Obsolescence of the unskilled

I'm 43 and went to Vocational Building Trades in high school. I have been building homes since then. Had a job since 10th grade due to the building trades class.
Currently building a spec home as the californian's are coming here to ruin our state. I'll make my cash off them while I can.
Anyway it's really really hard to get anyone male or female to work for a week. I've literally gone through dozens of people. I make them become subs due to government regs. I can't afford to pay overtime and none, shall I say NONE of my clients want to pay overtime. So the work around is sub contractors and endless hours.
They all quit saying they can't imagine working that hard for a career. A few have stated that the pay isn't good enough but I have to explain that the pay in Construction is determined directly upon what you can do or are willing to do or try to do.
Currently working along because I can't find someone who wants to find a career. 12 to 15 hour days for the last 5 months.
Something is definitely wrong with this working system and it will indeed be very apparent in the near future.

Oh after that rant, All the big city's across the states are changing to kiosk's it seems. Small towns not that many yet. But it's happening at every fast food remodel location.
 
I'm 43 and went to Vocational Building Trades in high school. I have been building homes since then. Had a job since 10th grade due to the building trades class.
Currently building a spec home as the californian's are coming here to ruin our state. I'll make my cash off them while I can.
Anyway it's really really hard to get anyone male or female to work for a week. I've literally gone through dozens of people. I make them become subs due to government regs. I can't afford to pay overtime and none, shall I say NONE of my clients want to pay overtime. So the work around is sub contractors and endless hours.
They all quit saying they can't imagine working that hard for a career. A few have stated that the pay isn't good enough but I have to explain that the pay in Construction is determined directly upon what you can do or are willing to do or try to do.
Currently working along because I can't find someone who wants to find a career. 12 to 15 hour days for the last 5 months.
Something is definitely wrong with this working system and it will indeed be very apparent in the near future.

Oh after that rant, All the big city's across the states are changing to kiosk's it seems. Small towns not that many yet. But it's happening at every fast food remodel location.


This is why the illegals are so prevalent in construction. They are willing to work. I always worked like they do because I didn’t want to lose my job. I saw them get into drywall and slowly move into other trades.

When I worked for myself I always worked solo. It was harder but it was done the way I wanted it done. Never did the sub route. The electrical board in my state has been levying sanctions for contractors doing that.

I tend to be a libertarian (small L), but I can see the universal income thing coming. We already have a system that rewards people for not working. That is why no one is available for you. Back before welfare, it was work or starve, so people had an incentive to work hard.
 
They are pretty good. Not sure if it is a meat filling, but still pretty tasty.

It seems we're sometimes more curious about the ingredients for an engine-oil change than the stuff we feed to ourselves. I admit I'm guilty on These counts as well.:D
 
This is why the illegals are so prevalent in construction. They are willing to work. I always worked like they do because I didn’t want to lose my job. I saw them get into drywall and slowly move into other trades.

Funny you say that. We were in new home construction in Denver during the 90's. We were under the production guys, Melody, Ryland, Beazer. At that time oh about '95 or so we started to see the great influx to CO. We always had illegals but the late 80's-90's is when we saw or at least we noticed them more and more.

Anyways. At that time we worked on the finish side of the house and there was a Finish Drywaller we were good friends with. He was making $25/hr. And he was very good. Very fast and worked long hours. Between '95 and '97 we saw the builders replace these kind of guys with 2-3 illegals. They paid these guys between $9 and $11. He ended up losing everything. He simply couldn't compete with the economy of scale. Too many people working the same long hours at a cheaper rate.

Builders didn't care they got what they wanted. Most production home buyers don't care enough about quality to warrant keeping highly skilled people. Corporatism, not capitalism, has ruined the country.
 
I went to trade school before going on to undergrad and graduate schools. It was the best thing I ever did. I was not quite ready to commit to four yrs of college right after high school. Trade school taught me a skill (and earned me a degree). So I worked for a bit...made a few bucks here and there. Then I decided I wanted to get further along on my career path so I went back to college then graduate school. Perhaps not a traditional path but trade/tech school was a positive experience and instrumental in getting me started.
 
Funny you say that. We were in new home construction in Denver during the 90's. We were under the production guys, Melody, Ryland, Beazer. At that time oh about '95 or so we started to see the great influx to CO. We always had illegals but the late 80's-90's is when we saw or at least we noticed them more and more.

Anyways. At that time we worked on the finish side of the house and there was a Finish Drywaller we were good friends with. He was making $25/hr. And he was very good. Very fast and worked long hours. Between '95 and '97 we saw the builders replace these kind of guys with 2-3 illegals. They paid these guys between $9 and $11. He ended up losing everything. He simply couldn't compete with the economy of scale. Too many people working the same long hours at a cheaper rate.

Builders didn't care they got what they wanted. Most production home buyers don't care enough about quality to warrant keeping highly skilled people. Corporatism, not capitalism, has ruined the country.

I'm one of those casualties of the nineties Colorado boom. I made great money and knocked out a lot of houses. Built the whole area around Sky Sox Stadium in the Springs.
The illegals came in and my wage was cut. Of course that was a bid cost changing. The illegals would build a house a few days quicker for a third of the price. All the developments went mexican. They would live with ten of them in an apartment. I can't live like that. I moved to the mountains where Americans build big homes and mexicans can't survive as easily. Worked out great but since California is coming this way it is happening all over again in the state.
 
I'm one of those casualties of the nineties Colorado boom. I made great money and knocked out a lot of houses. Built the whole area around Sky Sox Stadium in the Springs.
The illegals came in and my wage was cut. Of course that was a bid cost changing. The illegals would build a house a few days quicker for a third of the price. All the developments went mexican. They would live with ten of them in an apartment. I can't live like that. I moved to the mountains where Americans build big homes and mexicans can't survive as easily. Worked out great but since California is coming this way it is happening all over again in the state.


It's a Boom and Bust cycle in CO. It happened in the 80's (New Englanders and Texans), in the mid 00's (Mexicans and Californians) which lead to me leaving in '08, and it'll happen again, and again, and again, and again.
 
I was at Wally's last week. One checker. People lined up down the main aisle.
I axed for them to open at least another check out and I got the deer in the headlights look.
I then raised my selections in the air and said quite loudly, "if you folks don't do as I am about to do you will stand in line every time you come here" and promptly placed my items on a display which was in women's wear and walked out.
Don't know what happened.
 
Funny you say that. We were in new home construction in Denver during the 90's. We were under the production guys, Melody, Ryland, Beazer. At that time oh about '95 or so we started to see the great influx to CO. We always had illegals but the late 80's-90's is when we saw or at least we noticed them more and more.

Anyways. At that time we worked on the finish side of the house and there was a Finish Drywaller we were good friends with. He was making $25/hr. And he was very good. Very fast and worked long hours. Between '95 and '97 we saw the builders replace these kind of guys with 2-3 illegals. They paid these guys between $9 and $11. He ended up losing everything. He simply couldn't compete with the economy of scale. Too many people working the same long hours at a cheaper rate.

Builders didn't care they got what they wanted. Most production home buyers don't care enough about quality to warrant keeping highly skilled people. Corporatism, not capitalism, has ruined the country.

Same thing happened here. They work for far less with many living in one home which cuts their expenses. The working folks have been knee capped and are left with fewer options. The prescription drug and suicide problems have followed the employment situation changes.

I have no problem with paying a higher price for something that keeps my fellow Americans employed. When I needed a new turntable, I found uturn which is made in Boston area with parts sourced in the US. I do the same with tools and other things.

Corporations chase the bottom. Used to be China. Now, I see things made in Vietnam.
 
Why should a clueless hack be legally paid $15/hr when the manager is probably getting that? You should get paid for the skills you acquire not because you deserve a handout. Here is a novel idea that I believe in...........learn more than basic skills to earn more than minimum wage!!!

I overheard one of these whiny clueless hacks behind the counter talking up the $15 min. wage a few years back.
I told him they'll all be part time so min. wage law is moot. I'll bet the manager is the only full time employee in those stores anymore.
 
The attendant at the Lowes/HD self check-outs near me usually offer to scan my items.
They seem to think anything that weighs over 2lbs is too heavy to pull out of the cart. Sheesh!
 
The attendant at the Lowes/HD self check-outs near me usually offer to scan my items.
They seem to think anything that weighs over 2lbs is too heavy to pull out of the cart. Sheesh!


Thats what lawyers do for a country, teach people to be affraid because of liabilies.
 
I like the self check outs, but when I went to WallyLand at it's peak today (they have a line chart on the store webpage) more than half of them had the red light on with no one using it (shutdown). sheeeeech big lines again.
I did have a little problem wras'lin with the plastic bags thou today.
 
The wife and I were at Micky D's a couple of weeks ago, there was a line, we were willing to wait for a human to take our order, but they ushered us over to the self order kiosk instead.
 
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