Subway ends most $5 footlongs in San Francisco to protest minimum wage

[Newsjock]

Source: SF Weekly

It seems you can have the nation's highest minimum wage and a $5 footlong -- but you can't have them both.

San Francisco Subway patrons hoping to gorge themselves on too much of a mediocre sandwich are being greeted by signs like the one above noting that "due to higher cost of doing business in San Francisco" obtaining a $5 footlong will require a trip over a bridge, through a tunnel, or onto the Peninsula.

Unless you like tuna -- that's the $5 footlong of the month, and that's all you can get in this city for five measly dollars.

Calls to Subway's corporate headquarters have not yet been returned. But half a dozen San Francisco Subway workers said this recent move was explained to them as a reaction to San Francisco's minimum wage ordinance. Per the will of the voters, minimum wage is calculated each year based on the "August-to-August change in the Consumer Price Index." On Jan. 1 of this year, it jumped from $9.92 to $10.24, apparently pushing Subway execs to revoke our county's cheap sandwich privileges. As the minimum wage rises higher, perhaps Subway will be forced to scrap Jared Fogle for parts.

Read more: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/03/subway_5_footlong_san_francisc.php

[Ian David]

1. Aww, fuck. I had Subway's for breakfast this morning. If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone.

And Subway's was on my list of "Blue" companies that donates to Democrats.

[Duer 157099]

2. I'd rather they have higher wages and higher prices

When business drops off, maybe they'll considering increasing their quality.

[EOTE]

5. That's my feeling on this.

We can't pretend as if having a higher minimum wage doesn't effect businesses.

A higher wage along with higher prices seems reasonable to me. There's a reason that stuff from China is so cheap. People tend to pay the increased price for domestic goods because of the increased quality and knowing that their dollars are staying in their own country.

[Broderick]

17. It affects it

You don't get rich owning a subway.

[arcane1]

3. Subway sucks anyway

They are without a doubt the stingiest restaurant I know of.

[dana_b]

46. thank you

that's how I feel too. I love veggies so I'm fine with that but my friends who like the deli meat get a few thin slices and can barely taste it.

[arcane1]

51. Try asking for "extra black pepper"

You can count the flakes!

[donheld]

53. 100% true. They are extremely stingy.

On a six inch most will give you 3 slices of jalapenos, 3 slices of banana peppers etc. Even with napkins.

[msongs]

4. maybe they should give all their food away for free....until they go belly up, right? nt

[LanternWaste]

10. I imagine that perceiving merely one extreme or another

I imagine that perceiving merely one extreme or another, and either dismissing or denying the existence of the vast degrees of difference in between is one very dramatic example of an intractable dogma.

[sudopod]

16. Indubitibly! nt

[geardaddy]

23. Zing!

[JonLP24]

19. They can do whatever they want - as far as pricing goes

as do consumers if they decide they would rather not spend that much for sandwich.

[sabrina 1]

44. They could have raised the price by a $1 and explain to their customers that they wanted to pay

their employees a fair wage and this is the only way to do it. People would respect that, now they've made themselves look like they don't care about their workers.

Edited to say, maybe they are raising the price. And that would fine, but the way the article reads it sounded like they were not going to make it anymore.

[phantom power]

6. Arguably, people ought to got to subway to support that.

The whole race-to-the-bottom trend of low prices supported by unsustainable wages has been a bad thing for America. Support real minimum wages, and prices that support those!

[Snake Alchemist]

7. higher prices for higher wages sounds like the way it should be? nt

[mmonk]

8. How many $5 sandwiches can they make in an hour?

[NoGOPZone]

9. Price is the only advantage they have.

If they want to get away from that, be my guest.

[Blue_Tires]

37. Exactly what I was about to say

It should only take a few days for the regional managers to get the point

[Luminous Animal]

11. The comments to that article are cracking me up.

I love living in a city that can engender so much vitriol over a decent minimum wage.

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. I'll just stopp eating there.

That was easy. I'll pay more for a better sandwich at a place that is not a chain. Like Salerno's in Burbank. I can brown bag it more other days.

[leftyohiolib]

13. ya know that deal kinda ended in cleveland sometime ago

it was quietly switch from ALL foot longs to the featured sandwich of the month. then again i dont goto subway that much but the last time i did i noticed a sign in the store that said that only the featured sub was $5. so maybe they were going to do that anyway but decided to be an ass about it

[qb]

14. Have these crybabies never heard of the internet?

I support a LIVING minimum wage, and Subway is now on my shit list.

[Broderick]

25. See that's great.

They are paying higher wages, and other franchises in other parts of the country are paying almost half the wages and people still expect them to sell at what they do in those other cities. You don't get rich with a subway franchise and many times it is family owned and operated.

[NuttyFluffers]

56. then dump the franchise and be a better sub/deli with actual flavor.

the world needs another subway chain like it needs more cigarette butts littering the sidewalk -- or cheap pizza chain with 'stuff' that tastes like cardboard w/ tomato paste. how about something tasty for a change? i know i and others would pay for that.

[Broderick]

60. 90 percent

of restaurant startups fail in the first year or two. Your best bet to survive is through a franchise.


So many people try and so many lose everything when they fail.


That is what I find despicable about people that think owning a business is so easy. And if it was, why doesn't everyone have one. Gee, just open up another one and "I will eat there". Sickening how clueless people can be.

[LynneSin]

15. I'd rather get my sandwiches at a local shop anyways

I've think I've eaten at Subway once in my lifetime.

[customerserviceguy]

39. In many areas of the country

It's one of the best choices around for a decent sandwich. Thank goodness I moved to a place where plenty of places know how to make a real sandwich.

[sudopod]

18. It wouldn't have been a big deal if they had just said "It's the cost of doing business."

But making a political stand against having to pay a decent wage? They can go eat a bag of dicks.

[geardaddy]

22. Bingo.

see my post below.

[alp227]

50. actually the sign said just that.

[Aerows]

20. I wouldn't shop at that Subway franchise

That's clearly the owners whining about having to pay people. Let 'em go out of business and whine at some right winger site about how they got robbed of their business (when they put themselves out of business for not having a sustainable business that could employ people at proper wages).

If you can't do business within the law, the law isn't the problem - you are either just a horrible business person, in the wrong business, or both.

Free market.

[geardaddy]

21. I think it's idiotic for them to make such a defensive statement.

If it came from the top, whoever came up with the signs idea should be fired. Why not say something like: "In order to provide our workers with a living minimum wage, we feel it necessary to stop the $5 footlong special."

[BoWanZi]

24. I think because Subway doesn't support a "living wage" and doesn't want to put a positive spin on it

Your sign would imply that Subway supports a living wage and I strongly doubt the corporation as a whole supports that.

I really don't see the big deal myself. Of course stuff will get more expensive as minimum wage gets higher, its just logic. Eventually over time, the 10 dollars an hour will be equal to when I made 3.37 an hour back in the mid '80s. Everything will go up in price and the living wage will no longer be a living wage but poverty level.

[Aerows]

26. If only a handful of people have a living wage

Everyone else IS in poverty. Wake up and smell the coffee...that state already exists for many Americans - poverty.

[Snake Alchemist]

27. I am OUTRAGED that I can't get a 4$ martini in Manhattan! nt

[geardaddy]

29. You miss the point.

It's not about the cost of the sandwiches. It's about the douchebag management telling people they should go get a sandwich where workers aren't paid as well.

[Snake Alchemist]

32. I agree that the PR here is ridiculous, but there is a segment of people who seems

to think that you can get Chinese import prices while paying a living wage.

[geardaddy]

36. I agree with you there.

[provis99]

40. the price of the sandwich has little to do with labor costs.

[Enrique]

28. they're such babies about it

just raise the prices if you have to, don't pout about it.

[geardaddy]

30. Bingo.

[The Straight Story]

31. I remember when meatball subs were 4/4.50 and then the '$5 deal' came along

You got to pay more for it but felt like you were getting a bargin. Club subs were 4.75 iirc.

Reminds me of the old comic books where they raised the price to 35 cents and had a big balloon proclaiming "Still only 35 cents!" when last month it was 30 cents...

[Nye Bevan]

33. So Subway workers earn more in SF than elsewhere,

so the sandwiches are more expensive in SF than elsewhere. Seems reasonable to me; I don't really understand the vitriol against Subway in this thread.

Rather than boycotting Subway, when you buy a $5 footlong elsewhere in the country, throw a dollar into the ubiquitous tip jar. That will help equalize things and directly benefit the workers.

[Luminous Animal]

58. Indeed, If you don't live in San Francisco, then you should subsist on the kind pennies of strangers

[Nye Bevan]

63. Well, practically speaking, I don't have the power to get Subway to increase the workers' wages.

But I do have the power to put money in the tip jar.

[mulsh]

34. Hold on, there's a Subway store in SF? Turns out there's 10 stores

When I worked over there I never thought of going to a Subway. I'm still over there a couple of times a week and never think about going to any chain "restaurant". There are way too many locally owned and operated places in the bay area. Less expensive and usually way better food.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

35. I love how capitalism pits worker against worker. Warning: liberalism ahead.

Thing of beauty, isn't it? We'll let the prols. hate one another and go after one another so that we can make a buck. So for the person who counts on a $5 sandwich, well, his labor value has just been decreased because his fellow worker has gotten more money for his labor value. All along, the surplus labor value on both individuals continues to increase because the labor needed to make bread, shitty meat, etc. has gone down and has been machinized. Some day, once we run out of third world cheap labor, there will be a revolution and we'll stop eating the shit they serve us.

The idea that they "lose" money by keeping the sandwich at $5 is ridiculous. They lose surplus labor, and that's it, which the corporation claims ownership of, and therefore claims a "loss," because they could make more with their commodity (labor).

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

43. Capitalism, yes,

and slavery which drove the machine. Guess we should accept that too? How about when Natives are on our land? We just removed them. I guess I should pull my head out of my 18-year-old ass and accept that. Hey wait, how about, wait, how about we not let women vote on any of these issues?

I get your overall point, but it's really a silly way to frame your argument--you know, appealing to the country's founding and all. Yes, it was capitalist, brutally so. You should probably revise.

One thing college has taught me: arguments consist of more than making assertions and insulting one's interlocutor. So, yeah, i guess I should grow up.

[alp227]

49. Funny thing is, the constitution doesn't even mention capitalism,

yet somehow "capitalism" finds the way in the brains of those who insist on original intent.

[JonLP24]

38. This doesn't seem like a typical price hike

Often times a company will claim they have rising costs somewhere and therefore need to raise the price to cover that. It is spin w/ truth to it. They want to keep as many consumers as they already have that would be impacted by the hike so they say that. They won't say, "We're raising the price because we can." The best way to deal with a rising cost is to go with the route that makes the most money, raising the price and losing a lot of customers can result in less revenue instead of just selling things at the same price. Typically prices are raised when the demand increases so they can make more money with the price hike.

This seems completely different as I doubt there is an unusual increase in demand for those sandwiches if it isn't being raised nationally. I actually believe they're being truthful with this statement as relayed to the workers, the "higher cost of doing business" is for the customers. If this is coming from national headquarters I don't doubt they have economics who could foresee the impact such as losing so many customers the difference becomes a loss. I'm still thinking about this but it is important to point out raising the price isn't always the best decision with rising costs, especially with a fixed cost like an employee's wage.

[NoGOPZone]

42. must not want the workers to afford the sandwiches nt

[Honeycombe8]

45. Well, it's their business. If it's not profitable to sell the footlongers, they won't. If it is,

they will. It's their decision. No one needs to eat a footlonger, anyway. Even if it's a healthy sammich.

[cyglet]

47. I like

Jimmy John's better anyway.

[salin]

48. nice way to create anomisity between the front line face of the company

as in the folks creating the sandwich, and customers. Dumb move.

[FarCenter]

52. SUBWAY® Adds 21,000 Jobs in 2011 and Expects to Add 25,000 in 2012

http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/about_us/PressRelease_Docs/SUBWAY®%20Adds%2021,000%20Jobs%20in%202011%20and%20Expects%20to%20Add%2025,000%20in%202012.pdf

44 of 36,501 stores are in San Francisco.

[Luminous Animal]

57. Oh no! The page you were looking for is no longer here...

[Justice wanted]

54. What do you expect from a company that a few years back Promoted Protest SUPPORTING the WARS

What jerks. Hubby and I are boycotting.

[NuttyFluffers]

55. then fuck you subway and your shitty subs

never really liked their food. reeked of mediocre pablum. only thing they had going was a cheap sub, and hell, supermarkets have those after 6~7pm.

[steve2470]

59. Here's an idea for Subway: increase other prices

I understand they have the right to a profit. So, declare the $5 deal the "loss leader" and quietly increase the other prices to compensate. Yea, the increased prices on everything else sucks, but at least it's not bad PR and they make people happy with the loss leader.

Whoever authorized this sign: a) was making a point about the SF minimum wage; b) is all about earnings per share; c) clueless about public perceptions; d) has never heard of the "loss leader" concept; or e) perhaps all of the above.

A truly dumb move.

eta: Definition of Loss Leader Strategy

[Quantess]

61. Support your local taqueria instead.

You can stand in line for mexican food for that same $5 in SF county

[YellowRubberDuckie]

62. Oh well.

Jimmy John's is better anyway. Plus, they deliver.

[Snake Alchemist]

64. A simple test: How many other places can you get 5$ footlongs in San Fran?

If you find one or a dozen others, go there.

[SOS]

65. They could pay 2 footlongs an hour

Since the sandwiches have almost nothing in them, their labor costs would drop to Chinese levels.