Raking Leaves - All is Not Lost for Today's Youth

I'm simply telling you what a landscaper gets paid to do the work you are quoting.

And finding it unbelievable that he asked for 5 bucks.

And that you paid him 20.

As for the time and quotes I have given for the jobs we do (just ended last week actually), we do a flawless professional job removing everything.

As for the guy saying he did a few of these types job in under and hour, I again must say BS.

You did say the yard was "covered" in leaves. In the past three months I have done close to 100 yards. I find the details of the story to be flawed and unbelievable. If I'm wrong, that is fine...I'm often wrong. But really, 20 bucks for half an acre of leaf removal , by hand? Sorry bro...done hundreds and hundreds of yards in the past few years with a trained crew complete with trucks, blowers, mulchers, huge vacuums etc...

And really...20 bucks!!!? HE ASKED FOR 5!???

REALLY!?

Ok then...carry on. Me? I'd laugh and say "screw that, I'm a human not a slave".

Can't wait until it snows...maybe I can shovel a half mile drive way for 10 bucks?

lol.

Merry Xmas.

PS- Find that kid and give him 50 bucks more and apologize for being stingy. FOR REAL!!! Gee wiz man. Its Christmas!!!

MM

And honestly, I did misunderstand what an actual acre is. Apparently my entire life I thought an acre was much larger than what one actually is, and after googling what an acre really is, its much smaller then I assumed. But still large enough to say the poor kid was taken advantage of. And he asked for 5 bucks!?

But still...a landscaper grunt like me gets about 80 bucks for working a yard that size (and that's just the worker, not the company), with equipment.

Not trolling...and yes, you ripped the kid off. Big time.

Merry Xmas.

MM

reply to post by Mr Mask


Merry Christmas to you too!

Fact is: The kid raked my yard to the curb of all the leaves to my satisfaction in under 45 minutes. He wanted 5 and I gave him 20 since I thought that was fair.

I'm sorry that this story involves one of my neighbor's kids undercutting your obviously outrageous prices for what is really menial labor, but that is the power of the free market.

This kid did well by himself and I told an honest story of someone doing good for his family.

Originally posted by Mr Mask
And honestly, I did misunderstand what an actual acre is. Apparently my entire life I thought an acre was much larger than what one actually is, and after googling what an acre really is, its much smaller then I assumed. But still large enough to say the poor kid was taken advantage of. And he asked for 5 bucks!?

But still...a landscaper grunt like me gets about 80 bucks for working a yard that size (and that's just the worker, not the company), with equipment.

Not trolling...and yes, you ripped the kid off. Big time.

Merry Xmas.

MM

edit on 10-12-2011 by Mr Mask because: (no reason given)

I have got to ask:

Mr Mask, are you a member of a union and have you ever been a member of a union?

If you are or have been, that would explain why you are so against my neighbors child's initiative to earn money in the "Landscaping" business (ie. raking the leaves off my lawn) and me paying him for doing so. I've seen union help required landscaping jobs and I'm not impressed.

But if he's in the landscaping business, why on Earth would he have to google what the size of an acre is? That's one of the first things one learns when doing that job. Least if you own the business. Can you imagine quoting a price for a house with an acre lawn and thinking it's 4 miles in size?


But yeah, me and my brothers when I was 9 and they were 3 and 4 would rake our front and back yard, 3/4 acre and have it done in about an hour, maybe hour and a half. We'd get 5 dollars for doing so.

Kids today know how hard money is. He probably had asked for more at other houses and got turned away due to economical reasons and figured "I'll ask for less; maybe more will hire me then and the money will still add up''.

That's just how I think though.

reply to post by tsawyer2


This is the problem:

There are too many kids like him but there are a lack of people like you.

You are right, he (and much of today's workforce) undervalue themselves and sell themselves out for nothing and most people take advantage of it. Your sentiments about how this kid gave you hope is a bit ironic seeing as he is the problem and you (and others who are willing to pay a fair price for quality labor) are the solution.

It illustrates how easily contradiction in values can occur when you espouse feudal-age work ethics in one hand, yet truly believe in a sustainable compensation in the other.

I'm sure that no matter what happens, you and he will learn a lot come next harvest.

Good on you OP You paid this kid a wage that would equal $1000 for a 40 hour work week.

The kid got paid $20 for 45 mins work which equals out to around $24.50 an hour. So if a landscaper gets paid $10 an hour and takes 8 hrs($80) to do the same job then the landscaper is screwing the homeowner plain and simple.

That is the problem with an hourly wage it allows lazy people to get more money by being lazier.

reply to post by tsawyer2


They are becoming far and few between, but they are out there. Thanks for sharing the story, made my day.

reply to post by Mr Mask

Mr mask your one of my friends here just like tsawyer2 and I don’t think tsawyer would lie about anything.
He has no reason to. If you give yourself some time to get to know him, you’ll understand too.

Love and harmony
Whateva x x x