises in three small towns. The kids from our church wanted to work for them because they always paid more than minimum wage. As a result, their restaurants were always crowded, because the service was fast and efficient. One Sunday, end of January, we had a heavy snow and only 18 people showed up for church in a congregation that normally ran 200. But the offering that morning was over $25,000 as opposed to a normal Sunday of about $3,200. The people who owned the Dairy Queens were there, and put in their year's tithe check.
Wonder how many mom and pops can do that. Maybe more than you think.