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<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 2/24/2006 5:26:06 P.M. US Eastern Standard Time,
tubist@swbell.net writes:</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>I've
been hired to tune 3 pianos at a school which is about 20 miles away.<BR>T=
wo
of the pianos are in the same room; the third is in a different
room.<BR>Because of class schedules, the first two must be tuned between 8=
:00
a.m.<BR>and 12:00 noon (no problem there), but the third one is only avail=
able
after<BR>2:00 p.m., leaving me with a two-hour gap.<BR><BR>Here's the
question: is it reasonable to charge something for the two hours<BR>of
downtime? I've already cut them a break on the tuning price, since
there<BR>are six pianos involved </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>I have a couple of similar situations here in northern Indiana. The bef=
ore
and after school suggestions are good, of course, but the ideal solution is =
to
find another piano in the area to tune in between. If that is not possible, =
I
find making appointment calls, doing research (catalogs, etc.), and napping =
to
be useful. Small town hardware stores are almost always worth a browse, as w=
ell.
In a rural situation, though, charging for downtime almost never works. In t=
he
more urban locations it is a little easier to find a customer who understand=
s
that your time has value, but most people would regard you as trying to bene=
fit
at their expense. If all else fails, you might have to build it into the cos=
t
next time.</DIV>
<DIV>Some days napping really does seem like the most attractive thing to
do.....</DIV>
<DIV>John Stroup</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>