As early as 1805 the country was divided into six principal locations where negotiations between the masters and the journeymen regularly took place for an agreed list of prices for the various types, styles and mixes of hair and fibre in the endless variety made by the Brushmakers. A number of the early Lists of Prices from Bristol, Brimingham, Leeds, London, Manchester and Sheffield have survived giving a major insight into the trade. The Pan Shop rather than a factory was the Brushmakers' traditional workplace and most masters worked together with their journeymen and apprentices. Brushmakers were paid by piecework and, according to William Kiddier, the Union's historian, the rate of payment was based on the number of knots at one penny for twenty in 1870. The list of the 'legal' members of each Society were circulated giving the dates of the commencement and completion of apprenticeship.
All apprentices appear to have been indentured to the trade.
There was a strict control over entry to the trade with lists of 'legal' journeymen and appentices employed by 'legal' masters in 'legal' workshops. The loosely knit but highly organised federal structure of The United Society of Brushmakers also operated a tramping route system of relief for unemployed journeymen who were prepared to seek employment in other districts. This system operated over a hundred and fifty years before the State organised Unemployment Benefit. If the whole route was covered, at least 1,210 weary miles of hard walking would have been undertaken. The tramping was mainly done during the day and when he reported to the appointed centre in the town, he would be given a list of legal shops where he might gain employment.