Working Hard
I’ve watched many episodes of a TV showed called The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. While it’s interesting to see the many situations the fishermen deal with to catch crabs in the Bering Sea off of the Alaskan coast, I am fascinated by the huge investment of time, effort, and money it takes to accomplish the job. Sometimes they catch many crabs, but sometimes only a few… occasionally the crabs are too small and must be tossed back into the ocean… when least expected, their equipment breaks… severe weather frequently makes the job almost impossible… and crew members work very long hours.
The show is a microcosm of our free enterprise system.
A significant amount of money is invested before they leave the harbor. Aside from the capital investment in the vessels and on-board equipment, food for several weeks at sea during each fishing season must be purchased, along with many other supplies and fuel for the ship (which can have a capacity of 60,000 gallons!). The men work hard to bait and put out “crab pots”, let them “soak”, retrieve them, and sort any crabs that have been caught to keep only those that meet the regulated size requirements. It’s very difficult physical labor with some work periods lasting 24 hours or more before they take a break. The weather and rough seas compound the difficulty and danger of the job.
The crew works for a portion of the profits… a “share” … in other words, they work on commission. If they catch a lot of crabs, they can be very well rewarded for their efforts during a fishing seaso. If few crabs are caught, they will earn considerably less for the same amount of work. Crew members on one ship might earn many times that earned on another ship, despite having worked similar hours. They all take a risk: the crew invests their time and effort for an uncertain pay day… the ship owner invests their time, effort, and money (ship, equipment, overhead costs) for an uncertain return. If they all do their job well, they are usually rewarded handsomely. However, there are times when, despite everyone working hard and doing the right things, they just don’t catch as much as they hoped…and they can even lose money.
All of this to give people the option of going into a restaurant and have a nice crab dinner.
Why do these men do what they do? Some come from many generations of crab fishermen, others simply seek the chance to make the very most money for their time and hard work and are willing to risk making little if things just don’t work out. None are afraid of hard work. None are looking for the safest way to make a living.
What would happen if the situation were different? Suppose the government increased taxes on either the ship owner/captain or the crew members… would they be as willing to take the risks they do? Maybe not… they might decide to invest their time and effort in some other venture. Would YOU be as willing to risk your time… your effort… your money… perhaps your life… for less money?
If they do decide to continue, do you suppose they’ll be willing to sell their catch for the same price? Would YOU? Probably not. Chances are, they’ll want to increase the price they sell their crabs for so they are rewarded appropriately in AFTER TAX earnings… which means: higher cost of our crab dinners.
Here’s the amazing thing about our free enterprise system. Even though I very rarely have had crab for dinner, there are enough people in our great nation who enjoy crab that there is an entire industry that supports the supply side of the market… and they make a huge investment in that venture. This type of activity exists in every niche in the marketplace, some very very small. All just to give you the OPTION of buying and enjoying a product.
