Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 93 posts

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#31

Post by listenallyall »

refurb wrote: post #28
ryandrake wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don’t like to hear this but a lot of small businesses (especially restaurants) are barely profitable and basically dead men walking. They can barely make payroll and can’t weather even a month of closure, let alone a pandemic. They are “shitty” businesses not because their owners are shitty or that they are doing shitty things, but simply because they just don’t make enough money consistently to be viable. War…

This is the biggest issue - many small businesses are small margin businesses. Force a shutdown for a month or two and you've wiped out profit for an entire year. Not surprising in the least that after two years of uncertainty, business owners just hung up their hat and decided to do something else.

They are often small margin businesses -- but not necessarily small-margin opportunities. Lots of small business owners make slim profits due to their own lack of business sense or fundamentals. Go watch any episode of Shark Tank to see how little most people know about their own finances.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#32

Post by formerkrogeremp »

dijonman2 wrote: post #4
xxpor wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this is the opposite of the actual problem. There's plenty of cash floating around right now: it's why inflation is high. We're finally hitting real supply limits. It's the hottest job market in most people's lifetimes. The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. If you work for an emplo…

Isn’t most of this due to lockdowns and shifting spending to online?

It's not that simple, and it never is that simple. Demand destruction in an economy predicated on consumer sentiment and ability to, well, consume ends poorly for us all. I don't see current trends, if they continue, going well for anyone.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#33

Post by legostormtroopr »

Tinyyy wrote: post #20
eigenrick wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. > They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. Really? You know this to be a fact? It appears that the only thing you know about small business comes from what you read on /r/antiwork The fact of the matter is that 47% of Americans are employed by small businesses. That percentage keeps droppi…

That sounds like a crappy business that can benefit from economies of scale.

And thats how monolpolisation happens. Instead of 5 or 6 moderately successful cideries meeting different market needs, we have 1 or 2 who control the entire market.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#34

Post by eek2121 »

eigenrick wrote: post #19
xxpor wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this is the opposite of the actual problem. There's plenty of cash floating around right now: it's why inflation is high. We're finally hitting real supply limits. It's the hottest job market in most people's lifetimes. The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. If you work for an emplo…

> The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. > They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. Really? You know this to be a fact? It appears that the only thing you know about small business comes from what you read on /r/antiwork The fact of the matter is that 47% of Americans are employed by small businesses. That percentage keeps droppi…

Funny enough, I'm in a position to be friends with many small business owners (I've done work for them over the years, and it has involved into friendships)

The folks that are successful don't look at pennies. They produce or sell their products for a healthy price and focus on delivering a quality experience. I went to dinner with the owner of a small business last week that just closed on 30mm in revenue across 15 employees. The company has a profit-sharing plan that pays most of the profit into a pension. It has been in business for well over 15 years. They aren't the cheapest, but they have excellent customer service, sell great products, and ship those products to you in the fastest way possible.

If, as a small business owner, and your primary concern is undercutting the other guy, you are going to go out of business. That has been the rule since capitalism was basically invented. Very few businesses can make their money by undercutting the other guy. Notice the most successful companies such as Starbucks and Apple, and even nonprofit companies such as the YMCA (in the US) don't focus on the bottom dollar. Instead, they focus on standing out.

Even if you look at bottom dollar chains like McDonalds, companies have tried to do it cheaper. Shoot, you can STILL do it cheaper. The reason they don't exist anymore is because, at the end of the day, McDonalds did a better job of providing food of consistent (shit, erm, sorry, not a McDonald's fan) quality, quickly, and at an affordable price.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#35

Post by wilkystyle »

listenallyall wrote: post #30
eigenrick wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. > They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. Really? You know this to be a fact? It appears that the only thing you know about small business comes from what you read on /r/antiwork The fact of the matter is that 47% of Americans are employed by small businesses. That percentage keeps droppi…

You sure have a lot of details about your friend's business. Most friends might say, "hey my cost of goods went way up" or "almost doubled". Your friend is oddly specific. And he doesn't have "a bunch of workers" but exactly 8. You must be a very close friend!

It's almost as if they're friends who talk about things that happen in each others' lives!

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#37

Post by listenallyall »

wilkystyle wrote: post #35
listenallyall wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure have a lot of details about your friend's business. Most friends might say, "hey my cost of goods went way up" or "almost doubled". Your friend is oddly specific. And he doesn't have "a bunch of workers" but exactly 8. You must be a very close friend!

It's almost as if they're friends who talk about things that happen in each others' lives!

Not on this planet. This sounds like how you talk to your accountant, not your friends. You don't burden your friends with details this specific.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#38

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

obviouslynotme wrote: post #26
ryandrake wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don’t like to hear this but a lot of small businesses (especially restaurants) are barely profitable and basically dead men walking. They can barely make payroll and can’t weather even a month of closure, let alone a pandemic. They are “shitty” businesses not because their owners are shitty or that they are doing shitty things, but simply because they just don’t make enough money consistently to be viable. War…

There's a difference between a bear market and having your business shut down by the government.

That's a worthy topic too, but no, the result of the temporary closure is the same — closed is closed, regardless of the reasoning.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#39

Post by londons_explore »

Are these actually real businesses closing, or are they people opening and closing small 'on paper' businesses for tax purposes?

There are lots of tax breaks and incentives to open a business... And when it's a few years old and those are gone, it makes sense to wind up the business and do the same again.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#40

Post by ladyattis »

eigenrick wrote: post #19
xxpor wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this is the opposite of the actual problem. There's plenty of cash floating around right now: it's why inflation is high. We're finally hitting real supply limits. It's the hottest job market in most people's lifetimes. The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. If you work for an emplo…

> The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. > They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. Really? You know this to be a fact? It appears that the only thing you know about small business comes from what you read on /r/antiwork The fact of the matter is that 47% of Americans are employed by small businesses. That percentage keeps droppi…

As someone who's worked between big corporations and family owned businesses, I'd say the family owned and small businesses are worse, especially in entry level jobs, than working for a big corporation. At least with a big corporation, they're more likely to leave your branch or location alone if you at least hit their targets for revenue. There's not much in the way of micro management in a job at the bottom rung with respect to big corporations whereas I've had 'the owners' of family owned businesses always pestering folks when most times they have no clue what they're doing, especially their kids who they think they can trust with running day-to-day operations.
Post reply on HN