Will We Ever Push Back? - And Response (2)

  • Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Maybe it is just my faulty memory, but it seems there was a time the consumer would get fed up with being taken advantage of by businesses exorbitantly raising prices by not participating. Evidently not the case anymore.

The fast food industry has already priced me out with the increases after the minimum wage debacle of paying teenagers with no experience $10 an hour. So now a burger meal that was $6-$7 is $9-$10 and not the quality of preparation or presentation that it was before.

"Hey less for more, sign me up."

Now they want to charge more when they are busy, making more money by virtue of that alone, through "surge" pricing to further fleece the sheep of America. It is unbelievable how much more we have to pay for everything in very short order without justification and we just keep paying they keep raising.

Is this progress?

Sam Lewallen

* * *

Sam, you ask for solidarity for your fast-food boycott but in the same paragraph you complain about the workers in these establishments getting too high of wages.

t doesn't inspire anyone to join your cause.

Byron Spencer

* * *

Sam obviously doesn't live in a real world, where many teen work to help balance the family budget. To help pay utility bills, put food on the table. His must be a world of perfection, where everything simply falls into place. He also seems to not understand, there are more than just teens who work at fast food restaurants. Many adults hold jobs at fast foods too, that maybe their primary job or a second jobs they work to help make ends meet. 

Not all teens work to be able to buy the latest fads. Many actually work out of necessity as my siblings and I did growing up. At the age of 12 or 13, my oldest brother began working for a Mr. Luvene (not sure if I spelled his name right), who ran a store on south Broad Street, where there's now a lot with a coffee shop. I was only perhaps three or four at the time, but I can still remember it. His meager earnings helped with lots of household expenses, even helping with his younger siblings. That brother would go on to enlist in the Army at the age of 17, serve two tours of duty in Vietnam, and make a career serving in both the military and later for the US government, DOD where he retired from both. He died in Texas in 2015 at the age of 71. 

So, Sammy, don't knock or misjudge the power of our young folks as being irresponsible and only working to buy the latest whatever is popular. For the most part they're resilient, strong, responsible, brilliant and when called to the task they're phenomenally  outstanding. Much more so than many adults I've crossed paths with. 

Brenda Washington

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