I'm tired of other artists working for free.
I'm taking care of the wife unit's booth at a show today. There's another glass artist here selling her stuff very cheap.
Quick mental math says she might be barely covering material costs, nevermind consumables and electricity.
When I asked her about it, she said "oh, it's just a hobby, I'm not trying to make money".
Well, thanks very much for that. All you're doing is hurting everyone else. Well done.
ShawnG said:I'm tired of other artists working for free.
I'm taking care of the wife unit's booth at a show today. There's another glass artist here selling her stuff very cheap.
Quick mental math says she might be barely covering material costs, nevermind consumables and electricity.
When I asked her about it, she said "oh, it's just a hobby, I'm not trying to make money".
Well, thanks very much for that. All you're doing is hurting everyone else. Well done.
I had a cousin doing high-quality contracting for $40 an hour back in the nineties. He was like: "I'm getting by. My wife has a good job and we pay the bills. Why should I charge more? We discussed it and he got the point - really well. Now he's leapfrogged me on the success train and is mildly wealthy.
In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :
That's kind of the point a former coworker had about people doing auto repair out of their homes for basically free after expenses. You're hurting people who have overhead and business expenses and stuff. "Why should I pay you $600 when my neighbor will do it for $100"
Me, my free time is more valuable than that, if it isn't close friends or family then I want $250 an hour to make it worth my while.
In the old days, you had to be a member of a guild to do skilled work. The guild set the prices, and to join the guild you had to submit a work as proof of skill - a master piece.
Duke said:I actively hate this time of year, when I should like it.
It's always busy in preparation for the holidays, plus it seems like every client gets a raging boner to make sure their particular project gets done before the end of the year, even though it makes zero functional difference in the overall delivery.
I am always super stressed for the entire 6 weeks leading up to the holidays. It would have been nice to end my professional career without repeating this farce one more time, but apparently that's not going to happen. Of course.
"But we have to make sure it goes on this year's budget!!!"
"Why?"
"Those points aside, get back to work."
And yes, i understand accounting and budgeting, taxes, etc. My point is even those things are just rules we made up and are all pretending to operate by. Let's tone down the seriousness just a bit.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
I work out of my home shop but it's a for-real business.
I collect and pay taxes, have insurance, all of that. I charge a competitive rate because I have to pay for all that stuff plus heat the building and turn the lights on.
Everyone gets their cut before I get paid. The perks are the 200' commute and i work when I want to.
Why should I charge less than the other guys?
DarkMonohue said:The pettiest, first-worldiest of problems today. Some turtlenecked nerdlinger brewed up a pot of French roast in the office rather than the much smoother, milder Othello that fully three-fourths of the office, per a recent whiteboard survey, prefers.
"Bob, it tastes like a tire!"
Oh, so there is only one person in your office that likes coffee that tastes like coffee, not like lousy tea?
;)
In reply to Duke :
Buuuurrrrnn!
Not your comment, I mean. The coffee. This particular French roast is a little too French. It's not excessive coffee flavor. It just tastes charred and acrid.
Just because I live in Springfield doesn't mean my coffee has to taste like the Springfield tire fire.
ShawnG said:I'm tired of other artists working for free.
I'm taking care of the wife unit's booth at a show today. There's another glass artist here selling her stuff very cheap.
Quick mental math says she might be barely covering material costs, nevermind consumables and electricity.
When I asked her about it, she said "oh, it's just a hobby, I'm not trying to make money".
Well, thanks very much for that. All you're doing is hurting everyone else. Well done.
I was helping my wife in her booth today too, I totally agree with this.
3d printed stuff seems to be the biggest hit. We considered adding some to her repertoire but it sells for insanely cheap.
For example this was $2. It multi colored, fairly big and all limbs are movable. I understand the components are cheap but $2???? Terrible pic below
In reply to Antihero :
I don't understand why that stuff is so popular.
With art, you're usually buying one of a kind. The only item that exists.
With 3d printed gak, you're just buying the same thing that every other person with a 3d printer can crank out.
But I don't think CNC wood stuff should be allowed in fine woodworking shows either.
Maybe I'm just a grumpy old curmudgeon but I appreciate something a skilled person made with their hands rather than downloading a file and clicking "go".
ShawnG said:In reply to Antihero :
I don't understand why that stuff is so popular.
With art, you're usually buying one of a kind. The only item that exists.
With 3d printed gak, you're just buying the same thing that every other person with a 3d printer can crank out.
But I don't think CNC wood stuff should be allowed in fine woodworking shows either.
Maybe I'm just a grumpy old curmudgeon but I appreciate something a skilled person made with their hands rather than downloading a file and clicking "go".
I don't totally disagree, there are some stuff you can do to make it unique. There was a local girl, 17 years old actually, that hit it exactly right and popular enough that she was in the many thousands of orders on Etsy before she was so far behind they had to stop taking orders. I think she was up to 12 printers at once?
She painted them to make them unique. Eyes, stripes if the model had them etc. Every one was a bit different.
I personally don't see them as "art" though really, I see them as displays, as things that it would be nice to have multiples available, and weird things.
I didn't sleep for E36 M3 last night. Dunno why, but thats probably the worst night of sleep ive had in years.
3D Printer stuff, CNC stuff, etc. can all absolutely be art. An artist can design it and use a machine to produce it. Now if you are downloading someone else's design and printing/cutting it... that's the same as reproducing someone else's paintings. Still 'art' but likely not in the spirit of a craft fair.
The problem of selling it for a low price is unfortunately just capitalism. If your product/service/etc. is not unique enough, you'll always be fighting someone who values their time less than you.
TravisTheHuman said:3D Printer stuff, CNC stuff, etc. can all absolutely be art. An artist can design it and use a machine to produce it. Now if you are downloading someone else's design and printing/cutting it... that's the same as reproducing someone else's paintings. Still 'art' but likely not in the spirit of a craft fair.
The problem of selling it for a low price is unfortunately just capitalism. If your product/service/etc. is not unique enough, you'll always be fighting someone who values their time less than you.
I would say 95 percent of it at the fairs we do are downloading someone else's design. You are right too about the competition. One we were at had 4 vendors selling roughly the same stuff, and in some instances the same stuff. None were busy either and by the end they were all trying to undercut each other.
It usually kinda kills sales for us ( the wife makes wire wrap jewelry, hemp jewelry and cool screen printed t shirts) because people sort of assume $2-3 is a good price for all things at the event and/or they assume it's not exactly homemade.
Plus personally I bought a few 3d printed things, one of which was useful ( a stegosaurus guitar pick holder) but after you get them......WTF do you do with them?
Maybe it's still "art" but just lacks the uniqueness that makes it art I like? Designing it yourself changes it though and it's absolutely art. I do feel like the copied 3d stuff is gonna be this years fidget spinner though
For fairs like that I'm surprised there isn't some sort of agreement that says "you acknowledge you are the original designer/creator of the product you are selling".
I can certainly see how people selling mass produced garbage could dilute the artistic nature.
TravisTheHuman said:For fairs like that I'm surprised there isn't some sort of agreement that says "you acknowledge you are the original designer/creator of the product you are selling".
I can certainly see how people selling mass produced garbage could dilute the artistic nature.
Some there is, but we are in a small area and if you've got 50 spaces to fill, it'll sometimes be hard to fill them with only handmade sadly.
Most are good though, in 3 years either dozens of events we have had only 2 terrible events
Antihero said:ShawnG said:I'm tired of other artists working for free.
I'm taking care of the wife unit's booth at a show today. There's another glass artist here selling her stuff very cheap.
Quick mental math says she might be barely covering material costs, nevermind consumables and electricity.
When I asked her about it, she said "oh, it's just a hobby, I'm not trying to make money".
Well, thanks very much for that. All you're doing is hurting everyone else. Well done.
I was helping my wife in her booth today too, I totally agree with this.
3d printed stuff seems to be the biggest hit. We considered adding some to her repertoire but it sells for insanely cheap.
For example this was $2. It multi colored, fairly big and all limbs are movable. I understand the components are cheap but $2???? Terrible pic below
I'm pretty sure that's over $2 of raw material. I've seen things like those selling for $30+ in gift shops.
Can I just state how much I berkeleying despise FB Marketplace. It's rife with blatantly obvious scam postings. I report every one I find and not a single one has been removed. Example:
There are 3 pics; two are of a black Ford Ranger which isn't an Edge and one of an instrument cluster out of another make and model with the wrong mileage. I reported the listing and the "moderation team" sent this response:
Thanks Zuckerberg for foisting this social gonorrhea upon us.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
I wouldn't be surprised. I bought 3 things from a vendor and that was the most expensive somehow.
She also said it was a great event for her, she had made back her booth fee this year AND last year.
Booth fee was $45.......
Had two maintenance tasks to handle at work today. Amazon was supposed to have delivered yesterday, but failed to, and "Will attempt delivery tomorrow."
So now I get to sit here by myself and wait for a delivery that I don't even know if it's coming or not - without any tasks on my docket because I'm waiting on the parts.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
If you have a business account, you should be able to set your delivery hours on the Amazon site. Then you won't have to wait for that order that shows up after you close.
Toyman! said:In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
If you have a business account, you should be able to set your delivery hours on the Amazon site. Then you won't have to wait for that order that shows up after you close.
I have my hours set on the site.
Every time I place an order, I get the warning "We've had issues delivering at this address".
Then sometimes I'll be at work at 4:45 and a truck will come by.
Me: "Delivery hours at this address are only until 3:30pm, are you aware?"
Driver: "No"
I've even had the driver contact the local distribution center, and they are unaware as well. The system is broken.
I just add 1 day to delivery time for everything, because I know they will attempt an 8:00pm delivery and nobody will be there.
Is that what the amazon business thing is? I get my stuff delivered to work (boss is okay with it) and I am constantly getting emails about setting up my Amazon business account.
Antihero said:kb58 said:I think it's interesting how few of these posts get responses. Perhaps the act of typing out one's rant is enough to expunge it from our system, mostly.
Typing it out helps a lot sometimes in my experience at least.
Honestly, about half the time I will type something out and then not end up posting it as simply typing it out is enough venting for me.
It's -20c today and my overly sensitive truck is pitching the same emissions code it does every winter.
It's got a new, GM sensor, the heater circuit is working fine, everything is working fine but the system pitches the same slow 02 sensor code every winter so I have to keep my scanner in the truck to clear it so my remote-start will work when I want it to.
GM. Don't sell trucks that don't like cold weather in countries that have for-real winters. Or, make the system work better.,
ShawnG said:It's -20c today and my overly sensitive truck is pitching the same emissions code it does every winter.
It's got a new, GM sensor, the heater circuit is working fine, everything is working fine but the system pitches the same slow 02 sensor code every winter so I have to keep my scanner in the truck to clear it so my remote-start will work when I want it to.
GM. Don't sell trucks that don't like cold weather in countries that have for-real winters. Or, make the system work better.,
Fwiw, my 97 k1500 does the same thing
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