> Scott:
>
> FIRST - you won't pay the going rate so do NOT except to get the same
> treatment!! If you pay me the $ 55-65 Chicago prevailing rate I will damn
> sure you and your baby are done in a very timly manner. You want to accept
> my regular shop rate of $ 30/hour then you wait while some IDIOT pays me that
> rate to fix a flat tire.!
>
> NEXT QUESTION?!?!?!?!?!?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ed
Ed,
I'm confused, enlighten me. Your labor rate is $25/hour cheaper than
the area average, so I should shut up and you'll work on it when
you damn well please, even though I'm paying the same rate as your
other customers?
It seems we're back to the same scenario--My car takes bottom
precedence over faster, more profitable jobs, presumably until the
tires of the world stop going flat at $15-$20 a pop plus parts, and
you decide to spend a few minutes with it. And for this treatment,
I'm paying the same rate as everyone else that comes into your
shop??
Do you explain this to your prospective restoration customers
and tell them that in all likelihood, The Presidency will change
hands at least once before they get their car back, or do you just
let the realization slowly dawn on them? Why don't you just put up
a sign that says "In the interests of my profit margin, only quick,
labor-intensive jobs with few parts involved will be done here."
(tune-ups, oil changes, tire changes, etc.) After all, why should you
spend ten hours EARNING your $30/hour on my car when you can change
sixty tires in the same amount of time and call it a day? You know,
it's not really fair to even charge $30/hour if you're going to
spend all your time spinning a lug wrench and pouring oil. A
trained monkey, or at the very least, an unskilled laborer can do
that, and they don't deserve $30/hour for it. I used to charge
$100/hour for emergency computer servicing, but I wouldn't be able
to look myself in the mirror if I took my college degree and years
of technical training and put it to use changing out floppy drives
and motherboard batteries at $100/hour just because it was quick and
easy.
I don't like your condescending attitude, or the fact that you
refer to your most profitable customers as "Idiots". I don't know
which disgusts me more, the fact that you exist, or the fact that
you're so unabashed about your work ethics. If you don't want to do
restoration work, turn the jobs away, but if someone pays you your
thirty dollars an hour, they have every right to expect their car not
to get shuffled to the back of the deck in favor of every flat tire
and oil change that comes along.
Scott Gardner
gardner@lwcomm.com
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