Pay Rate for 06

That is pretty much it. I believe that the states with minimum wage under the federal simply haven't updated theirs. Federal law of course supersedes state law.

I am a Cedar Fair shareholder. I was originally drawn to this stock because of its strong dividend and because I had worked at a Cedar Fair park (Valleyfair) as a seasonal employee for several years in the mid 1990s and considered it a well managed company. That said I would much rather see the company raise seasonal employees' pay than invest in the next record breaking coaster if it meant they could be choosier about who they hire. (Sorry employees - I only own 100 shares so I'm not expecting Mr. Kinzel to come asking for my opinions before the next board meeting.) Why would I like to see an employee raise and housing upgrade? Because if I had to choose between betting the future of the company on either young families with kids (who are kept coming back by great customer service) or fickle, thrill seeking teenagers who couldn't care less about customer service but who have to be appeased with ever more expensive rides I'll bet on the former. This company's debt has ballooned over the past few years, and in my opinion it is time for it to take a step back and take a good hard look at its business strategy. Investing in great rides is important, but investing in the people who are on the front lines with your customers is more important. I would hate to see this company fall into the Six Flags trap of having great rides along with employees who don't give a rip. That's lead Six Flags to the brink of bankruptcy. I always try to visit Cedar Point or one of its sister parks every year just to get a first hand look at the employee/guest dynamic. If it deteriorates too much, then I'll know I should dump my stock. Sure that's just one factor among many, but it's important. The stock has been stagnant for two years now in the midst of an improving economy (albeit not as much in Ohio and Michigan); hopefully the company is not content merely assume the status quo is good enough.

bholcomb said:
Minimum Wage in Minnesota is $6.15. Ohio is, ironically enough, $4.25 apparently.

TopThrill420120 said:
I believe that the minimum wage in Ohio is $5.15. It may be $4.75, but I am pretty sure it is $5.15. Believe me, I made minimum wage at my first job for 6 months, and it is not alot of money.

I'm pretty sure it's $5.15 in Ohio.
This site says that federal minimum is $5.15 so it must be atleast that:
http://www.epionline.org/index_mw.cfm

Ohio has not updated the state minimum wage since the federal wage was increased above Ohio minimum wage. Until the Ohio legislature decides that they need a minimum wage above the federal minimum wage it will not be updated and the federal minimum wage will remain the official minimum wage in the state of Ohio.

I don't mind the $5.15/hr. minimum wage in Ohio, I just wish they'd change the seasonal/migrant worker exemption to overtime pay.

Midwest_Investor said:
I am a Cedar Fair shareholder. I was originally drawn to this stock because of its strong dividend and because I had worked at a Cedar Fair park (Valleyfair) as a seasonal employee for several years in the mid 1990s and considered it a well managed company.

I too am a Cedar Fair shareholder...*Shifty eyes*

I considered it a well managed company as well.

My opinion about the employee pay for the bottom feeders.

As a past employee: UP UP UP the pay should go.

As an Investor for the company: Pay them just the right amount that gets me the highest return on my investment.

As a guest that visits the park: I don't care how much you have to pay them, just get rid of the bad apple in the potentially delicious pie.

And theres my not so HUGE opinion...

I was talking to a ride host from KK and i checked the web to see and at six flags great adventure they make $6.00-$6.75 with no bonus

Interesting! Dorney paid up to $7.25 an hour, plus bonus. This was 5 years ago also.

I like what they offer at Valley Fair. A friend of mine that worked there also told me that they offer more money for every season you return. It would be nice if Cedar Point did that.

99er said:
I like what they offer at Valley Fair. A friend of mine that worked there also told me that they offer more money for every season you return. It would be nice if Cedar Point did that.

That would be nice! Cedar Point does give you a raise if you get promoted, which typically happens over time, but especially for Park Ops it can take a long time for people to get promoted.

I made it just about at high as a seasonal employee in rides can get, and over the course of 7 years, my pay rate went up a whopping total of $1.80/hr...

I know that a lot of us didn't do it for the money. I personally kept going back because I loved my job. I do think it's somewhat ridiculous though that there has been no base rate pay raise in rides since 2000. People who do work there sign their contracts, and agree to work for the rate offered to them though so it's not like they're working for a pay rate that they don't agree with. I know that we had our share of outstanding employees, but it seemed that unfortunately there were way too many "bad apples" which could be weeded out if there was something drawing more quality people in to work.

I look at this from the standpoint of end of the season staffing meetings, when we had to call employees who had finished their contracts, begging them to work for just a weekend... and management having to open up more positions for ride prides to work. This kinda reinforces the reality that a lot of people don't want to do a job with that much stress when they can make $2.00 more per hour working in any given retail or food position at their home. Just a theory, but had the job paid more, people would have been willing to drive those extra few miles, even though gas prices were way up. i could be wrong though, I'm no financial anaylist by any means, this is just strictly my opinion.

I understand that sometimes budget cuts need to happen, and people were affected across the board. To get a good base of strong employees and bring back the pride and enthusiasm that I used to see but has slowly diminished over the years, they're going to have to start paying the employees more money. It's ok though, we kept our freeway positions staffed...
*** Edited 1/4/2006 8:46:04 AM UTC by Rebekah615***