What is an item worth?

[Kazamoto]

If a company is going to have a permanent increase in cost in some way (increasing workers wages), a good company that wants to maximize profit will try to offset it in some way if possible.
I don't see how you interpreted my post as suggesting a company would say "yup, these profits are good, lets stop here" when i specifically stated that they would react to any large changes such as a change in the minimum wage.
Yes they could increase their wages and still have profits, however it won't be as much as it should have been, which is a loss in potential income. If their income statement shows lower performance compared to previous years (even if it's still a positive) it will cause investors to worry which will cause their stock to go down, which means their equity goes down which means their assets go down (since assets = liabilities + equity). So in short, a company will do what it can to maintain as high profits as possible, even if they'd still be well off if they just accepted the change like it was nothing, a company wants to be efficient and thus they will react to the change.

Where I said the "yup, these profits are good, lets stop here" part I was trying to imply that the actions you are talking about would not happen in a reactionary fashion, companies would always be cutting costs and trying to maximize profit. They may be slightly more agressive about it were minimum wages to go up, but there isn't much walmart doesn't already do to cut costs.

How many times have you been to a walmart where the lines are 10 people deep, but out of 20 checkout counters only 3 are open?

[Zigkid3]

Where I said the "yup, these profits are good, lets stop here" part I was trying to imply that the actions you are talking about would not happen in a reactionary fashion, companies would always be cutting costs and trying to maximize profit. They may be slightly more agressive about it were minimum wages to go up, but there isn't much walmart doesn't already do to cut costs.

How many times have you been to a walmart where the lines are 10 people deep, but out of 20 checkout counters only 3 are open?

Exactly, hence why the only other option would be to increase prices.