A van from a local auto lockout service caught my eye today. It's for A. Auto Lock-Out Service, and in large red numbers is said that they had a $25 (twenty five) fee.
Just thought I'd mention it in light of the recent discussion about how $35 is too low!
pop a lock charges 25 in the town of 200,000 as do most of the shops but one.. everyone but the pop a lock goes to 35 after hours... TOTALLY dependent on what the market will bear.
But if the market won't bear a fee that pays you an acceptable hourly wage, it's a good time to consider letting someone else take that part of the business (maybe refer or subcontract to someone you trust), unless you think you're getting sufficient marketing benefits out of it to make it a worthwhile loss leader.
There's no dishonor in specializing in stuff that pays the bills. <grin/>
pop-a-lock used to be that way here too but now of days they are in the mid 30's during the day and go up at night. (must have not worked out for them)
we got. 16? (havent checked the phone book lately) shops in an area of a quarter million people... some do ABSOLUTELY NO car work at all...and a couple ONLY do car unlocks, and cannot make keys.. 2 do bank stuff ONLY, from building the building to the alarm systems, the vaults and locks... ONLY for banks we got ONE SHOP-you want your car unlocked- its $75 DAY TIME... cause HE DONT WANT TO BE BOTHERED
if you came here and charged $95 for an unlock, even if it was a mile away, you would starve... reason being is our 'wage level'
I would assume, that by that price, the average pay of the people in your location is on the order of say (a PURE GUESS now on my part) 600-1,000 a week the pay here is good IF the person brings home 300 a week we got TONS of $8 an hour jobs... a few at $10... and not many higher. average shop rate here for a shop is in the $45 an hour range. and for most, the call can be made and completed in 20 minutes or less, especially in the big city.
wish it was higher, but, its not going to happen... plus the Walmarts taking over, and paying minimum wages for part time workers... thats hurting the economy, but the people haven't caught on yet.
Why do you accept the local average? Are you not better than that? I'm of the opinion you have a service to perform and you should be compensated for your efforts! A locksmith is someone who is called upon when a skill is needed that the average man can't commit! Back when I was a welder, I was paid for what I could do. Why is it so different now? I was not the "Happy Motorist" that locked themselves out of they're car.. I am the one that will rescued them from their stupiditiy. Is that not worth more than $30.00? I'm open for your comments.........
Here I tell them 45.00 to 60.00 in the daytime and 80.00 or sometimes more at nite. They bite about half the time. Other shops charge about 35.00 or so. They'll also take 2 hours or more to get there.
My daytime rate is: $50 trip, Min 1/2 Hr labor ($25.00) & tax
Evening till 10 PM is $100.00 & tax
After 10PM I either don't answer the phone, or quote a rate that makes'em gasp. We don't advertise 24 Hr service, so if they've gone through the book from AAAA Locksmiths to Newns and Son, let'em pay the freight.
Believe it or not, here in Philly, these are the usual rates.
Here in northern Indiana-35.00 for in-town during business hours(4:00pm-11:30pm) Off hours-50.00 Out-of-town ranges from 45.00-85.00. But of course, Subject to Change
nope... no one will... at least not around here... seems to be a pretty well set price... and if you cant afford it- you stay locked out.
right... thats why i also quit the 24 hour service... too many HOW MUCH, at 2AM, and 'never mind' so, now I get to sleep. as do most... its a funny, its getting almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a locksmith on weekends. at least in the 25 mile radius I am in...
If people would rather wait until Monday rather than pay a reasonable off-hours surcharge, that's their choice.
Possible exceptions: life-and-health emergencies and favors for friends or special customers, in which care you're getting payment in brownie points and/or ego-boo and/or maintaining a long-term business relationship which will pay off later.
(I decided a long time ago that friends are allowed to call me at any hour of the day or night. But I don't promise to be coherent in less than half an hour or functional in less than an hour and a half. If it's important enough to them that they're willing to risk waiting that long, I'll listen.)
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