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

[Ron Nossaman]

David Ilvedson wrote:
> For your fee, show her how to remove the fallboard...
> 
> "Remove a pencil and you have removed it for a day.   Teach
> how to remove the pencil and she can remove pencils for a
> lifetime"

This is what I do, explaining that I expect to see a trophy 
wall of removed artifacts one day. If someone calls me out of 
the blue wanting a pencillectomy, they get charged a service 
call, pre-warned in the initial phone conversation. I don't 
know them, we have no history, and I'm not looking to adopt. 
If they want a tuning too, the pencillectomy goes down to a 
couple of bucks, or a freebie if it just takes a minute. 
Regular loyal customers, I'll figure out a way to stop by and 
do it for little or nothing - depending. Habitual repeat 
offenders, regular, loyal, or otherwise, get charged a service 
call to focus their attention.

Like with everything else, you have to split the difference 
between throwing yourself on the sword, or running someone 
else through. Throwing yourself on the sword is sometimes the 
thing to do, but remember that there are an infinite number of 
swords out there waiting.
Ron N