[pianotech] age-old question of what to charge for almost nothing

[William Monroe]

I've gotta say, two great answers.  I've done both and I think they are both
winners, just depends upon the situation.  If it's conveniently fit into the
schedule between a couple of tunings, I'd consider just doing it.  If it's
"emergency-ish" and I have to make a trip to do it, I'd generally charge and
see if there wasn't something more I could do while I was there to help the
client feel like they weren't paying $X just to remove a pencil.  Usually in
this case, clients understand too, that were "could" justify the full fee
for a pencil, but are willing to be reasonable and do some more work as long
as we've been hired to be there.

Good answers.  In another life (working with at-risk youth) I learned a good
sentiment from a mentor of mine.  When confronted with trying to figure out
the best thing to do for one of our kids, trying to do "what was in their
best interest," he suggest to me that in the end, "if you feel to do
something, it's probably the right thing to do."  So, what feels right to
you?  It's served me well to remember this in many places in life.

William R. Monroe


On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 7:06 AM, Jim Busby <jim_busby at byu.edu> wrote:

> David,
>
> Just do it. (Don't charge, unless she's WAY out of the way) Trust me, it'll
> come back to you (bread upon the waters). No one will take advantage of you
> for this small "sacrifice". Refuse to take her money. One lady said "Well,
> please take this..." and gave me 4 nice T-bone steaks. We became very good
> friends and over the years she's given me dozens of referrals. But even if
> she hadn't, the moment was precious.
>
> Someone once told me "sacrifice means that you give up something good for
> something better".
>
> Have fun with it. Oh, and when the girl comes to your door selling Girl
> Scout cookies, buy three boxes instead of one, give two away. It'll make her
> day, and yours too.
>
> Best,
> Jim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
> Behalf Of David Nereson
> Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 3:50 AM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: [pianotech] age-old question of what to charge for almost nothing
>
>    A piano teacher (not my client) calls me out of the blue to
> come remove a pencil as soon as possible.  It sure seems
> callous, unfeeling, gouging, and unprofessional to charge a full
> minimum 1-hour billing fee of $75 just to remove the pencil.
> But if we don't, then word gets around that we're cheap, so
> everyone calls expecting low rates, and we end up working for
> free, almost.  So do I go ahead and charge $75 just to remove a
> pencil?
>    --David Nereson, RPT
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100115/1d379810/attachment-0001.htm>