Epiphany

[sofadoc]

I had one the other day, while doing a service call for a nationwide company that sells adjustable beds (you can probably guess the one I'm talking about).

They called me a few years ago and asked if I'd be interested in doing their warranty service calls. I said OK.
I've done about a dozen calls since then.

It didn't occur to me until the other day, but the only calls I've done for them are always well off the beaten path. The latest one was WAY-Y-Y-Y down some rural dirt roads that amounted to little more than rabbit trails. The area wasn't charted on Google or MapQuest. I had to rely on verbal directions like "Turn left at the tree stump. Then make a right by the mobile home with tires on the roof."

So the epiphany that I had was: They only call me as a last resort when the other servicemen in the region have turned them down. I never get a nice residential neighborhood within the friendly confines of my own city limits.

The job took about 15 minutes. The total round trip was 135 miles, for which I will be paid $150.
Do you guys think I'm just getting the culls?

[Mojo]

Pretty much. I think the other guys are cherry picking the good jobs. I would probably tell the company to go pack sand myself.

If your good enough to go into the boonies to make calls then they should be nice enough to give you a few gravy jobs in town.

I would have a chat with them.

Chris

[Mike]

I agree 135 miles there 20 25 buck in gas forget that getting the shitty end of the stick

[baileyuph]

Just call it a few hours away from the shop and collect the money.  It probably breaks up the day. 

Next time they engage with you, slip in the question about how much work they have and don't assume anything.  This one might be only the start of more work. 

Doyle 

[gene]

A nice leisurely drive in the country, and then $150 for 15 minutes of work? Yes, that's tough to take.

Hey, speaking of Texas, several weeks ago I had a lady and her husband pick up two leather recliner chairs with their horse trailer. And yes, the horse trailer had not been swept out. I grew up riding horses so I loved the smell, but it felt odd to see all my work sitting on a tarp that was covering horse s@#%.  :)

gene

[sofadoc]

A nice leisurely drive in the country, and then $150 for 15 minutes of work? Yes, that's tough to take.

You must be one of those "Glass half full" guys. I view it as 3 hours that I could've been making more than $150 if I had stayed at the shop instead of driving right into a scene from "Deliverance".

...... several weeks ago I had a lady and her husband pick up two leather recliner chairs with their horse trailer. And yes, the horse trailer had not been swept out........ it felt odd to see all my work sitting on a tarp that was covering horse s@#%.  :)

I've had a few of those too. It also baffles me how people can show up to pick up furniture in a truck that has a couple bales of hay and a big ole' nasty spare tire in the back. It never occurred to them to empty their truck before they headed for my shop.

[Rich]

Who's setting the prices? If it's them and you can't be fully compensated for your time, I'd say you're better off passing on this and turning your attention to other work.
Rich

[byhammerandhand]

I have a friend who gets the same sort of calls, all out of town.  

Let's "do the math:"

135 miles @ $0.50 a mile (IRS allowance, it's probably more like 0.75) is  $67.50
2.5 hours window time + 15 minutes repair = 2.75 hr

(150-67.50)/2.75 = $30 hr.  

Less if you're really on dirt roads and takes more than 2.5 hours, your counting your time to set up the appointment, do the billing, submit the report, process the payment, etc.


Worth it???

I suppose you could call and say, "Why do I only get the remote calls, don't you have any to service locally?"   and see what they say.

[sofadoc]

I don't mind takin' it in the shorts every now and then, if it leads to some gravy jobs. So far, it hasn't. I'm convinced that the fast money service calls are going to someone else. I'm going to turn down a few, and see if they offer me some better gigs. If they don't......c'est la vie.

[baileyuph]

I will ask:  Who determined the fee for the trip? 

Can the fee be adjusted to meet the shop rate expectation?

Doyle

[sofadoc]

I will ask:  Who determined the fee for the trip?

The fee was agreed upon nearly 3 years ago. I was OK with it at the time, not realizing that all the calls would be so rural.

Since I agreed to the fee, I'm not really complaining about the amount. I just find it curious that nobody close by ever seems have any malfunctions with their units.

[gene]

I'll bet you'll be hard pressed to find a young person who does not understand the reference to "Deliverance".

For those of us who are older than a half century, we grew up hearing our parents make "obscure references" all the time.

Our children never get to hear any 'obscure references', because they grew up watching all the same great movies and TV shows, and listening to all the great songs, that we grew up watching and listening to. All the good stuff was done in the late 50's to early 80's, and continues to be replayed and replayed, even in different venues.

A song will come on the radio in the car from the 60's and I'll ask my kids if they know that song. They'll say yes because it was in a certain movie or yes because it was on a certain commercial.

"Thank you. Thank you very much."

gene

[byhammerandhand]

What we have here is a failure to communicate.



One of my sons-in-law is a psychiatrist.   When he was in med school, they said that many of their patients would be wary of certain therapeutic procedures (Electroconvulsive therapy) because they saw, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Those peas sure are special, aren't they?


Hmmm, what was the topic again?

[Mojo]

In regards to Deliverance........There still exists places in the back woods in the Appalachians that you do not dare to tread. Having lived in the Tennessee Appalachians there were places many of us residents knew you did not want to wander into.

Moonshiners, meth cookers , marijuana farmers and just people who want nothing to do with society live in some of these woods and do not care too much for trespassers. I had a sheriff once tell me during a conversation that there are certain areas you never want to take a walk into the woods in. In his words " you may walk in but may not walk back out again ". From what he said he wont send his own deputies into some areas and turns those cases over to the Fed's or State. :)

Chris

[sofadoc]

Another topic veers off the road, and straight into the ditch.

A song will come on the radio in the car from the 60's and I'll ask my kids if they know that song. They'll say yes because it was in a certain movie or yes because it was on a certain commercial.

I was eating with a bunch of teenagers one night, when one of them exclaimed "MAMA MIA.......DATZA SPICEY MEAT-A-BALLA!"

They had heard this line on an episode of The Simpsons. They thought it was funny, even though they had absolutely no idea what it was referencing.


As for Deliverance, I think I'm gonna tell the adjustable bed company that there will be a significant surcharge if I'm asked to "squeal like a pig". :D