#SupplyChain #inflation #IncreasingCosts #businesses
A burger chain is taking on increased costs caused by supply-chain problems.
But it realizes that people will only pay so much, so increasing prices too much will hurt more.
In an interview with Alexandra Canal for Yahoo Finance. Smashburger President Carl Bachmann said he is trying to manage his costs with great precision. The article was published Feb. 21, 2022.
“You have to take some small price increases, but we were very strategic about that,” Bachmann told Canal. “The key thing here is … managing your freight costs,” he said. “… all those little pieces of the puzzle behind the scenes to counteract the commodities as they continue to rise.”
Bachmann has utilized redundant vendors and global partners to ease supply-chain issues, which has helped curb price pressure, the article says.
Bachmann’s efforts may be easier said than done for some businesses. Because of a worker shortage, labor costs, as well as material costs, have risen. In fact, many of the increases in material costs can be attributed to labor shortages.
If there are not enough folks to load and unload ships at ports, and drive the containers to wherever they need to go, that will increase costs.
In a Feb. 25, 2022, article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, business reporter Michael E. Kanell reports that the backlog at the Port of Savannah appears to be easing. There are no more ships queued up in the harbor waiting to be unloaded, he writes. That port, the second-largest on the East Coast, is continuing to expand, which is also helping it move more goods, the article says.
All of these problems were largely activated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers who were shut out of jobs for a good while are giving second thoughts to going back to them.
If there are fewer people producing or moving goods, prices will rise.
The news from the Georgia ports gives one a degree of hope that the end may be near.
But, the Russian invasion of Ukraine could put a damper on that hopefulness.
The pandemic may not have brought the world entirely to its knees, but it came very close.
Now, as the disease eases, record numbers of people are going back to work – many under better conditions than they had before.
That has to be considered great news, even though we are all paying more for that to happen.
But, as Bachmann points out in the Yahoo article, you have to manage EVERYTHING. You have to decide whether buying this or that is worth the cost. You have to decide whether taking this job, or that job, will leave you better off than you were.
A lesson here is to learn to make good decisions as early in life as you can. That means that no matter how much you earn at any given time, some of it should be saved for later in life. As your savings grow, they should be invested wisely, with the help of an adviser you trust.
As discussed previously here, you can bring your own coffee to work, as opposed to buying it by the cup. You can bring your own lunch to work, instead of buying it etc.
The little things, as Bachmann says, can make all the difference. To add to that, you can save on little things without always depriving yourself of life’s pleasures. Those pleasures can make life worth living.
Peter
Tag Archives: Michael E. Kanell
HAPPY LABOR DAY!
#coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #LaborDay #EssentialWorkers
“The metro (Atlanta) area alone has about 300,000 workers in retail and sales jobs, 250,000 people doing food-related work, 16,000 police officers and 8,000 emergency medical technicians and dispatchers,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And, we take them for granted.
That was the main point in the Labor Day article by Michael E. Kanell, business and economics reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It was published Sept. 7, 2020.
“They have no choice. If your employer says, ‘Go back to work,’ you have to do it,” the article quotes Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, who has studied the labor market.
During the beginning of the pandemic, some of these workers were getting hazard pay. Much of that has ended, the article says.
Basically, these necessary workers who have to be out there regardless of the susceptibility to disease are overworked, underpaid and undervalued, the article points out. We might put school bus drivers in that category as well. They have lots of responsibility, but generally get paid very little.
Yes, as Kanell writes, Labor Day is a celebration of blue-collar labor. But as necessary as these folks are, many of the higher-paid white-collar workers got to work from home, protected from the pandemic.
And, these lower-paid, necessary workers also enjoy fewer benefits and protections in many places, Kanell writes.
“Each and every day going into work, you feel at risk,” Kanell quotes longtime supermarket worker Mary, who didn’t want to give her full name out of fear of retribution. “They make the schedule. And if you are on the schedule, you work,” the article quotes her.
Many of us can relate to hard work. Many of us can relate to having to go to work regardless of weather, job hazards etc. The pandemic adds a colossal risk to the workplace.
You could not only catch it yourself, but also spread it to anyone who lives with you or near you. Though you may not get noticeably sick, someone close to you, particularly if they have other underlying health problems, could catch the virus from you and get terribly ill – or die.
The pandemic gives new meaning to at-risk employee.
Still, many of those employees love their jobs. They want to help people, regardless of the conditions.
And, some employers, who may want to pay them more, simply cannot afford to. The traditional job market can be very unfair. Still, many of us have to work – period.
But what if there were something out there you could do that wouldn’t have to put you at risk, and paid you potentially a lot more than a risky job would? What if you didn’t need any significant education, experience or background to do it? What if you could do it around your current job, until it came time that you didn’t need your current job?
There are many such programs out there. To learn about one of the best, message me.
We are thankful that our essential workers are doing what they are doing for us, regardless of what may – or may not — be in it for them. All we can do is thank them, be nice to them – regardless of the encounter – and respect them.
They help us get the necessities of life, and some of them do not have the pandemic protections they should have. Many, like meat packers, HAVE to work shoulder-to-shoulder, and are at great risk of spreading disease.
Our lives depend on their labor. Happy Labor Day.
Peter
IT’S LABOR DAY, AND THE JOB MARKET IS GREAT, BUT …
#LaborDay #jobs #employment #QuittingYourJob #economy
Young professionals are quitting their jobs before they find new ones.
And they are finding new ones quickly.
So reports Michael E. Kanell, business and economics reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His article appeared on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 2019.
Kanell uses the example of Lindsey Roushdi, who had a job as an accountant for a solar company. The industry was seeing a bit of upheaval, so Lindsey decided to move on, Kanell writes.
After talking to a recruiter, within a few hours, she secured a list of 45 job openings that suited her qualifications, according to the article. She got a job almost immediately at a studio.
Kanell quotes a number of young folks who seem to have their pick of jobs. They probably would have never thought about quitting a job without having another one to go to a decade ago.
That’s a good thing.
However, there are many stories out there of those who aren’t thriving. Since the job market is better than 10 years ago, they may have found work. But the new work doesn’t pay close to what they received from the job they lost.
Some of them are even cobbling together multiple jobs to survive.
So, if the economy is so good, why isn’t everyone thriving? Automation, technology and efficiencies have robbed the economy of many good-paying jobs, particularly for those who don’t have college degrees.
A second reason: Many with college degrees are graduating with so much debt, In fact, according to a recent “60 Minutes” piece, New York University Medical School has gone tuition-free, thanks to the generosity of many benefactors.
Many doctors come out of school with six-figure debt. And, if they go into a practice like internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics – the so-called primary care group – they may not make enough money to live a good life AND pay off their debt. Though you may find it difficult to have sympathy for doctors’ finances, the primary care folks aren’t living the lucrative life you may think.
Yes, economic numbers are good. Unemployment is low. But the quality of life for many has still deteriorated. Those lives will deteriorate further if the economy tanks, which experts say it will eventually.
What to do? First, if you have a job you like, don’t presume it will be there forever. Reorganizations, bad managers, efficiencies etc. can kill perfectly good careers.
If you don’t have a job you like, or that pays you enough to live a decent life, there is hope. The only requirement is for you to be ambitious, coachable and have a need or desire to change your situation.
There are many programs out there that can allow you to make a good income by investing a few, part-time, non-work hours a week to make it happen, without it seeming like a “second job.”
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Meanwhile, don’t get too cocky at work. If you don’t like your job, find a different one. According to Kanell and other experts, there are more available jobs than officially unemployed people. Hopefully, you can find one to your liking.
Meanwhile, do so BEFORE you quit your current job. You may not be as lucky as the young folks in Kanell’s article.
It’s certainly great to dream, and most dreams are achievable with the right attitude, effort and willingness to look at things that may be outside your comfort zone.
So look and listen. You never know when that great life-changing thing comes your way.
Peter
INCOME INEQUALITY IN BOOMING ECONOMY
IncomeInequality #jobs #recession #incomes
Despite strong job growth, Metro Atlanta incomes have faltered since 2007.
So writes Michael E. Kanell, business and economics reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His article on the matter appeared March 25, 2019.
“At the same time, racial inequality remained stubbornly high, even as the economy rebounded from the Great Recession,” Kanell writes.
The Atlanta region ranks 33rd in the country in economic growth, and 57th for inclusion by race, the article states.
Though Kanell covers the Atlanta area, the same thing likely can be applied elsewhere.
As a person, economically and otherwise, are you better off than you were 11 years ago? Have you been able to hold on to that good job you had back then? Has your employer downsized, leaving you out to find other work? Does the other work you may – or may not – have found pay as well as the previous job? Have you been forced to retire long before you wanted to ? Do you have enough saved for retirement to make it at all comfortable?
These and any number of questions can be posed today after a decade recovering from the Great Recession.
Some folks may have lucked out and found better economic circumstances. But many have not. Yes, the economy is growing. But if your individual economy has not grown, in fact has shrunk, you are not alone.
So, if you are in that situation, what can you do?
Fortunately, there are solutions out there, other than trying to juggle multiple, low-paying and time-consuming jobs. There are vehicles out there that potentially can enable you not only to recover economically, but prosper – perhaps as you never have before. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
You can sit around, fret and complain about your situation, or you can do something about it. Don’t expect some serendipitous event to come along to pull you out of your economic funk. Don’t expect a winning lottery ticket to solve your problem.
But you could be open to doing something you perhaps thought you would never do. It may take you out of your comfort zone, but if you’ve had to downsize your economic outlook, that can’t be really comfortable.
Kanell’s article says economically the best-performing regions, according to the Brookings Institution, are: Austin, Texas; San Antonio; San Jose, Calif.; and Dallas.
If you don’t live in one of those areas, or even if you do, you may not have benefitted individually from the nationwide economic growth.
Don’t look at the well-to-do with envy. Look at them as inspiration. You potentially could be among them if you are willing to look at programs that, starting with a part-time effort by you, could yield a pot of gold for you over time.
Times were tough a decade ago. Companies are still downsizing. Manufacturing plants are closing, or becoming more automated.
You can worry about it, or do something about it. It’s your choice.
Peter