I know someone who just bought a base Honda fit from the 1st generation whos put 5,000mi in the first week.
I know there are people in trouble. Sounds like there are 42 million that are concerned about food now with the snap program. But while we are wringing our hands, stop to consider how this happens. Have you never had trouble making a car payment or putting food on the table? Many of us have at some point
But we don’t stay there for years. We figure it out and move on.
Everyone can have a temporary situation due to income, prices, or circumstances. Maybe we should not fixate on the price of cars or income levels but what i# done to deal with these givens.
We know of at least 3 guys who most definitely DO want those vehicles 
3 Likes
No reason a job that creates so much wealth for others like fast food should pay so little. Pay accordingly and maybe the ceo and franchise owners can make a little less.
ALL wages need to go up, all hourly wages that is. And those at the top, their salaries need to come down.
2 Likes
Then you live in the wrong area, Fast food workers minimum wage in Seattle is $20.76 an hour
1 Like
Likely you never worked flipping hamburgers or washing dishes to know the profit margin. There was a reason why 90% were high school students. Great for dating though.
1 Like
db:
Uhhhm.. That borders on the sort of material that got me suspended a few months back.
Let’s respect each others’ preferences for the vintages(old or now) of cars and other tech we prefer.
1 Like
D a m n …
“dead end” simply because they didn’t want to step up from their line role and be a manager or something??
Not every worker is of the ‘climb the ladder’ / promotion mentality, and are content in their current position with occasional raises.
That would include your’s truly, partly for personal reasons I’ve disclosed in other threads here, and partly because I tend to be more content with what I have than the average employee or person in general. Physical, chemical, and psychological circumstances before and after my birth, and during my growing up years, significantly impacted my ability to comprehend things quickly and to learn fast. Hence, most of the jobs I held - and quit - as quickly as you could say “started a job and quit” jt, even post-university, required education-wise a highschool diploma.
For a combination of everything I stated above, ‘climbing the company ladder’ just never was a thing for me. I think the band BOSTON’s “Peace of Mind” song speaks to these sentiments, for lots of people.
1 Like
Bull ■■■■. That argument has been around for 50 years. There is some increase in cost, but it doesn’t make the manufacturers unprofitable.
Personally, I like breathing clean air and drinking clean water and driving a safe car. I’ll pay a little extra for it too. And most people will to.
3 Likes
This 
I remember when McDonalds, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Krystal’s etc etc, used to be the cheapest out there, now they are priced with the fancier food joints, I can get a Zaxby’s Great 8 meal for about the price of a hamburger and fry’s from the fast food places…
Fast food places are for 1st timers still in school, like 15-16-17yo ages, with a few Managers making decent money… The prices have gotten ridicules, and it is mainly due to the labor cost…
2 Likes
I know a guy who was having a hard time finding a job right after college graduation, so he signed-up to be an Assistant Manager at a McDonald’s. Shortly after his arrival, the manager told him to clean the toilets. That was his last day at Mickey D’s.
I once (a long time ago) worked for a large organization that had a division that worked like that. You generally started with the company in your late teens and early 20’s. If you hadn’t progressed up the ladder into a foreman, lead, or managerial role by 30 you were “dead-ended” and released to make room for the younger, new hires. This was in the days of yearly pay increases, funded medical and retirement, etc. A single 22-year-old cost the company far less than a married 32-year-old with a family. So it made good business sense to operate this way. Entry-level workers tend to be fungible.
Perhaps not every worker is of the “climb the ladder” mentality, and that’s fine. But as a former business owner and manager, I look at those people and think “Why aren’t you bettering yourself year after year?” I’m expected to continuously grow and improve and develop my business. I can’t do that if the people working for me aren’t onboard with that.
Well yeah, if McBurgerJack has to pay a kid $21 an hour to make my lunch, prices are going up. But food costs are crazy these days too. $9.99/lb at the grocery store for ground beef, $14 for pot roast. It’s getting expensive to eat.
This all started around 2012, but got stu-pid during the Covid years… All that has happened is the the cost of labor has been passed on to the customer (as always lol) and now the fast food workers still can’t afford to eat at the competitors next door, and the rest of us are suffering for it… Sonic did their $0.50 Corn Dogs yesterday, normally they are $2.09 each, so if you eat 3 with fry’s and a drink, it cost more than Zaxby’s, get 4 corn dogs and you might as well go to O’Charley’s etc and eat…
Kroger’s has ground beef for $5.99/lb here… lol
We still have a Big O Turkey frozen from last year, I told the wife I am gonna sell it on eBay for some $$$$ this year… 
1 Like
No, it had nothing to do with what the employee wanted. If they were passed over for promotion, they were fired. Even those that didn’t want the promotion, but were in line for the job. It was all about what Michelin thought of the employees future in their organization. I suspect that this was for salaried employees (management) and not hourly. My boss called on them, not me.
There’s a reason they don’t make cars like that anywhere in the developed world. Wouldn’t meet safety or emissions standards.
Emissions limits for SUVs and pickups have been the same as for cars since the beginning of this century.
1 Like
I think I paid about $6 for a pound of hamburger. I don’t know how to make much but I made sloppy joes. A pound of meat, manwich, Chios and beans or German potato salad, or cold salad. Makes 8 for about two dollars or more each. Pretty cheap. Then lemon pie from Perkins for a couple more dollars. Macs would be $15 or $20, and cheap sit down $40. So I dunno, it doesn’t have to cost a lot if you work. Now in college I survived on 19 cent burgers, dolar Kraft Mac and cheese, or buying meal books from the girls that never used all they were required to buy. You can buy a box of pasta for a dollar and sauce for two and good for two meals. Now going back to basic ingredients like grandma used to do and even cheaper, but you have to know how to cook.
That’s why I’m a mechanic, not a white-collar guy working in an office
I’m not cut out to be behind a desk and I also don’t have the personality for it . . . not going to bother going into the reason(s)
2 Likes
My last year of college I lived in an apartment with my two best buds. We used to buy soy meal extender and add it to ground beef to make meat spaghetti sauce. Tasted great.
Oh yeah. We worked on our cars in the parking lot. Well, except for on guy. He worked on his motorcycle.
I have quite a few older people reporting to me. They are not interested in “climbing the corporate ladder” but like their current role. That does not mean they are not growing. They are growing in other ways- e.g. learning new technical skills that benefit the company. This was recognized a long time ago in the businesses I have been involved in. Not everyone wants to be a people manager or even a product line manager. So we have parallel development paths; one managerial and one technical. Ironically, some of the higher technical roles pay more than the same level people or business managers.
Growing and being an ever increasing asset to the business doesn’t have to involve climbing managerial levels. But I do agree that if you’ve completely stalled out and are not expanding in any way, then there is room for someone more motivated to continue growing and evolving.
2 Likes