D&D 5E Price Increase on D&D & MtG coming

[TheSword]

An individual’s wages may, if they are able to get raises and/or promoted. Minimum wage mostly doesn’t, so people who get passed up for those increases or for various reasons have to move from job to job (which is most of the workforce) get left having to work multiple jobs to survive.

Minimum wage where it exists does usually go up. It sounds like a federal minimum has been set by law but states that believe in a min wage do increase it. A minimum wage that doesn’t increase has no business calling itself a minimum wage.

None of this changes the fact that average wages in America have been increasing by anywhere between 3.5% and 6% annually between 2014 and 2019. As shown in the graph above.

 

[ReshiIRE]

As a nit pick (because median wages have been rising in the United States), the average is a really, really poor measure for wages or salaries in the world, since it is so easily distorted by CEO and richer pay; if you look at the median wages in the US from this site:

and look at the figures on the site, you will notice that the median wage is anywhere between 64 and 70 percent of the average - which is a big, big distortion.

 

[TheSword]

As a nit pick (because median wages have been rising in the United States), the average is a really, really poor measure for wages or salaries in the world, since it is so easily distorted by CEO and richer pay; if you look at the median wages in the US from this site:

and look at the figures on the site, you will notice that the median wage is anywhere between 64 and 70 percent of the average - which is a big, big distortion.

Both are going up though is the point. The retail price increase is a reality as a result. The gap between rich and poor is not really relevant to D&D’s pricing.

 

[Zardnaar]

As a nit pick (because median wages have been rising in the United States), the average is a really, really poor measure for wages or salaries in the world, since it is so easily distorted by CEO and richer pay; if you look at the median wages in the US from this site:

and look at the figures on the site, you will notice that the median wage is anywhere between 64 and 70 percent of the average - which is a big, big distortion.

Not sure how it works elsewhere but the "average" wage here turned out only the top 30% got it or more.

I'm not even convinced the median is that accurate.

 

[ReshiIRE]

Both are going up though is the point. The retail price increase is a reality as a result. The gap between rich and poor is not really relevant to D&D’s pricing.

That's why I called what I was saying a nitpick; my post was more of a tangent.

Though I would say that people should be aware of what people actually can afford when discussing D&D's pricing, so I think making it clear the median is what one should use is somewhat important to the conversation.

 

[Zardnaar]

That's why I called what I was saying a nitpick; my post was more of a tangent.

Though I would say that people should be aware of what people actually can afford when discussing D&D's pricing, so I think making it clear the median is what one should use is somewhat important to the conversation.

I suspect most of D&D player base is in the top 30% of income earners. Or come from that background.

 

[Dragonsbane]

I didn't read the whole article, but it will be interesting to see if PDF prices rise as well.

 

[happyhermit]

In the United States, the Federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 unchanged since 2009. Some states have increased it locally, but folks on minimum wage in large parts of the country have not had a single raise in 12 years.

Yes, sorry I didn't make it more clear but I thought Charlaquin had mentioned before that they resided in Canada as I do and was responding as much to this as what I quoted;

In my country, minimum wage hasn’t increased to keep up with the rising cost of living, so why should the prices of goods?

Minimum wages in Canada are pretty much pegged to inflation/consumer index or they have increased even more than that in the last while. You really can't compare minimum wages by country or even province to province due to massive differences in cost of living but the rate of increase is more relevant to price increases anyways.

 

[Blue]

Employees can want in one hand while their employers poo in the other, and health insurance coverage is abysmal in the only part of the developed world where it still depends on employers. Inflation doesn’t make one iota of difference in those matters for the vast majority of the workforce.

If by "vast majority of the workforce" you are talking about those earning minimum wage would you share what country you are in? For example, in the US only 1.5% of the workforce makes minimum wage. (Source: Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2020 : BLS Reports: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

By looking at median salary, we can see that workforce costs have been going up. Add in the parts you dropped - material costs and outside service costs, and yes, costs are going up for businesses.

I understand you are arguing how you want it - and I agree with you that the obscene C?O salaries/bonuses/other-compensation should give way first, and that lawmakers should correct minimum wage to a sustainably living wage (e.g. sustainable - automatically increases with inflation.)

I'm not even convinced the median is that accurate.

Luckily, Math is convinced the median is that accurate. Any particular person's belief is irrelevant. Now, there is a problem with a shrinking middle class, so there's a less entries between the high end and the low end, but it's still quite substantial.

 

[J-H]

I don't want to drag this too far off into politics, but from the economics side on wages I would like to point out a couple of things:
1) Those minimum wage workers have jobs because they produce more for the employer than they cost. These are typically entry level positions. Minimum wage or near-minimum wage employees tend to be unskilled, teenagers, or people with disabilities (blind, autistic, low-IQ, etc.). If the cost of that labor goes up substantially, it makes more sense to fire several low-skill employees and replace them with a kiosk and one mid-skill employee. Look at what's happened to check-out stands at Wal-Mart over the last decade. You get two actual cashiers (usually older women) and a couple of giant sections of self-checkouts, each staffed by 1-2 employees. WM wouldn't do that unless they believed it saved them money.

Minimum wage hikes have (citation needed, it's been a while) been associated with decreases in employment opportunities for teenagers and others who fill entry-level jobs. If you are going to college and can get an internship, this doesn't matter. If you're lucky to get out of high school and have no support network, having a hard time finding a job to start with can really hurt your chances of getting started on life and staying out of poverty.

In some ways it's "better" and "more efficient" but there's also a human cost to those policy decisions, and it's usually overlooked by the front row kids who are involved in the discussions.

2) Hourly wages aren't the total cost of employment. Add 30-35% on to the hourly rate to get the company's total cost of employment in the US. This includes taxes (SSA/Medicare), unemployment-related costs (not sure), insurance, payroll/HR, and whatever benefits are included. This is the number my boss uses.

To cycle this back from economics to D&D, I like looking for the unintended consequences of decisions, and at least making them visible to the players. You introduced magi-tech cloth spinning? Great, everyone has more and cheaper clothes, but now 80% of women have 6 hours per day of time that's now unproductive and not generating income or value for their household. Did you just push them below the survival line? If so, they may be upset and try to smash your new factory. Fixing the problem via Fireball will just get you thrown out of town.