I've read the thread from the beginning and I'll try and keep my reply on point.
Perhaps some of the weekend warriors are not truly bottom feeders.
Perhaps they smply have bought into the market at a lower price point than you and at a slightly lower level than you.
Perhaps that behringer X32 system routs audio input towards the outputs as effectivly as your M7CL does but his buy in was under 5k, where yours was 25k 6 years back
Perhaps his qsc kw rig is adequate enough for the jobs he underbid you on where your older KF750 system went the last many years, and the sight lines are better and he didnt need a full distro,saving the venue/promoter an electrician call nor did it and eat up 16 sq ft sidestage for racks....
Perhaps his new lights from Blizzard adequatly light the stage and the stands he bought from hercules or ADJ are safe enough and rig faster than the long cans and super towers you bring with you.
Perhaps pulling the stuff around in that dinky trailer behind his personal truck allows him to charge less than you and your 5 ton truck
Perhaps the weekend warrior is satisfied with $30-40 an hour clear after lower expenses for a 1 man job than you are having to pay help to do these marginal jobs.
perhaps perhaps perhaps
Just a few thought I had when reading the first few pages of this.
IMHO the above is the best comment of the thread...
I'm reminded of a quote by Jim Rohn
"We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. It takes time to bring value to the marketplace, but we get paid for the value, not the time." -- Jim Rohn
I chuckle whenever I think about how I can rent a 2014 Lincoln Navigator for less than $100 a day fully insured and the local sound reinforcement company wants $300 for a few hours of SOS. Its more difficult for a consumer to see the value in sound equipment when they see some of the same brand name stuff at the consumer electronics store or at the same place where they rent their furniture...