How Much are you willing to pay?

[PhotoDave219]

Okay, for several years i've heard constant complaining about the quality of the front line cast. About how they weren't magical, friendly, etc.

At the moment, Front line cast in Operations & Entertainment start off their pay in the $7-$8 dollar range. That equates to the $14k-16k per year range to give your family a magical experience or the experience you want. Friendlier people, more applicants and competition for open positions; so they can be choosier with who they take.

So lets go on a hypothetical tangent here and put our money where our mouths are and ask the question of "How much is the cast worth?" How much of an increade to park admission are you willing to pay to improve the quality of the cast and their quality of life?

Attendance is estimated at 16.64 Million at MK, 10.46 Mil at Epcot, 9.1 Million at the Studos and 8.91 Mil at the Animal Kingdom. Thats 45.11 Million guests total, averaging to 123,000 guests/day.

The average price of a daily admission is about $42. (Source : The published costs of a 1 day through a 10 day PH added together ($2309) and then divided by the number of days they cover (55))

This works out to an estimated $5.1 million in gate revenue per day on average. (123,000 x $42)

So in order to bring up a Disney workers salary to $10/hr, thats going to be an extra $3/hr or $24/day per 8 hour day. Assuming you distribute that company wide, thats an additional $1,248,000 dollars in labor wages.

So to get that, you'd need to be bringing in $6.3 million per day in gate revenue to offset the costs. That would set the average cost of a ticket up from $42 to $52. Thats a huge 24% increase, but is only $10 more dollars in the grand scheme of things. Would you be willing to pay it?

 

[rcapolete]

I am sorry but my feeling is if you accept a job you do your best at it no matter what the wages are. When i was in my 20's (in mid 90's) i work in retail. I made 8.50/hr as an assistant manager where i was responsible for a 1.4mil a year store. I showed up to work everyday and did my best while i was there regardless of the pay. This needs to be an employees mentality.
I get aggrivated when i see an employee how just doesn't care for what they are doing and take it out on the customers

 

[WDWFigment]

Moreover, they chose to work there. That is a tacit agreement to the pay, in my mind. And besides, a poll isn't going to say much about this, it's not exactly scientific. So some die hard fans are still willing to pay $10 more, but you're going to lose others.

 

[PhotoDave219]

The general point of this is to look at the basic economics of this. No one is claiming this to be scientific.

 

[Slowjack]

Not that simple

There's a basic flaw in this reasoning. The ticket prices charged to guests and the pay of hourly cast members are weakly correlated even if they correlate at all. Put simply, Disney in general and WDW specifically have enough money that they could pay the cast more if they thought that was in the company's best interest.

Do I think that WDW should pay its cast more? I do. I think they should pay a little better that the competition, which as I understand it is not currently the case. But it has nothing to do with ticket prices. The price of a ticket is determined by how much Disney thinks the market can bear.

The cast wages are set by a different market; how little can Disney pay?

Of course in the grand scheme of things management has to see that WDW revenues (of which admission is one piece, but only one piece) exceeds costs (of which labor costs are one piece, but again only one piece) so as to ensure profit to be returned to shareholders (of which I am one).

But for me a better question might be, do you think that paying cast members a little more might be a worthy investment for the company that will be pay dividends down the road, even if it cuts into short-term profits? I would say yes.

 

[EpcotGrl]

The cast wages are set by a different market; how little can Disney pay?

And this is the problem, IMHO. They're tapping out the market of people who will willingly work for these low wages, and getting the slackers for it. In a perfect world, everyone would love to work for Disney, would be well compensated for bringing the Magic, and all would be well. Instead it's people just getting by, just doing their jobs, and not willing to put forth any extra effort...because why bother?

Certainly I was happy to do the CP for $6.00/hr...but it was a brief internship, after which I could go home and get back to a "real" job that paid "real" money.

Henry Ford once said: "Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible. " Sadly, we're now producing cheap crap and paying the employees poorly, leading to more and more junk.

 

[Yanks07]

Seems to me that you are looking for a yes or no answer. Yes for me!

 

[PhotoDave219]

I think its irresponsible to believe that Disney would give their employees a raise without passing the savings on to the guests. While the company can clearly afford it, Disney clearly has no intention of giving the cast a raise without raising prices. It would cut into their margins, which would affect the company stock price as a whole.

I'm just trying to get the feeling of whether or not guests would be willing to pay more to give the cast a raise.

 

[unkadug]

Yes, I'd be willing to pay more if in fact I knew that the extra money was going to the front line only and not lining the pockets of the executives, which is what I think would happen.

 

[Computer Magic]

Actually I would give a base pay and then a bonus based on performance. That would ensure the quailty is enhanced. Disney could come up with a system that would be fair and not abused.

To answer to you question, I voted yes I would pay more but I would expect better.

 

[Philo]

I'm all for paying the cast more because they do a great job and have to take alot of c**p from people all day. However, $10 per day would leave me $140 per person out of pocket for our two week vacation which makes the whole thing very, very expensive. Selfish perhaps but If I think like this so will 1000's of others which would severly change the figures you quoted and, as such, Disney would not be able to afford the increase in wages.

Forgive my ignorance about the US pay / tax / NI system but I think I am right in thinking that raising an additional $3 per CM per hour does not mean that a CM will actually get the full $3.

 

[Philo]

Actually I would give a base pay and then a bonus based on performance.

Wow, that would be difficult to manage. How do you track the performance of a CM who is manning rides all day? You can't reasonably look at queue times or ride throughput because 90% of the time this does not relate to a CM's effectiveness.

Can't really ask for customer opinions either: "You remember that guy on the FP line at 1.30pm at this attraction? How good was he on a scale of 1 to 10?"

It's a good idea but I wouldn't like to be the guy responsible for making it happen.

 

[unkadug]

I'm all for paying the cast more because they do a great job and have to take alot of c**p from people all day. However, $10 per day would leave me $140 per person out of pocket for our two week vacation which makes the whole thing very, very expensive. Selfish perhaps but If I think like this so will 1000's of others which would severly change the figures you quoted and, as such, Disney would not be able to afford the increase in wages.

Forgive my ignorance about the US pay / tax / NI system but I think I am right in thinking that raising an additional $3 per CM per hour does not mean that a CM will actually get the full $3.

So are so very right.

 

[Computer Magic]

Wow, that would be difficult to manage. How do you track the performance of a CM who is manning rides all day? You can't reasonably look at queue times or ride throughput because 90% of the time this does not relate to a CM's effectiveness.

Can't really ask for customer opinions either: "You remember that guy on the FP line at 1.30pm at this attraction? How good was he on a scale of 1 to 10?"

It's a good idea but I wouldn't like to be the guy responsible for making it happen.

well you have to have something measureable. That isn't easy, but like I said it's Disney and they are tops in being creative. I don't mind giving more money but everyone needs to be accountable. The difficult part is keeping it from being subjective or else it won't be considered fair.

 

[unkadug]

well you have to have something measureable. That isn't easy, but like I said it's Disney and they are tops in being creative. I don't mind giving more money but everyone needs to be accountable. The difficult part is keeping it from being subjective or else it won't be considered fair.

But isn't any reward system subjective of the person issuing the rewards?

 

[benji]

Lets face it if the cast members got paid more then they will be more happy. So that means you will have a more magical time at the parks. They will be more willing to go the extra mile for guests. Not that they don't do a good job now, because the cast members are the best anywhere but it will help. Does what I just said make any sense?:lol:

 

[KeithVH]

Weird, I was actually thinking of posting something like this myself. Especially after the DDP tip removal post and a review of the We Are Disney site (depressingly slanted). Can't blame the CMs either. Then again, can't blame the shareholders for wanting a profitable company.

I could probably see a few dollars for an increase but $10 is a LOT by market standards. Maybe if they had been raising the prices slightly more each time over the last ten years or so? But another thing to remember is that, if you increase salaries, you'd also have to increase employer-based taxes. Which cuts into any direct benefit unless you're going to increase prices even more. Very slippery slope.

For those that feel sorry for the CMs, remember that there are unions involved here. But nobody seems to be blaming them in this mess, just the evil corporate giant. If the unions agreed to some of these wage settings, why doesn't anyone complain about them?

 

[Computer Magic]

But isn't any reward system subjective of the person issuing the rewards?

I don't want to thread drift, but there are ways to measure rewards without not being subjective. Take a a job where you close tickets from a help desk. You close so many in month. You can use a range to pay a bonus, ie up to 600 pays $100, 600-1200 pays $200.

That is an easy example. Each Disney field manager would be responsible with implementing the measures. A good manager would seek input from their employees to get buy in and consenus.

 

[Computer Magic]

Weird, I was actually thinking of posting something like this myself. Especially after the DDP tip removal post and a review of the We Are Disney site (depressingly slanted). Can't blame the CMs either. Then again, can't blame the shareholders for wanting a profitable company.

I could probably see a few dollars for an increase but $10 is a LOT by market standards. Maybe if they had been raising the prices slightly more each time over the last ten years or so? But another thing to remember is that, if you increase salaries, you'd also have to increase employer-based taxes. Which cuts into any direct benefit unless you're going to increase prices even more. Very slippery slope.

For those that feel sorry for the CMs, remember that there are unions involved here. But nobody seems to be blaming them in this mess, just the evil corporate giant. If the unions agreed to some of these wage settings, why doesn't anyone complain about them?

Bringing in the union card :ROFLOL: Well unions have become weak in the US. They don't carry the power they use to. I'm not saying that good or bad, just the experience I have seen. Union is a necessary evil, can't live with them and can't live without them. I have been on both sides, my dad in the steel mill union and me the food and beverage union, my wife a nurse union. I have been in management where they fought to keep unions away.

 

[Computer Magic]

Lets face it if the cast members got paid more then they will be more happy. So that means you will have a more magical time at the parks. They will be more willing to go the extra mile for guests. Not that they don't do a good job now, because the cast members are the best anywhere but it will help. Does what I just said make any sense?:lol:

Money pays the bill, but you only receive a check every two weeks. What I'm saying, money only motivates a person so far. Better work conditions (I hear people working 60 hrs a week, how can they be happy all the time) , breaks, paid vacation, health care all play a part.

What I'm saying is just because a person is gettin paid more doesn't mean that person will work harder.