Armorer Wages

[Alex Koponen]

http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/swords_faq_index.htm
In talking about armorers, apprentices and wages includes:

For the average self employed craftsperson to make a living in North
America in 2003 they must charge a shop rate of at LEAST $100/hr. I will
not go into the detailed breakdown but if they charge anything less then
they can (and do) end up making minimum wage or less. A master craftsperson
should be able to charge more. Their education is that of a doctorate, a
Phd. or equivalent. No matter how it was obtained, their education cost
them time, their life's blood, AND money. So why should anyone think that
they should be willing to take someone into their shop to teach them for
anything less than what they normally must charge to make a living?

Oh, so you think working in the Master's shop should offset the costs. . .
HOW? Sweeping and cleaning? Lets see, a janitors rate of $10 hour vs. $100
hour. . if you worked full time for two weeks and do not incur any costs
(distractions, breakage, use materials) then you might have earned one full
day of the Master's time. Just how much cleaning and sweeping do you think
there is to do?

The fact is that even at a 10:1 ratio the craftsperson probably cannot
afford to have you in their shop. Materials, even cleaning tools and
supplies cost money. When the cleaning is done then what? Painting,
maintenance, carpentry work? These are skills that the average apprentice
does not have. The materials for these cost more and like the cleaning the
amount to be done has a finite limit. Apprentices also tend to break things
and damage tools due to lack or experience and often lack of respect. There
are sound financial reasons why schools with a dozen people in the
classroom dividing the costs among them have replaced the old fashioned
apprenticeship.

......................
  In game terms this implies that a master armorer may have a high take
home pay but that shop expenses are higher.
  Note, I believe that historically apprentices got very little more than
room and board for wages.