How can I live on a minimum wage?
Okay, you are supposed to believe that people don’t work for minimum wage unless they are teenagers, but guess what?If the only jobs you can get pay minimum wage that’s what you are stuck with. Those working these types jobs survive (not live) by working multiple jobs, I did this in the 1980s when I worked three jobs at once (40, 20, and 20 hours each). Another way they get by is more than one person in the household working multiple jobs.If they happen to be parents, their children are often alone and likely do not receive appropriate parental guidance or appropriate dental, eye, mental, or health care. They most likely live in an area where the schools aren’t highly rated or highly prioritized.These families will often not have dependable transportation, making it impossible for them to look for work at greater distances (one of my most recent jobs was a contract position that was a 65 mile commute each way), making it impossible for them to have time or transportation to go vote.Their children will grow up seeing their parents struggling, working very hard to get no where, they have no hope of getting prepared for attending college or even community college. But they see a guy down the street driving a Lexus with gold jewelry, etc. selling drugs. I watched a short news broadcast the covered a man who was released from prison after being convicted of selling drugs. He had no violence in his past and was doing his best to not re-offend. When as how much money he earned before he was arrested, he said he averaged about $22,000 per week. Compare that to someone working 80 a week at minimum wage getting $580 per week.In actuality most jobs don’t pay minimum wage, they pay slightly over minimum wage.Conservatives would have you believe that these circumstances do not exist, that these people are actually just lazy and stupid. They would have you believe that paying these people more would destroy the economy. They would have you believe that people choose to live (or rather survive) this way.If you doubt, take a drive through any city in Eastern North Carolina, Rocky Mount, Wilson, Tarboro, Mount Olive, Kinston, Goldsboro, etc.
How much money do I need to open a small restaurant?
Startup cost for a restaurant can be $40k and it can be $1 million. Let's discuss the lower end figure. If you find a location for rent that is already outfitted as a restaurant something like what you intend to operate you can be on the low end. I opened a burrito shop in 1995 for 25k in an ideal situation with a small location that only needed minor changes. The rent was $1200 per month. My dad put in 20k because he liked the idea of me trying something on my own.Here is a rough outline of my costs. 3000 Used walk-in cooler 500 used chargrill500 used refrigerator500 paint and inexpensive flooring1000 pay for friends to help paint etc. 3600 three months rent, first, deposit, and security3500 up front insurance cost (liability insurance)2000 plumbing (minimal)2000 electrical work (minimal)1500 exhaust system / fire suppression update5000 carpentry - counter area construction1500 food1000 furniture500 admin cost for licenses etc. When we opened we were losing money on operations for about a month. So I had to ask a few relatives for small amounts of about $500 each. I "sold" part of the company to them for the money. Later, when I set up a corporation, I made the ownership official. Those investors made out well, later on, when I eventually bought them out. Our restaurant is counter service burritos. The staff when we opened was no more than three people at a time at first.The most we've spent on a new place was 500k about a year ago. We had a designer and architect and built a fancy burrito shop from scratch inside an empty space.
How much salary is sufficient to have a good and easy life in the US?
Good and easy life in USA is possible if you are a high paid salary person or you are representing reputed organisation or any Multinational Company in USA. However so far my knowledge, you will have to pay US taxes even if you are non resident of US. But, one of my relative says (resident of USA) better if you file for tax procedure and pay taxes regularly which will be refunded to you later by your employer. Further you can contact legal adviser to know more about US Tax details.Secondly, you will have to earn a minimum salary of $ 6000/month so as to enable good and comfortable life in USA’s cost affordable cities. If your earning is in between 3000$ to 5000$ you can manage but very difficult to get appartment according to your need. My cousin is residing at Alabama in USA and he is leading very comfortable life and saving too. My suggestion is to start planning with low standard of living and try to join for a part time job, so that you can have your own requirements. House rent starts with 1500 dollars in Alabama and you need to consult your friends or relatives well in advance. Try to avoid agents in the beginning stage. The above value is excluded other formalities like community donations, service charges, other taxes on social activities etc, immigrant fees, legal fess, medical and vaccination fees etc.Good luck to you.
How can a dollar store afford to sell everything for a dollar?
The average dollar store (or euro store in Europe) achieves it pricing advantage by doing several things rather well:First, they have a very limited number of SKU's -- stock keeping units. When you shop at the dollar store, you expect to find random units, not a complete selection of anything. This gives them a very unique merchandise mix.Second, they clearly purchase in huge quantities and with significant discounts. Dollar/euro stores are chains and that allows the broad distribution of the huge lots of products they purchase. Every store in the chain might sell the same three books, purchased as overstocks.Third, their strength is in those items that are typically priced at around a dollar even among competitors. They do not sell anything that would be considered a specialized product Whole aisles of candy, for instance, deliver margins. There are whole aisles of inexpensive glassware.Fourth, the employees at the dollar/euro store are paid at or near a minimum wage and are not unionized. I remember overhearing two employees talking about the several penny increase that they receive on a first anniversary of employment.I visit a dollar store about twice in any calendar year and purchase products from a very narrow range: sun screen, movie candy, aspirin.