Topic: Speechless, and you ?

[74cb750]

Well it happened. This is a rare occurance for me.

The situation:
Fixed a bike for a friend at $26/hour , which is what I charge everyone.
When I presented him the bill, he paid up, but was kinda grumpy about
the hourly rate.

This from a guy whom grossed $8,000,000 last year and pays most of his
employees minimum wage.

One of these days I will learn to not mix friends and business.

peace,
michel

[seanbarney41]

...hmm...yeah...I know if I say what I want to say about that, it's gonna get way to "political"...

[CafeDawg]

Money doesn't buy class, however, I find it usually is accompanied by entitlement. 

[Gordon]

Money doesn't buy class, however, I find it usually is accompanied by entitlement.

Yep! 

The only times I've worked on bikes/cars for pay that belonged to a friend, I either had them agree to a set amount for the work before I started, or we worked out some kind of trade.  In fact, pretty much any time I work on a bike for money, regardless of who it belongs to, I give an estimate up front and then call for approval before doing anything that will cost more. 

[BeSeeingYou]

Well it happened. This is a rare occurance for me.

The situation:
Fixed a bike for a friend at $26/hour

This from a guy whom grossed $8,000,000 last year and pays most of his
employees minimum wage.



peace,
michel

I guess that's how he grossed 8 mil.  Knowing that I would have charged him double the usual rate and he should have been happy to pay that considering what a shop charges.  If I was in his situation I would be happy to have a way to spread a little of my wealth around to friends without making it seem like charity.  What a jerk.

[Grizzly]

I think people are the same the world over.
In England we have a saying.
"There's nowt as queer as folk"

[70CB750]

Friends and business mix well very rarely.

[wardenerd]

only thing worse is family and business

[demon78]

In an earlier manifestation of my life when I fixed appliances the worst, were the ones that belonged to the 100000. club at Ontario Hydro amongst the best were the people on fixed incomes, so I'd explain to the hyDroids the charges were based on mileage, availability of parts (having them with me), time spent (including making up the bill) knowledge, and above all expertise (not taking 5 hours to analyzing the problem) and I got in response "well I could have done that" and I would think to myself well why in hell didn't you.
Bill the demon.

[mrbreeze]

In an earlier manifestation of my life when I fixed appliances the worst, were the ones that belonged to the 100000. club at Ontario Hydro amongst the best were the people on fixed incomes, so I'd explain to the hyDroids the charges were based on mileage, availability of parts (having them with me), time spent (including making up the bill) knowledge, and above all expertise (not taking 5 hours to analyzing the problem) and I got in response "well I could have done that" and I would think to myself well why in hell didn't you.
Bill the demon.

Back in the 90's in Wyoming....this guy comes into our shop and asks how much to change an oil pan gasket in a Toyota pick-up. I get out the labor book and quote him the price for 3 hours labor. He gets all bent out of shape and tells me he could do it himself in 1/2 an hour. I looked at this guy and told him it would probably take him 45 minutes just to jack the truck up to work on it. Then I asked him to leave and quit wasting my time! Some people's kids!!!

[dave500]

a long time ago a freind of a freind had put a used motor into his hiace van or what ever it was,it was done at his freinds auto airconditioning shop so he could use their tools,they couldnt start it ,it just back fired so my freind asked me to come over and have a look,a half hour drive and five minutes later i had the leads the correct way around and it ran ok,the guys at this shop said yeah thats what we thought it was,all i got was a thanks mate seeya,,what the #$%* was i doing there i thought to myself and why the #$%* didnt these #$%*heads have a go at it themselves if they fitted the #$%*ing thing?

[pat english]

you shoulda charged him alot more if you knew how much he made....shoulda told him about the cb bubble....

[azporkey]

  You call that your friend. You got to get a new mineset. What do you call your enemeys?? I pay 80. per hour. where do you live? I hope by me. You work cheap. Best of everything. azporkey

[fmctm1sw]

You call that your friend. You got to get a new mineset. What do you call your enemeys?? I pay 80. per hour. where do you live? I hope by me. You work cheap. Best of everything. azporkey

+1.  $26 is like half the rate of the local shop here.  Oh, and they won't touch a bike that old...

[number13]

My brother repairs copiers for a living, the big ones in offices.
He frequently manages to fix them in under 15 minutes and presents the
standard 80 dollar invoice. Invariably the customer grumps and says "80 bucks for a few minutes???".
My brother always shuts them down by saying, "No, 80 bucks for 20 years worth of knowledge, I'm giving you the 15 minutes for free."

[VonYinzer]

I recently had a guy I barely know approach me about painting the tins on his bike. Im not a pro by any means, but have gotten pretty good with body work and paint.

Anyhow, as stated, i barely know this guy but hes a friend of a friend. I asked what he wanted and figured Id give him a break and told him it would be $300. That wouldve put under $100 in my pocket for a full day of work (at least).

He Emailed me back and said "Id be more comfortable with $200".

After politely explaining that I should be charging him $200 for just the labor (and that $200 would still be a deal), he replied "its just paint".

I asked him to get a quote from a local body shop. They said it would be nearly $900 for the same work.

This morning he Emailed me and said he "thought about it, and $300 isnt too bad".

I was so pissed I told him I wasnt interested anymore, and he needed to find someone else.

[mrbreeze]

My brother repairs copiers for a living, the big ones in offices.
He frequently manages to fix them in under 15 minutes and presents the
standard 80 dollar invoice. Invariably the customer grumps and says "80 bucks for a few minutes???".
My brother always shuts them down by saying, "No, 80 bucks for 20 years worth of knowledge, I'm giving you the 15 minutes for free."

Awesome!!! Its like a mechanic charging $50 to fix something and he pulls out a hammer and hits the object he's working and it starts working. The customer says $50 just to hit with a hammer? The mechanic says No....$50 for knowing WHERE to hit it with a hammer!!!

[mrbreeze]

I recently had a guy I barely know approach me about painting the tins on his bike. Im not a pro by any means, but have gotten pretty good with body work and paint.

Anyhow, as stated, i barely know this guy but hes a friend of a friend. I asked what he wanted and figured Id give him a break and told him it would be $300. That wouldve put under $100 in my pocket for a full day of work (at least).

He Emailed me back and said "Id be more comfortable with $200".

After politely explaining that I should be charging him $200 for just the labor (and that $200 would still be a deal), he replied "its just paint".

I asked him to get a quote from a local body shop. They said it would be nearly $900 for the same work.

This morning he Emailed me and said he "thought about it, and $300 isnt too bad".

I was so pissed I told him I wasnt interested anymore, and he needed to find someone else.

Good for you man!!!! It isn't Lets make a deal. The guy asks what you charge and then tries to talk you down. Its like you go into a shop and see a sign posted Shop Labor Rate $100. Then some moron comes in and says its only $75 down the road...................Then take your happy a$$ down the road. Cheap labor ain't good and good labor ain't cheap!!!!

[72 yellow]

A friend and I used to acid wash new construction brick homes and commercial buildings.  A guy came up to us and asked us to quote a price to clean the brick on his new home.  My partner looked at the home and gave him a price.  He said it was too high and basically a monkey could do what we were doing (he had been watching us work).  About a week later he called and asked if we would be willing to clean the house.  We told him we were busy, he replied that he did not realize how hard the work was.  We inflated the price and he still agreed.  When we got there all he had managed to do was a 5 foot by 5 foot square.  We could not stop laughing.

[mrbreeze]

A friend and I used to acid wash new construction brick homes and commercial buildings.  A guy came up to us and asked us to quote a price to clean the brick on his new home.  My partner looked at the home and gave him a price.  He said it was too high and basically a monkey could do what we were doing (he had been watching us work).  About a week later he called and asked if we would be willing to clean the house.  We told him we were busy, he replied that he did not realize how hard the work was.  We inflated the price and he still agreed.  When we got there all he had managed to do was a 5 foot by 5 foot square.  We could not stop laughing.

He wasn't a monkey was he??

[Retro Rocket]

He wasn't a monkey was he??

You didn't read it right Fred, he said, monkeys can do it......he must be a sloth maybe....

[mrbreeze]

He wasn't a monkey was he??

You didn't read it right Fred, he said, monkeys can do it......he must be a sloth maybe....

OHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!............yeah....huh!!!

[72 yellow]

And he paid us in cash, not bananas. 

[kirkn]

. Cheap labor ain't good and good labor ain't cheap!!!!
[/quote]


1.  Good
2.  Cheap
3.  Fast

Pick 2 outta 3...

[greenjeans]

Labor Rates:

$75 per Hour
$125 per hour if you watch
$175 per hour if you tried to do the work first
$225 per hour if you #$%* about the price

There's the door if you think you can get it done cheaper or better.