Good point, Paul. The Morgan twins used to tune for Sherman Clay in Seattle. Their gone, now, RIP, but the salesmen/women always said that when they tuned/prepped...it sold quick! I'll always remember Frank, with plastic inplants n nearly every joint, sayin' "hows it goin there, sonny?" I always tune/prep pianos at stores as if I had to play them myself...junk or not.. Same here at UNL (now a Big 10 school) Always a solid A-440(or a bit plus) tuning. Regulation on the uprights were always a struggle to talk them into, and the really cheap junk never got anything but a tuning. You would think that with a 100% mark up (or more on the junk) that they would go for it, but sadly a tuning was all it got. The money is in the junk! same for the in the home tuning, at least for the stores I worked with (not for) I quit tuning for them, not because of their lack of pay, but their business practices. Sell it, ship it, tune it, that's it! It drove me nuts!. I was actually an employee for a certain store in the Seattle are for exactly one year. I was fed up with their business practices, but stayed to the day of one year,(biting my lip every day to customers saying, yes, this was a good piano for the money invested!) so I could get the one week vacation pay I earned! Boy, did that piss off the boss!! ha ha ha. It was in writing, so have at it, I said! I figure they got 50% more (or more) work out of me than they paid me, so off I went with a smile on my face :>) I worked at least 80 hours per week for them that year. Boy, what a good lesson for all of us to learn! Now I get in "trouble" for working over 40 hours/week! Joy! joy joy! I love this job! I could spend 80 hours working on what these pianos need, but hey, it's job security (I hope!) It's public funds, so I'm never safe! Paul From: paul bruesch <paul at bruesch.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: 06/30/2010 01:11 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Discounted rate for piano stores? Randy Potter tells the story about two pianos in a store... identical except for his prep work on one of them, and the resulting higher price tag. It sold first. Paul Bruesch Stillwater, MN On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:27 AM, <tnrwim at aol.com> wrote: With floor tunings, they only need to be good enough to sell. Matthew Although most dealers take this attitude, very few of them understand that the better the piano sounds and plays, the faster it will sell. Most of them don't seem to understand that by paying us a little extra, the piano will sell faster, and for more money. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Matthew Todd <toddpianoworks at att.net> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tue, Jun 29, 2010 6:53 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Discounted rate for piano stores? To add to what you said Wim, floor tunings are different than in home tunings. After a customer purchases the piano and it is delivered, it is our job not only to tune it, but to reassure the customer of their purchase and make sure they are glad they purchased it. With floor tunings, they only need to be good enough to sell. TODD PIANO WORKS Matthew Todd, Piano Technician (979) 248-9578 http://www.toddpianoworks.com --- On Tue, 6/29/10, tnrwim at aol.com <tnrwim at aol.com> wrote: From: tnrwim at aol.com <tnrwim at aol.com> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Discounted rate for piano stores? To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 9:25 PM Kurt How much of a discount you give a dealer all depends on how hungry you are. If you need work, and the dealer is willing to pay you half your normal rate, do it. The same for the first tuning, take what he gives you. If you don't need to the work, and he needs you, you have the upper hand. I wouldn't charge him full boat, but certainly not less than half your fee for store pianos and 75% of the first tuning. My "basic" fee is $85. I get $45 for a store tuning and $65 for the in home tuning. Wim -----Original Message----- From: kurt baxter <fortefile at gmail.com> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tue, Jun 29, 2010 7:42 am Subject: [pianotech] Discounted rate for piano stores? Is it common practice to give a piano store a discount for tuning and repair work done on pianos on their showroom floor? If so, why? What about when you go out and do one of the "free" tunings the customer gets after buying a piano? Do you work for less becuase of the value added by the possibility of getting a new client? (No need to disclose dollar amounts, just a percentage of your normal rate.) -kurt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100630/eab4c08e/attachment.htm>
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