I have professed several times my hate of the corporate world, how I loathed the rat race, the petty office politics, the brown nosing and long hours just to show you are there… you get the idea. Actually, one of the jobs I have been most happy at was flipping burgers at McD when I was a student. After talking to a reader who makes about $2,000 a month, but spends over $800 in car loan, insurance and gas just to get to work, I told her that she would be better off taking a minimum wage job closer to home.
No responsibilities
How often have you gone home thinking about work, or worse, with work to do? When you flip burgers (or stack potato chips), it doesn’t happen. You go home, and you get to have a life. You are responsible while on the job, but once you hang your uniform (which you get a tax credit to wash at home, or have washed at work while other people have their clothes dry cleaned at their own expense), you know you are fully done for the day.
Paid to the minute
In France, the legal workweek is 35 hours, but most people work more than this, without compensation. Most of my friends do 10 hour days instead of 7, or a 50 hour workweek, bringing down their actual wage quite a bit. If you are paid $1,000 a week for 35 hours, you earn $28.5 an hour. Work 50 hours instead and your actual wage dropped to $20. That is a lot of lost money just for a pat in the back.
At McD we had a time card, and if we would stay 1 minute more, we would get paid for that minute. Most shifts we would be asked to stay 15-20 minutes, and if a co-worker was sick, we could stay a couple of hours, or pick up a full extra shift. If you racked up a certain amount of hours, overtime would be paid at 125%, and bank holidays were paid 200%. Minutes here and there added up, while a secretary staying late would not get compensated at a normal office job.
Close to home
As I told my reader, if I were to take a minimum wage job, it would be walking distance from home. There is always a convenience store, a supermarket, a coffee shop, any store, that you can walk to. No commute means no car expenses, no buss pass, no costly repairs, no insurance. And that five minutes after leaving your job, you will be home. Add 45 minutes of commuting to my example above of 50 hour weeks vs 35 hour. 7.5 hours of your week just disappeared right there, bringing your actual wage for a 57.5 hour workweek to $17.4. That is before adding the cost of gas or your bus pass. You should never consider a minimum wage job that forces you to commute for hours, as there are surely plenty within walking distance.
Easy to get
People rarely fight for minimum wage jobs. McD or Walmart have a huge turnover, so they are not really picky when hiring you. I am confident that I can get a minimum wage job whenever I want, which has given me a lot of flexibility to leave other tedious jobs, knowing that worst case scenario, I could always go back to flipping burgers.
Perks
At McD, we would get fed once for a half day shift, twice for a full day shift. That was quite a dent into my student food budget. And in France, McDs have lots of salads, yogurts, even fruits and other healthy options. Supermarket workers would get the products with a short shelf life for free. You can find another chain you would love to eat at every day, or if you are into cosmetics, or clothes, go work somewhere your employee card will score you a 40% discount.
Being part of a big company has more perks beyond free food. They were part of a scheme to help you find affordable housing to rent or buy. We would get discounted movie tickets, discounted holiday rentals, a company saving plans where you would buy shares at a discount, and as it was in France there was no need for healthcare but many big companies offer extra dental and vision cover on top of social security.
Try to find out the perks that help you save the most, depending on your lifestyle.
Career opportunities
McD’s career website is filled with success stories about burger flippers with high school degrees who never went to college and just climbed the corporate ladder step by step. The company often ranks as one of the best places to work, and is pretty far from the greasy hell with abusive managers people sometimes depict it as.
While I never considered becoming a branch manager, I was promoted twice in my short career, and got a 15 or 20% raise. 20% over minimum wage is not so bad as a student.
Low taxes
I am not familiar with the way it works in other countries, but as a low income earner in France, you get extra perks. Like a government help for your housing, of 150 or 200 euros a month. A tax refund if you worked full time most of the year. A check to cover daycare if you have kids, and discounted school meals. Between making minimum wage with benefits and making 10% over minimum wage and saying goodbye to the benefits, if you have little room for career improvement, you are better of sticking to minimum wage.
The real cost of a non minimum wage perfect job is your salary – taxes – commuting costs – unpaid extra hours – hours spent commuting – work clothes – dry cleaning – work lunches – other perks you don’t have if you work for a small company instead. A very interesting calculation to make, that may help you realize you are not making as much as you think.
I am not factoring daycare as the minimum wage job won’t cover it either.
As someone who’s career has focused around retail management, I do often feel quite jealous about the “minimum wage staff” I have. They may not earn as much as those who have got numerous promotions over the years – but they also haven’t got any of the hassles or responsibilities.
In many ways I think the ultimate “career” is keeping your expenses so low that you can do a basic job like this and still make ends meet.
I know a number of people who have achieved a good degree of financial freedom and now work part-time at various charities for minimum wage, doing what they love. They seem like the happiest people I know – because they can afford to select a job based on their passions – rather than what pays best.
That said, it may be a case of “the grass is always greener” and the people doing those jobs dislike their lower wages, lack of control over their day and, at least in some situations, their over-stressed boss that makes life unpleasant 😉
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I have a friend who is a manager at a supermarket and his hours are often 6am for deliveries up to 10pm when the last register closes. He covers shifts when people are sick, can be called for emergencies… for a mere 30% over basic staff wages, he does more than 30% of extra hours.
I agree with you, going to work but not HAVING to go is labor bliss.
I hear you on the 50+ hours weeks while on salary. Sometimes the Walmart greeter job looks pretty stress free! I have a secret (ok well I guess it’s not secret anymore) yearning to work as a cashier either in a grocery store or a pharmacy. I may take that on after I retire.
The problem with minimum wage jobs (at least here in Canada) is that most are part-time (students are encouraged to work these) so they don’t get the attracted benefits. It become difficult to meet even the bottom standard of living on a minimum wage part-time hours (30 hrs or less). Of course shift supervisors would likely get full-time hours, but these are not the minimum wage jobs. Unless someone else knows otherwise, this is my understanding of the industry.
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Grocery cashier sounds pretty stressful for rush hour, and prone to back pain. I’d be happier as a cashier in a deli or a cheese shop, somewhere people are happy to shop slowly and carefully for good products. But no benefits with small firms generally.
There was something about part time jobs when I was flipping burgers, they tried to have you work 30 hours instead of the full 35 and I don’t remember the reason, probably cheaper regarding taxes for them or something, but outside the fast food and supermarket industry you could be a janitor or lunch lady at school full time for example.
There is something to be said for a job with no major responsibilities other than showing up consistently and working diligently. Many people prefer that lifestyle of not taking their work home with them. Surely helps reduce stress.
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If you get paid for 8 or 12 hours a day you shouldn’t have to add extra stress when you get home, or should be compensated for extra hours. I don’t mind doing one hour here and there but if it is a consistent couple of hours every day it adds up fast.
I agree with what Brian said about the lack of stress and responsibility that comes with a minimum wage job. I have always said that if I ever went back into the work force, it would be a totally no responsibility job like stocking shelves. 🙂
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I met a small skinny girl at the supermarket the other day who was carrying heavy trays to stock groceries, she said she lost a lot of weight and was grateful for the constant physical activity. But it has to get harder with age.
While I agree with some of your perks of a low-wage job, I do know that a lot of franchise owners of McDonald’s in the US have been known to take advantage of employees, forcing them into expensive pre-paid debit cards for their paychecks (illegal to do so), and not paying employees overtime (illegal again, but it often takes a class-action to get back). The high upfront cost of buying all the Mickey D’s equipment ($100,000 easily) can lead a greedy person to stiff their employees. So if you’re working for a money-hungry franchisee owner, working for minimum wage is no party. But not all franchisee owners are dishonest so I’m sure having one near home would be a pretty ideal job if you made enough to cover expenses.
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I had a pretty cool boss and actually left McD to go work for him at another franchise he bought, but I imagine it is not the norm.
I worked several minimum wage jobs in my late teens and early 20’s, and I do miss not having so much responsibility. Getting paid by the hour vs. self-employment is a lot less stressful. I earn significantly more now though, so the stress is worth it.
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Working for yourself all the money is yours and proportional to the effort you put in, but I do feel like I rarely disconnect though.
Some of my favorite jobs were the minimum wage jobs I had when I was in high school. Definitely fun back in the day for the reasons you mentioned, no responsibility/stress…but minimum wage is not gonna cut it nowadays.
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If lifestyle inflation got into the mix, yes it’s hard to get all you want on minimum wage. But you can still fund a simple life with a low income.
I used to work in a bagel store when I was in high school, and I LOVED the minimum wage job for all of the reasons why you enjoyed yours. It really was nice to leave work and truly leave it behind, plus I always got to eat while I was on shift and bring “old” bagels home. And since I was on my feet all day, I rarely had to work out because I was so active while I was on the job.
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That’s right, I forgot the physical activity! Sitting at a desk all day got me all kind of back pains and less energy overall.
I worked at fast food when I was in high school and hated it. I felt like just a machine and it was kind of a grind. I preferred working as a waitress, even the mom and pop diner I worked at. Working min wage wasn’t the typical kind of work stress, but it came with its own set of issues, and people who HAVE to take min wage jobs to support a family are probably very stressed because they aren’t livable wages. I think it’s great for students though, but that’s about it.
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I was able to support myself in Paris, paying rent and tuition on a minimum wage job. For a family, of course it gets more complicated, but living in a low cost of living area, you can make ends meet on a lower income.
The minimum wage in France is 2/3 more than here in the United States (a little more than $12 compared to the recent US upgrade to $7.25). Someone in the states who makes minimum wage and works full time is below our poverty line for one person and most of those jobs are part time; add more people to the household and you see the problem. We also do not have the level of social programs that most other countries do.
You are right, however the cost of living in France is comparable to living in New York or SF. While rents are a bit cheaper outside Paris, they are higher than comparable size cities of the MidWest. Food is more expensive, phone plans, cars, gas… Certainly not an apple to apple comparison but I’d say a minimum wage job buys about as much as in the US, safe for healthcare.
This is so true! When I worked in event operations at a hotel the banquet staff were making near 6 figures with their tips compared to the entry-level managers only making in the high 40s. Like what? That was my first job outside of college and flipped my perspective. It’s all about the title and promise (sometimes empty) of career growth. Why else would someone take a lower paying job? I’m okay with making minimum wage if it’ll give me time to focus on my online business.
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Hmm, you definitely could not support a family here on minimum wage. There’s also a surprising amount of competition for the better minimum wage jobs as we do have a large number of unskilled workers.
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I actually found my min. wage jobs more stressful that my current full-time job. I think most of this is due to the fact that my min wage jobs were all customer service related. Now I work in a cube and just try to do my as quickly as possible so I can go home!
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Sounds like France is the place to be, if I could only speck the language. (or if they would switch to English, that would be OK too).
A minimum wage job would only be OK, if the boos was OK. If they hound you all the time, it would be like WTF? I am only making minimum wage.
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Having a minimum wage job may work in Europe where you have great public transportation and can save all those car expenses. But here in America you would not be able to get by without a car unless you lived in a city. I have never lived anywhere that I could walk to any retail stores. Also, min wage in the US is $7.25 an hour. So about $5-$6/hr after taxes. I doubt it is as low in other countries but someone with kids could not survive on min wage here. As for getting help from the government here…..you may qualify for food stamps and, in some states, Medicaid but the waiting list to get any kind of housing help is 7-15 YEARS long, depending on the state. Worse, the US seems filled with haters” who will insult and scorn you and consider you lazy (eveif you’re caring for kids or elderly relatives) if they hear you are getting any “benefits.”
Minimum wage jobs aren’t bad as ‘starting points’ but I think your goal should be to get promoted as quickly as possible to a higher-paying position within the company. Otherwise it’s unsustainable long-term. I did work a minimum wage job for a year and even after over a dollar in increased wages per hour it still didn’t make a huge difference financially.
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France sounds like a nice place to work minimum wage. Yes the rat race isn’t very pleasant. That’s from the industrial age way of living. Now in the information age, its not so good anymore. Your road now is on how to retire a millionaire living in the fast lane i think. Enjoyed reading your blog, thanks Pauline.
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Part of the population is more into going back to consuming local products and being more self sufficient, for this kind a minimum wage job is more than enough. However you will rarely become a millionaire with a low paying job.
I often fantasize about how nice it would be to “check your brain at the door” and take on a minimum wage job. There’s a lot to be said for the reduced stress that you’d have 🙂
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My favorite minimum wage job was working as a butcher at a grocery store. The perks were wonderful, although it was above minimum wage, it was not far from it. Just knowing when all of the sales were and watching as 50% off stickers were placed on items saved me hundreds in my monthly grocery budget.
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I think it depends where you live. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in my current situation making min wage (which is about $11/hr here). I’ve only had one minimum wage job. I’ve always managed to have pretty good paying jobs (even outside of my career). Sometimes I love the idea of being paid salary (consistency) but other times I love getting paid for every min I’m at work (I’m paid in 15min blocks, rounded up, the average day being 7.5 paid hours).
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