Under an hour tuning

[Richard Brekne]

Clyde Hollinger wrote:

> Tony,
>
> Having different hourly rates based on where people live looks very
> risky to me.  The ethics will almost certainly be called into question
> if any country people find out they are being charged $20/hour more than
> the town people.

Thats if you look at it in the hourly rate perspective. You could just as
easily say... "Ok I got 4 tunings out in Puke River and thats 100  miles
away... I have a milage charge of 1 dollar and I want to spread that out
evenly so thats an <<extra>> 25 bucks per piano."  Now it still takes you
the same time to tune the piano... but from the perspective of the customers
pocketbook its easy to  think in terms of an increase in what the charge per
hour is.

The post stamp example doesnt really fit well as the "costs of delivery"
arent split up into catagories that have to do with distances within a
single country...but you still pay for those costs... make no mistake. Turn
it around for a second... Why should anyone have to pay the same for mailing
a letter accross town as they do across country ??? Eh ????... No the post
deals in such volumes that that particular issue is a bit too clumsy to deal
with. They are more concerned with weight. Now turn that one around on
pianos....grin.... Should we charge according to how much a piano weighs
???? I mean hey... thats what the post service does...

>
> If I have to travel 20-25 miles from home to tune a piano, yes, of
> course I charge more than for pianos that are within 15 miles, but the
> mileage charge is a separate item on the invoice.  The tuning charge
> doesn't change based on location.  I have a very clear policy, I can
> easily explain it, and it has never been a problem.

So... what about the 4 pianos in the same place 25 miles away scenario... do
you charge each of them the full milage or do you split it up.... and what
happens if you split it up  into four and the fourth piano turns out to be a
no show ?... Or what happens if next year you go back and this time there is
only 2 of them so they get hit with an additional 25 bucks a piece and
wonder what gives....

There is  always something to make it difficult to be fair no matter what
you do. At some point the issue of fairness must yield to the issue of
simplicity. Complications cost too you know...:)

>
>
> Regards, Clyde
>

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no