Re: End of an era.
You are absolutely right, of course. But it's hard to charge the old dear face to face for something you or I could do in our sleep - you forget it's rocket science to them.
It was much easier when I had someone to do the deliveries and installs. He would tell the complaining customer that he'd have his wages docked by the amount he let them off. Of course I wouldn't have done, but it worked a treat, even if it made me seem like a tyrant!
For some reason us small traders are seen as somehow less able than the big boys. If you charge, say, £50 you get told 'that's almost as much as Currys (or whoever) would charge!' - despite the fact we tune it in, remove the old set, give them a driving lesson.... It's the same for the motor industry - at a small garage you get an experienced mechanic charging far less than the main dealer who uses a just-qualified person.
A colleague once told me he doubled his prices, halved his customer numbers and made as much money from nicer people for less than half the work. I thought he was mad but now I'm not so sure.
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