b
as
ict
ra
i
n
i
n
g
HEARTLAND
ENGINEERED PRODUCTS
is your #1 source for Platforms,
Mezzanines and Protection products.
Products manufactured
to exceed your specifications
with quality and durability.
800.333.0080
heartlandengineeredproducts.com
PLATFORMS
PROTECTION
MEZZANINES
84036 Heartland_DCVelocity 4.5x75.indd 1 12/19/16 6: 14 AM
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN REGULAR MEALS BECOME
AN IMPERATIVE
Experiments, case studies, process flow analyses, and
high concepts aside, any distribution center must develop high-performance processes and cost-competitive
results. Time to put your big boy pants on and make
your way in the world. No matter what research might
suggest, when one job pays $15/hour and another pays
whatever you can get, you will take the sure thing of $15.
The new “entry-level wage” will become the standard—table stakes for any enterprise to get into the
game. No rational employer will provide managerial
attention to variations in pay and cost based on abstract
research.
So, forklift driver A will enjoy a given uniform pay
rate, forklift driver B will have another, a packer/ship-per yet another, with shift differentials for each. Within
those, there will be pay and tenure grades to permit
interim wage rates based on performance.
Come seasonal peaks of hiring, and raw competition
will force hiring at a rate greater than the new “
minimum.” At that point, the “minimum” becomes immaterial, and the task differential becomes impossible to
manage.
THE NET BOTTOM LINE
It’s simple. Irrespective of the academic explorations
involved, the cost of our lowest-compensated, low-est-demand jobs will rise. Period. You’ve, no doubt,
heard of supply and demand. Those concepts work in
all phases of life.
Labor costs in distribution centers will resist control—or reduction. Pullin’ Cokes at Mickey D’s will
command the same $15 an hour as puttin’ pickles on a
White Castle. Those will begin to make jobs as Walmart
associates look like attractive career alternatives.
Traditionally low-wage options across industries will
no longer be such bargains for enterprises. I think we
can figure out what that means—for enterprises, for
consumers, for margins.
Let me know how all that works out for you. Seems to
me that today’s $8-per-hour person will have to become
something much more than that in order to afford to
scarf down a few singles and fries.
Art van Bodegraven is, among other roles, chief design officer for the DES
Leadership Academy; he can be reached at (614) 893-9414 or avan@colum-bus.rr.com. His website is www.artvanbodegraven.com.
