[pianotech] billing dilemma with pitch raises

[Susan Kline]

Hi, Jer

A friend told me it was as if my life had pressed a great big RESET 
button. You know how some weeks you get so tired, and say to yourself, 
"if only I could take six months off!" (Beware what you ask for ...) I 
now feel lucky it was only five months, and it did do a good number on 
the chronic fatigue, just staying home. Double vision for five weeks was 
quite galling.

$1,000 a year doesn't even get you in the door when it comes to medical 
insurance. I investigated it in 1981, when I had come back to the US 
from Canada. I was appalled. They wanted more for a month of insurance 
than I expected to pay for normal medical care in several years. I was 
broke. I just "said no." I'm sure it's only gotten worse since.

I don't think I made a conscious decision about "full service" tuning 
(at least in a minor version.) It just seemed the natural thing to do. I 
hated seeing something wrong and just LEAVING it.

Susan

On 10/31/2010 6:30 PM, Gerald Groot wrote:
>
> I'm sorry to hear about your crisis.  That really sucks.
>
> Spending what we do spend on health insurance, you are quite correct 
> when you say you could buy a whole lot of health insurance for that 
> but, on the other hand If we were to spend say about $10,000 a year or 
> so with deductibles or more, in 10 years, that's an easy $100,000.  In 
> that regard, you're ahead of the game there.
>
> Thanks for the conversation. I enjoyed it.  I do find the idea of full 
> service quite interesting and have an open mind to it, believe it or 
> not. J
>
> Jer
>
> *From:*pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] 
> *On Behalf Of *Susan Kline
> *Sent:* Sunday, October 31, 2010 9:14 PM
> *To:* pianotech at ptg.org
> *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] billing dilemma with pitch raises
>
> On 10/31/2010 5:15 PM, Gerald Groot wrote:
>
> We have phone's, insurance, business insurance, health insurance, life 
> insurance, some even carry ear insurance or hand insurance.
>
>
> We would have phones anyway.
>
> Not all of us have all that insurance. I, for instance, carry home 
> owners insurance and car insurance, and that's it.
>
> I admit people with a family would worry without life insurance, and 
> maybe some kind of disability or health insurance. I think that unless 
> they are very anxious types, most single people are better off without 
> most of those other insurances: the tool insurance, (HAND 
> insurance??), liability insurance (which just makes your pockets deep 
> enough for someone to want to sue you).
>
> I went 30 years without health insurance, ever since coming home from 
> Canada. And last spring I became the poster child for what can happen 
> as an uninsured person gets older. Here I am, aged 64, and I had a 
> medical crisis and a hospital stay last May, and found myself with a 
> hospital bill for $30,500 (after negotiations.) Plus other doctor 
> bills. Okay ... my gosh, how could she do without the insurance?? 
> Well, first, if you prorate my hospital bill for thirty years, you end 
> up with about $1,000 per year -- you couldn't buy a whole lot of 
> health insurance for that. Second, these days if you have been a good 
> and faithful customer for years, paying premiums the whole time, and 
> you suddenly have a major medical cost, the companies have whole rooms 
> full of people whose only job is to go through your history with a 
> fine tooth comb, to find an excuse not to pay. Now, there is overhead 
> for you -- pay the insurance (at what I think are  exorbitant rates) 
> and THEN pay the medical costs yourself anyway, plus maybe some legal 
> costs trying to collect.
>
> To sum up again -- I think a very important skill for a person in 
> business is to keep overhead to the bare minimum. I don't remember Jer 
> mentioning advertising, but that's another one which I think most 
> really good piano techs should do without. Word of mouth does it all 
> so much better, and is scot free.
>
> Susan Kline
>

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