[hamburglar]

I think the big mistake people make when criticizing this $1 contract is imagining the logical conclusion if everyone worked for $1 instead of realizing that this is a one-off giveaway and it has zero impact on actual rates for this type of work. This guy is not going to continue doing $1 contracts, and nobody is going to respond by reducing their prices to below what they deserve. People can give things away. The reason plumbers aren't concerned about neighbors helping each other with their water heaters is that nobody is going to make a career out of competing with them by doing full-time gratis plumbing jobs.

Complaining about this is like saying the apocryphal jilted wife who sold her husband's prized Porsche for $1 has affected the price of Porsches.

[FF76]

It's okay to talk about everyone working for $1 after all it has to start from somewhere right?

I think the spirit of the complaining is more of a warning to keep an eye out for the trend rather than stop these one-offs altogether, but that's a lot harder to say and act on than "stop these one-offs".