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This art project made me laugh with recognition. Not only does it capture busy-work essence of most minimum-wage jobs, it really makes the point of how low-paying they are:
The minimum wage machine allows anybody to work for minimum wage. Turning the crank will yield one penny every 5.04 seconds, for $7.15 an hour (NY state minimum wage). If the participant stops turning the crank, they stop receiving money. The machine’s mechanism and electronics are powered by the hand crank, and pennies are stored in a plexiglas box.
Now, some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations:
Poverty activists where I am have long been agitating for a $10/hour minimum wage. That would be 1,000 pennies per hour. But, because there are 3,600 seconds in every hour, that’s still only a penny every 3.6 seconds. Try cranking that crank for a minute and a half, and I’ll bet it seems like the longest minute a a half of your life. Also, congratulations, you’ll have earned a whole quarter.
(via Boingboing)
The sad part is that some people get paid more money to do less than turning a crank.
At least turning a crank doesn’t damage anything…