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Kings Island Increasing Pay for Seasonal Employees to $15/hr


CoasterFan3180
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The bigger question will be do they raise admission and season pass rates next year to pay for the increased hourly rate...because there is no putting this genie back in the bottle.  Higher pay is here to stay or they get nobody to work next year...

Or do they follow the slash the prices even more and give away the gate like never seen before and try to make it up on volume?  One would hope they learned that lesson from CP at the end of 2019, last year and the start of this year...

Or do they truncate the season to keep it within the same budget?

Or something else we don't see coming?

It will be interesting to see come August.

But they have to recoup this increased hourly rate somewhere AND put away enough nickels to pay that note off so they don't lose their parks...

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There are plenty of bodies for seasonal work in Cincinnati. Not so many in Sandusky. 

I’m  psyched for the old people that will undoubtably come to this thread and complain that it’s “too much” for a teenager.  I hope this improves the quality of the product. I’m excited for the associates to make better wages!

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1 minute ago, disco2000 said:

The bigger question will be do they raise admission and season pass rates next year to pay for the increased hourly rate...because there is no putting this genie back in the bottle.  Higher pay is here to stay or they get nobody to work next year...

Or do they follow the slash the prices even more and give away the gate like never seen before and try to make it up on volume?  One would hope they learned that lesson from CP at the end of 2019, last year and the start of this year...

Or do they truncate the season to keep it within the same budget?

Or something else we don't see coming?

It will be interesting to see come August.

But they have to recoup this increased hourly rate somewhere AND put away enough nickels to pay that note off so they don't lose their parks...

I definitely could see a slight increase in the price of season passes. Season pass holders in general tend to be very loyal so a $10 price increase might not turn away that many customers, especially since there’s a payment plan option. 

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2 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

But they have to recoup this increased hourly rate somewhere AND put away enough nickels to pay that note off so they don't lose their parks...

I think they stand to lose a lot more when people stop showing up because they have to wait over an hour for a $14 slice of pizza. 

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18 minutes ago, AnyPancakes said:

I think they stand to lose a lot more when people stop showing up because they have to wait over an hour for a $14 slice of pizza. 

But that is just it - between the meal plans for passholders and the daily $30 meal plan for a meal every 90 minutes, not many are paying $14 for pizza...these add-ons keep people in the park when 10 years ago folks would leave to eat and come back.  If at any given time 10 years ago 3,000-5,000 or more guests had left to go eat, the infrastructure in the park could support the remaining number.  But now there is increased demand for everything in the park even if the total number of people for that day didn't change from 10 years ago.

While increasing the starting hourly rate is nice and all, the overall quality in the park doesn't improve just because of increased wages since it doesn't draw experienced employees back into the park.  For most of these employees this is still their first job ever.  It may draw some returning employees back that had considered passing on working in the park this year, but they had been upping the pay for recent years in the food department to try to get employees and most here do not feel like the service improved substantially during that time. 

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Starting in 2008 employers have done the same or more with less employees with the hope from the employees that when conditions become better the employers will hire back to the employment levels before 2008.  That didn't happen.  Instead employees continued to be overworked just thankful to have a job.  This adjustment is a long time coming.  The difference in wages may mean a park gets a major attraction every 4 years instead of every 2.  Notice the full time workers for food.  Parks are concentrating more on the dining experience as that's where the profit is.  Universal has made a big deal out of it's food offerings for the Avengers area.  I reference the incredible success with Fall Fest last year and all the people buying lanyards.  Not everyone rides major thrill rides, but everyone eats! :)

I will say that at first blush the Frontier Festival here seems a little oddly priced.  First off it is a "ticket" system.  You buy tickets and different items are different prices (1 -3 tickets).  Add that to the fact that you can't buy individual tickets and you can see the problem.  you may end up with one ticket and nothing to choose from and the only way to add more is to add 8 or 12 tickets.  Pricing is another oddity.  For season pass holders same-day tickets are 8 for $20 or 12 for $35?  Seems like you might as well just pay $40 and get 16 tickets.  No real incentive to buy 12.  I much prefer the way KI did the Fall Fest.  I understand that some items are more than others for this, but it may have been better to say 1 "large" item (main course), 2 "Medium" items (sides) and 1 "small" (appetizer or dessert)  for $20.  That way they could make a meal out of it without having to use an abacus. :)

I should also say the the offerings do look diverse and enjoyable.  My wife and I will be trying some today.  Also the inclusion of IPA's is a nice touch.

 

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Just now, King Ding Dong said:

One thing that will be very interesting to watch is what happens to wages when CP is allowed to bring the international workers back.  

True.  I've heard that they are pulling alot of internationals from other parks to CP to make sure they are as fully staffed as possible.  Seems like management got the message from last weekend and seems to have adjusted.  

I will say our experience so far this weekend is on par with what we expect.  The Hotel Breakers staff is fantastic as always and every employee has been a pleasure to interact with. 

The one disappointment is Famous Dave's isn't open till next weekend, So maybe Tomo's two nights in a row :)

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So do the pulled employees from other parks make the rate at their home park or the park they are pulled to?  And if they get the bump (or decrease) depending on from which park to which park, do they stay at that same rate when they go back to their home park.

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1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

The bigger question will be do they raise admission and season pass rates next year to pay for the increased hourly rate...because there is no putting this genie back in the bottle.  Higher pay is here to stay or they get nobody to work next year...

Or do they follow the slash the prices even more and give away the gate like never seen before and try to make it up on volume?  One would hope they learned that lesson from CP at the end of 2019, last year and the start of this year...

Or do they truncate the season to keep it within the same budget?

Or something else we don't see coming?

It will be interesting to see come August.

But they have to recoup this increased hourly rate somewhere AND put away enough nickels to pay that note off so they don't lose their parks...

I made the same comment on Facebook earlier. Do you keep this pay rate and deal with the budget consequences next year, or do you roll the pay rate back and have to sell someone on a major pay cut to return next year? 
 

I’m a little surprised that you of all people would ask if they’d give away the gate to offset the additional labor. Remember, no matter what the problem is, marketing will always use it as an opportunity to give away the gate. “Hurry! Bring a friend for $9.99 only runs June 1st until August 31st!” 

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9 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I made the same comment on Facebook earlier. Do you keep this pay rate and deal with the budget consequences next year, or do you roll the pay rate back and have to sell someone on a major pay cut to return next year? 
 

I’m a little surprised that you of all people would ask if they’d give away the gate to offset the additional labor. Remember, no matter what the problem is, marketing will always use it as an opportunity to give away the gate. “Hurry! Bring a friend for $9.99 only runs June 1st until August 31st!” 

LOL - yeah we both know what the answer is...

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Having more full time positions should hopefully help with a little more consistency in food and beverage.  The park (and chain) does need to find more ways to make things more efficient.  Every one of the big parks should have a Harmony Hall type location.  Festhaus could pretty easily be redesigned with those efficiencies in mind.

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10 minutes ago, jimlaheyscar said:

At the rate inflation will be going the next few years, $15 will be like min. wage of today sooner rather than later.  It's going to skyrocket.

 

 

Price increases that were current experiencing in large part seem to be due to strains on the supply chain throughout the world in addition with increased demand. Other countries, Such as Canada are also experiencing increased inflation. Once the supply chain meets demand consumer hopefully will go down or stabilize. Increased wages are not a bad thing for the economy, when people have more money they spend money which increases companies revenue. 

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