Clyde Hollinger wrote: > Tony, > > Having different hourly rates based on where people live looks very > risky to me. The ethics will almost certainly be called into question > if any country people find out they are being charged $20/hour more than > the town people. Thats if you look at it in the hourly rate perspective. You could just as easily say... "Ok I got 4 tunings out in Puke River and thats 100 miles away... I have a milage charge of 1 dollar and I want to spread that out evenly so thats an <<extra>> 25 bucks per piano." Now it still takes you the same time to tune the piano... but from the perspective of the customers pocketbook its easy to think in terms of an increase in what the charge per hour is. The post stamp example doesnt really fit well as the "costs of delivery" arent split up into catagories that have to do with distances within a single country...but you still pay for those costs... make no mistake. Turn it around for a second... Why should anyone have to pay the same for mailing a letter accross town as they do across country ??? Eh ????... No the post deals in such volumes that that particular issue is a bit too clumsy to deal with. They are more concerned with weight. Now turn that one around on pianos....grin.... Should we charge according to how much a piano weighs ???? I mean hey... thats what the post service does... > > If I have to travel 20-25 miles from home to tune a piano, yes, of > course I charge more than for pianos that are within 15 miles, but the > mileage charge is a separate item on the invoice. The tuning charge > doesn't change based on location. I have a very clear policy, I can > easily explain it, and it has never been a problem. So... what about the 4 pianos in the same place 25 miles away scenario... do you charge each of them the full milage or do you split it up.... and what happens if you split it up into four and the fourth piano turns out to be a no show ?... Or what happens if next year you go back and this time there is only 2 of them so they get hit with an additional 25 bucks a piece and wonder what gives.... There is always something to make it difficult to be fair no matter what you do. At some point the issue of fairness must yield to the issue of simplicity. Complications cost too you know...:) > > > Regards, Clyde > -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC