$15/hr minimum wage- what's it mean to you?

[FireFighterZero]

Not here. You would be bloody managment at 15!
When I go to New Zealand I used to be excited about trying different foods and drinks. No way. They have a 15 dollar min wage. Even with the exchange rate an American cant afford to eat out. Neither can they. They work at the restaurants but cant eat there. Costs rise behind wages.
I dont know how to fix it. Live within your means, but that aint the American way either. Like having to buy a brand new Ford pickup on Memorial day.

 

[No_Bivy]

Whatever.....,
Why do we argue that a tree job pay should not begin below 15? Hey nick.... I could give a shit.
.

 

[MasterBlaster]

If only we could come up with something totally new and amazing.

A whole new "model" from what we've always done before...

Where are the aliens when we need them...

 

[sotc]

Whatever.....,
Why do we argue that a tree job pay should not begin below 15? Hey nick.... I could give a shit.
.

I think we all probably agree with that. I used to start a climber at that if he could comfortably get around most trees. My Secretary doesn't make 15 but she is over minimum wage. If I had to take her to 15 I'd be looking for someone more experienced In office skills.
Minimum is $9.25 here

 

[NickfromWI]

Whatever.....,
Why do we argue that a tree job pay should not begin below 15? Hey nick.... I could give a shit.
.

I don't think anyone is arguing that. A tree job SHOULD START at $15 hr for a new ground guy. But what it should be and what it CAN be are 2 different things.


love
nick

 

[Bermy]

Wow...I can't get anybody to work the ground for less than $20per hr., and that would be a summer student most likely. Here and in Bermuda.
Someone with a bit of motivation/experience gets started at $25, and if you can run a saw...$30

Mind you that's part-time straight pay, no deductions, you bring your own health insurance.

A secretary at $9 and change!!! Things sure are different around the world

 

[MasterBlaster]

Ain't that the truth!

 

[NickfromWI]

Bermy- are you using $USD? Just to make sure we're talking apples to apples...

Also- are you just paying them straight cash? I could double everyone's income if there was no workers comp and payroll taxes social security etc etc etc.

For me if I got ground guys making $30/hr and climbers makeing...$45 (?) ...if I roll up with a 4 person crew for an 8 hr day that's $225/hr JUST to cover payroll expenses and then I gotta double that to cover the rest of the business expenses for the day which means I'm gonna have to do $3,500-$4,000/day every day.

Am I way off base? We do $3,500 days once a week...but not every day.

 

[treesandsurf]

Nick are you saying your climbers are making $45.00/hr??

3% profit margin doesn't seem like an acceptable level of return with the risk associated with this type of work. You could get a better return sleeping in all day and let your money work. The business has to be healthy, as do the employees IMO.

jp

 

[treesandsurf]

FWIW, we aim for approx 30% of overhead towards payroll. This keeps the gross margin high enough be "acceptable" to me, but in reality a lot of that true margin gets reinvested back into the company in some form or another.

jp

 

[NickfromWI]

Nick are you saying your climbers are making $45.00/hr??

No I wish!

I was using a hypothetical situation starting with Bermy's saying a ground guy with chainsaw skills can make $30/hr in her parts of the world. I just did the math on what that would take for me to pay a crew with $30 ground guys.


love
nick

 

[No_Bivy]

What do you climbers make? Groundies?

 

[Al Smith]

It's a simple fact of life.If you want good help pay them well .If you don't the smart ones will move on and the dumb ones will stay .

Don't expect a lot of so called loyalty for 10 bucks an hour.

 

[Peter]

My lowest paid employee is already in more than $15 an hour, and he's getting a rise soon

 

[Ian Harrison]

That's some good wages there Peter as a climber in my last company I only just scraped that. There are not that many company's that stretch to that for grounds around here. Or do you just employ climbers?

 

[NickfromWI]

Where are you guys from?


love
nick

 

[Ian Harrison]

We are both in the UK quite close in england. So we have to convert before speaking money haha

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

All about cost of living for the area. Well, largely about that.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I miss my climbing pay...

 

[Mick!]

Are you ever going to tell us what you're doing now Butch? (Apart from The House of course)

 

[Peter]

I only employ one guy, and we both climb.

 

[cory]

Are you ever going to tell us what you're doing now Butch? (Apart from The House of course)

+1

 

[MasterBlaster]

The last time I did that I got in trouble. Long story.

 

[NickfromWI]

I miss my climbing pay...

Me too


love
nick

 

[kevin bingham]

At the end of the day, its hard to judge a man's worth by the job assigned to him. Like in the scheme of important duties for society, where does performing tree massages to the trees and shrubs of the rich and famous rate next to a dishwasher or a banker.