Milano to close Mondays
Two things bug me about this CTV piece on Milano closing Mondays because of a labour shortage. One is trivial: the store is not called Milano’s.
The other is the implication that CERB caused people to shirk work. CERB allowed people to remove themselves from sites of possible contagion at the worst of the pandemic. Given the option to protect themselves by locking down, many people took it, and the trend to blame them for not being good little worker bees (which we’ve even seen here in comments on the blog) while putting their health on the line for low-paid jobs is one that I despise, since it usually comes from people who were able to comfortably isolate at home while complaining about other people not putting themselves at risk.
Milano management clearly knows they make the lowest sales on the day after the weekend, so let them close on Mondays. Their customers will adapt.
walkerp 09:41 on 2021-07-29 Permalink
Completely agree with you. That line of argument is classic corporate welfare hypocrisy. If businesses paid and protected their employees better, which is how it is supposed to work in the fantasy world of free market, then the employees would come to work.
But even that argument is not relevant as the uncertainty and small amount of the CERB is not enough to stop people from working. Most people want to work, just not at a shit job.
EmilyG 10:02 on 2021-07-29 Permalink
Yeah, I was starting to listen to a story on the radio about Milano closing, and I got disgusted and turned the radio off after I started hearing the CERB being blamed.
JaneyB 11:04 on 2021-07-29 Permalink
If 2K (taxable) a month is more alluring than the pay for a job, something needs to change. People will work if the pay and conditions are decent/safe and if it looks like they can move up in some way and make more money. Dead-end work where people are constantly reminded that they’re disposable will get the loyalty it deserves. No surprise.
Daniel 12:28 on 2021-07-29 Permalink
“For the first time in its history” (in the hed) seems a bit histrionic. Sometimes places adjust their hours. I have to assume they ran the numbers and concluded it wasn’t worth paying people $50/hour to work the cash.
At any rate, I’m betting Monday sales represented far less than 1/7th of their weekly receipts.
Meezly 12:58 on 2021-07-29 Permalink
There was a big call during the pandemic from various factions for a Just Recovery Plan, aka Just Transition, Resilient Recovery, Green Recovery, etc. because the pandemic revealed so many critical flaws in our economic infrastructures. The pandemic was a great opportunity for so many countries for a do-over and revamp, but what the hell happened to that? It all seems so half-assed. Maybe other countries like New Zealand or Iceland have had a better go of it. I know that some MPs have been trying to push Trudeau for a better just recovery plan.
Chris 23:44 on 2021-07-29 Permalink
>…concluded it wasn’t worth paying people $50/hour to work the cash.
They’ll earn 0$ an hour when all the cashes are converted to self-checkout machines.
Ephraim 05:01 on 2021-07-30 Permalink
@Chris – Contrary to popular belief, self-checkout isn’t about replacing people, it’s about scarce resources and an unloved job. In fact, it’s almost an abusive job, as we require them to stand all day, when in most Scandinavian countries, they are seated. But basically, supermarkets, just like fast food, have trouble hiring enough people to fill these jobs. As they automate, they move people into customer service.
Long term, even the self-checkout should disappear as we move to RFID tags and RFID checkout as costs go down. Basically no UPC, you just put everything down and it reads the tags.
Even longer term, we may eventually be able to shop, pack and walk out with it and just pay at the door as we leave. No scanning at all. (And they are going to have to get a lot more ingenious to shoplift, especially expensive items, which might use active RFID, so even putting it into something to shield it, could trigger alarms.)
Azrhey 12:55 on 2021-07-30 Permalink
I’m with Ephraim! People who are against self checkouts ( barring accessibility exceptions, older people, etc. ) sound to me like they would have refused to get electricity installed 150 years ago to save candle-makers jobs!
Some jobs are are going the way of the dodo, and I am ok with that.
I mean farriers still exist, but they are a niche thing, instead of having one on every corner.
also that is why i am rabid proponent of UBI.
But that is another can of worms we will burn when we get to it 😉