Papa John's: Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Better not get sick. Back in August, Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter (a huge supporter of and contributor to Mitt Romney’s campaign) told shareholders that his “business model and unit economics are about as ideal as you can get for a food company to absorb Obamacare.”
Now, after the election, he says Obamacare (once known as Romneycare) is going to cost his company $5-$8 million a year and that he is going to have to raise prices by 11-14 cents per pie, lay off some workers and cut back on worker hours so he doesn’t have to pay them healthcare. (Caleb Melby of Forbes says he ran the numbers and claims an increase of only 3.4 to 4.6 cents per pie would cover the costs of Obamacare.)
In the meantime, other Pizza restaurants – much smaller businesses all over the nation (such as Ian's Pizza in Wisconsin) are doing just fine while happily taking care of their employees and ensuring they have healthcare.
Schnatter (who has a net worth of $600 million and goes home every night to a 40,000 square foot mansion that has several swimming pools, a private golf course and a 22-car garage) is using many of the same doomsday lies about Obamacare that CEO’s used when complaining about the implementation of child labor laws, allowing blacks and women in the workforce, creating 8-hour workdays and the creation of Social Security. (Check out: "Eight Insane Arguments Business Owners Used to Oppose Basic Human rights, Social Safety Net")
And now people opposed to Obamacare, led by a conservative group called Rebooting America, are organizing a “Papa John’s Appreciation Day” to support poor Mr. Schnatter's nonsensical decisions to deal with Obamacare by laying off employees and cutting employees hours so he doesn't have to pay healthcare, raising prices higher than he needs to to cover the healthcare he doesn't plan on paying, giving away two million free pizzas and helping ensure Schnatter can hang onto his 40,000 square foot mansion with several swimming pools, a private golf course and a 22-car garage even though last August he told his shareholders his business was in an ideal place for absorbing the costs of Obamacare?
I have a hunch most of the folks supporting Papa John's don't make much money and likely don't have healthcare.
Are most conservative Americans insane?
I think I’m going to head to Rotten City Pizza in Emeryville, near Berkeley – It’s some of the best pizza I’ve ever had at a reasonable price and they take good care of their employees. And yes, I asked: They do provide health care!
God Bless America!
Well said David! I do feel there is additional consideration that should be given to the process we now use, namely requiring our corporations/business to offer (and in most cases administrate), health care. It seems an odd requirement to me. I operated a successful small business for many years. Every year, sometimes twice per year, I had the daunting task of acquiring insurance coverage for my employees and myself. This was time consuming and often resulted in changes that were not received well by the employees or myself. My time should have been spent negotiating with suppliers, analyzing production lines, optimizing hours of operation, in general, doing what business owners should be doing. Instead, I was negotiating health care, a service I had no expertise in. I was very vulnerable to making an error that could have cost my employees and myself the loss of job, the business, everything. An error could have tipped the balance of our competitiveness in favor of our competition.
ReplyDeleteIn my early years, while I was merely a one-man operation, it was clear that as long as the playing field remained level, and I was willing to put in the hours, I could compete. A new tax would influence the competition the same as me. A new regulation influenced us all equally. The playing field remained level. Business continued relatively unchanged. Then as the business grew and I began acquiring more employees, health care started to become an issue, causing ripples in the playing field. Unsustainable costs began influencing my attitude regarding my employees. The subject became an unsavory, even detestable, area of discussion. I considered moving to Canada where health care was a non-issue. I cut all non-essential costs, free coffee, soda, and popcorn. I downgraded our Internet connections. I increased the amount employees were required to pay. That created hardships and resentments. Theft increased and loyalty decreased. Turnover was devastating me, mentally, physically, and financially.
Finally my partner suggested I have a meeting with all employees to talk out the problem. The first meetings were little more than shout sessions and were not attended well. I instituted a pay scale for meeting participation and issued a plea for attendance. Within three months they [my employees] had a sustainable plan in place and we were able to get back to business. It was temporary, but we proved it could be done.
This experience galvanized in my mind just how important ‘Medicare for all’ is to the success of the businesses operating in the US. Somehow, if we are to survive, business must be removed form Health Care. Business involvement in Health Care is ludicrous to say the least.
I’ll get off my soapbox.
Be well,
David
We are being held hostage by "for profit" insurance companies who would lose out if a single payer system was instituted. They are so powerful, they can dictate the terms and we lose. By using convoluted reasoning and fear (ie death panels, etc), they distract most from the real issue and convince them to act exactly against their better interests. This is why our poor educational system serves them perfectly well; the less informed we are the more easily manipulated. It is nothing short of a miracle that we have even begun to tweek the deplorable state of health care and accessibility in the US. It is a start and hopefully it will continue into a full blown "medicare for all" system.
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