If someone is in such a position as to not know how to pay the next phone bill, then I doubt very much if they could afford to carry on collecting.
I know of at least one person that had a full time job and collected a vast amount of material at his own expense and made it available for issue over a number of years, and I am sure there are several more. Any return which he got from this was a fraction what what he spent. In answer to your question it might have been better if one worked as a bank clerk because then you could more probably afford to carry on collecting.

Incidentally I trust that as well as posting to this thread that you are all making your comments known to Musical Traditions as I am sure that there are people who read that mazine that do not read the mudcat threads.

Good luck with your re-recordings Dick.