[TheForge] Re: OT: several questions and thoughts

[Mike Spencer]

> Now I don't begrudge paying for what you get, but $60 / hr for
> putting a screw in a door seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Slick Urban Dude: 

       "A blacksmith!  Hey, my grandfather was a blacksmith."

Blacksmith:

        "Say, is that ever  cool."

SUD:    "So, you make old-fashioned hand-made nails?"

B:      "Oh, sure.  All kinds."

SUD:    "How much do you charge for a nail?"

B:      "Oh, 25 cents, I guess."

SUD:    "Okay, then how much if I buy 10,000 nails?"

B:      "Five dollars each."

SUD:    (Head explodes)

Putting a screw in a door is one thing.  I do it for free.  Putting a
screw in a door every 6 seconds for 8 or 10 hours, day after day, year
after year?  You can't afford me and neither can Ford, union or no
union.  We're fortunate to have people who will do that for money at
all.

> No wonder new cars & trucks cost so much. 

You ever think about how much a one-off car lovingly crafted by
skilled artisans would cost?  Even with "modern" tools like power
hammers, lathes and English wheel?  Used to cost when that's how it
was done, even at non-union wages then standard?  Yow!

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^