people need to get with the times around here.rant

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People get their knickers in a knot when I talk about this, but it's another reason why wal mart and harbor freight type shopping is so treacherous. When you base your cost expectations around the use of labor that costs pennies, vs an American laborer who costs real money, this is what happens. Doesn't matter if it is wrenches or hammers or screwdrivers or radiator cores. Add in commodity costs and it's a big enough issue if you didn't have permitting, shop spaces, taxes and fees, etc as well...

In one way, quality of life goes up. We now have far more TVs and widgets of every kind for the same or equivalently less money than in 1960. But that was done at a cost, and using labor of no real cost. Use someone local for anything - a trade, repairs, radiator work, and they cost money. But we're not used to that in our minimum wage, wal mart society.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I think the pros, rich guys, and businesspeople are the worst at actually paying bills. They're in no hurry once they got what they want out of you.


This. Rich people are some of the worst to be honest. I worked in food service during high school, and the rich people were usually the hardest to deal with. Many of them were snobby and just rude in general. They have an attitude that the world owes them something. I remember arguing with some lady over the price of a medium coffee. The price is on the drive thru sign, I told her what it was before she drove up, and I told her what it was when she pulled up to the window. The lady was in a freaking Lexus SUV yet she was trying to tell me $1.25 was too much for a medium coffee. Sorry lady, I don't set the prices, take it up with corporate and stop holding up the line. If a person has enough money to drive a new Lexus SUV, but thinks they need to argue over the price of a coffee with someone who has no ability to change it, their priorities are obviously screwed up.

Everybody seems to want something for nothing these days, but ironically the wealthy seem to be the worst.
 
Seems to me that people like the OP mentioned no longer know the value of a dollar. They still think something should cost $xx only because that is what they paid back in the 70's.
 
It's a class thing; they don't have it. Like when a table of jerkwads at a restaurant think they have an illiterate waitress b/c she isn't writing the order down. Then they come up with complicated, contrived orders to try and trip her up. Or when someone thinks a particular sector of employment are all beneath them... eg "lube monkeys".

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I think the pros, rich guys, and businesspeople are the worst at actually paying bills. They're in no hurry once they got what they want out of you.


This. Rich people are some of the worst to be honest. I worked in food service during high school, and the rich people were usually the hardest to deal with. Many of them were snobby and just rude in general. They have an attitude that the world owes them something. I remember arguing with some lady over the price of a medium coffee. The price is on the drive thru sign, I told her what it was before she drove up, and I told her what it was when she pulled up to the window. The lady was in a freaking Lexus SUV yet she was trying to tell me $1.25 was too much for a medium coffee. Sorry lady, I don't set the prices, take it up with corporate and stop holding up the line. If a person has enough money to drive a new Lexus SUV, but thinks they need to argue over the price of a coffee with someone who has no ability to change it, their priorities are obviously screwed up.

Everybody seems to want something for nothing these days, but ironically the wealthy seem to be the worst.
 
We work for a variety of folks, but our biz is tailored to the wealthy.

Overwhelmingly I find them to be excellent to work for. Easy to define exactly what they want, able to pay and promptly do so, and they are not ones to complain.

These are greater than 5000 sq. foot homes on the most expensive property in Florida, typical owner is Doctor, Lawyer, Investor/Broker, etc.

One of my clients is a documented billionaire, yet he was in the garage moving stuff with his house helper. We then toured his 125 foot monster yacht and I was served breakfast... by him!

My suspicion is that many of the folks being lambasted here are probably not truly wealthy, just well off. Many live beyond their means and are house poor, etc. They are generally less pleasant to deal with...
 
This. If a person is truly wealthy not how much wealth one posses will have productive causes to occupy their time and effort.

Not argue with an fast food cashier about the price of coffee.
 
There could be another reason he expects a low price.

It seems like CV axles and power steering racks cost less now than they did in the 1980s, and I'm not even including the rate of inflation.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
People get their knickers in a knot when I talk about this, but it's another reason why wal mart and harbor freight type shopping is so treacherous. When you base your cost expectations around the use of labor that costs pennies, vs an American laborer who costs real money, this is what happens. Doesn't matter if it is wrenches or hammers or screwdrivers or radiator cores. Add in commodity costs and it's a big enough issue if you didn't have permitting, shop spaces, taxes and fees, etc as well...

In one way, quality of life goes up. We now have far more TVs and widgets of every kind for the same or equivalently less money than in 1960. But that was done at a cost, and using labor of no real cost. Use someone local for anything - a trade, repairs, radiator work, and they cost money. But we're not used to that in our minimum wage, wal mart society.


Yup, and that rise in the quality of life could only be a temporary thing. Those TVs and widgets of every kind only last so long. Then we no longer have the widgets or the money we bought them with (i.e. the money is no longer in our local economy). It will be interesting to see how this unfolds...

At times I'm reminded of that old story of how the Native Americans "sold" Manhattan for beads and trinkets.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
People get their knickers in a knot when I talk about this, but it's another reason why wal mart and harbor freight type shopping is so treacherous. When you base your cost expectations around the use of labor that costs pennies, vs an American laborer who costs real money, this is what happens. Doesn't matter if it is wrenches or hammers or screwdrivers or radiator cores. Add in commodity costs and it's a big enough issue if you didn't have permitting, shop spaces, taxes and fees, etc as well...

In one way, quality of life goes up. We now have far more TVs and widgets of every kind for the same or equivalently less money than in 1960. But that was done at a cost, and using labor of no real cost. Use someone local for anything - a trade, repairs, radiator work, and they cost money. But we're not used to that in our minimum wage, wal mart society.


Yup, and that rise in the quality of life could only be a temporary thing. Those TVs and widgets of every kind only last so long. Then we no longer have the widgets or the money we bought them with (i.e. the money is no longer in our local economy). It will be interesting to see how this unfolds...

At times I'm reminded of that old story of how the Native Americans "sold" Manhattan for beads and trinkets.


Bottom line is we brought it all on ourselves! Our continual demand for "cheaper" has fueled the rise of price-based competition.

We asked for it, and WM and others simply delivered...
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
had a guy call asking how much to recore a 55 buick radiator.he wants the best,highest efficiency core available. a 55 buick is not something me or my suppliers will have on the shelf so it will have to be custom made.

then we tear it apart,sandblast,bang the dents out of the tanks etc.

prices are going up on everything. a roll of solder used to cost me $25 now its $225. permits for everything in the shop all cost money.

his cost to recore that radiator with a great hd core would be $632+tax. guy threw a fit! then he said his last recore was less than $200.

i asked him when and what that was. it was a 65 impala sometime in the 70's!

what clown! i cant work for no profit as it is the core cost me $450. im not getting rich off him. just barely covering bills,in reality i should be doubling the price of the core. that would make it a $1100 radiator.

rant off


LOL I hear the same [censored] all the time. A simple response would have been how much was a gallon of gas or a postage stamp in 1970 when he re-cored his last radiator. Then collect your hard earned cash and tell him to have a nice day.
 
I did not see that the link to the post was that old, my mistake.

I have not bought a Rad or been to a Rad shop for many years, so, as I said, I too would have been 'taken aback' by the price quoted. But, if I were your customer, I would not have said anything, I would just try and educate myself on what I was getting and/or get other quotes.

The bottom line is, YOU can charge what you like. If your prices are not competitive, you will not stay in business.
Often this is not your fault. If a guy can buy $200 Rad new, and the quality suits him, He will buy elsewhere.

I had a case recently where an electric motor quit on me. We have a local repair shop that has been around for ages, But the price for them to rebuild my motor was Twice what I could buy a new motor for. they did also offer to sell me a new motor, but again, the price was much higher than if I were to buy direct.

You say:
"what clown! i cant work for no profit as it is the core cost me $450. im not getting rich off him. just barely covering bills,in reality i should be doubling the price of the core. that would make it a $1100 radiator."

This might work once in a while, but do you think high markups will sustained your business in the long run?

You will always get Jerks that expect lower prices. But if you get 10 jerks a week!
You have a problem.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
We now have far more TVs and widgets of every kind for the same or equivalently less money than in 1960. But that was done at a cost, and using labor of no real cost. Use someone local for anything - a trade, repairs, radiator work, and they cost money. But we're not used to that in our minimum wage, wal mart society.


True that.

I've posted before about the iron I saw at Walmart (the kind you iron clothes with) for nine dollars. I bet they cost more than that back in 1960.

And that Westinghouse fan posted earlier? I bet you can buy a similar one today, for less. It won't last fifty years though like the original did.
 
Back in the 70's I was associated with a company that made Tents.
One day, by the company gates were erected two tents with no markings. Everybody on the work force noticed them. One was a product that they had made, the other, some assumed must be a new model.
After lunch break everybody was given time to look at them.

Later, a meeting was called and the Tents explained.

One was the company product. The other came from Taiwan.
The tent from Taiwan could be imported, complete, ready to sell at about the same cost as the cost of materials (good quality American cotton) ALONE cost the company to begin making the house product..

Of course people started pointing out where the import tent was inferior, and that 'our' customers would not buy overseas junk, and it would never last 20 years like ours, and where will they send it if it needs to be repaired.

But I bet 99% of them, given the cost disparity would have opted to buy the Taiwan tent at 1/4 of the retail price if it was there money on the line.

The company decided to downsize in workforce and premises with a view to selling to an elite market, but of course there material cost went up as they were no longer buying in quantity.
Stock levels were also falling low as they no longer had warehousing facilities.

They still exist, but now basically as a cottage industry.
 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I think the pros, rich guys, and businesspeople are the worst at actually paying bills. They're in no hurry once they got what they want out of you.


This. Rich people are some of the worst to be honest. I worked in food service during high school, and the rich people were usually the hardest to deal with. Many of them were snobby and just rude in general. They have an attitude that the world owes them something. I remember arguing with some lady over the price of a medium coffee. The price is on the drive thru sign, I told her what it was before she drove up, and I told her what it was when she pulled up to the window. The lady was in a freaking Lexus SUV yet she was trying to tell me $1.25 was too much for a medium coffee. Sorry lady, I don't set the prices, take it up with corporate and stop holding up the line. If a person has enough money to drive a new Lexus SUV, but thinks they need to argue over the price of a coffee with someone who has no ability to change it, their priorities are obviously screwed up.

Everybody seems to want something for nothing these days, but ironically the wealthy seem to be the worst.


lol. IDK I see plenty of people that have that mentality - well to do and not so well to do. I get a chuckle whenever I sell something on craigslist and someone tells me they don't have the money or won't until XX day can I cut them a deal, and then the trailing line on the email is sent from an iphone.
 
It's obvious that customer has not done any grocery shopping in the last twenty years. Had he done so your price would have been realized as quite the bargain.
 
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