this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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Work Reform

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"Daily Pay" Is Just Another Way to Keep You Living Paycheck to Paycheck (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works to c/workreform@lemmy.world
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I've seen several big chains, mostly gas stations and fast food, advertising "daily pay". If you are worried about how you're going to make it until your next paycheck, whether it's tomorrow or next month, or you have no savings to cover any sort of emergency, then you live paycheck-to-paycheck.

Don't be fooled. "Daily Pay" is just a shitty attempt at avoiding paying better wages by giving you your shitty wages faster. It's designed to benefit the company, not you.

Edit: If you don't get to hold on to your pay check long enough to earn interest on any of it, then getting paid daily is not benefiting you.

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[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 42 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I don't understand how you can spin getting your money the day you do the labor as an anti-worker thing. It's the opposite. You're putting in the work that day you should be paid that day. That's how it should be. Daily pay is the better deal for the worker. Weekly or bi-weekly paychecks are just free loans to your employer. It's you doing the work and them getting to pay you two weeks from now. They're getting the value of your labor today, so that's when you should be paid for it.

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

No shit. Op is clueless.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Daily pay makes it easier to just fire people whenever, no special process to cut a check or say it will show up. There's also a rich vs. poor aspect, daily or weekly pay isn't a meaningful benefit for the executive class, pretending it is for the working class is helping to keep the divide.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

I'd say it's actually opposite. Same day pay means that they can't fire you unless they have the money in hand. Someone who can wait a week and a half before paying you their final paycheck can fire you whenever they need to. Same day pay means they got to have that paycheck first.

As for Rich versus poor imagery? That's so transmutable as to not be worth talking about. Completely ephemeral. Heck you eating lobsters used to be a sign of poor class, now it's the opposite. Things like perception can change very quick. Besides seeing is so much CEO pay is tied up in stock options these days I would argue that they are paid immediately even more than anyone else.

[–] Twentytwodividedby7@lemmy.world 37 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This is just not true...daily pay means that you get more compounding periods from your money and the company also has to somehow manage payroll for that.

I get paid monthly, so when you account for time value of money, I'm getting a bad deal. It costs the company less on a number of fronts to pay less frequently.

Jobs that offer daily pay seem to be lower wage jobs, so I get why you would associate that negatively, but at least you get your money quickly for time worked if you're in a bind

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Jobs that offer daily pay seem to be lower wage jobs

This is not a coincidence. This means that the employer has decided it's cheaper to incur whatever costs associated with processing daily payroll than it is to pay wages high enough that their employees don't care or have to care about getting paid every day.

[–] Twentytwodividedby7@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Well, not every job is a career. At least you don't have to chase them for payment and you know you're a transaction to them. Develop skills and work somewhere that values you slightly more and at least gives benefits.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

Not every job is a career, but every job that advertises daily pay is advertising a red flag for how they treat workers.

[–] doingthestuff@lemmy.world 34 points 5 months ago

Yeah we don't have savings. My bills doubled, my pay went up 4%. But daily pay isn't a bad thing. Paired with great wages & benefits it would be fantastic, why let the man earn interest on my wages?

[–] Furbag@lemmy.world 19 points 5 months ago

On the plus side, daily pay might actually kill off the payday advance industry, a far more predatory business practice that causes people to get stuck in poverty in a downward spiral for pretty much forever.

[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago

It's also easier to fire people this way. No longer need to worry about sending them that last paycheck, they just get it when they leave for the day.

[–] SquiffSquiff@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

OP you have some strange ideas. You think it's better for workers to wait for their money? Why? If this were me and I wanted to paid at the end of the month I could just pay into a savings account daily and collect interest.

Yes daily pay is associated with casual work, like labouring. Some people struggle to turn up for work reliably. At least with this they get paid when they do. Better than zero hours contracts.

[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago

Reminds me of Moving pictures by Terry Pratchett, they stand in front of the studios to get today's gig, and sleep on the beach at night.

Wage slaves living from the hand to the mouth.

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 3 points 5 months ago

Tips 2.0

[–] Qwazpoi@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

This definitely falls into a lot of the same territory as most other gig work. A lot of the problems of the gig economy are showcased with jobs that pay like this. It lures in people who would be making $40-120 more in a week doing the same thing elsewhere