Hi Paul, I live in a place I'd call 'close to major population centers', but not in them. Truthfully, it's kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, I can drive for a little over an hour and be in Philadelphia which is a pretty large city. On the other hand, if I drive an hour in the opposite direction, I'm pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I get little hints from time to time of what people might expect to pay for a tuning. My normal rate is $65 which is a little low when I travel towards the metro type areas, but seems like it's high for some of the farther out, more rural people. There are differences in the prices that are considered normal in different areas. But then again, in real spendable after taxes, after expenses dollars, I'm not really sure it amounts to much of a difference. I doubt Newton Hunt would even consider doing a tuning for $65. Most of the customers I have wouldn't pay $90 (can't remember, Newton, sorry) or so for a tuning. A few might, but I'd be weeding out probably 80% who wouldn't pay it. The whole eastern seaboard, which I would consider myself on the edge of, is becoming a sort of megalopolis. Not that it's all one big city, but no one within about 75 miles of the coast is all that far from a major metropolitan area. If you leave the city, it's not far to a town nearby, and so on, town after town till you run into another larger city. Sort of a giant ebbing and flowing of suburbia. I don't know if that exactly answered your question. I'm not sure I know how the business will play out over the years. But I do have a suspicion that as time progresses, there'll be more and more competent technicians in our field to the point where I will need to be excellent at what I do to be a competing contender in this marketplace. Just a few thoughts on stuff... Brian Trout Quarryville, PA btrout@desupernet.net
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