Re: $10 inner tubes?

On Dec 26, 9:41 pm, Tom Sherman <sunsetss0...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Jay Beattie wrote:
On Dec 26, 5:58 pm, Tom Sherman <sunsetss0...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Jay Beattie wrote:
On Dec 26, 7:30 am, Tom Sherman <sunsetss0...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Qui si parla Campagnolo aka Peter Chisholm wrote:
On Dec 23, 7:39 am, Ryan Cousineau <rcous...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<79e1d3a3-b23e-41ba-8360-a58d1dfef...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
 Qui si parla Campagnolo <pe...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'll pay 2x the price that Performance charges on sale ($3), but that's
my limit. $6 is certainly a fair price, considering what the shop pays
for tubes. Now that I got some Continental Schraeder tubes I'm spoiled,
and will not be buying other brands.
What does the shop pay for tubes?
Bah! Peter, your membership in the retail-tube-vending cartels is
well-known! Cease your mendacious requests for "facts" and
"understanding!"
But seriously, even I balk once the price goes over $5 for standard
default tubes.
--
Ryan Cousineau rcous...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."
Considering how much a bike shop loses on so much(meaning getting less
than the recognized margin on something to 'keep the lights on"),
getting a better margin on a tube isn't so bad. We sell 'em for $6 in
the republic. WE have 'em, some shops don't. If you want to howl, ask
how much labor to change a tube. Cheaper to buy some tire levers
but.....we still change many each day.
Poorest margin is on a bicycle, made poorer at the end of the model
year. We should follow the ski and jewelry industries, that have HUGE
markeups.
Or be like the lawyers and doctors and create artificial barriers to
entry in the field/market, so as to subvert free market forces on pricing.
What artificial barriers -- passing a bar exam?   There is more free
market pricing in the law profession than plumbing or electrical where
repair "bids" are often quotes from industry pricing guides which may
grossly inflate the amount of time necessary for a particular job.
Personally, I have insurance companies and manufacturers dictating my
hourly rates and billable services -- and checking my time entries
carefully.  If I over-bill, I lose a client.
Law school enrollment is limited to be lower than demand.

Sure, at Harvard -- but there are dozens of third and fourth tier law
schools that are struggling for students.  You can get in with a loan
and a room temperature LSAT score.  Go to California.  Before I moved
out of San Jose in '84, I lived two blocks away from the Lincoln Law
School -- a store front operation just down the street from Race
Street Fish and Poultry (great fish and chips, by the way).

As for controls on fees, do your clients go to 4 to 7 firms and choose
one solely on rates? Is that the industry standard? Do you have to
reduce fees to get work to the point your pre-tax wage is less than
$20/hour?

No one chooses an attorney based solely on rates --- just like no
reasonable person choose an electrician or plumber or dentist based
solely on rates.

So the pressure on your fees is not that great. Good to know.

I said SOLELY on rates! Do you think any reasonable person buys a
bike solely based on price? Or cereal or coffee or anything?
Gawdamighty!

When you move into an office in a new building or ride your bicycle
across a new bridge, be aware that the engineering work was likely
chosen based solely on fees, and not qualifications beyond the bare
minimum of having someone with a license stamp the drawings (this is
true of much public sector work, baring "disadvantaged business" set
asides).

I have seen innumerable RFPs, and just to get considered on a public
job, a bidder has to meet bazillions of qualificiations -- not the
least of which is obtaining bonding, which is no easy feat for a
deadbeat contractor. As between the qualified bidders, the low bidder
wins -- unless there are reasons for not accepting the low bid, which
may include prior performance problems. You need to read the public
contracting statutes in your state to determine when a low bidder may
be disqualified.


Institutional clients (insurers, large businesses)
choose their attorneys based on a number of factors and then dictate
price. Insurers frequently issue billing guidelines; they assign a
rate, and pay only for prescribed service and not others. There is
some negotiation, but it is mostly a drop-dead proposition.  Insurer X
pays so much an hour, and the firm or individual partner either takes
it or leaves it.

I also work for individuals and businesses, often at higher rates --
but then I assume the risk of non-payment.  Unlike you, I am self
employed in a partnership.  I eat what I kill.  I have worked for a
number of clients who simply did not pay, and yes, I earned less than
$20 per hour doing their work.  In fact, I ate the overhead expenses.
I also work for free on purpose, viz., pro bono, and make nothing.

But do you make less than $20/hour for your work as a whole?

I wouldn't doubt it, considering I work probably 50-60 hours a week
and probably take less vacation than you. I also pay for my own FICA,
FUTA, LTD, health insurance, etc., etc. I don't make a lot of money,
contrary to the popular notion that all lawyers are rich. I only blame
myself, though, because I could have gone into direct marketing and
made some real money -- or I could have done contingent fee work or
worked for a bigger firm. Instead, I have chosen to work with people
I like.


And yes, about 20% of the work I do never gets paid for, and yes, that
is reflected in a lower salary.

No it isn't -- your salary is based on market rates for your
professsion. Your owners may earn less because of non-payment., but
your salary remains the same. I seriously doubt your compensation
plan has a negative feature, vis., your pay is reduced based on poor
collections -- loss sharing. Profit sharing is all upside for the
employee. I would love to have loss sharing, but that would freak-out
the employees -- actually seeing what it means to bear a business
loss.


So why are the barriers to QUALIFIED foreign physicians set so high, if
not to limit free market competition?

Dude, go to the hospital -- look around. Tell me with a straight face
that foreign physicians are being excluded. AFAIK, assuming that the
physician went to an accredited medical school and passed the local
licensing exam, the physician gets to practice in this state, and
judging from the population of foreign physicians at the local
hospitals, the barriers are not that hight.

And in any event, I don't believe in the free market practice of
medicine -- that is what we had before the AMA and state licensing of
physicians, back before the teens and twenties, when there were no
admissions tests or educational requirements to go to med school.
Medicine was primitive to say the least, and we spend decades catching
up with Europe. Since when were you such a big free-marketer anyway?

Some custom bicycle builders do seem to charge what the market will
bear, which indicates the customers have too much money to throw around.
Of course they charge what the market will bear.  Everybody charges
what the market will bear -- other than regulated utilities and
charities.-- Jay Beattie.
No, some only add a small profit margin on to cost, and go down from there.

Why would anyone sell below market (except to building market share)?
And if someone is selling high quality custom made steel frames at
below market prices, please post their names. -- Jay Beattie.

Well, you can get a custom geometry Gunnar frame for $1150, which is
less than a quarter of what some custom builders charge, and the bicycle
will ride and handle just as well: <http://www.gunnarbikes.com/models.php>.

I think $1150 is outrageous for a steel frame. Reasonable price would
be around $650, taking in to consideration tube costs and a reasonable
hourly rate. Someone should punish them! -- Jay Beattie.
.

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  • Re: $10 inner tubes?
    ... $6 is certainly a fair price, considering what the shop pays ... Now that I got some Continental Schraeder tubes I'm spoiled, ... entry in the field/market, so as to subvert free market forces on pricing. ... and pay only for prescribed service and not others. ...
    (rec.bicycles.tech)