If you're just making a still image, post work is fine. I'm more interested in animation than still images. So for me... "Postwork" is kind of a dirty word. You try painting over imperfections in 24 picture in such a way that the paint over doesn't dance around when you animate that 1 second animation and you'll understand. It's all the work of a single great render, then 24*(every second) that you not only need to postwork, but postwork EXACTLY the same way as the last fram but with the minor differences required each frame. Even outside animation, postwork is ussually something you want to minimize if you're using 3D. Not because it's bad, but because if your going to spend that much time changing the figure after you render it, you might as well have just painted it from scratch. I don't think Postwork should be considered a negitive, but lack of need for it is definatly considered a positive. If that makes any sense. Also... I consider any postwork in product shots false advertising.

mo·nop·o·ly  [muh-nop-uh-lee]
noun, plural mo·nop·o·lies.
1. exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market,
or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices