charge for time?

[JIMRPT at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/8/2007 9:34:40 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
cy at shusterpiano.com writes:

I just  find that mileage is an easy (and fair) concept for customers 
to accept,  and since I'm still growing my business, I'm not at the point of 
charging  for my time when I travel.



I have been watching this thread and find that I can't keep from  commenting.
 
All that we have to sell to our customers is 'time'. We don't sell only  
tuning, we sell other services as well such as regulation and repair, etc. What  
we charge for our 'time' is what determines how well we do financially. If we  
don't do well financially we will not be in business very long..........
 
 We should set a standard rate for tuning/service and stick to  it...along 
with the standard rate we should have a standard service area that is  charged 
the standard rate without regard to mileage/'time' considerations which  should 
have been taken into account when we set our rate to begin with.
 
 Charging just mileage is a losing proposition when traveling outside  your 
defined service area...for example you decide that a 20 mile circle from  your 
home base is your service area.  You get a call from someone who lives  35 
miles away......... Figure that you are going to charge .45 cents a mile for  
mileage that is outside your defined service area..or an extra 30 miles that  
would be an additional $13.50.  Now lets say that you charge 50 dollars as  a 
regular rate for tuning/service...this out of service area would than be  billed 
at $63.50.
 
 Since a lot of us work in urban environments we don't travel from  place to 
place without a lot of travel time and it would not be unusual for this  extra 
30 miles to add 45 minutes to an hour of time for that appointment to your  
total 
travel time.
  Using 45 minutes extra time and assuming you allow 1.5 hours for a  normal 
service call and you charge only your normal $50 plus mileage of $13.50  for a 
total of $63.50.........which works out to be $63.50 (2.25 hrs) or $28.22  
per hour.
 
Charging your normal rate it would be $50.00+ (.75 hour X  $50.00)
or $50+$37.50 ..which is $87.50 and is in line with your regular  
rates..........and comes out to....$87.50 (2.25 hrs) or $38.89 hr.
 
 Your regular rate works out to be (at $50 per 1.5 hr call) $33.33 per  hr.
So if you want to establish absolute equality on this out of area call you  
would charge $33.33 X 2.25 hrs = $74.99
 
 So you can justify your charges of:
$28.22 per hr.
or
$33.33 per hr.
or
$38.89 per hr.
 Which is the fairest for you, your business, all your customers and  your 
family?????
 
 Remember the $50.00 figure is just for illustration, plug in your own  
numbers and you will see what the status of 'your' rates would be.
 
 I am not saying that this is the only way to think about this  situation but 
if you don't charge for your 'time' you are not being fair with  yourself' or 
to your regular rate. If you don't charge for your time you are in  effect 
giving this customer who lives furthest from your regular service area a  
discount and shorting yourself in the bargain...........
 
Just some thoughts on the subject.
Jim B (FL)



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