I love these threads because its normally full of older generation that spent a lifetime driving down the industry and taking advantage of workers.
Who allowed all of the dirt cheap bids to drive down prices? The previous generation.
Who paid poor wages to new workers and took advantage of them? The previous generation.
I was raised by a 40 yr cable dawg, military vet etc but he treated everyone fair, demanded the best and paid accordingly.
I was also trained by a old fiber dawg that made me feel like 7-10/splice was good money since he provided everything. Everything that had been paid off for years and years.
My generation and the ones after it(I'm 34 so a little older but still a generation of change) have more access to information now, and can and have been making smarter decisions with our lives. We werent allowed to grow up in the generation of 50k/year being a solid job that could afford a house/family/etc, the previous generations destroyed the American Dream.
One day I woke up and realized I had the skills and ability to do better, so I did. My prices per splice are slightly lower than my old bosses(who I worked for over 8-10 years) but I pay out more per splice etc to my new guys and they bust ass. They wont have to look back and see how they were taken advantage of, like I was. Paying me $20/ribbon splice when they were bringing in 100+ inside data centers with no real overheard.
Take care of your people, stick to your guns and you wouldnt have this worker crisis that many face, but the previous generations, as proud as they claim to be, just bit their tongue and kept working for lower and lower prices.
Those days are starting to be over it seems, teachers have been quitting everywhere after years and years of demand for more money, and I'm glad to see it. Public education is a joke and maybe eventually we will get back to a time when you werent bred to become a corporate or public slave. I'll work until im grey im sure, but my kids wont.
IF you dont have the money to compete with Mcdonalds, quit taking jobs/bids that dont allow you to pay more. You telling me a 18-25 yr old fast food worker has more of a backbone than you? I dont believe it but the proof is in the pudding, as they say.
Every job I take, I see a great need for construction help but prices arent worth getting the truck started...let the jobs go undone and youll see more money pour in out of need, just like you did with the fast food joints. The money is there in the hands of the big players, but they wont shell it out until they need to, its up to us to force it.
