rockin'robin
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Customers at Buffalo Wild Wings locations in some parts of Texas were surprised when they found a new charge on their receipts — in addition to taxes and gratuity.
Then they read it — and were outraged.
As News Channel 10 reported, it turns out that the Amarillo and Lubbock locations of the popular chain had attempted to pass off the cost of Obamacare to their customers in the form of a new “tax” on their meals.
That tax appeared on customers’ receipts on January 1, the very same day that businesses who employ more than 100 employees began to be forced to provide at least 70 percent of their full-time employees with health insurance coverage.
These Buffalo Wild Wings — like tens of thousands of businesses across America – were forced by ObamaCare to make a choice: cut the hours of their employees, raise prices on the menu, or take the hit themselves. The franchises, run by Howard Restaurant Group, made their call, and added the 2% surcharge onto the total of every bill.
Needless to say, given the unpopularity of ObamaCare, the fee didn’t sit well with customers, and many of them questioned the managers as to why they were being forced to pay it.
“At first I thought this was a joke,” customer Joey Keenum said. “I asked the server, ‘What is this for?’ She said, ‘It’s for the Obamacare cost.‘”
When he spoke to the manager, they explained that it was their way of subsidizing the company’s healthcare costs, which is something many conservatives have been saying for quite some time would happen. However, Keenum was irate about it and doesn’t feel it’s his responsibility to pay for others’ healthcare.
“It’s just absurd that I have to use my after-tax money to pay for someone else’s health insurance,” he said.
The company released a statement explaining why customers were seeing the new tax on their checks:
“Due to the Affordable Healthcare Act and its requirement of healthcare coverage to all full-time employees,” the company statement said, “Our restaurant group has decided instead of cutting employee hours and raising food and beverage prices, to implement a two percent surcharge on all guest checks to offset the cost of the federally mandated employee healthcare with the least possible impact to the consumer.”
However this did nothing to quell the customer backlash — and the company was soon forced to overturn their new fee.
“The health care surcharge at our franchised Buffalo Wild Wings in Lubbock and Amarillo has been removed,” she said. “We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. Our priority is to always provide our guests a great experience every day so they can enjoy our wings, beer and sports.”
The bottom line decision for businesses: fire your workers, or pass through the costs to other consumers. Many have done the former, or converted full-time workers to part-time status. Increasingly more are opting for the latter, with the number of part-time workers exploding to an all-time high.
Of course, NONE of this was told to the American people, when the Democrats rammed ObamaCare through by one vote.
As Milton Friedman famously said: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Turns out “free” healthcare is not exactly free. When government “provides” a “service,” the costs to the economy, and country are always far worse than advertised.
http://toprightnews.com/?p=8059
Then they read it — and were outraged.
As News Channel 10 reported, it turns out that the Amarillo and Lubbock locations of the popular chain had attempted to pass off the cost of Obamacare to their customers in the form of a new “tax” on their meals.
That tax appeared on customers’ receipts on January 1, the very same day that businesses who employ more than 100 employees began to be forced to provide at least 70 percent of their full-time employees with health insurance coverage.
These Buffalo Wild Wings — like tens of thousands of businesses across America – were forced by ObamaCare to make a choice: cut the hours of their employees, raise prices on the menu, or take the hit themselves. The franchises, run by Howard Restaurant Group, made their call, and added the 2% surcharge onto the total of every bill.
Needless to say, given the unpopularity of ObamaCare, the fee didn’t sit well with customers, and many of them questioned the managers as to why they were being forced to pay it.
“At first I thought this was a joke,” customer Joey Keenum said. “I asked the server, ‘What is this for?’ She said, ‘It’s for the Obamacare cost.‘”
When he spoke to the manager, they explained that it was their way of subsidizing the company’s healthcare costs, which is something many conservatives have been saying for quite some time would happen. However, Keenum was irate about it and doesn’t feel it’s his responsibility to pay for others’ healthcare.
“It’s just absurd that I have to use my after-tax money to pay for someone else’s health insurance,” he said.
The company released a statement explaining why customers were seeing the new tax on their checks:
“Due to the Affordable Healthcare Act and its requirement of healthcare coverage to all full-time employees,” the company statement said, “Our restaurant group has decided instead of cutting employee hours and raising food and beverage prices, to implement a two percent surcharge on all guest checks to offset the cost of the federally mandated employee healthcare with the least possible impact to the consumer.”
However this did nothing to quell the customer backlash — and the company was soon forced to overturn their new fee.
“The health care surcharge at our franchised Buffalo Wild Wings in Lubbock and Amarillo has been removed,” she said. “We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. Our priority is to always provide our guests a great experience every day so they can enjoy our wings, beer and sports.”
The bottom line decision for businesses: fire your workers, or pass through the costs to other consumers. Many have done the former, or converted full-time workers to part-time status. Increasingly more are opting for the latter, with the number of part-time workers exploding to an all-time high.
Of course, NONE of this was told to the American people, when the Democrats rammed ObamaCare through by one vote.
As Milton Friedman famously said: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Turns out “free” healthcare is not exactly free. When government “provides” a “service,” the costs to the economy, and country are always far worse than advertised.
http://toprightnews.com/?p=8059
