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sbayz92 OP t1_iudmvij wrote

Reply to comment by derek139 in Did I get a fair price for my Turkish Rug? by sbayz92

You mean for the rug maker? Sadly that’s true. But also for most products we buy this is the case.

I have been told by locals that the women who make this rugs usually make them in their home and are paid “fair”.

One could always be paid more but the assurance for locals made me feel a bit better about the purchase.

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VirtualVoices t1_iuei63r wrote

>I have been told by locals that the women who make this rugs usually make them in their home and are paid “fair”.

They're probably paid fair by local wages (which I'm guessing isn't that much) but nowhere fair compared to the markups they sell the rugs for.

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Gerrymanderingsucks t1_iufxac4 wrote

I've seen people making these in the south of Turkey (they'll construct them out on balconies so you can see them in progress) and while they're not in the fanciest apartment blocks their flats are far from the worst in the areas. A lot of the Turkish economy is paid under the table and these weavers are probably paid fairly decently. The assertions that weavers are getting $20 for an entire natural dyed kilim are very wrong and are part of why the hand woven kilims can cost so much given the amount of time they take to make. There are professional carpet appraisers and if you ask around with folks in Turkey or in your home country they'll be able to tell you if the dyes are natural, if it was done by a machine, and various aspects of the patterns which are often unique to different ethnic groups in Turkey. At the end of the day what matters is you like the carpet and feel like you had a good experience at the store.

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Jesus_will_return t1_iufhnz7 wrote

You're very naïve. This rug cost at most $20 in materials and labour.

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FURBYonCRACK t1_iufywxy wrote

Do you have any actual knowledge of these materials and processes or are you just speculating?

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theantnest t1_iugsjz7 wrote

What do you think?

Of course he's never owned a rug in his life, never even seen or heard of a kilim before this post, but will argue forever over his initial speculation with people who actually know about it. Welcome to reddit, lol

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threepio t1_iufmger wrote

I think this is the part where the rug maker looks at you and says “I love you”, per one of your previous posts.

Imagine you had to sit down with the man named in your username and explain why you think devaluing someone’s hard work is in line with the ideals you purport to represent.

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Jesus_will_return t1_iufnlxg wrote

I don't follow. I'm telling OP that the total cost of this rug is $20 in labour and materials. That means the person who made it was paid less than $20 to make, while the seller is hawking it to naïve tourists for $300 with stories about fair wages. What's that got to do with faith, love, or my ideals?

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threepio t1_iufnxbb wrote

You seem to be equating the cost of the labour with what someone has been paid to make it.

It might be best to revisit the lesson of the money lenders in the temple.

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Jesus_will_return t1_iufola9 wrote

I'm not going to continue this conversation. You're misunderstanding my comments, either on purpose or because of the way they're written. I don't have the energy to explain to you what I meant in my original comment and why you're completely off-base with your reply.

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