(Emphasis added)

[MENTION=333310]Wilfred Laurier[/MENTION],
You're not serious, right? Maybe you're unfamiliar with the fillet brazed Superiors and Super Sports? These were most certainly good quality bikes. Fine bikes, actually, and much sought after today.

Some posters will challenge the validity of and find a credible example of an exception to any statement presented as an absolute that a reasonable person might make. I wonder who will take this one on: All living things need water, food and air (oxygen) in order to survive.

I was unfamiliar with them. I googled a picture and the fillet brazing looked a lot like electro-forged construction. My mistake!

However 'best that Schwinn ever made' and 'sought after by collectors' do not necessarily mean 'good'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_organism


Oh, and while we are at it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proline

Schwinn EF bikes and the early 70's Super Sport are not the nicest things ever made, but compared to contemporary department store bikes they are fine indeed. I had a Super Sport a couple of years ago, and its Ashtabula crank worked great. The outer ring has a shift ramp pressed into it that makes it shift really well, and the bearings at the BB were good. The bash guard is big enough to keep your pants out of the FD and the pie plate was big enough to keep the RD out of the spokes. The steel is good and the chrome is hard. It was never made to win races but it's a bike you can get on every single day and expect it to work well.

And more heresy while we’re at it - Schwinn kickstands are really good too.

these days most inexpensive bike frames are built in aisa by robots and computers control the process. the more expensive ones use lighter materials.
in reality chances are the frame is probably pretty good. that $100 department store bike and that low level bike at the bike shop are probably made at the same factory....DISCLAIMER i am not saying that $1000+ bike is the same as a $100 department store bike. i am comparing cheap bikes to cheap bikes.
the difference maker is the components that are on the frame. cheap department store bikes have extremely poor quality components on them, and they are most likely UN-repairable. if something brakes you have to replace it. with component costs it's usually cheaper to buy a new bike than replace the parts. this is why department store bikes end up in the trash bin.
the other problem is the person assembling the bike. in a department store the person assembling is is probably earning minimum wage and a crescent wrench to assemble it. he probably is reading the instruction book on how to assemble it because he has never done this before.
at least at a bike shop the bikes are assembled by someone with experience and the components are most likely repairable.

Do most of the people assembling lower cost bicycles sold at LBS's earn much (or any) more than employees of big box store outlets for bicycles? Are they likely to have any better benefits, or any benefits at all?

at least the person at the bike shop almost always has some experience assembling bikes or someone is nearby with experience if they have troubles.
they will also have the proper tools to do the job instead of cheap china crescent wrench, pliers and screwdrivers from the hardware department.