Quote:
Originally Posted by QuadsOverQuads
I've spent a lot of years...
Instead of all that, why don't you talk to your manager? Tell him/her that your tips aren't satisfying your desired wage (provide support for your claims for both) and ask for a raise? Then you will see your true economic value to the industry.
It's simple supply and demand. You offer a service. If you are a ****ty dealer, there are plenty of those; so your supply is large and demand is inversely smaller. Hence, the price for your service will be smaller. If you're a stellar dealer (ie who deals 50+ hands/hour, lets say), there are few of those; so your supply is small, and there is great demand for your service. You can command a higher price for your service because of this.
However, ceilings of demand exist in the economy. For instance, say GE came out with a robot that could basically be your slave and do everything you could imagine for you (including go to work for you, play poker for you, make wise investments for you, etc). The only problem is this robot costs US$20 billion to produce, and that's before profit margins. Now, there aren't a whole lot of people who could afford to pay $20 billion for a robot, nor are there likely many financial institutions willing to provide loans for the purchase of such a robot. Therefore, because of the cost, consumers decide they would simply be better off without that robot. This is an extreme example, but the basic ideas illustrated are seen all the time in business. For instance, you've probably heard of concept cars. Many of these cars never come into production. Why? Because they aren't economically feasible. Likewise, with a dealer who provides impeccable service, dealing a hypothetical 90 hands/hour yet commanding a wage say 5x that of your typical dealer, that dealer is likely to see a price ceiling reflecting the demand for his service.
So, if you're dealing your best, but you've hit a price ceiling reflecting the demand for your service, and that price doesn't satisfy your desired wage you can talk to your market (the players - which I'm taking a wild guess that isn't allowed by your management), which is probably futile as they've likely hit their demand ceiling, or you can talk to your management to ask for a higher wage. As the market is no longer willing to give you any more money, the only place left to find it is in your manager's margins.
So, you talk to your manager and he/she agrees and gives you a raise. You're happy, everyone's happy. Great. But let's say you talk to your manager and he/she agrees, but says they're going to have to up the rake in order to be able to do that. Fine. Now the players will have to pay for the dealers' services in a more egalitarian fashion. With these increased costs to the players, they may decide it's fair and continue playing. Or they may decide "this is bull****" and move on to the nearest card room offering the same service for a lower price. If the latter is the case, your management is to blame. They are either not operating efficiently (including retaining too much profit for themselves instead of sharing with employees), or they are targeting a market that doesn't exist (or is too small) in their area.
Really all you can do is take what you get from the players. If that's not enough, ask your manager for more. If your manager says "no more" you decide whether you would be better off elsewhere. If you decide to stay, you accept your wage. If you can't accept your wage, it's time to leave. If you're in America it's a (sort of) free country. You're free to move along. If more dealers quit, and no one is willing to replace them, then your card room will likely go out of business soon. And that is how a free-market economy works.
Happy 4th of July!
Last edited by kowboykiller; 07-04-2011 at 01:51 PM.