Surprise: After Target Raised Their Minimum Wage, They Reduced Employee Hours

Seriously, did anyone see this coming?

(The Blaze) Target announced two years ago that it would raise the companywide minimum wage to $15 per hour by the end of 2020, winning plaudits from progressives and advocates for an increased minimum wage.

Now, with just one year before Target is scheduled to hit the magic $15 mark ($13 is the current minimum wage), it turns out that raising the minimum wage has impacted many Target employees in the exact way that opponents of mandatory minimum wage increases predict.

CNN Business spoke to numerous current and former Target employees who revealed their hours at the retail giant have been cut since Target announced its push to increase the store’s minimum wage, which for many employees means they lose their health insurance benefits. Target offers health benefits to employees who work more than 30 hours per week.

One employee, Heather, told CNN that when her hourly pay rate increased, management cut her total work hours.

“I got that dollar raise but I’m getting $200 less in my paycheck,” she said. “I have no idea how I’m going to pay rent or buy food.”

Other employees, Caren and Michael, told CNN their hours were cut substantially. Caren said she lost her health insurance — forcing her to quit her job — while Michael has had to pick up a side job just to make ends meet.

There are two choices when raising wages in a situation like this: cut hours or increase prices. Start raising prices and people go elsewhere.

One of the reason hours are being cut is the development of retail automation, namely in the form of the self-checkout line.

“They really cut those hours back from them with the introduction of self-checkout,” a former store director told CNN.

Automation has no salary. It has a cost, but, over time, that cost is less than that of multiple employees. And, as the article points out, Target is hiring a lot more people, mostly part time, since they do not get benefits, which is a big cost savings for Target.

There’s a price to be paid for being Woke. Target was happy to be all Woke when they raised the wage. See, there’s a third choice when companies do this: take it on the chin in terms of profit. Most aren’t willing to do that, though.

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31 Responses to “Surprise: After Target Raised Their Minimum Wage, They Reduced Employee Hours”

  1. Doom and Gloom says:

    Who would have thought that by raising everyones pay, the bottom line remaining static they would cut hours to keep the bottom line in tact?

    This is what Riles the left up so drastically. I watch Jimmy Dore. He is a looney toon progressive who hates pretty much all of America including the press, MSM and the democratic establishment. He hates Warren and Biden and HRC and OBAMA….yes OBAMA who promised so much and delivered nothing he promised.

    I say that to say this. The entire economy is run by BIG BANKS according to whacko leftists. HALF the nation is POOR according to the whacko leftist.

    So the solution is 15-20 dollar per hour minimum wage, medicare for all, Free college, free housing, government jobs for everyone and did you hear what Warren said in the DEBATES?

    WARREN………….ALL CORPORATIONS will be forced to let the works put 40 percent of the board members on the Board of directors which will result in almost every corporation collapsing as the workers vote themselves 100 dollars per hour raises.

    How do you say?

    Because you have leftist billionaires that will side with the 40 percent work force, have enough votes, let them vote and then sell their shares as the company collapses. I can see this happeing around the country.

    The DEMOCRATS WANT TO ANNIHILATE CAPITALISM. Not change it. Not TWEAK IT….DESTROY it from the face of the earth because socialism and communism works so great.

  2. Elwood P. Dowd says:

    How dumb is it to have health insurance tied to job. right? That’s horribly anti-free market, isn’t it? Maybe someone can think of a way around that.

    • formwiz says:

      Smarter than having it tied to the government.

    • dachs_dude says:

      If you want your health care provided to you by the same folks who run the DMV, you’re welcome to it.
      However, almost all of the Democratic 2020 candidates support eliminating private insurance. (If you like your insurance, you can keep it? WRONG!).
      By the way, health insurance isn’t the same as actual health care. Talk to the people in the UK about that.

  3. Elwood P. Dowd says:

    Target has 360,000 employees in the US. They interviewed 23 for this story.

    In a capitalist economy employees are allowed to seek employment elsewhere if they are dissatisfied with their employer or if a better opportunity affords itself.

    Walmart average hourly wage is $14.36

    • Doom and Gloom says:

      Walmart average hourly wage is $14.36

      The problem with that is simple Elwood. In NYC it cost a fortune to live. In Wyoming or South Dakota it costs considerably less.

      The problem once again with your interpretation of events is that democrats most of which bitch about pay live in high cost urban centers where their pay is anemic, and yet in red states in non urban areas their pay is adequate. Not getting rich but they are making it.

      Its all relative. That is why average hourly wage is totally bogus to what is really going on in America. Some states have adopted 15 bucks per hour yet that is the equivalent of 8 bucks an hour in a lot of red states.

    • formwiz says:

      For whom?

      Burger flipping is minimum wage. Most jobs in a department store aren’t.

  4. Doom and Gloom says:

    Warren’s Accountable Capitalism Act would require corporations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to obtain a new federal charter as a “United Stations corporation,” seeking to ensure it would weigh the interests of all stakeholders in decisions.
    Those corporations would then have to have at least 40 percent of board members elected by employees.

    AND YET……………

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) benefited financially from the existence of private prisons despite vowing to ban them on the grounds that they are “profiteering off cruelty,”

    and

    Warren invested in Vanguard Target Retirement 2025—a retirement account run by the Vanguard Group, an investment management company—which in turn invested more than 30 percent of its money in Vanguard’s domestic stock index fund. Vanguard was the top shareholder of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and one of the largest of GEO Group, both private prison companies, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    AND

    Senator Warren believes that the Export-Import Bank helps create American jobs and spur economic growth, but recognizes that there is room for improvement in the bank’s operations. She looks forward to reviewing re-authorization legislation if and when it is introduced.
    FreedomWorks opposes the Ex-Im Bank because it loans out taxpayer money to big politically-connected corporations and banks.

    It’s not just groups on the right who are opposed.
    Ralph Nader has said that the left and right must come together to end the Ex-Im Bank.

    AND

    This legislation complements the Ending Too Big to Jail Act, which Warren introduced in 2018 and is reintroducing again this Congress. That proposal would require the CEOs of big banks to certify that nothing illegal is happening under their watch and create a permanent governmental investigative unit to look into financial crimes.

    Warren wants CEO’s to go to jail. MY how the left is turning authoritarian even wanting to put TRUMP admin officials in jail for not playing nice in politics.

    But the COUP of the LYING WARREN Campaign is this.

    Publishing (#1)
    Book, newspaper & periodical publishing (#1)
    Cable & satellite TV production (#2)
    Hospitals/Nurs Homes (#2)

    Interesting that the MSM is pouring money into the woman who they know is going to win the nomination. ALL RUN BY GIANT CORPORATIONS> She wants to gut healthcare…..they are second on the list of contributors to her campaign.

    Wall Street’s Democratic donors reportedly warned they’ll back Trump over Elizabeth Warren

    The MSM run by corporations dont want Warren at all. Period. Yet those anti capitalist leftist do in fact want her to be the nominee.

    This is setting up to be a royal trouncing as the big democratic wall street donors fund the GOP even at a time when the Democrats are struggling for money and holding fund raisers IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

    Tom Perez Holds Fundraisers In Mexico As DNC Struggles To Raise Money

    The New York Times reported this morning that Senator Elizabeth Warren is making the rounds with the who’s who of Wall Street, including a secret meeting with JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon:

    She attended a party fund-raiser in July at the summer residence of a former UBS executive, and earlier this summer she met privately in Washington with JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon.”
    But it gets better. Wall Street is ratting her out for saying one thing to them at fundraisers, and something else on the campaign stump:
    ““I think Senator Warren’s views are more pragmatic; I think she is very different in a conversation than when she’s on the stump,” said Robert Wolf, the former UBS executive who hosted Ms. Warren and other Senate Democrats for a fund-raiser on Martha’s Vineyard this summer.”

    HILLARY CLINTON YOU NEED A PRIVATE POSITION AND A PUBLIC ONE.

    WARREN IS A LYING< CONIVING POS politician who is calling for Trump to be impeached…..LOLOLOLOLOL…just wait lady when you get to 1600 Pennsylvania ave. IF YOU DO.

  5. david7134 says:

    The problem with raising the minimum wage is that Union contracts and many others are tied into it. So if the minimum wage goes up, this automatically resets wages for special interest groups, like Unions. That is why the liberal are fighting for the increase. The liberals could give a damn about the wages low income people bring home, we have Jeff as an excellent example of the don’t care attitude. But, if the Unions get a big pay raise, then they are going to definitely be in the Dem corner come election day. And this election will be a big one. The survivability of the Dem party rest on it. I predict that Trump will be re-elected in a landslide and a clear mandate, the House will turn and the Senate will get a clear majority (hopefully with elimination of many RINOs). That is the trend in Louisiana.

  6. It is very likely that the loss of hours had nothing at all to do with the pay raise.

    Target schedules employees based on the number of employees they need to cover each shift and accomplish the tasks that are required. None of that changes as a result of higher wages. If Target feels they have too many employees working the floor based on their needs for such things, it would be foolish to wait for a pay raise to reduce hours.

    On the other hand, implementing Obamacare had a direct 1 to 1 relationship with reducing hours since the law specifically mandated health insurance for employees working more than 30 hours. But even years before that, Target, as well as other large employers, learned that having more employees who worked fewer hours each was better for their business model for lots of reasons. For one, they were not as dependent on any single employee showing up. The employees became mach more flexible in filling gaps and vacancies and could work extra hours without the company fearing busting an overtime cap.

    The underlying fact is that an employee has a specific value to the company, based on what that employee does. If the cost of that employee exceeds the value, they are a money loss and should be let go. If the company has an economically unsustainable business model that provides goods and services that are more expensive than the customers are willing to pay, then the company goes under and stops employing anyone. That is true even if the company only has one employee.

    • Doom and Gloom says:

      Why would target have too many people to start with? Rarely are large corporations going to overstaff on purpose with of course some exceptions.

      Since my Granddaughter works for Target as did my wife for 13 years along with my son in law a long time ago and another grandson a couple of years ago I can tell you that they use bare-bones crews and they are always calling people in on days off. Target is not a company that would be guilty of OVERSTAFFING as you suggest and then just randomly trimming the fat at the exact time pay raises go into effect.

      You do make a great case for the capitalist model and apply it randomly to Target but I hardly think this is the case here with a company that is already notorious for being UNDERSTAFFED in every store.

      Additionally, there is a great article by ThinkProgress about Target under Obamacare in which they reveal that only about 10 percent of part-time employees who work less than 30 hours per week buy Target insurance, to begin with since today you can stay on your parent’s insurance until your 28. Target’s workforce has grown younger since Obamacare to save them money.

      In fact, most Targets have very few 40 hour per week jobs and even my wife who was considered full time was only scheduled for 38 hours every week so she could be listed as part-time before Obamacare changed full time from 40 to 30 hours per week. That was for tax purposes for the company.

      Target is one of the shittiest companies on the planet and once you get 1 year of service in they are constantly looking for ways to fire you. Obamacare is the least of their worries. They have other benefits they hate paying out to people with more than one year.

      My wife was fired for buying a clearance item for four dollars after working for them for 13 years. This was one month after she used their 90-day family leave to take care of her mother who was dying of cancer. One month after returning to work she noticed the Gestapo following her around nonstop until she purchased the item which was marked for clearance.

      Target has a policy that employees cannot buy clearance items, even though everyone in the store including managers had been doing so for the 13 plus years she worked there.

      I hope they lay them all off and close their doors. Target is a disgrace of a company but it certainly does fit the capitalist model. I’ll grant you that and if Lizzie Warren wants to break them up and punish them for being a giant corporation including putting the CEO in JAIL for anything his/her company does wrong….Hey Ill vote for that in this one particular instance.

      • likely, they weren’t overstaffed to begin with. The market changed. Plus managers aren’t necessarily making exactly the right staff choice every day. They have more self-check out lanes now, so they need fewer people doing that task. Targets I have seen lately look pretty empty inside, so less staff is needed to restock shelves. Within an upper and lower bound, they are simply adjusting to local conditions.

  7. Dana says:

    Robots don’t call off sick, they don’t take cigarette breaks or have vacation days. Corporations are going to use them wherever they can, regardless of the minimum wage. A hike in the minimum wage may cause such automation to go faster, but not raising it will not prevent automation.

    • Elwood P. Dowd says:

      Automation is not new. Corporations, small businesses and even farmers have been adopting and using automation for over a century and this has led to greatly increased productivity and wealth. The horse-drawn carriage and buggy-whip manufacturers are gone. Plows and harnesses for plowhorses are gone. When’s the last time you had a telegram delivered? Talked to a long-distance operator? Laptop computers, cell phones and wireless networks has changed the way many people work. The economy and the people seem to survive.

      What is different is the expanding gap between the rich and not-rich. Middle class used to mean a primary breadwinner, a house, a pension, a vacation every year, money for tuition… Not so today.

      What has eviscerated the middle class… gov’t policies that support the wealthy at the expense of the working classes. Policies governing labor, trade, taxes, immigration, fiscal, monetary…

      Tuition has skyrocketed, healthcare too, corporations have nearly eliminated pensions… and most households today have multiple earners. Yet, in aggregate, Americans are getting wealthier!

      What to do? Increase the minimum wage, make taxes more progressive, stop killing unions, stop putting US workers in direct competition with underpaid and unprotected foreign workers, relax immigration on highly skilled (i.e., highly paid workers such as doctors, lawyers, architects etc), universal healthcare, universal childcare, universal education/training… we should be easing the burdens on the working classes rather than assaulting them.

      Why should most of the newly generated wealth go to the superrich and little to the people actually doing all the work?

      America rebuilt after WWII with a 90% top marginal tax rate, building state universities, the Interstate highway system, ports, airports, bridges…

      • formwiz says:

        What is different is the expanding gap between the rich and not-rich. Middle class used to mean a primary breadwinner, a house, a pension, a vacation every year, money for tuition… Not so today.

        Then tell the Lefties to cut taxes more.

        What has eviscerated the middle class… gov’t policies that support the wealthy at the expense of the working classes. Policies governing labor, trade, taxes, immigration, fiscal, monetary…

        Until Reagan came along, those policies were controlled by the Democrats.

        Tuition has skyrocketed, healthcare too, corporations have nearly eliminated pensions… and most households today have multiple earners. Yet, in aggregate, Americans are getting wealthier!

        Blame healthcare on Idiot Boy. And it’s governments and unions that have eliminated pensions.

        Most households need multiple earners because of Democrat-imposed taxes.

        What to do?

        How’s ’bout going back to the way it was before the Demos taxed everything?

        Increase the minimum wage

        Make it more expensive to run a business.

        make taxes more progressive stop killing unions, stop putting US workers in direct

        When the rich stop spending money, the economy goes down the tubes. Think 1991.

        competition with underpaid and unprotected foreign workers

        Trump’s doing that.

        relax immigration on highly skilled (i.e., highly paid workers such as doctors, lawyers, architects etc)

        Yeah, put all the American universal doctors, lawyers, architects, and programmers out of work.

        universal healthcare

        We tried it, didn’t like it, let the Euros have it.

        universal childcare

        Cut taxes so Mom can stay home.

        universal education/training…

        That’s what public school used to do before the teacher unions came along.

        we should be easing the burdens on the working classes rather than assaulting them.

        Then send all the Lefties to Syria and let them protect the Kurds.

        Why should most of the newly generated wealth go to the superrich and little to the people actually doing all the work?

        It isn’t, but the guy who invents the system ought to profit commensurately with it.

        America rebuilt after WWII with a 90% top marginal tax rate, building state universities, the Interstate highway system, ports, airports, bridges…

        It also had the only functioning industrial plant on the planet for 20 years.

        This nonsense is so easily debunked, even a caveman could do it.

        • Doom and Gloom says:

          What is different is the expanding gap between the rich and not-rich. Middle class used to mean a primary breadwinner, a house, a pension, a vacation every year, money for tuition… Not so today.

          YOUR PROGRESSIVE…….THINGS ARE CHANGING.

        • Elwood P. Dowd says:

          Commenter: Then tell the Lefties to cut taxes more.

          Another commenter says a big problem is that the working classes don’t pay taxes; only the rich do. and “An extremely small number of ppl pay a majority of the taxes,” but yet the working classes are still struggling and the rich get richer.

          How do get more money into the pockets of the working classes?? How do we reduce the economic burdens on working families?

          If only the rich pay taxes, how will cutting taxes (again) on the wealthy help the workers??

          Actually, the working classes do pay taxes. Even if their income tax is low, they still have regressive payroll taxes and regressive state and local taxes (which are increasing).

          • Liljeffyatemypuppy says:

            Silly little sissybitch asked:

            How do get more money into the pockets of the working classes?? 

            https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/10/15/its_a_middle-class_boom_141497.html

            Try to keep up, little missy.

            Bwaha. Lolgfy loser. https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

          • formwiz says:

            First, who said the working classes don’t pay taxes?

            Why do I think it’s you?

            the working classes are still struggling and the rich get richer.

            No, the rich may be getting richer, but, since we got rid of the Communist, the working stiffs are doing just fine.

            How do get more money into the pockets of the working classes?? How do we reduce the economic burdens on working families?

            Not with socialism. Just look at Venezuela. Again, you want to reduce the economic burdens on working families, cut taxes. The Feds waste tons of money, especially on entitlements.

            Get rid of them and life eases up on everybody.

            If only the rich pay taxes, how will cutting taxes (again) on the wealthy help the workers??

            Clearly they don’t, Socrates, but the rich spend more so giving them more money to spend means more jobs for the little guys.

            See what happens when you don’t listen to Paul Krugman?

            Even if their income tax is low, they still have regressive payroll taxes and regressive state and local taxes (which are increasing).

            As I said…

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            Talking Points typed: who said the working classes don’t pay taxes?

            Look at #9 below…

            and trickle-down economics has worked so well over the years…

            So you want to put the hatchet to entitlements? Medicare and Social Security. You should recommend to The Donald that he run on slashing Medicare and SS after promising to protect them. On the other hand his voters knows he lies, and his promises are made to get him through the next 24 hr period.

            So are you advocating cutting payroll taxes, state and local taxes. Agreed, but that will add trillions more to the trump debt unless you raise taxes on the upper 50%. But that’s right, you want to slash spending on Medicare and SS.

            Trump’s 2019 budget was the largest in history resulting in a $1.1 trillion deficit. He increased Defense to nearly 1 trillion, another $400 billion is discretionary for HHS, HUD, Education, etc. Interest on the debt is nearly $500 billion. Social Security will cost $1.1 trillion, Medicare about $700 billion and Medicaid about $400 billion.

            Where will you find the savings in trump’s budget to balance the budget, especially if you’re cutting a trillion or so out of revenues? N.B. – The US pays approx. twice as much per person for healthcare than other advanced nations.

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            TEACH is a silly little sissybitch.

            LilFluffy again cites the discredited hack, Stephen Moore.

            Like trump (and most NuCons, Moore lies.

          • Liljeffyatemypuppy says:

            So refute the numbers whiny little sissybitch.
            You can’t.

            Lolgfy loser. https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            TEACH is a silly little sissybitch.

            LilFluffy, we already refuted Moore’s thesis.

            “I have answered your questions, and that is enough,
            Don’t give yourself airs!
            Do you think we can listen all day to such stuff?
            Be off, or we’ll kick you downstairs!”

  8. Jl says:

    “Make taxes more progressive..”.The US already has one of the most progressive tax systems in the free world. An extremely small number of ppl pay a majority of the taxes. “America rebuilt after WW2 with a marginal 90% tax rate.”. And with that 90% rate came a load of deductions, most of which are gone now for that income group. And the top 1% now pay a larger share of the total tax bill with a top marginal rate of 37% than they did with it at 90%. “America rebuilt..interstate highway system, ports, airports, bridges..with a top 99% rate. Nice try J, but as all those may be correlated, there’s absolutely no proof of causation between them. We built highways because of a 90% tax rate? Uh, no

  9. Jl says:

    “Ease the burden on the working class..”. What? The bottom 50% of wage earners hardly pay any income tax now as it is. But you want to ease their burden? Then don’t mandate they use expensive and unreliable renewable energy- let them have access to cheap and reliable fossil fuel energy.

  10. Winston St. John says:

    According to new Census Bureau data on the incomes of America’s middle class. This study by former Census Bureau researchers and now statisticians at Sentier Research has found gigantic income gains for the middle class under Trump.

    The median or average-income family has seen a gain of $5,003 since Trump came into office. Median family income is now (August 2019) $65,976, up from about $61,000 when he entered office (January 2017).

    Under George W. Bush, the household income gains were a little over $400 in eight years, and under Barack Obama the gains were $1,043. That was in eight years for each. Under Trump, in less than three years, the extra income is about three times larger.

    Easy to see that despite the left lying, when they are lying to people they are depending on for votes and those people are looking at huge paychecks their like HUH? Its why Bernie Bros will vote for Trump….they know the economy is strong, the Middle class is not sucking and Trump is a peacenik like all Bernie bros.

    That is if he can somehow keep the GOP from impeaching him.

  11. formwiz says:

    Talking Points typed: who said the working classes don’t pay taxes?

    Look at #9 below…

    and trickle-down economics has worked so well over the years…

    Actually, it has. It only stopped when Zippy tried to fundamentally transforming the United States of America.

    So you want to put the hatchet to entitlements? Medicare and Social Security. You should recommend to The Donald that he run on slashing Medicare and SS after promising to protect them. On the other hand his voters knows he lies, and his promises are made to get him through the next 24 hr period.

    They’re the Demos cash cow, but they’ve been mismanaged for decades. Privatize them to get the politicians’ dirty mitts off them, invest the money in the markets and get double the returns, institute a means test.

    No, we’re proud that Trump actually keeps his promises. It’s Zippy whop gave us If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.

    Bell&Howell never made such a projector.

    So are you advocating cutting payroll taxes, state and local taxes. Agreed, but that will add trillions more to the trump debt unless you raise taxes on the upper 50%. But that’s right, you want to slash spending on Medicare and SS.

    Try again.

    If the money’s not there, the politicians won’t be able to find new ways to buy votes.

    Trump’s 2019 budget was the largest in history resulting in a $1.1 trillion deficit. He increased Defense to nearly 1 trillion, another $400 billion is discretionary for HHS, HUD, Education, etc. Interest on the debt is nearly $500 billion. Social Security will cost $1.1 trillion, Medicare about $700 billion and Medicaid about $400 billion.

    Talk to Occasional Cortex, Hell’s Harem, and Pelosi Galore. They run the House, where all appropriations must begin.

    Where will you find the savings in trump’s budget to balance the budget, especially if you’re cutting a trillion or so out of revenues? N.B. – The US pays approx. twice as much per person for healthcare than other advanced nations

    No, we pay for medical care. We don’t want the kind of garbage care the Euros have. The savings come from ending welfare, privatizing Social Security, Simple, if you don’t have the money, you can’t waste the money.

  12. formwiz says:

    TEACH is a silly little sissybitch.

    LilFluffy again cites the discredited hack, Stephen Moore.

    Like trump (and most NuCons, Moore lies.

    How do you know bunny suit is turning into bear suit?

    He’s losing the debate.

  13. formwiz says:

    TEACH is a silly little sissybitch.\

    Keep it up. That’s how the bear suit bought the farm.

    LilFluffy, we already refuted Moore’s thesis.

    In what parallel universe was this. Moore only repeated what the Census said. Bunny suit is trying to develop delusions of adequacy.

    “I have answered your questions, and that is enough,
    Don’t give yourself airs!
    Do you think we can listen all day to such stuff?
    Be off, or we’ll kick you downstairs!”

    Considering how often all of us kick your ass on a daily basis, the only one who ever goes downstairs is you.

  14. Elwood P. Dowd says:

    Hasn’t the Gold Lame Pantsuit read TEACH’s The Code?

    “Ye can rant and rave at me, but be mostly polite to any other commenters. I will put up with quite a bit, but be mostly respectful to others.”

    So, TEACH is a silly little sissybitch.

    Moore did not only repeat the Census data. He also added suspect “data” from a private firm. And that “data” (calculated differently than the real Census data) was the bulk of trump’s “increase”. Just refuted it again! Stephen Moore is a partisan hack and an advisor of trump.

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