In direct trade" business transactions, "the land, farmers and workers are treated the best, and compensated better." Schultz sees the great value in the prices people pay for the specialty coffees. "Coffee at $16 a pound is amazingly cheap." And, when you consider that the coffee farms employ year-round workers, and seasonally, about 25 people, and the large amount of political unrest in some of the Central American countries, a worker, who picks 70 pounds of coffee, then sorts it, and is paid by the kilo, the true value of direct trading becomes apparent. Schultz notes, 50 cents of every sale of direct trade coffee his shop sells is "earmarked for clean water projects, education, and future social programs in Nicaragua.