charging for service (sermon - was rant and rave)

[Vanderhoofven]

Dear Bill,

Thanks for the sermon!  I make it my practice to follow the Bible and to
try to please God in everything I do.  Here are some more things to
consider from Deuteronomy where I am reading.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11, 24:14-22  Taking care of the stranger, Fatherless and
Widow

Deuteronomy 25:13-16  Warning not to have unjust weights and measures - In
otherwords, charge fairly to everyone for what you are selling (your time,
knowledge, services) and don't charge some people more than others.  

It is hard to keep my fees fair, especially when I am driving up to a
$500,000.00 house to work on a new concert grand piano, and the next piano
I go to is a 47 year old spinet in a little shack.  I must confess that it
is hard not to want to charge more for the first piano, and less for the
second piano, taking into account each persons situation.  But it should be
the same price for the same amount of work.

On the other hand, I am much more likely to sell a regulation job to the
people in the mansion, than I am to the people in the shack.

Lots of good ideas here on the list.  I like the ideas of having the local
PTG chapter take on pianos as a project, or letting the Rotary Club or
Lions Club know if there is a need.

By the way, no one has mentioned the PTG Code of Ethics:
1.  I will act honorably and in a professional manner.
2.  I will render the best possible service under the circumstances, always
keeping the best interests of my client in mind.
3.  I will engage only in fair trade practices....

More food for thought.

Sincerely,
David Vanderhoofven

At 11:37 PM 5/6/98 EDT, you wrote:
>In a message dated 98-05-06 20:23:11 EDT, you write:
>
>My Bible reads, "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for
>those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an
>unbeliever."  (I Timothy 5:8)

>The same Bible instructs, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the
>Father is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep
>oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27)  I know for a fact that other
>technicians besides myself practice working long and charging short when a
>needy situation calls for it.
>
>There has to be a balance between providing for one's own and assisting
>widows.  
>
>Sermon, anyone?
>
>Bill Maxim, RPT