[CAUT] (OT) Job Available

[lafargue at bellsouth.net]

My prices were $135 over a year ago, the hurricane has little to do with
it.  It has only increased growth.  I do not only tune, it is also the
estimates, rebuilds, player installs, repairs, etc., that fill my
schedule. I have built this one call at a time and 99% of it is word of
mouth.  I question if over $135 is right to do, but going from $95 to
$135 slowed nothing down.  I know that after the storm recovery is over,
this area will continue to grow as it has for 20 years.   

Lance Lafargue, RPT
LAFARGUE PIANOS, LTD
New Orleans Chapter, PTG
985.72P.IANO
lafargue at bellsouth.net
www.lpianos.com
 
 
 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On 
> Behalf Of Porritt, David
> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 12:36 PM
> To: College and University Technicians
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] (OT) Job Available
> 
> 
> 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