When my husband and I opened our first hardware store in 2003, we were focused on the need for a great store in our own neighborhood. Fifteen years later, weve grown to 12 neighborhood hardware stores across D.C., Maryland and Virginia, including Canton Ace Hardware, Federal Hill Ace Hardware and Waverly Ace Hardware in Baltimore and Old Takoma Ace Hardware in Takoma Park. Fair pay has been fundamental to our successful business model and our growth including growth during the last recession.
Thats why we support the proposal to gradually raise Marylands minimum wage to $15 by 2023.
Although much has been said about the value of raising the minimum wage for workers, less attention has been paid to the value that higher wages have for small local businesses.
As we know from experience, paying fair wages helps us attract and retain good employees, increase sales, expand our business and hire more people.
Employees are much more likely to stay in a job that pays them a fair wage. By contrast, low wages encourage high employee turnover.
Replacing an employee costs a business significant money and time. The high costs of turnover include advertising the position, time to screen and interview applicants, and time to onboard, followed by many hours of training. It takes weeks to months before a new staff person is trained, which costs a company more each day.
Pay a fair wage and you keep the already trained employee and can focus instead on improving your business. Workers paid a decent wage can also concentrate more fully on their jobs and customers without the continual stress over how they are going to afford basics like rent, groceries or transportation.
A happy, productive employee who knows our business not only saves us money, they help us retain and grow our customer base. Our employees are on the frontlines. They are responsible for maintaining our reputation and interacting with customers, finding what they need, and communicating what new products and services customers want to see.
Those interactions often make the difference between a customer who enjoys coming into your store and a person whod rather just shop online. Satisfied customers dont just keep coming back themselves, they tell their friends and families about you in a positive way!
Local businesses depend on local customers with money to spend and those customers depend on their paychecks. When the minimum wage rises, it puts money in the pockets of those who most need to spend it, from paying the rent to buying more groceries to picking up lightbulbs, tools and paint from the local hardware store.
A higher minimum wage means more money circulating in the local economy. Its a virtuous cycle: Our employees shop at other businesses and their employees shop at ours.
We are invested in our employees and we are invested in the neighborhoods where we have our stores. But too many large companies pay wages so low that many of their employees have to turn to food banks or food stamps and other public assistance for the most basic essentials. This means companies including our competitors that could pay higher minimum wages, but arent, are being heavily subsidized by taxpayers.
All businesses should pay at least enough for their employees to live on.
Gradually raising the minimum wage to $15 over five years would give businesses time to plan for and adapt to incremental increases. It would give them time to see benefits from raising the minimum wage, such as increased consumer spending and lower employee turnover, as the increases phase in.
And adding an annual cost of living adjustment in future years will make wages and consumer demand more predictableand predictability is a good thing for business.
We have seen firsthand that fair pay is good for the bottom line. Raising Marylands minimum wage will boost consumer spending, strengthen businesses and the state and local tax base, and help communities across our state to thrive.
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