What we charge?

[Brian Trout]

Hi again, Wim,

This wacky little thought came to mind when I read your earlier post where
you said:
>In particular, it is against the law for us all to come to an agreement on
how
> much we charge for our services.

In a trade where we can rarely decide how long it takes to do a good tuning,
whether or not it's appropriate to use CA to tighten loose tuning pins, or
what's the best position to hold your tuning hammer in,  I almost had to
chuckle to myself at the ridiculousness of the very idea of actually coming
to an 'agreement' as to what it should cost to tune a piano.  <bemused
expression>  We rarely agree to any degree of totality on anything else.  I
doubt we could agree on the price of a tuning even if we Tried!! <chuckle>

Just a passing thought...

Best wishes,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net

----- Original Message -----
From: <Wimblees@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: What we charge?


> In a message dated 1/26/00 6:54:41 PM !!!First Boot!!!,
btrout@desupernet.net
> writes:
>
> << My point is, I charge what I charge, irrespective of what you charge.
My
>  prices are not a secret.  This idea that we can't discuss what we believe
>  are fair prices in our markets doesn't make any sense to me, especially
>  considering the geography between us.  >>
>
>
> In general, because there are some doubts as to what is considered price
> fixing, and what is not, it has been advised that we not discuss prices.
In
> particular, it is against the law for us all to come to an agreement on
how
> much we charge for our services.  Obviously you have to disclose your fees
to
> your customers.  But for us as a group to disclose our fees might be
> construed as "price fixing," which is against the law.
>
> Wim
>