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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=joegarrett@earthlink.net
href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">Joseph Garrett</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 13, 2003 =
8:35 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Price of =
Ivory/Dave
Nereson's reply</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Dave,<BR>If one thinks cheap......!? Cheap..Cheap! (Dat's what da =
birdy
said<G>) If<BR>you don't properly value your SKILLED work, then =
your
client sure as hell<BR>won't.<BR>The original question was clarified, =
in "how
much to charge for the Ivory. I<BR>charge $5 per piece of Ivory, (used =
or new
Ivory). Why? Because I took the<BR>time to sort/clean and grade each =
piece
that I salvaged. I've been doing<BR>Ivory for my entire career. I'm =
very good
at it. It still takes me at least<BR>1/2 hour to do the job CORRECTLY. =
Am I
slow? Doubt it! Do I do excellant<BR>work? Damned right! I charge =
accordingly
for my KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL.<BR>The problem with most Techs is they =
think
CHEAP, when they should think of<BR>the piano and all the "allied =
arts" as a
luxury item. "If you have to ask,<BR>you can't afford it", comes to =
mind. Yes,
more than 3 Ivories, replaced, is<BR>more costly than doing a full set =
of
Plastic. Once the Ivory starts to fall<BR>off, it's time to bite the =
bullet,
one way or another, because the GLUE is<BR>FAILING! If the customer =
doesn't
want to go the PROPER replacement, then<BR>just rip em all off and do =
plastic!
(Flack Jacket/Flame Suit in place!) BTW,<BR>after 20 years +/-, =
plastic will
start to come off also! What to do? What to<BR>do?<BR>Bottom line: I =
get so
tired of techs debasing themselves in this<BR>realm!!!!!!! Quote the =
correct
price and let the chips fall were they may!<BR>(Who knows, you might =
make a
good living out of it!<G>)<BR>No Regards Here,<BR>Joe Garrett, =
RPT,
(Oregon)<BR><BR>Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay!
=
[G}<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>pianotech =
list
info: <A
=
href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives">http://www.ptg.org=
/mailman/listinfo/pianotech</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Yeah, I know. I just remember quoting a =
customer
"about $5 a key" once, for replacing ivories, when they were a little =
more
readily available (this was at least 15 years ago), and her jaw
dropped. She said something like, "Well, at that rate, I'll just =
glue
them myself."</DIV>
<DIV> Yes, tuners do often underrate themselves, or =
sell
themselves short. But sometimes if you quote less than you're =
worth, you
at least get the job, rather than quoting what you should and not =
getting the
job at all, thus making NO money because the rates were too high =
and the
customer couldn't afford it. </DIV>
<DIV> I just reconditioned an old upright =
action this
weekend for about $250. She said she could put about $300
into improving the piano. So I make $250 to =
$300. If I
had told her $500 or $700 (what I really should be charging), I =
wouldn't have
gotten the job at all.</DIV>
<DIV> --David Nereson,
RPT <BR><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>