Comment by N00bN00b | Hacker News Reader

Comment by N00bN00b | Hacker News Reader

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What is it called.. Market failure? It's got a name, I don't remember it.

The job market doesn't support certain overqualified people. I gave you an example.

Rationally, you'd think that a cashier that works 3x faster than other cashiers can make 3x the income. Or even 2x.

A plumber could do that, or a woodworker (they might have to start their own company, but they can do it). But a cashier relies on employers and they're just not going to pay a cashier that much. Cashier being an example. There are many support jobs were it just doesn't pay to be good at your job.

These people are technically incentivized to be mediocre. And they often are. Some of these positions allow growth paths, but not all. And just because I'm the world's best cashier, doesn't mean I'm a good store manager.

> Rationally, you'd think that a cashier that works 3x faster than other cashiers can make 3x the income. Or even 2x.

I don't think so, because a cashier's main job is just to wait for customers to show up. They are faster at clearing bottlenecks when a lot of customers show up at once, but they don't handle anywhere close to 3x as many customers over the course of their entire shift.

That's going to depend on the store and the shift.

I'm sure you understand that I gave an example that's easy to understand and I'm not trying to discuss the intricate details of being a high performing cashier.

If it's really needed I can come up with a different example, but otherwise just assume it's not a neighborhood pet store, but a very busy and successful supermarket with 35 check out registers that are always busy.

But you can just as easily swap it with an overqualified dentist assistant that provides a massive value by detecting things the dentist misses.

Or a engineer at a mine that's so damn good, that he repeatedly detects machinery failure 5 minutes before it breaks catastrophically (and some of these machines cost millions).

Or a bricklayer that lays three times faster than any other bricklayer. It doesn't matter.

The point is they are supportive roles that can't function independently of the corporation, yet will never receive a salary that's proportional to the value they provide.

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