Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Claims First Business Victim – More Expected to Follow

It was inevitable, especially if you consider economic principles. There are more who will follow.

It's being called the first official casualty of the new minimum wage in Seattle. A well-known business, Cascade Designs, has announced it's moving 20% of it's total workforce (100 workers) to it's Reno, Nevada plant. It's because the new minimum wage will eventually cost, according to company officials, "a few million dollars a year."

If you're an outdoor person, you've probably used some of their products. They make MSR camping stoves, Platypus hydration packs, SeaLine dry bags, and Therma-A-Rest sleeping pads - all utilized by campers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts.

The company's need to expand in Seattle was one of the factors, but the $15 minimum wage boost was the nudge that Founder/CEO John Burroughs said prompted the move. Burroughs says they are competing against overseas companies who have people working for $2 an hour. The company, which has been in Seattle since 1972, says they've been able to stay very competitive even when the wage was between $9 and $10 per hour, but the gradual increases to $11, then $12-plus and eventually $15 would drive them under.

The move is a preventative measure to ward off failure a couple of years down the road.

It's already expensive enough to expand a business on the West side, but the prospect of the minimum wage jumping several dollars an hour was too much. Some of the workers will be transferred to Reno, but others will have to re-apply for their jobs. The company also has a plant in Ireland.

The company says numerous less expensive business costs in Reno will allow some of their workers to keep the same amount of disposable income, even if they take a wage cut due to the new plant being started.

With the new plant being started in Reno, officials did not say if eventually the entire Seattle operation would be moved there, but it appears that's very likely over the next few years.