Post by Terrapin Station on Sept 26, 2018 16:12:03 GMT
Imagine if some builder said, "I want to entice people to buy more homes, so I'm going to charge 20% less than I had been charging--people will definitely buy more homes, and ultimately I'll make more money, if I can bring the price down noticeably. I'll just pay the construction workers $2 per hour so that I'm not out anything, and the construction workers can make up the difference in tips from the new homeowners, should the homeowners be kind enough to tip on top of the purchase price they pay to me."
Everyone could do business that way, and probably most business owners would like to. They're not out anything. It's just unfortunate that we've developed a convention where it's considered acceptable in some businesses for owners to pay employees next to nothing while they're supposed to rely on the kindness of customers to make up the difference . . . and meanwhile, the businesses usually keep slowing jacking up the price that the owner gets, so the customers start feeling squeezed, too.
Everyone could do business that way, and probably most business owners would like to. They're not out anything. It's just unfortunate that we've developed a convention where it's considered acceptable in some businesses for owners to pay employees next to nothing while they're supposed to rely on the kindness of customers to make up the difference . . . and meanwhile, the businesses usually keep slowing jacking up the price that the owner gets, so the customers start feeling squeezed, too.