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Comment by bsbechtel | Hacker News Reader

Right, so you can now buy a burger off of the dollar menu, which costs approximately 1/7.25 hrs of your labor. When you earn $15/hr, you now have to work 19.5/15 hrs to earn a burger. Yes, it's a higher quality burger, but you can get a higher quality burger for the same amount of labor at minimum wage in the US, and still have the $1 option for those who want it.

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>Right, so you can now buy a burger off of the dollar menu, which costs approximately 1/7.25 hrs of your labor.

Yeah, I've tried those they're pretty gross. You can also buy a Big Mac for the same price as in the US.

>When you earn $15/hr, you now have to work 19.5/15 hrs to earn a burger.

A much, much better burger.

And you've got more disposable income too.

You are essentially arguing that there should be no cheap burgers, since there are much, much better expensive burgers. What you seem to be forgetting is that some people won't be able (or not want) to afford much, much better burgers and that's the reason cheap burgers exist.

The article states the price of a couple of cheaper burgers, (a $5.50 Big Mac and a $8.90 floor for the specialty burgers).

5.5/15 doesn't beat 1/7.25, but it's a lot more competitive than 19.5/15, and I imagine the Big Mac isn't the cheapest burger on the menu.

Are you factoring in the exchange rate? Cause the Australian dollar is way out of whack with the US dollar.

I think that's a bit of a moot point. The exchange rate is about $0.75:$1, but what really matters is relative purchasing power in the worker's own country. The OP was pointing out that for McDonald's to survive in Australia, they had to start offering expensive, gourmet burgers. Australia's minimum wage is roughly $17.25/hr in Australian dollars, so the math works out to be roughly the same.

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