PROFILE
Daniel Reynolds
Vice President & CFO at Calloway's Nursery
- VIEW ARTICLES
- VIEW COMMENTS
- Posted on: 03/09/2018
Why does Lowe’s seem to have a problem turning shoppers into customers?
The tech is nice, but at the end of the day people are still the biggest driver of conversion. - Posted on: 02/28/2018
Starbucks is everywhere – or soon will be
In the face of a general supply/demand imbalance, landlords will face the same decision that retailers do: lower the price vs. differentiate the product. Sometimes, improving the space to attract more shoppers, making it more desirable for retailers, will be a better long-term option. Over time, value retailers will continue to shift toward lower-cost space while premium retailers will continue to shift toward higher-value space. - Posted on: 01/31/2018
Will retailers regret raising worker expectations around corporate tax cuts?
It was misleading to claim that the corporate tax rate reduction would increase wage rates. In the real world, business decisions are made using cost/benefit analysis on an after-tax basis. Through 2017, the 35% corporate federal tax rate meant that every $1.00 spent on labor received an effective taxpayer subsidy of $.35. Thus, an employee earning, say, $100,000 had a net after-tax cost of $65,000 ($100,000 - $35,000). Starting in 2018, the 21% federal corporate tax rate means that the corporation will now receive only a $21,000 tax subsidy; thus, increasing the after-tax cost of that employee to $79,000 ($100,000 - $21,000). That means the after-tax labor cost to the corporation will rise by over 20%. On the other hand, the expansion of bonus depreciation means that corporations will now have relatively more incentive to invest in automation. Such automation tends to have the short-term effect of reducing demand for labor. Both of these factors should combine to have a negative impact on labor demand and wage rates over the next few years.