Front tractor tire venting!

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alreadygone

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Jan 4, 2006
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North Arkansas
No the tires aren't venting, I am!

Had a mid 70ish customer come in today with a flat on his mid 1950's front tractor tire(6.00X16 tri rib). At my shop I charge $8.00 for a tubeless flat (taken off rim and patched inside), $12.00 for a tube type flat because of additional labor involved. Tubes are generaly in tractor tires where multiple thorn, cactus punctures are common before the tire goes low frequently enough to justify bringing in for a repair.

Back to story, customer needed new tube due to valve stem being rotted away from tube body. Correct size tube retails for $12.00 maybe high maybe low, haven't checked around in area lately(also haven't changed price since about 1995 either). At time to settle up, my son was only going to charge for tube untill I told him must also collect flat labor. 12.00 +12.00 =24.00 plus state sales tax. Customer went BALLISTIC !!"outrageous" "never be back here" "no reason to charge labor when you're selling a new tube" and on and on. Asked him which he thought too high, labor or tube price. Finally charged him total of $15.00 and no tax. Still left mad. Not here for my health. What is general consensus among do it yourselfers? Should I make a decent living and profit for approx $200,000. busines investment, or keep prices low enough to qualify for welfare?

Last overcharge issue was with a approx. 35yr old white male who told me I was "rippig him off". Laid glasses on counter and invited him to take first swing while commenting on his parentage and canine heritage. (I'm 52) Couldn't very well do that with semi-senile fellow today, whom I've dealt with for nearly 20 years and always thought well of.

Comments?
 
I manage a parts department and the older customers with the older equipment seem to think that the prices should be "frozen". It only cost 5 bucks 20 years ago why should it cost 40 now?
I have a customer right now I'm dealing with who needs a hydraulic pump for his 20+ year old forklift; calls me every day to complain that 1) no pump is worth $500 and I'm a crook and 2) why is it on a 6 week backorder can't they just make me one 'cause I need it right now!
 
Thats absurd. I definitely pay people and sometimes pay extra if I can and they do good work for me. I save tons of money doing most things myself, but when good work is done I see no reason to pay well for it. If we as americans don't face up and pay the price, we're going to end up all broke.
 
There isa differencebetween reasonable and unreasonable.

It seems to me that $12 for labor, what, 15-20 minutes, gets your business $36-48/hr. Considering that dealers and large independent garages charge $70-100/hr for labor... you must have super-low overhead.

Some jobs from most any place seem overpriced for whatthe parts cost and what time it takes. Your case certainly doesnt sound that way.

JMH
 
He ought to be glad of your low price.

Or ought to do it himself.

I find that those who complain as you've described are usually the worst people in the area to have ANY dealings with. EXACTLY whom ***** was describing when he said that the poor would always be with us.

No one feels richer in any sense after time spent with them
 
Alreadygone, your customer sounds like one of those old coots who still tries to get his grandkids excited about a shiny new penny. "Here, sonny, go get yourself some bubble gum. And isn't this a pretty penny? Don't spend it all in one place." Never mind that said gum today costs a quarter from a gum vending machine. "Grandpa, we want paper money!"
smile.gif
 
I'd gladly pay you that to work on my tractors front tires. Suggestion: let them know up front there is a flat rate labor charge plus parts, then if they complain send them to Helen Wait in the customer complaint department. Tell them to go to Helen Wait.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Brett Miller:
Maybe the best thing to do would have been to take the new tube out of his tire and tell him to never come back?
Click to expand...
That was my thought too. When he gets down the road to the next shop he'll discover what it costs to get tires repaired these days.
 
he!!, I wish I could get any tire change for $12. I bet it costs more than that to have a bike shop change a tire on my Trek (don't know, as obviously I do it myself).
 
Quote:

Suggestion: let them know up front there is a flat rate labor charge plus parts...

Click to expand...

The problem was that you sprung a big price on him AFTER you did the work. You should have told him up front what the potential costs were going to be, including worst case scenario.
 
I think your price was fair. I don't see how he can expect you to install parts for free. Customers like that are not worth the trouble.
 
The previous comments about oldsters remind me very much of my 81 year-old father-in-law. From him I have seen that some older people have a very hard time dealing psychologically with change, especially the rate of change our society has now. They make no attempt to accomodate reality, and seem to believe that if they just keep fighting, the world will eventually return to the way it was in "the good old days".

For example, his comment on Japanese manufacturing is "you know, they just make that cheap, little junk". He (only) recently told me that he might as well get used to the existence of computers, because "they are probably here to stay".

Plus, from a financial standpoint, they grew up in a time when there was virtually no inflation, but now they are having to deal with it's presence, and many do not have the income to do so.
 
But on further thought I can see the customer's point to some extent. Shops sometimes lose sight of logic when they charge. For instance, why should he pay $12 labor when you are not actually patching a tube, or even a tire? It would seem that the logic of your own pricing schedule dictates it should be less than or equal to $8, not $12.

I also know that people who have been through the Depression have a very analytical way of parsing exactly how much something should cost, which I think many of us should learn from. You may have violated his values innocently, but I would be willing to bet it doesn't look that way to him.
 
Parsing it may be. But, that Social Security check kept rising, the value of his property kept rising . . . and I'll bet that codger didn't go anywhere to complain it was too much, expecting a reduction.

He thought he could bully his way into special treatment.

$24 today was, in 1960's dollars, $3.50 or less.

Let'em change his own tire tube out.
 
I hope I'm as crotchety as that old coot when I get just a little bit older and enter the realm of crotchetyness.

The old fartinsky set a standard to strive for.

And, I will be the coot driving under the speed limit in the left lane.

Yep.
 
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