The worth of craftmanship

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Hello Buzzy Bees!

I found on Facebook a very cool story that shouldn't be set aside and should be shared with everyone!

The thing is, it doesn't say who really wrote it and the person sharing didn't know either so I decided to throw all the rewards of this post to @ctpsb! Better than decline or burning is giving to a project you believe ;) I hope I did right on adding 100% beneficiary!

All of this because I appreciate other people's craft/work and effort and I do appreciate who gave time and effort to write this story!

So..enjoy!



A customer asked me how much it cost to make a table...
I answered him: $ 1500
Him: So expensive for this job?
I asked: How much do you think it would cost you?
He answers me: "$800 maximum... That's a pretty simple job right?!"

  • For $800 I invite you to do it yourself.
  • But...I don't know how to.
  • For $800 I'll teach you how to. So besides saving you $700, you'll get the knowledge for the next time you want
  • It seemed right to him and he agreed.
  • But to get started: you need tools: A table saw, a planer, a top, dormant, etc...
  • But I don't have all this equipment and I can't buy all of these for one job.
  • Well then for another $250 more I'll rent my stuff to you so you can do it.
  • Okay, he says.
  • Okay! Tuesday I'm waiting for you to start doing this work
  • But I can't on Tuesday I only have time today.
  • I'm sorry, but I'm only available Tuesday to teach you and lend you my stuff. Other days are busy with other customers.
  • Okay! That means I'm going to have to sacrifice my Tuesday, give up my tasks.
  • I forgot. To do your job yourself, you also have to pay for the nonproductive factors.
  • That is? What is this?"
  • Bureaucratic, tax, vat, security, insurance, fuel, etc.
  • Oh no!... But to accomplish these tasks, I'm going to spend more money and waste a lot of time!
  • Do you have them? You can do it to me before?"
  • Okay!
  • I'll make you all the material you need. Truck loading is done Monday evening or Tuesday morning you'll have to come by 6 to load the truck. Don't forget to be on time to avoid traffic jams and be on time
  • At 6??? Nope! Too early for me! I used to get up later.
    ...
  • You know, I've been thinking. Y'all better get the job done. I'd rather pay you the $1500. If I had to, it wouldn't be perfect and it would cost me a lot more.

When you pay for a job, especially handcrafted, you pay not only for the material used but also:

  • Knowledge
  • Experience
  • Study
  • Tools
  • Services
  • Time to go
  • Punctuality
  • Accountability
  • Professionalism
  • Accuracy
  • Guaranteed
  • Patents
  • Sacrifices
  • Safety and security
  • Payment of tax obligations

No one can denigrate other people's work by judging prices.
Only by knowing all the elements necessary for the production of certain work you can estimate the actual cost.



You matter and worth it!!
Don't you ever doubt yourself and your abilities and craft!

And see other people's craftmanship from a different perspective and accept and appreciate it!

This works also with content creation a bit I believe :)

Respect everyone and their craft!

Thank you so much for reading!
Happy Tuesday!



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11 comments
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Your current Rank (87) in the battle Arena of Holybread has granted you an Upvote of 4%

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That is really a very nice read, We judge the things by material cost and all other intangible things we are unable to factor in for most of times.

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Especially hand made crafting that maybe we took for granted and now our next generations simply don't care for the most part. Shoemakers, blacksmiths, carpenters...these maybe can go extinct in the near future because pretty much everything can be made by machines, and sadly mass-produced by people getting a very low salary and sold cheap. And then for those who wanna keep the craft alive can't keep on with this competition and people not giving value. Balance is needed but almost none to help...Hopefully, some will get something good from this pandemic and support local small businesses...I'm sure I will :)
Thank you for your comment!

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I see that repairing business is almost extinct in developed nations, Not able to repair increase the waste also. We pay the price in one form or the other.

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Nice story with a good message..
Thanks for sharing.....

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When we import stuff from overseas where salary and production costs are only a small percentage of what they are in our countries, we tend to get a wrong image of what things are worth. Decent work deserves decent salary. Great story Eliana!

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The mass-production for cheap and sell more also cheap doesn't help either when they should at least increase the prices a bit and use that extra percentage to give proper salaries to those people who I'm sure they spend hours and hours doing the same and get not even enough to feed their children but they need to keep going because there's no option...Sadly a reality
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