[Thaumatology] Setting magic item prices to make economic sense

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by scc

Basically if Enchanters can't get weekends off because if they did S&S Enchanting wouldn't be practicle

Enchanters are obviously not subject to union work rules and operate on very different assumptions about what constitutes a proper work-life balance. They operate on work schedules better suited to energy drink- and modafinil-driven Silicon Valley tech startup coders or medieval craftsmen.

If you accept that it takes x amount of energy delivered at a steady rate over exactly 56 hours per 7 days and ignore exact work schedules, it becomes possible for enchanters to have one or more days off each week without breaking the basic assumptions for enchantments. Mages have the choice of a ~8 hour x 7 day grind, a ~10 hour x 6 day 19th century-style workday, or a ~14 hour x 4 day "modern flex time + commute" or "medieval summer + holidays" workday.*

*TMI Regarding Historical Work Schedules

Spoiler:  

The concepts of "The Weekend," the "8-Hour Workday," and "Overtime Pay" are late 20th century notions, brought about by decades of labor union efforts. Before the 1930s, such notions would have been considered radical by most people, perhaps dangerously so.

For pre-modern people, who lived without clocks or decent artificial lighting, an honest day's work ran from sunrise to sundown, but with lots of breaks - often involving food and alcohol - to recover from sessions of heavy physical labor. For medieval workers, Sundays were a mandatory day of rest and the Church or the local craft guilds might also forbid work on certain holidays.

This meant that, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, work hours were much shorter during European winters and much longer in the summer, but the workday was much more relaxed (not to say, downright soused) and the number of nominal work hours each year probably worked out to about ~3,500 (averaging 12-hour days, minus Sundays and 14 days of holidays).

The notion of a "commuting to work" was also alien to most medieval people. Farmers and other rural folk might walk for several hours to get to far distant fields, but crafters either lived over their workshops or within short walking distance, effectively allowing most tradesmen to "work from home." Wives and children might also perform errands or support duties for the business and its workers, meaning that family members saw each other throughout the day.

These notions persisted until the late 19th century, although the Reformation did away with the observance of all but the most major Christian holidays. Most workers still lived within easy walking distance of their workplace. Once factories dominated the economy, factory workers began to agitate first for 12-hour, and then 10-hour days, in addition to other demands. The notion of taking Saturdays and all but the highest Christian holidays off would have just too wild, except maybe for the most wild-eyed IWW anarchists. The 40-hour work week was a product of the Great Depression, adopted in part to create more jobs and to forestall more extreme labor demands.

The idea of spending hours traveling to work and living far distant from your place of work is also very modern, dating to the early 20th century when interurban railroads were common. It became commonplace after WW2 once everyone had cars and suburbs developed. Before the 20th century the idea of separating housing from all but the dirtiest industries, much less having entire communities with just housing, would have been considered ridiculous.