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Comment by mdorazio | Hacker News Reader

> When I added that to my tips it came to a little over $660 — or $12.24 an hour.

Author then deducts all the things that apply to every job - taxes, commuting, etc. and concludes she makes a take-home $9/hour, which is still above federal (and North Carolina where she is working) minimum wage. Of course, living wage is much higher than that in Asheville where I believe she lives [1].

And to those wondering, yes Waffle House does offer insurance and a few other benefits [2].

[1] https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2023/03/02/ashevill...

[2] https://www.wafflehouse.com/careers/

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Commuting is a basically fixed cost from "I'm driving to mcdonalds for my 4 hour shift" to "$500k/yr FAANG dev", so is it not worth pointing out that that's a much higher proportion of low wages? Nor am I charged for my top of the line macbook pro, despite it costing many times more than the work shoes in this low paid jobs.

commuting should definitely be factored in. You don't commute for fun, you only commute for the job. It's an expense that occurs every time you work and, as you said, a fixed cost that becomes more important the lower paying your job is.

In the end, it's what you take home and that's what the article is about.

I've never understood why anyone talks about their pre-tax/cost earnings. We should compare the amount that hits our bank account, not the top line item on paystubs, because that's the amount we actually have available to spend.

Not looking at true take home pay is how gig driving companies are able to get drivers even though the pay is absolutely shit after accounting for taxes plus wear and tear/gas costs.

There are choices we can make that affect the difference between gross and net. How much do you withhold? What level of insurance if you have choices? Retirement contributions? Direct donations? Optional benefits like life insurances, long term disability, AD&D plans. It's much fairer to look at someones gross pay when comparing people. Even if you just deal with tax withholding options, net pay is easily skewed.

If you're getting insurance it's probably worth it.

It’s funny that people still don’t understand taxes and any time I see someone complaining about “take home” being below minimum wage, I tune out.

There’s no way to legislate minimum take home pay.

I feel empathy for people making this discovery for the first, or tenth time. But waiter jobs in general pay pretty low and the minimum wage for server jobs is harder to compare because of the tips aspect.

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