Say goodbye to Twinkies (1 Viewer)

[Saint Sarah]

No, I'm not. You're assuming these striking workers just unwittingly and greedily decided to strike without thinking about their future. Seriously, you're naive if you think these people haven't contemplated this move. You've known about this for about a day now and now you talk as if you have deeply considered how this is going to effect these people over the long term more than the people themselves. The striking workers know better than all of us what predicament Hostess was in. They made the decision to push Hostess to this point. I think its incredibly arrogant of you to think you understand the decision better than the workers that have been mulling over this.

But without even a second glance, you've decided that 92% of their pay is enough to continue. I'm curious as to what number would it have taken for you to think the strikers were justified? 90, 80, 70%? 50% is still better than nothing?

Honestly, you all are making determinations of these people's worth independently of knowing what the market dictates their worth would be given that they worked for a healthy company.

It is clear that you either aren't reading what I'm writing, can't understand what I'm writing or are simply willfully ignoring it. I tip my hat to your devotion to staying on message, but I refuse to participate in a "discussion" with someone where that appears to be their sole focus.

Good day.

 

[V Chip]

Nearly every report not coming from a biased source (i.e., management) says this has almost nothing to do with the unions (at best) and is at worst a blatant attempt by the management to blame the unions without any credibility to back that up, yet we still have people arguing that it was the union's fault.

“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.” -- Bertrand Russell

 

[JPPT1974]

Twinkies will return but under a different name as it would not be the USA without them!

 

[SWJJ]

Well that's what it takes to own and operate a business. In my case I ran the store front about 8 hours a day and then had a service route to clean aquariums. Then at home you gotta do the books. You obviously never ran a small business store front cause 45k a month was pretty busy for a 2000 sq ft place. A 1500 dollar day in a fish store is back to back bagging fish and coral.

I just think the whole thing is malarkey. I don't believe you. I'll assume a 20% margin, which I figure is way low since a good portion of that income sound like its service work you perform yourself, that means your store makes 7500 after inventory cost (again way low based on what you've said this far)

Say lease is probably around 1700.00, plus another 300 for utilities, since you run the store front 8 hours a day you probably only need a part time employee to assist, service work and books being done after hours, I'm sure the owner and a part time associate could run the store, so another $500 or that.

That leaves a net profit for your business ~ 5k a month. Working 80 hours a week (I highly doubt you REALLY work more than that) that means you make ~ $15 dollars an hour. Far better than your "less than minimum wage" claim

Now when it's all said and done you may not feel 5k a month justified the headache of running a business and working 80 hours a week, and that's understandable and everything, but please throttle back on the exaggerations and insisting no one else knows anything about running a business.

 

[BHM]

Serious question here and answers based purely on opinion.

ASSUMING Hostess was a well oiled machine, what do you think would be their monthly profit? What would you think would be a fair monthly salary? What would be a fair CEO monthly salary?

 

[SWJJ]

Serious question here and answers based purely on opinion.

ASSUMING Hostess was a well oiled machine, what do you think would be their monthly profit? What would you think would be a fair monthly salary? What would be a fair CEO monthly salary?

This is impossible to answer. They are a huge corporation privately owned so financials are not available to the public.

 

[dtc]

Well that's what it takes to own and operate a business.

Please, don't tell my wife and kids. I don't want them to think they're going to starve.



Seriously, I started in retail. I've owned/opened/bought and sold about 15 various retail stores since 1992. Not only do I know what it takes to do $45k per month in retail sales out of a little retail store, I know how to do it with 5 or 8 different stores simultaneously. And, I figured out not only how to replicate it across different formats, but how to sell that system and the stores so created to others. Better yet, I found out it was simpler and more lucrative to buy or produce and distribute the products we concentrated on in our stores to other similar places nationwide to the point that we did more business wholesaling the junk we were selling to others than we could ever sell out of our own locations.

Oh, and the real estate.....wow! Real estate was so freaking cheap in Destin, FWB, PCBch and South Walton County back in the mid 90s. Wow, did I miss out on that. Coulda been rich if I'd have spent less on boats and toys and lifestyle and bought a few more pieces of dirt....

And, while I certainly did push 80 hours per week during the first couple of years and did, indeed, make less than minimum wage for perhaps the first year, I have never even considered working that many hours for that little money since. Still, it was fun. Being young and self-employed and lucky enough to be making a little money is a privilege I wish more folks could enjoy. Travel and trade shows and retail stores on the beach can be seriously rewarding on many, many levels.


Bootstraps, bro. Got 'em?

 

[DesertKajun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertKajun

Well that's what it takes to own and operate a business. In my case I ran the store front about 8 hours a day and then had a service route to clean aquariums. Then at home you gotta do the books. You obviously never ran a small business store front cause 45k a month was pretty busy for a 2000 sq ft place. A 1500 dollar day in a fish store is back to back bagging fish and coral.

I just think the whole thing is malarkey. I don't believe you. I'll assume a 20% margin, which I figure is way low since a good portion of that income sound like its service work you perform yourself, that means your store makes 7500 after inventory cost (again way low based on what you've said this far)

Say lease is probably around 1700.00, plus another 300 for utilities, since you run the store front 8 hours a day you probably only need a part time employee to assist, service work and books being done after hours, I'm sure the owner and a part time associate could run the store, so another $500 or that.

That leaves a net profit for your business ~ 5k a month. Working 80 hours a week (I highly doubt you REALLY work more than that) that means you make ~ $15 dollars an hour. Far better than your "less than minimum wage" claim

Now when it's all said and done you may not feel 5k a month justified the headache of running a business and working 80 hours a week, and that's understandable and everything, but please throttle back on the exaggerations and insisting no one else knows anything about running a business.

Posted from Saintsreport.com App for Android

 

[DesertKajun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWJJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertKajun

Well that's what it takes to own and operate a business. In my case I ran the store front about 8 hours a day and then had a service route to clean aquariums. Then at home you gotta do the books. You obviously never ran a small business store front cause 45k a month was pretty busy for a 2000 sq ft place. A 1500 dollar day in a fish store is back to back bagging fish and coral.

I just think the whole thing is malarkey. I don't believe you. I'll assume a 20% margin, which I figure is way low since a good portion of that income sound like its service work you perform yourself, that means your store makes 7500 after inventory cost (again way low based on what you've said this far)

Say lease is probably around 1700.00, plus another 300 for utilities, since you run the store front 8 hours a day you probably only need a part time employee to assist, service work and books being done after hours, I'm sure the owner and a part time associate could run the store, so another $500 or that.

That leaves a net profit for your business ~ 5k a month. Working 80 hours a week (I highly doubt you REALLY work more than that) that means you make ~ $15 dollars an hour. Far better than your "less than minimum wage" claim

Now when it's all said and done you may not feel 5k a month justified the headache of running a business and working 80 hours a week, and that's understandable and everything, but please throttle back on the exaggerations and insisting no one else knows anything about running a business.




Posted from Saintsreport.com App for Android

way off on the numbers 1700 was my electric bill. what planet you on with 300 utilities on a fish store. the markup was 3 times on livestock as an industry average...point is its not impossible anyone can do it with hard work.



Posted from Saintsreport.com App for Android

 

[dtc]

I just think the whole thing is malarkey. I don't believe you. I'll assume a 20% margin, which I figure is way low since a good portion of that income sound like its service work you perform yourself, that means your store makes 7500 after inventory cost (again way low based on what you've said this far)

Say lease is probably around 1700.00, plus another 300 for utilities, since you run the store front 8 hours a day you probably only need a part time employee to assist, service work and books being done after hours, I'm sure the owner and a part time associate could run the store, so another $500 or that.

That leaves a net profit for your business ~ 5k a month. Working 80 hours a week (I highly doubt you REALLY work more than that) that means you make ~ $15 dollars an hour. Far better than your "less than minimum wage" claim

Now when it's all said and done you may not feel 5k a month justified the headache of running a business and working 80 hours a week, and that's understandable and everything, but please throttle back on the exaggerations and insisting no one else knows anything about running a business.

Great post.

If he's not BS'n or inaccurately stating his recollection, his model was all wrong and/or his location was terribly flawed.

I've had stores that have done $45k per month that I didn't walk in for months at a time where we had fantastic and expensive managers and excessive employee hours because that's how I liked it and we sure as heck weren't scraping by on minimum wage or even $15/hr for any 80 hours.

In order to do what he's saying, he was either paying too much for his inventory or charging too little. And, if he really was doing 8 hours of service calls per day 5 days per week and not making at least $800 per week to put in his pocket, then he was wasting his time.

My punch-list and warranty guy makes $850 per week and drives a panel van that costs another $1k per month including fuel. He does little odds and end jobs for various clients and real estate companies we work with and he easily pays his own way to do all my warranty and BS work by billing $75 per service call and $65 per hour. Even when he's only actually billing for 20 or so hours per week he's paying his own way and on the occasions when he's actually busy and bills 35-50 hours per week, I almost feel guilty.

 

[dtc]

way off on the numbers 1700 was my electric bill. what planet you on with 300 utilities on a fish store. the markup was 3 times on livestock as an industry average...point is its not impossible anyone can do it with hard work.



Posted from Saintsreport.com App for Android

So, you're telling us that your markup on fish and stuff was 300% so a fish that cost you $10 you sold for $30 or are you saying you added 300% so it would be $40?

Still, your numbers don't add up, bro. I don't know what SWJJ does, but you're not going to slide bad retail math by me.

You said $45k per month with a 300% markup. That's leaving you a gross margin of $30k per month. Whether your power bill was $300 or $5000 per month it doesn't matter. Even if you were paying $5k per month in rent and $5k per month in power, you still should have been making out like a freak. Heck, even if we assume the $45k per month included your 8 hours per day in service calls and they were half of your business and you made a zero return on it, then you should have been making 22500 - 33% = $15k in gross margin per month. Dropping $5k for rent and utilities you should have been clearing $10k per month and not $8.25 per hour.

Even if half your inventory was DOA, your math still doesn't add up, but it's clear that your choice to get out of the fish business was wise.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Serious question here and answers based purely on opinion.

ASSUMING Hostess was a well oiled machine, what do you think would be their monthly profit? What would you think would be a fair monthly salary? What would be a fair CEO monthly salary?

No such thing as fair, it's all a negotiation.

 

[Madhattr]

Back on topic i bought the last hostess apple fruit pie last night.

 

[krushing]

So, you're telling us that your markup on fish and stuff was 300% so a fish that cost you $10 you sold for $30 or are you saying you added 300% so it would be $40?

Still, your numbers don't add up, bro. I don't know what SWJJ does, but you're not going to slide bad retail math by me.

You said $45k per month with a 300% markup. That's leaving you a gross margin of $30k per month. Whether your power bill was $300 or $5000 per month it doesn't matter. Even if you were paying $5k per month in rent and $5k per month in power, you still should have been making out like a freak. Heck, even if we assume the $45k per month included your 8 hours per day in service calls and they were half of your business and you made a zero return on it, then you should have been making 22500 - 33% = $15k in gross margin per month. Dropping $5k for rent and utilities you should have been clearing $10k per month and not $8.25 per hour.

Even if half your inventory was DOA, your math still doesn't add up, but it's clear that your choice to get out of the fish business was wise.

Ever try to sell fish after a few days on the ol shelf. I'm sure a bunch goes bad.

 

[dtc]

Ever try to sell fish after a few days on the ol shelf. I'm sure a bunch goes bad.

FYI, he said he was in the aquarium business, but that's also why I said this in the post you quoted:

Even if half your inventory was DOA,