This really does stand on its own, but it’s interesting how people who Own A Business often talk about how magical it is to Own A Business, then assume that people who don’t in fact own it should care about it the way they do.
Like: that’s what you signed up for! The risk/reward gamble! They didn’t, and unlike you these people need an actual payout for their hours worked. Your business thriving does not benefit them any more than their rent being paid motivates you
You want people to care about the success of the business as much as the owner, instead of maximizing their dollars-for-work-done? Make the owners. That’s how a co-op works, an— ooooh, I see. You don’t want them to care THAT much.
I keep coming back to this, because you don’t even have to be particularly ideological to realize how bad this particular take is. Even starting from the premise that unfettered markets should be the end-all be-all of human civilization.
Labor is a dehumanized supply input to your production process; awesome! Your coffee is a dehumanized input into the lives of your customers, too; do you keep your prices low just because customers are extra thirsty?
If the price of coffee beans doubles, downstream businesses either accept lower profits, raise their prices, or close up shop. A coffee shop is not a living person with a moral right to exist; no one is obligated to help it out if it can’t deal with rising costs.
It’s easy for someone to say, “But those people aren’t suddenly MORE EXPENSIVE, they’re just all asking for more money!”
Buddy, that’s what “more expensive” means, and if you can’t find other people selling labor at a lower price, that’s just how it is.
Labor-suppliers are allowed to take things you don’t care about into account — risks they perceive in service work during a pandemic, the relative value of their own leisure activities, whatevs — just like you’re allowed to say that “ambience” factors into your coffee’s price.