New Year's rant

[David Ilvedson]

List....sorry, I was going to respond to Susan but apparently resent the original message...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, California



----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey@sbcglobal.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Received: 1/1/2006 3:36:58 PM
Subject: New Year's rant


>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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