Hurts Donut is well known in Springfield. For those who aren’t local, they are a trendy specialty donut shop that started downtown and now has a second location.

Many would consider Hurts Donut a small business success story that created jobs. However, while technically successful they are also a perfect example of why so many families are struggling to make ends meet in Springfield, MO.

City-Data shows that Springfield consistently outpaces Missouri’s already dismal poverty numbers. There are several ways to view poverty statistics, and the site goes segment by segment. The entire state of Missouri showed at 19.4% for residents with income below the poverty line. Springfield sat at 32.7%. This calculator shows you the poverty line per family size, to demonstrate how those figures are determined.

This surely has a lot to do with the spiraling homeless and growing panhandling problem. The reality is, compared to working for one of the most successful bakeries in Springfield, panhandling can easily pay more. That’s on us to solve, not the people who are trying to stay off the streets by any means necessary.

Compare 25% of residents below the poverty line to a 3-5% unemployment rate, and it is clear that working hard is not enough to stay afloat.

Enter Hurts Donut. A trendy business, and one that most would hail as a success. But look at it from the perspective of the people who work there to survive and it changes quickly.

Recently, a relatively routine Facebook thread brought in people familiar with Hurts Donut and they contacted me with their experiences. A story began to emerge, and it wasn’t hard to connect the dots. Crafting a quality product under high demand for a thriving and expanding business that runs 24/7 would surely net a living wage, wouldn’t you think?

According to multiple sources who requested they remain anonymous, they earned approximately $8 an hour. Workers do not have benefits of any kind. I was told by multiple sources that they do not get paid sick time and are pressured to come in with the flu or other contagious illnesses. Workers are so impoverished they cannot afford to lose the pay or risk their jobs. They could be homeless before they could locate another job, even if they found one within a week or two, because they have zero extra money to save for emergencies. Hurts Donut did not reply to a Facebook message requesting more detailed information.

But small businesses need to keep their margins tight, correct? That sounds great until you see the post where the owner gets her dream house, with a washer and dryer in every single bedroom. Below, you can see they spent $27,000 on a “hobby” purchase. Just once perhaps it would be great to take some of that hobby money and divide it up among the people who make food they couldn’t afford to buy otherwise.

Considering that many employees cannot afford to pay rent on $8 an hour, it’s beyond tacky to brag about luxury that was earned on the backs of workers who churn out this product every day.

But then what is that compared to the day they bought a plane just as a surprise?

Or is it even worse, as “punishment for buying a plane” she buys “four wheel thing” and jokes about the impulse buy? She doesn’t even know what it is, just that she wants it. Tell you what, I’ll let you read it in her own words.

But before you do: $8 x 40 hours = $320 per week, after taxes approximately $272 per week. $1088 per month. $13,056 per year. Many employees don’t get 40 hours per week and a few said they did not make the full $8, so that means working for Hurts Donut likely drops an employee below the poverty line. According to the Census Bureau, Springfield’s median gross rent is $676, therefore a single person making Hurts Donut kind of money cannot afford to live in the average apartment. The lower cost of living that is hailed so much doesn’t matter if a worker still doesn’t earn enough to eat and keep a roof over their heads.

Two of their employees don’t earn in a year what was spent without thought on a toy.



If they can afford to buy a plane or a $27,000 “thing” on a lark, they can afford to pay a relatively small staff enough to make a significant change in their lives. Their employees could afford their own health insurance, then. This shows exactly how the wealthy continue to exploit the poor to enhance their riches, while refusing to give back. Their people come in with toothaches because they don’t have dental insurance. They come in sick. They live paycheck to paycheck and depend on shady payday loans to get them by when things get really tough.

This is why we have thriving businesses and starving people. It’s why most people have to work two jobs, or sometimes three jobs just to stay afloat. This can be said of hundreds, perhaps thousands of businesses that have worked together and price locked employees into desperation.

If we want to break the cycle of poverty, we must first make it so that working full time is enough to survive. For example, St. Louis has increased their minimum wage because there is no other answer to the issue but to let workers earn enough to remain independent of services and safety nets. Otherwise, government programs are subsidizing businesses like Hurts Donut, and enables them to rake in profits while workers rely on assistance to make it through the month.

“Today, the Supreme Court justified our rights as a city to make sure the people in our city can make a living wage,” Reed said later in a statement. “The people of St. Louis need to be able to afford groceries for their families and a roof over their heads.”

The people of Springfield deserve the same ability to earn a living.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Like this: Like Loading...