[CAUT] (OT) Job Available

[Porritt, David]

I'm sorry!  I should have just let that lie there.

dp

David M. Porritt
dporritt at smu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Ken Zahringer
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 11:29 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] (OT) Job Available

I know Econ 101 is off-topic, but I can't let this one go.  The analogy
of
kicking someone when they are down is so inapplicable as to be
ludicrous.
In any market, different people are willing to pay different prices for
a
good or service based on the value they, individually, place on that
good or
service.  The price is set as X because the number of people willing to
pay
X or more is roughly equal to the available supply.  If Lance is getting
$135(or more, as Ed pointed out) in Louisiana while I'm getting $75 in
central Missouri, that might be enough to convince me to move to
Louisiana.
The increased price both signals the excess demand and provides the
incentive to fill it.  Once a few techs move there, though, we might
have to
charge $125, or $100, or $95 to get enough business to stay busy.  Only
a
finite number of people are willing to pay $135 or more - lower prices
are
necessary for more people to be willing to pay for your service.
Ultimately, the price for a tuning in Mandeville, LA will not be
significantly different from other, similar markets in the country.

If Dave could get $1000 per tuning in Dallas, that would mean that there
are
people there willing to pay that much - he can't coerce anyone into
having
their piano tuned.  The fact that a bunch of power hungry busybodies
might
decide to coercively interfere with that voluntary transaction doesn't
make
it right to do so.  He sure wouldn't get it for long, though.  We'd all
be
flocking to Dallas to make the big bucks.

I don't know what I'm worth and I don't determine what I'm worth.  My
clients do, and they tell me every time they decide to pay for my
service.
"Arrogance, profiteering, and immorality" merely mean you're getting
paid
more than I think you ought to.  "Thou shalt not overcharge" isn't in
the
Good Book, but "Thou shalt not covet" sure is.

And since you brought it up, Dave, if you want to know some real facts
about
current oil prices, read this: http://www.mises.org/story/2128

Time for me to shut up and get back to work.

Ken Z.  


On 4/27/06 10:03 AM, "Tim Geinert" <geinert at drtel.net> wrote:

> At some level I know that some of what Ed says is right, but I don't
believe
> it is an absolute.  Especially in  this scenario(Katrina, people
moving
> around, etc), and in some others as well, to push the market to
whatever it
> can possibly bear pushes past the truth of knowing you are worth what
you
> are charging to outright arrogance and profiteering and immorality.
It
> can't ever be right to kick someone when they are down just because
you can!
> 
> Good luck, Lance!
> 
> Tim G.

-- 
Ken Zahringer, RPT
Piano Technician
MU School of Music
297 Fine Arts
882-1202
cell 489-7529