Not again!

[Kanalah]

This is another "friend" wanting me to work for free.

She contacted me saying that she wanted to make a quilt for a certain charity to raffle off. She wanted to make something simple with squares and wanted me to figure out how much fabric she needed to buy to make the quilt top. It only took me a few moments to do the math, then she asked me how much it would cost if she brought the top to me and had me finish it for her.

So I did some more math. I told her with the size of quilt she was going to make (and it wasn't a small one) that it would be $ww for the quilting itself, $xx for the backing fabric, $yy for the batting for a total of $zzz. The total was actually not bad for a quilt of that size. But then the stupid starts.

"So the total for everything is $ww - $yy?"

"No the total is $zzz."

"Okay so the total is $ww + $xx - $yy?"

"No the total for everything is $zzz."

"That's a lot of money. I have to talk to my husband about it. This is a quilt for charity, did I tell you that? And you like this charity too - are you sure it's going to be $zzz? Is that the charity price?"

So I sent her back a message telling her how she can finish and quilt it herself. Just because she wants to raffle off a quilt for charity doesn't mean that I have to work for free.

[Trixie]

When you do something for charity doesn't that mean you contribute at your own cost without looking for anything in return? That you do it for the feels or maybe a tax deduction? And if the total you quoted was more than she was willing to spend (from the sound of it she didn't want to spend much of anything) that's when you rethink about what you want to do so ya know it makes more doable. Gee, I gotta stop forgetting where I am. I suppose it's a good sign that I always have that one glimmer of hope that common sense will prevail.

[gremcint]

so it's not even asking for free but she ignored you twice and tried to get it cheaper multiple times.

[Crossbow]

Ok, so custom is supposed to work for free (or highly reduced), but she likely wouldn't get a discount if she bought a mass-produced piece at retail, would she?

I will never understand why people think custom is cheaper than store-bought.

[Marmalady]

I will never understand why people think custom is cheaper than store-bought.

I think it's because (a) the majority of people don't do these kind of crafts now, and thus have no concept of the time it takes, the cost of the materials etc, and (b) they think that this is the sort of thing that crafters do in their spare time, for pin money, rather than actually trying to make a living.

There's also (c) which is 'I'm a cheap so-and-so who wants to get something for nothing and is willing to try anything, including 'It's for charity' to do so'.

[Ternasthebard]

. . . (b) they think that this is the sort of thing that crafters do in their spare time, for pin money, rather than actually trying to make a living.

I know that I've only commissioned a few pieces of artwork from someone, my avatar happens to be one of those items, but I was always amazed at what she was able to accomplish in about 8-10 hours of straight work. I don't care if she was doing it for spare money, the work that she did for me was worth every penny. . . and more to make sure that she got both at least a small tip and avoided getting gouged by the EFT fees. To do otherwise is just unthinkable to me.

But I must admit that someday, just for perverse pleasure, I'd love to see someone with that "Oh, it's easy work, they don't need to be paid much." mindset to be forced to sit down, on their hands, and not be allowed to speak while remaining awake for every single nanosecond and just watch what the person actually has to do to create that oh so easy work of art. See how much that customer likes having to take time off of work where they could be earning money.

But I suppose that desire is one that'd probably annoy the crafter more than the customer.

[Crossbow]

"Oh, it's easy work, they don't need to be paid much."

I've told people that have said this "Then if it's so easy, you can do it yourself. Supplies are over there."

Talk about sputters of defense.

[Kanalah]

When I do something for charity (and I do often - I spent all day last Saturday with a lovely group of women sewing quilts for veterans.) I do everything from picking the fabrics, patterns - everything.

What this lady wanted to do was to hire me to finish a quilt to raise money for a charity. That's all well and good, but she's hiring me. Then I need to be paid.

I sent her another email this morning telling her that if money is an issue she can buy cheaper materials for the back and pay me $15/hour to teach her how to quilt it herself. She took me up on that.

[RobertM]

I have a special mates rate, it's the same discount I give family.

The rate is 0% discount.

Charity work charges depends on the charity, in my experience if you do a free job then they are often more demanding than if you charged just a token amount.

[notalwaysright]

Seems to me, this "friend" is missing the point of charity... So do many people I cut fabric for. They will repeatedly tell me they need cheap fabric because "it's for charity", or pester me for additional coupons, or want me to throw in remnants for free. I understand that money is an issue, and I can sympathize, but being loud and insistent is not helpful to anyone.

[Seshat]

This woman is missing the point. YOU choose how much time&effort&money YOU give to any particular charity.
SHE chooses how much SHE gives to charity.

She doesn't get to choose what YOU give.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

What's funny about this to me is that I recently finished and donated a quilted pillow case to a charity group of gamers. (It was 14x14 and it raised $535.)

I spent a lot of time on it, and purposefully went and got the nice fabric and a NICE pillow for the case to go on when I sent it over.

The heck is the point of doing a slip-shod job with crappy materials? If you want it to earn the charity any kind of REAL money, you gotta make it quality work. Of course... they probably just want the bragging rights of making a quilt for charity.

[MoonCat]

What's funny about this to me is that I recently finished and donated a quilted pillow case to a charity group of gamers. (It was 14x14 and it raised $535.)

I spent a lot of time on it, and purposefully went and got the nice fabric and a NICE pillow for the case to go on when I sent it over.

The heck is the point of doing a slip-shod job with crappy materials? If you want it to earn the charity any kind of REAL money, you gotta make it quality work. Of course... they probably just want the bragging rights of making a quilt for charity.

This ^

I find it odd that so many people want to go cheap when they donate anything. Or shoddy. I know someone who donates her used clothing to charity when it gets stained or torn. "The needy don't care."

I said, "What makes you think needy people want to wear stained, torn clothes? You don't." She didn't have an answer for that.

[Seanette]

This ^

I find it odd that so many people want to go cheap when they donate anything. Or shoddy. I know someone who donates her used clothing to charity when it gets stained or torn. "The needy don't care."

I said, "What makes you think needy people want to wear stained, torn clothes? You don't." She didn't have an answer for that.

Trust someone who works in a thrift store which also does various charitable stuff on this one - yes, people in our customer bracket DO care. I'm currently working in the section that prepares clothes for the sales floor. About all this acquaintance of yours is accomplishing, at least where I work, is to drive up our costs for disposing of unsellable items. This cuts into our ability to actually HELP anyone.

[Blue Ginger]

About all this acquaintance of yours is accomplishing, at least where I work, is to drive up our costs for disposing of unsellable items. This cuts into our ability to actually HELP anyone.

This is why whenever we have a big clean out and have bags of things to donate we sort them into different coloured garbage bags. The charity ours goes to sells bags of rags made from things that aren't worth selling.

So black was for them to turn into rags, pink was everyday clothing and yellow was good and going out clothes. I think green was shoes and handbags.

When you have 14 big bags of items, it makes it so much easier for the staff to sort.

And donating cheap and nasty is pointless. Cheap and quality is better.