Small Business Should Support the $15 Minimum Wage

Why is the first argument against increasing the minimum wage that it will hurt small business? It doesn’t make any sense. The greatest beneficiaries of a higher minimum wage would be small local businesses.

It is well known in business that you cannot cut your way to success. Cutting expenses can never get you to long term sustainability. The only way to create a sustainable business is to increase revenues.

Keeping wages low is simply another form of cutting costs. The greatest competition that small local businesses face is large, national businesses, often online.

Why do people go online instead of buying local? Everyone says they want to buy local. Everyone wants to support their community. Why don’t they?

Because they can’t afford it!

If you are living paycheck to paycheck, the 15% you can save by going online can be the difference between getting groceries next week and not. No matter how much you want to support local business, you are forced to go online or go to a big box discounter just to survive.

Even if you are not scraping your last penny, the sense of scarcity that so many experience leads them to act as if they are.