Doing Work for Hard-Working Families: Change
June 27th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Editor’s Note: This Wednesday topic first appeared on March 14, 2007. To read our introduction to “Doing Work for Hard-Working Families,” just click here.
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Change:
We don’t mean change like nickels and dimes, and we don’t mean change like when you trade in your business casual for actual casual. We mean in the ways you spend your Washingtons, Lincolns, Hamiltons, and the ever-popular Benjamins (from what we hear, it’s “all about” the latter). Money, in
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1. On a recent trip to Topps (one of the two major grocery store changes in Western New York), I was about to use the self-serve checkout to purchase toilet paper, Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, and an avocado (I know, I know… weird) when Jeremy, an old friend of mine, saw me, waved, then yelled, “Hey Zambito, you’re taking someone’s job away.”
He was right. So here’s our advice: use real, live, human cashiers at grocery stores instead of the self-serve checkouts with the creepy, HAL-like voice telling you what to do. By taking this simple action, you keep more people employed. Yes, many of today’s cashiers are teenagers, but the majority are not and need all the support we can give them. The extra few minutes you spend in a line waiting helps put cash in someone’s pockets. Plus, I mean, when else can you scan the tabloids and not feel dirty about it?
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2. The notion of a 15% gratuity is a social custom in the
A server in a diner probably works harder than a server in a fancy, schmancy ristorante, and yet receive less in tips simply because the food costs less. So, since tipping, as archaic as it is, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, we’d like to offer up this little tidbit of progress: add two bucks.
Figure out whatever tip you think the person “deserves,” and then add two bucks. Not only will you make someone’s day (since a surprising number of people tip far less than 15% if they tip at all) and you’ll help that person, coincidentally enough, eat.
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3. Count with me, people: 1, 2, 3, 4. Below you’ll find four companies that treat American workers right, and get our PW seal of approval. These companies aren’t perfect. Let’s call them “more perfect” than most others. So, if and when you can, try plunking down your hard-earned money with these companies.
- eBay – Yes, eBay. They offer health insurance for PowerSellers and their employees. eBay let’s its employees use health care debit cards to tap into their FSAs. By buying off eBay, you get to help out the smallest of business (the sellers). As an added bonus, the head honchos at eBay donate generously to charities and respect the environment.
- Southwest – This progressive airline has dolled out hefty signing bonuses to baggage handlers and provisions agents. They support changing the mandatory retirement age of airline pilots. Southwest has the highest paid pilots in the industry (I don’t know about you, but I want my pilots… I don’t know… happy?). They also build strong relationships with front-line employees and among front-line employees.
- Costco – As of 2005, “Costco [paid] its full-time workers an average of more than $16 an hour, while also picking up 92 percent of the cost of employees’ health-insurance premiums” and “82 percent of Costco workers are covered” by the plan. And check this out: “after four years with [Costco], a cashier can earn around $44,000, including bonuses.” Enough said.
- New Balance — This company, I promise you, sells many sneakers made right here in the U.S. of A. (that means
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