3 ms·

Which is why you should get wage quotes over the phone.

by victor9000 7y ago

lotsofpulp 7y ago
People smart enough to price discriminate won’t give quotes that easily.
- bsder 7y ago
  Then I don't do business with them. Seriously, auto dealers STILL try to do this and it pissed me off to no end the last time I had to buy a car. Except one company. I sent in what I wanted on email. They sent back the quotes on 3 cars in stock. The quotes were all reasonable and slightly below the average. I went in and bought the car. Since then, seven other people in my social circle bought from the same auto dealer the same way. Sure, individual salesmen aren't making commissions, but that dealer is up probably up $25K in profit for roughly 15 hours mostly spent signing paperwork (it takes 2 hours just signing and signing for all the paperwork even if you walk in with financing). Attempting to "size me up" is almost always a good way to "piss me off".
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    Auto dealers are selling a product that can easily be found exactly the same and compared elsewhere. For custom work such as construction, you’re not going to be able to do that.
    - trimbo 7y ago
      Exactly. Also, hourly quotes for even the most basic things around the house are a poor idea. Someone recently told me she had to move to fixed bids for everything with her handyman because he would just move really slow when it was hourly.
      - bsder 7y ago
        > Someone recently told me she had to move to fixed bids for everything with her handyman because he would just move really slow when it was hourly. Erm, isn't the proper solution find another handyman? If I think someone is ripping me off, "extra supervision" isn't the correct long term solution. I already distrust them, so I'm not likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. Complicated things have to run on at least some trust between parties--you can't write everything into a contract. If that trust is dead, you really can't continue the relationship.
        trimbo 7y ago
        FWIW, she didn't say it was _deliberately_ slow. Just that paying him hourly ended up costing more than his fixed bids because he worked slowly.

Which is why you should get wage quotes over the phone.

lotsofpulp 7y ago

People smart enough to price discriminate won’t give quotes that easily.

bsder 7y ago
Then I don't do business with them. Seriously, auto dealers STILL try to do this and it pissed me off to no end the last time I had to buy a car. Except one company. I sent in what I wanted on email. They sent back the quotes on 3 cars in stock. The quotes were all reasonable and slightly below the average. I went in and bought the car. Since then, seven other people in my social circle bought from the same auto dealer the same way. Sure, individual salesmen aren't making commissions, but that dealer is up probably up $25K in profit for roughly 15 hours mostly spent signing paperwork (it takes 2 hours just signing and signing for all the paperwork even if you walk in with financing). Attempting to "size me up" is almost always a good way to "piss me off".
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  Auto dealers are selling a product that can easily be found exactly the same and compared elsewhere. For custom work such as construction, you’re not going to be able to do that.
  - trimbo 7y ago
    Exactly. Also, hourly quotes for even the most basic things around the house are a poor idea. Someone recently told me she had to move to fixed bids for everything with her handyman because he would just move really slow when it was hourly.
    - bsder 7y ago
      > Someone recently told me she had to move to fixed bids for everything with her handyman because he would just move really slow when it was hourly. Erm, isn't the proper solution find another handyman? If I think someone is ripping me off, "extra supervision" isn't the correct long term solution. I already distrust them, so I'm not likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. Complicated things have to run on at least some trust between parties--you can't write everything into a contract. If that trust is dead, you really can't continue the relationship.
      - trimbo 7y ago
        FWIW, she didn't say it was _deliberately_ slow. Just that paying him hourly ended up costing more than his fixed bids because he worked slowly.