At the Senate barbershop, formally called Senate Hair Care Services, the top four barbers and stylists made more than twice that - $54,761; $70,349; $73,658; and $81,641 - plus they have a generous 401(k) plan, health care and paid vacation.

Over $80,000 plus benefits for a barber who doesn't even use his razor to slit the throats of the Senators who deserve it? WTF?

Knows a little somethin about gov't run barbershops.

The senate does not need a barber shop. Close it.

James!: The senate does not need a barber shop. Close it.

It's a perk. They don't get rid of perks.

Shave and a Haircut, 216 Bits.

Wait, the barbers get union scale PLUS tips? Geez. If it's running into a deficit raise the rates or get rid of it.

ArkAngel: At the Senate barbershop, formally called Senate Hair Care Services, the top four barbers and stylists made more than twice that - $54,761; $70,349; $73,658; and $81,641 - plus they have a generous 401(k) plan, health care and paid vacation.

Over $80,000 plus benefits for a barber who doesn't even use his razor to slit the throats of the Senators who deserve it? WTF?

To be fair, bikini waxing those Senators cannot be an easy job.
Try to get that out of your minds.

Have these people never heard of "Super Cuts"?

WhackingDay: Okay, I normally don't have trouble with union people being paid more and having better benefits, but $80k for a barber? Seriously? And I don't care what services they offer, their clientele is old white men, so they only need to have barbers, not stylists. If they want stylists they can find one out in the free market.

The guys down the street make $30K. Gotta love it when socialism prevails!

ArkAngel: Over $80,000 plus benefits for a barber who doesn't even use his razor to slit the throats of the Senators who deserve it? WTF?

Correction: $80K plus benefits to stop the barber from using his razor to slit the throats of the Senators who deserve it.

ImmaculateContraception: It's there for novelty and convenience.

Of of the things that Newt Gingrich did when he was the Speaker of the House was to stop ice delivery. It was a tradition that every day each office was delivered fresh ice in buckets. Obviously this tradition started before there was electricity, but instead of just buying an ice maker, the Capitol kept hand delivering buckets of ice, into the mid 1990s!

I think they saved like $200,000 per year on that.

wildcardjack: Today, the barbershop is open to the public and had 27,000 customers last year.

Let's take that as 27k trims, at $20 a pop... $540k.

Roughly add up the salaries, $284k, throw in the benefits and we're up to $514k.

Where's the $300k gap coming from?

I think they need to open the shop to outside bidding. Either rent the space to Pro-Cuts or Sports Clips or lease out the individual stations like they do in salons.

Or do what they do on bases - charge the barbers so much an hour for the chair. Anything over that goes in their pockets.
I really miss getting a haircut on base, $4 plus tip, and unless you were an idiot and went on a weekend morning, you never spent more than 10 minutes in the shop. They were some highly motivated barbers; occassional bleeding was to be expected though.

ImmaculateContraception: clambam: Look! Those people in traditionally low-paying jobs are making more money than I think is appropriate! Fire them and throw them out on the street! That $300K is .0000000000001% of the deficit! It's a start!

The fact that it is a small fraction of the deficit doesn't change the fact that it is unsustainable without public funds and there isn't a reason for the government to be in the hair-cutting business anyway. With something like healthcare you can make an argument for sinking public funds into the program... what is the argument for the senate barber?

It's there for novelty and convenience. Charge appropriately so it can cover its costs or shut it down.

See, this is a major problem in this country. Politicians get absolutely shiat on. There's no possibility of a politician actually getting any credit whatsoever for doing anything good. Do something bad? You get shiat on. Do something good? You get shiat on. Have a fringe benefit like cheap haircuts? You get shiat on. Airdrop millions of dollars into the desert so they disappear? You get shiat on. And there's no difference in magnitude in the shiatting. Doesn't matter what they do, it's all the same shiat.

I mean, look at this. You're seriously biatching about the Senate barber and framing it in exactly the same terms as trillions in wasteful defense spending. People want to know why lobbyists have so much influence? They're the only voices politicians can hear against the white noise. SOPA/PIPA was successfully backed down because, for once, there was a concrete and largely unified statement being made.

"Politicians are wholly evil, crooked and corrupt without exception!" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Captain_Ballbeard: Why shouldn't they enjoy this perk? The American House of Lords DOES actually rule this country, despite all the distractions to the contrary. Trace the family trees back through the US Senate and it looks a lot like the Tories never left.

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At the very least, dad's side of the family never had anyone in Parliament

Karac: wildcardjack: Today, the barbershop is open to the public and had 27,000 customers last year.

Let's take that as 27k trims, at $20 a pop... $540k.

Roughly add up the salaries, $284k, throw in the benefits and we're up to $514k.

Where's the $300k gap coming from?

I think they need to open the shop to outside bidding. Either rent the space to Pro-Cuts or Sports Clips or lease out the individual stations like they do in salons.

Or do what they do on bases - charge the barbers so much an hour for the chair. Anything over that goes in their pockets.
I really miss getting a haircut on base, $4 plus tip, and unless you were an idiot and went on a weekend morning, you never spent more than 10 minutes in the shop. They were some highly motivated barbers; occassional bleeding was to be expected though.

I had no idea AAFES ran their barbershops like strip clubs. Huh.