New Year's rant

[David Ilvedson]

For the second time in not so very long, someone is talking about
me "working for free" if I don't charge a bundle for various minor
services. In fact, the previous time, someone said that my opinions
didn't have to be considered, because I "worked for free."

I think I can make a good case for my pricing practices, which
suit me, my area, my customers, their pianos, and my bank account
just fine.

I suspect that this hustler mentality is forced upon people by their
choice of location ... or perhaps their choice of location followed
naturally from a hustler mentality. If someone chooses to live in
a region where living costs and overhead expenses are sky-high, that's
up to them. Perhaps they like having to put in all that time on
freeways getting to jobs in a large region. Perhaps they like
making six figures by hustling all day 6 days a week, so that they
can support our government by being in a high tax bracket. Perhaps,
they simply have a lot of dependents or illness in the family, and
must work that hard. (If so, my condolences ...) Perhaps,
they even like working for super-rich people and big, up-tight
institutions, which I have found, with some notable exceptions,
to be very over-rated.

Whatever one's income, region, needs, etc., there are two ways
to price: either one sets one's basic fees high enough that the
little extras like vacuuming are already covered, or one nickels-and-dimes
customers by fattening up the little chores into full-fledged
"services" for which one must extract sizable fees. To achieve
this, one must put on a salesman's hat. It doesn't fit me. Nor do
I enjoy spending 30 minutes or an hour thoroughly cleaning a
grand, when I can get the worst of the detritus, dust, grit,
fingerprints, paper clips, etc., seen to in about five minutes.

By making the little stuff a normal part of basic piano service,
one has the freedom to choose how much of it to do or not to do.
One also does not need to chat up a customer to wring some more
money from them. And what happens if they don't feel like paying
for a big-deal cleaning? Does one just leave the piano filthy,
and wade through the grime for the rest of the tuning? And if
they turn down "extra" $-costing service, there is that sour taste in
everyone's mouth afterwards. I can get along quite well without
that sour taste.

Everyone is welcome to run their businesses exactly as they please.
If someone wants to charge a second full tuning fee for sticking
around, touching up a tuning for five minutes, and going for free to a
(good) concert, also getting known by sight (and liked) by a lot
of the audience, that's fine with me. Do whatever suits you.

I chose an easy-going laid-back informal place, with lots of
educated and enlightened people living nearby, in a lovely region
(somewhat over-damp some times of year, like now) where living costs
were reasonable. I settled down, my work got more and more
interesting, the concert work arrived, steady repeat customers gradually
appeared (without phoning or postcards from me) and I'm moving
toward a lighter work load as I near retirement age. It
all suits me just fine. I don't intend to burn out, pushing
for $$$ all the time. I'm solvent, I like the freedom, and I'm
doing it all in a way both I and my customers like.

So -- what's a holiday without a good rant? -- you can take your
six figures and stuff it into the mortgage of your overpriced home,
your "health" insurance, your liability insurance, your tool insurance,
your annuity for when you just can't hack it anymore, your high
car insurance, your exorbitant state and local sales taxes, your
advertising, the upkeep of your fancy vehicles, your high grocery
and restaurant costs, lots of bookkeeping to keep track of it all,
and a good chiropractor to deal with the physical results of too
much tuning and driving, etc. etc. etc.

And of course, I could be completely wrong about your lifestyle,
your customers' lifestyle, and your cost structure. It's always
possible to be completely wrong. If the shoe doesn't fit, just
don't put it on. Do what suits you -- as I do, without apology.

Happy New Year, anyway.

(thanks, Conrad, for the sleek new 2006-model flamesuit ...)
Susan Kline

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