Still Meditating at McDonald’s

Dripping Springs, Texas. Some people have a spa day. I do McDonald’s breaks, a few moments of quiet in an otherwise overscheduled day. My routine is simple. I park the car, go inside, and order a few things off the Dollar Menu. Some days I splurge and get one of the $3 combos. And I always, always finish with a $1 caramel ice cream sundae.

If I can, that is.

Lately I can’t. Have no fear — the Dollar Menu is still going strong. But the ice cream machine is broken. It was today. Just like it was broken last week. And a few times before that.

Worry about our economy

It makes me think that the wheels, finally, are coming off our economy. Honk if you believe, as I do, that everything can’t happen at once forever.

That’s what it’s like here in Hays County, one of the big growth counties in Texas. We moved to Johnson City, in quiet Blanco County, last month. I tell some people we did it to avoid traffic jams in the once peaceful Dripping Springs countryside more than 20 miles outside Austin. Now we’re nearly 40 miles outside Austin.

But I still go into ‘Drip,’ the local name for Dripping Springs, to get my McDonald’s caramel ice cream sundae fix.

More Evidence

Sadly, a broken, unfixed ice cream machine isn’t the only evidence of wheels coming off.

The new electronic ordering kiosks have failed to disguise chronic understaffing. In my most recent visit, at midday, the counter registers were abandoned.  At odd moments a perplexed and very young worker would come out and take an order, then disappear to what he was really supposed to be doing.

The electronic ordering kiosks installed last year haven’t replaced the counter cashiers for customers, but the place is staffed as though all orders and payments happen through The Magic of Systems Engineering, not people.

When my order came, the French fries were cold. Cold enough that I sent them back.

I mean, aren’t there rules about that?

The long soda and condiments bar was unstocked. A smaller assortment of condiments was at the pick-up counter, on the verge of empty.

The kids – and that’s what they were – showed signs of confusion. They were trying to keep the place going but having a rough time.  I couldn’t help wonder how many workers they were short for the midday rush. This is not what you expect from the culinary equivalent of a Panzer division overwhelming hamburger hunger on planet Earth.

The message on the placemat

The paper placemat on my tray says that McDonald’s is “committed to being America’s Best First Job.” Indeed, they are so committed that they have trademarked the phrase. The placemat also says that “McDonald’s works for me – so I can work on my education.”

But good intentions aren’t enough. Nor is offering a starting wage of $10 an hour in a state that holds to the federal minimum wage law of $7.25 an hour.

It’s another sign that we’re tapped out for workers, even workers that need a good first job and help with their education.

The lowest unemployment rate in half a century

At an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent, the U.S. job market hasn’t been so tight since the hottest years of the Vietnam War, more than a half century ago. Back then, it hit 3.4 percent for a few months in 1968 and 1969. You can’t squeeze blood from a stone – or workers from an empty labor pool.

Another way to look at this is equally troubling. It’s the number of hours a new McDonald’s worker has to work to pay enough employment taxes to cover the average Social Security retiree’s monthly check.

How long it takes to pay a Social Security benefit check

Back in 1990, when the employment tax hit the current 15.3 percent rate, it took 937 worker hours at the $3.90 minimum wage to put together the cash. The average monthly retirement benefit was $559.30 at the time. Today it takes 1,232 worker hours at $7.75 to cover the average retiree check of $1,461. But at the actual starting wage of $10 an hour, it takes 955 hours, about the same hours as 1990.

Think of it as a measure of what wages need to be just to keep the economy almost staffed and staggering.

Me, I’m going to worry until the ice cream machine is working.

Related columns:

08/26/18:Meditation at McDonald’s 4

11/01/13: Meditation on McDonald’s, Once More

04/17/11: Meditation on McDonald’s, Part 2

02/20/09: A Meditation on McDonald’s

Sources and References:

History of Minimum Wage to 2009  https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm

Changes in Minimum Wage  https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-minimum-wage/

Social Security Annual Statistical Supplement 2018, Average Social Security Benefit history, Table 6.A2  https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/index.html

Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rate history  https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet

This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.

Photo by Paolo Durandetto from Pexels

(c) Scott Burns, 2019