Now that I think about it, I used to mow lawns for as little as 50 cents.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. I agree that kids are not out looking for jobs anymore,

but I don't agree that you get the same results from the kids as you do from a professional lawn service. At least in my area, the kids are all about getting done and getting paid as quickly as possible. Yes, the grass is cut, and there may even be some trimming, but they do not do any clean-up. I know this because I have tried it---I wanted to help out kids who seemed to be motivated.

I suppose that my biggest issue is that kids don't have the same overhead as a lawn service, and since they are just starting out, I think it is arrogant to think that they are worth so much money. It takes me 45 minutes to mow, and it takes another hour to edge. This is less than 2 hours work, and a kid wants $40 to do this....and that is more than I make an hour. I have a problem with that. When I babysat, I was paid about half of what the minimum wage would have been at the time, and I was glad for the money. I bet the same was true for you.