3 ms·

The problem with the calculation you made is that he is not making $50 per hour every hour of the day. If a person is at full employment, that is they can’t or

by sykh 8y ago

The problem with the calculation you made is that he is not making $50 per hour every hour of the day. If a person is at full employment, that is they can’t or won’t work more hours, then the calculation changes. The opportunity cost of dealing with tech support is no longer monetary and the cost of equipment rental is no longer negligible.

josefresco 8y ago
they can’t or won’t work more hours, then the calculation changes How so? If I come into work (self employed) and have no Internet access I immediately start losing money (double if you count both people in my office). If I have to debug my own hardware, possibly drive to Staples to buy new hardware - I lose even more money, not to mention the cost of new hardware. My only recourse is to eliminate some personal time with my family and replace with more business time to make up for the losses. I don't see how this calculation makes buying my own hardware more economically attractive.
- sykh 8y ago
  If the time spent on troubleshooting cuts into the number of billable hours then one should factor in the wage for those billable hours. If it doesn’t subtract from the number of billable hours then the wage of a billable hour doesn’t factor in. Where you mention cutting into personal time with family is precisely what I mentioned when I said the opportunity costs aren’t monetary when at full employment. If that non monetary opportunity cost is too high then one should rent the modem.
mygo 8y ago
The “every hour of the day” argument is a bs argument. You need to sleep, for starters. And a majority of the working class has decided that it’s great to have a life outside of work, hence the two particular phenomenons we know as “9-5” and “weekend”. Nobody works every hour of the day. With that being said, my $50/hr figure is a full-employment all-things-considered figure. In fact if someone is a freelancer, their invoice rate is likely twice or thrice that rate. But my figure even takes downtime into account. If you’re making $50/hr, then 4 hours of work time spent troubleshooting a router is not worth it financially. It’s also up to you decide whether it’s worth it emotionally or spiritually.

by sykh 8y ago

josefresco 8y ago

they can’t or won’t work more hours, then the calculation changes How so? If I come into work (self employed) and have no Internet access I immediately start losing money (double if you count both people in my office). If I have to debug my own hardware, possibly drive to Staples to buy new hardware - I lose even more money, not to mention the cost of new hardware. My only recourse is to eliminate some personal time with my family and replace with more business time to make up for the losses. I don't see how this calculation makes buying my own hardware more economically attractive.

sykh 8y ago
If the time spent on troubleshooting cuts into the number of billable hours then one should factor in the wage for those billable hours. If it doesn’t subtract from the number of billable hours then the wage of a billable hour doesn’t factor in. Where you mention cutting into personal time with family is precisely what I mentioned when I said the opportunity costs aren’t monetary when at full employment. If that non monetary opportunity cost is too high then one should rent the modem.

mygo 8y ago

The “every hour of the day” argument is a bs argument. You need to sleep, for starters. And a majority of the working class has decided that it’s great to have a life outside of work, hence the two particular phenomenons we know as “9-5” and “weekend”. Nobody works every hour of the day. With that being said, my $50/hr figure is a full-employment all-things-considered figure. In fact if someone is a freelancer, their invoice rate is likely twice or thrice that rate. But my figure even takes downtime into account. If you’re making $50/hr, then 4 hours of work time spent troubleshooting a router is not worth it financially. It’s also up to you decide whether it’s worth it emotionally or spiritually.