Piece-rate vs Hourly

I've got a hypothetical scenario for you. Let's say you want to get your house painted. You have two options from two different professional painters. Painter A wants to be paid by the hour. Painter B tells you that he wants to be paid by the square-foot. Who do you think is going to get the job done faster and who do you think will cost you the most? Painter A, hourly, is basically incentivized to take his time. Get out the headphones upon the ladder, stop for a snack, get a little suntan by facing the sun, text a few friends upon the ladder... Hey, know matter what I'm doing, I'm still getting paid. Painter B is getting paid for what he accomplishes so, he is incentivized to work quickly and efficiently, get the job done, get paid.

A similar scenario happened to Apple grower Scott McIlrath, owner of McIlrath Family Farms in Tieton, Washington. A couple of years ago, Scott's apple crop was sparse. He decided to pay apple pickers by the hour. But the workers discovered that the apples they were picking were large, it turned out they were filling the apple bins very quickly, which led them to ask for a piece rate instead. Just like painter B who was getting paid for what he accomplished, production doubled or tripled when the piece rate formula was introduced.

Now, a Seattle attorney in a class action suit, is suing the Dovex Fruit Company of Wenatchee, Washington, apparently because of two apple pickers who do not like the piece-rate system. The lawsuit wants the piece rate workers to be paid separately for non-picking tasks such as moving equipment or attending training meetings. This must be a touchy subject because we called Dovex: ""We don't want to comment.