<WBR>Schools and churches are notorious to ask for discounts. I give them a discount when I'm asked to tune more than one piano in the same building. But certainly not just because they want me to tune the same piano every month, or so. <br> <br> One way to get around the question of a discount, is when an administrator, or church secretary, asks for a discount, just because it's a church, is to ask if they work at a discount. <br> <br> Also, when I'm asked if I give church discounts, I tell them that I tune the pianos at my church as part of my tithing, and that I can't afford to give to other churches, too. That usually satisfy them.<br> <br> <br> <div style="CLEAR: both">Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<br> Piano Tuner/Technician<br> Honolulu, HI<br> Author of <br> The Business of Piano Tuning<br> available from Potter Press<br> www.pianotuning.com</div> <br> <br> -----Original Message-----<br> From: Erwinspiano@aol.com<br> To: pianotech@ptg.org<br> Sent: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 8:04 am<br> Subject: Re: Valuing ourselves<br> <br> <div id=AOLMsgPart_2_1b32c9a1-92e2-42db-87f1-b16e3df8c4ad><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <div> <div>  Bravo Fenton.</div> <div>  Well said.  That's what I tell the school administrators when they call asking for a scholl tuning discount.  Not really... but I'd like to</div> <div> </div> <div>  Dale</div> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <div>I hope you work 30 billable hours a week if you're working full time; that's $1950</div> <div>Guys,</div> <div>Something to consider. I don't think it a stretch to say we work 1 hour of unbilled time for each hour billed. Driving, scheduling, book keeping, ect. So 30 hours billed can mean a 60 hour week. Then, half our pay goes for retirement, insurance, vacation, sick leave, advertising, supplies, ect. My point is our pay is divided in half then in half again when compared to a employee with out those obligations. So, for us to have the same income as say a factory worker, we need 4 time the hourly pay. Their $25. per hour is equal to our $100. per hour. Do you keep 25% of your pay, I know I don't.</div> <div>Fenton</div> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></div> <div></div> <div> </div> </FONT><br> <br> <br> <div><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. <A title=http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565 href="http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565" target=_blank>AOL Music takes you there.</A></FONT></div> </div> <div class="AOLPromoFooter"> <hr style="margin-top:10px;" /> More new features than ever. Check out the new <a href="http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/text.htm?ncid=aolcmp00050000000003" target="_blank">AOL Mail</a>!<br/> </div>