Supporting Child Labour...
Probably the most unfun aspect of having an allotment is keeping the damned grass trimmed, which at this time of year needs doing at least every 3 weeks to keep it all sweet.
The only efficient way to do this is with a strimmer, and having owned a petrol driven Stihl back in Portugal, which was a great machine, I REALLY didn't want to have buy a shitty battery operated strimmer for my allotment.
The shame!
So I was quite glad when I saw this notice appear on my shed a few weeks back:
The deal was that rather than me paying for a cheap strimmer I could instead support child labour and pay a 12 year old £3 to strim and tidy my entire plot, which works out well below the minimum age, a real free-market success story don't you think!?!
So I gave his mum a ring (this was parent approved) and he came by the next day and got to work.
I say 'got to work', at least he tried.... the poor kid had a crappy cheap electric strimmer, I recognised it as the cheapest you could buy from Argos.
And the next 45 minutes were painful, as the thing kept cutting out and the spool needed taking on and off several times (I had to help him out) and he got half way round and the battery died.
Fair play he came back the next day and finished off the job, and tidied up, but it was a bit of a crappy job, although having said that it was very unkempt to start with (very long grass) and so given that not too bad, and did look better.
I ended up paying him £6 given the two trips, which I thought was fair, I'm all for supporting child entrepreneurs!
I noticed him on another plot shortly after with a BETTER strimmer, so clearly he's learned something about the importance of capital investment.
Me as well: I ended up buying one of these...
On account of the fact that I already have an Einhell angle grinder, and the batteries are universal.
Trust me, having witnessed what a £30 strimmer can do (it was shit) I realised one has to spend more to get something decent and this thing is OK!
I have two batteries and one is actually just about enough to do the whole plot!
I mean it's not a Stihl, but it's sufficient.
And it's cheaper than paying someone else to do it every few weeks in the long run!
Poor him, he is trying to earn some money at this age, no matter how good he does his job. I wouldn't mind at least :)
I think he's done OK out the peops on the allotment, for sure!
I have the Einhell trimmer but with the plastic cutting things that are really crap and flimsy. My thoughts were to upgrade to have the metal blades on it and it would cut through pretty much anything like butter!!! Not sure it is suitable for a kid to use though.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ZJS-Blade%EF%BC%8Cstrimmer-Blade%EF%BC%8Cgarden-Strimmers-Accessories/dp/B09X1DTYS6/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2HHT3YL16CGPF&keywords=einhell+metal+strimmer+blades&qid=1688328007&sprefix=einhell+met%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-6
Mines got the 1MM wire which is OK, but those metal blades look much better!
Putting the lad out of work..., now he can't come back next year to do ur jungle again.
Call the NSPCC!
I have a Bosch cordless strimmer and it's not too bad. With our big garden it can be a pain to run long cables around. Between myself and the neighbour we have a few tools that use the same batteries.
Good on you for helping out 'little Johnny' and his quest for the new bike.. Good that he learned too from his fails at your place!
You Always get what you pay for in my opinion and I typically now buy top of the range when it comes to hardware, golf stuff, clothes etc... they last way longer and do a better job..
Very true, buy it once and buy it right, I say!
That's it. So many fall in the trap of buying the cheapest. It will break in no time and does a sub standard job too. So better to stump up for quality..
I can see how hungry he is to get a job
Seems he's not in a very good condition
I think it's great to see kids doing this, it should be encouraged. There's real valuable lessons they can take from it and it makes them more responsible. Just don't go taking his job with your new Strummer lol xxx
I’ve got a Ryobi battery-powered trimmer/edger that works well enough if you use it with (nylon?) trimmer cord. There’s a plastic blade option that’s total crap.
Years ago I had a tree service job. When it came to chainsaws, we swore by Stihl.
Hi Karl
Ha ha, i love it.
I wish we had a similar industrious child on one of the plots at our allotment!
I'd happily pay £12 for all the grass, weeds and other stuff that's popped up with this rapidly disappearing heat wave we've been having.
A large part of the shared plot i have a four raised beds and a greenhouse on is looking very jungle-like right now 😂
Anyway, it's nice to see you've got yourself some veg growing space.
What have you got going/growing right now?
Even here in Pakistan, it gives us a chance to see many things because the parents who are poor because of poverty send their children to earn money that they can study and do something else. It becomes much more difficult.
This is touching and I have chills seeing a young boy willing to get a job to be able to save. I do not know if I would call it child abuse, or child entrepreneurship but trust me that the young boy has good financial skills.
Is the child an employee of some souless corporation?
It sounds to me like this kid is an entrepreneur who is starting his own business and who is taking care of that business.
I am not sure if I would consider that labor in the classic sense.
!WINEX
Interesting point, I'd never even considered the entomology of the word 'Labour' - is it actually more Marxist in origin, something to dig into for me, cheers!
I looked up the etymology. The word has been around for centuries. In classical economics the word refers to physical effort.
The ngram of "labour" v. "labor" is interesting. The short spelling became more popular after the rise of the Labour Party.
Marx was seeking to start a revolution; so he sought to create conflicts between the "proletariat" that labored for a living and the bourgeoisie that owned things.
Is labour really in conflict with ownership? The kid owns a strimmer and offering a service.
I hope that he bought a better strimmer. The electrical trimmers have improved greatly in the last few years. The gas powered ones are being outlawed.
!BEER
I concluded labour didn't = exploitation.
I didn't here that about gas strimmers, maybe not in the UK!
Oops, I replied with the wrong account.
California issued a ban on all small motors in 2021. California is really large and is able to define the market; so I expect to see gas motors disappear in the Western US.
https://news.yahoo.com/california-law-bans-small-off-174600432.html
I am surprised that the EU and other governments haven't followed suit yet.
Whenever there is a chance to ban something, progressives around the world tend to march lock step with the ban.
They'll have trouble in Portugal with that one, I think!
Congratulations @revisesociology! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
Almost like a feel good story tbh. The boy was welling to work to get his bike and the fact that his parents approve of it, is a sign of good parenting. Teaching kids work ethic from young is important and sadly not widely practiced enough. Interestingly he managed to get a better strimmer so quickly. He can't be making that much money to invest in a more expensive strimmer right.....
Although I think his parents probably bought it for him! It's still good though, and apparently it was all his idea, they just supported him, fair play.
poor kid does not have a job now....buy him the bike
And get thrown in jail!
ah yes good point lol