Trip Charges - when to apply and why

[D.L.Bullock]

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With gas prices nearly doubling in the last few years, it now takes $35. to
fill my tank.  Since I live in the center of the Metropolitan area, I use
the interstate loop around the city as my boundary, about 15 miles from
here.  Inside that the tuning is normal price ($75) and outside of that
beltway is a $10.00 travel fee added.  If I go farther than 30 miles as I do
for pipe organ tunings 100+ miles away, I charge $10-$20. per hour of
travel.  If I stay overnight, then expenses are added and billed to the
instrument.  If there are 5 customers at the end of my trek then the travel
fees and expenses are split 5 ways.  I know $75 is cheap for tuning to some,
but that is high for this area.  I get to avoid most of the crappy spinet
tunings at that level.

D.L. Bullock  St. Louis
www.thepianoworld.com

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Phil Bondi [mailto:phil@philbondi.com]
  Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 6:08 AM
  To: Pianotech
  Subject: Trip Charges - when to apply and why


  Hello to all.

  I am going to open a dialogue regarding trip charges. I have personally
been avoiding this charge since day one, and I am starting to think that
this type of charge needs to be applied in some cases. If you read on, I'm
hoping you can offer some insight.

  -I got my break in this business doing dealership work..floor tunings and
warranty tunings. The dealership doesn't care where they sell to, so there
are times when I go a long ways to do a warranty tuning(my price to the
dealership recently went up for this work, regardless of locale)

  -The growth in this part of the country is starting to migrate north of
me - approximently 30 miles from my home and beyond.

  -I know what you're thinking: Establish a 'territory' when trip charges
don't apply, and go from there.

  -For those that charge trip charges, is there a set fee or does it change
in regards to the mileage from the home?

  -Let's say I have 2 appts. in Tripcharge City. The 2nd appointment is 10
minutes away from the first appt. Do you apply a trip charge for the 2nd
appt.? - and is it the same as the charge to the first appt.?

  -Would you start to apply a trip charge to those in Tripcharge City that
have been customers for awhile?

  -I tend to wrestle with this kind of stuff and perhaps dwell too much on
it - but I do want to be fair to my clients and especially to myself.

  I look forward to your comments.


  Phil Bondi (FL)

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