loudboy
Tele-Holic
Or you can buy a solid wood $800 desk off Craigslist, and have $700 left over.
The "I can rent it for less" rant
- Thread starter Old Deaf Roadie
- Start date
Or you can buy a solid wood $800 desk off Craigslist, and have $700 left over.
omahaaudio
Friend of Leo's
i don't think you actually said what service you provide...
Skyhook
Tele-Afflicted
Oh, THIS! So much THIS!
For instance, I'll happily pay a team of mechanics using proper tools, 35€ twice a year to change summer tires to winter tires and vice versa.
My much handier friends look at me like I just pooped something green and moving.
Reality is, I'm the one who's gonna be driving that thing in iffy weather and I need the wheels to... idk... stay on!
Trained mechanics using pneumatic tools can usually(but not always even then) make that happen at a higher rate than I ever could.
bettyseldest
Friend of Leo's
Dad was a woodcutting machinist, and shopfitter. In his own time a better carpenter and cabinet maker than most who make a living out of it. Geoff was a car mechanic, John an electrician, Clarrie a housepainter and Joe the electrician. They worked for each other, paying only for materials. When dad needed work done on his roof it was paid for when Geoff serviced the roofer's truck.
Sadly there's not much call for my skillset amongst tradesmen, though I did fill out the Power of Attorney forms for Geoff and his son.
I still do the 400 mile round trip to have Geoff's son service my car, I suspect he charges me mate's rates. I trust him, and it forces me to keep in touch with the few friends and family still around my childhood home town.
For the rest I have an expensive electrician and a cheap Polish plumber, both of them do an excellent job, at any hour, can be trusted to do the job without me watching over them. So it works out inexpensive in the end. Anything else I have needed doing I can do myself to my satisfaction, at least for now whilst I am fit and healthy.
Sadly there's not much call for my skillset amongst tradesmen, though I did fill out the Power of Attorney forms for Geoff and his son.
I still do the 400 mile round trip to have Geoff's son service my car, I suspect he charges me mate's rates. I trust him, and it forces me to keep in touch with the few friends and family still around my childhood home town.
For the rest I have an expensive electrician and a cheap Polish plumber, both of them do an excellent job, at any hour, can be trusted to do the job without me watching over them. So it works out inexpensive in the end. Anything else I have needed doing I can do myself to my satisfaction, at least for now whilst I am fit and healthy.
richiek65
Poster Extraordinaire
If you think it's expensive hiring a professional, wait till you discover how much it costs to hire an amateur!
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mindlobster
Tele-Afflicted
I've just finished a job where the client was very appreciative of my experience and input, and our respective roles were clear. They also paid promptly. I'll probably get punished for it somehow with the next job 
OlRedNeckHippy
Friend of Leo's
Quality vs profit.
Last time I had to buy a refrigerator, salesman told me, "Yea, they don't make them like that any more. You'll be lucky to get 10 years out of today's units.
They don't make them to last, they make them to sell."
My own version: "Fishing lure makers don't make lures to catch fish, they make them to sell."
Last time I had to buy a refrigerator, salesman told me, "Yea, they don't make them like that any more. You'll be lucky to get 10 years out of today's units.
They don't make them to last, they make them to sell."
My own version: "Fishing lure makers don't make lures to catch fish, they make them to sell."
I am an audio professional primarily. But overseeing the networks & AV installations in a small convention ctr. is what pays the bills these days. My tour days are long over, but would consider another one for an unreasonably high fee and a very well-known artist.
Blrfl
Tele-Afflicted
The professionals here know where they want the market price of their work to be because they don't do it for free and nobody wants to just break even. I get that; I charge a high price for my experience for the same reason.
This thread is the opposite side of the amp/MFX/whatever threads where a half-dozen people make pronouncements that the product shouldn't be priced a nickel above what is, essentially, the cost of the parts. Never mind that getting the product onto the shelves took the work of professionals who did everything from painting the enclosure to developing the software running inside and the hardware it runs on. Those people want to be paid for their experience, too.
This thread is the opposite side of the amp/MFX/whatever threads where a half-dozen people make pronouncements that the product shouldn't be priced a nickel above what is, essentially, the cost of the parts. Never mind that getting the product onto the shelves took the work of professionals who did everything from painting the enclosure to developing the software running inside and the hardware it runs on. Those people want to be paid for their experience, too.
Yeah I don't think American consumers understand the connection between ranting about the over priced US made gear and raving about how great the cheap import gear is; vs the economic problems we face now that the mass population that used to make a decent living in manufacturing and supply chain, now flips burgers or mops floors so can't afford to buy new high quality products.
Of worse still, in areas where Boeing, GM, Ford etc shut down huge plants, there are now tent cities occupied by formerly well paid workers dumped out of jobs in such large numbers that there are not enough burgers to flip and floors to mop for all those factory workers. Hard when you're homeless after your house was taken by the bank, to relocate to a new city and maybe go to school for some new trade or profession. Those were good workers, lots of them.
Seriously, consumers could have refused to buy cheaper disposable import products before US manufacturing of every day stuff totally disappeared.
But marketing conned consumers too well.
Funny really, obedient consumers probably spend way more on cheap disposables now, compared to former generations who bought one or two good guitars (that increased in value!) rather than 10-20 cheap ones.
Never mind the growing cost of landfills in terms of real estate, shipping of waste, plus pollution leaching into dwindling potable water.
By golly what we do fits into cause and effect!
Hope you don’t get punished too badly. But yeah my luck runs about the same.I've just finished a job where the client was very appreciative of my experience and input, and our respective roles were clear. They also paid promptly. I'll probably get punished for it somehow with the next job
afterdarkmusic
TDPRI Member
I’m SO GLAD you were still on the email chain. How incredibly gratifying. I deal with a lot of this as an experienced graphic designer. My prices are often ‘too high.’ It would be so wonderful to have that experience of vindication after the fact.
what I’ve learned is that the people who thing my prices too high are always the ones who won’t be satisfied at the outcome regardless of how well it goes. Those who see my value and pay the cost without question are always easy to work with and overjoyed with the outcome. They often even com back.
here’s to finding out clients and knowing our value!
