&gt; Should plumbers be upset about their work being devalued?<p>The problem stems from contributions that have a big impact. Big impact can be achieved by one person contributing a large amount, or many people contributing small amounts.<p>Another comment referred to this article where a Florida business man donated a million t-shirts to Africa that resulted in the textile industry bankruptcy:
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;content.time.com&#x2F;time&#x2F;world&#x2F;article&#x2F;0,8599,1987628,00.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;content.time.com&#x2F;time&#x2F;world&#x2F;article&#x2F;0,8599,1987628,00...</a><p>Was it bad just by giving away t-shirts? I don&#x27;t think so.
Was it bad just by giving away that many t-shirts? I don&#x27;t think so either.<p>It was bad because his actions created a dependency on an unreliable source while removing the main income source that sustains reliable ones. If he subsidized the income loss of the textile industry, the consequences would not have been as devastating.<p>That&#x27;s really the crux of the argument; giving away things for free generally takes income from dependable sources of labour. It&#x27;s only when it has a big impact that people pay attention.<p>Going back to the topic, the same can be said about volunteering. I think it&#x27;s okay if volunteering dislodges an entire industry as long as the volunteering is sustainable and reliable.