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[Tim McCulloch]

What about the auto mechanic's labor book?   They "agree" to bill the hours listed for a job.
I know some will bill less, but still seems a little collusive.

The "book" doesn't set the hourly rates, only estimates the amount a time the "average competent mechanic" will need to accomplish the task.  I suspect the labor estimator doesn't think much of the average mechanic.  At my independent shop the wrench monkeys tend to work faster than the estimate but the bill reflects the estimate.

[Riley Casey]

A number of business texts have over the years suggested rental rates be determined as a percentage of the replacement cost of the asset being rented.  This presumably doesn't cross the line of collusion in price setting ( nice to bring the current events into the forum ) as its a broad suggestion offered to all rental industries.  Similar broadly stated business advice would seem to be safe for discussion here.  As Dan clearly has first hand experience in this it's probably safe to venture that any discussion on the forum and among rental business operators of dollar amounts to be charged for similar products or services could be construed to be the sort of thing that the FTC might frown on.

[Chris Hindle]

The "book" doesn't set the hourly rates, only estimates the amount a time the "average competent mechanic" will need to accomplish the task.  I suspect the labor estimator doesn't think much of the average mechanic.  At my independent shop the wrench monkeys tend to work faster than the estimate but the bill reflects the estimate.

Tim, that's called Gain Time.
In my GM days, maintenance and such was set by the dealer management. Repairs and warranty work was based on GM set time.
Water Pump on a 2001 G1500 van paid (let's say) 1.3 hours.
That's what I got paid, and GM or the customer got billed.
Now, If I did it in .9 hours, good for me. I still got paid the 1.3.
If it took 1.5, sucks to be me, i still got 1.3.
There were some weeks I made my 40 hours by Wednesday....

i have no doubt that dealers still operate the same way. It is a powerful incentive to know your craft, and practice it well.
Now that winter is here, mechanics have to absorb the extra .2 or .3 it takes to find the car in the yard, de-snow it, and get it to your stall.....
Or round up the push tractor and a helper to push it in.....
Ah, good times......
Chris.

[Debbie Dunkley]

This is interesting to me and worth consideration for the future. So if one were to ask the forum members for advice on pricing anything, then perhaps PM responses would be considered a better approach? To me this would be just like asking a buddy his advice - which cannot be regulated.

[Roland Clarke]

There is a huge amount of difference between telling people approximately how long a job should take, a guide to a price or going rate and what sort of minimums you perhaps should charge and getting together with all the local sound providers and ‘colluding’ to fix particular charges within your market.  My reading of what is being talked about is seeking to cartel.  If all the U.K. rental houses end up charging £30 per day for a Y series D&B Audiotechnik cab, that’s perfectly fine, if they all get in a room and strike an agreement to do it, that’s a cartel.  😁

[Luke Geis]

This forum has thousands of attendees and members. The FTC would have a hell of a time sticking a claim on the conversation when only 1% of the members even respond with a number. Price fixing requires a majority of a group conspiring ( read as working together ) to gouge a market and hurt the consumer by taking competitive pricing away from a product.

Shure is one that comes up often with price fixing. The SM58 has been around since father time himself and the price of the mic has been the same for many many years and has about the smallest markup known to man. If you can find one new for less than $89 it was either stolen or the seller is not making a penny on it. Now because Shure is so firm on the pricing of that mic, it could be looked at as price fixing because competition that has a similar product has no incentive to try and beat that price. Now you have a large range of mics that are not all of the same quality but are roughly $80 - $100 simply because of one vendor's choice to stand firm on a price.

I for one do not like charging a client what it would cost to straight up by that product. When I have a wireless rental that the client needs for two weeks, the client may as well go out and buy one at that point. So I will amend pricing to be reasonable if that is the case. This is very much why weekly rates are typically 3 days. Now a monthly rate is more difficult for a big-ticket item. The product is technically gone and can't be used, so a 3-day weekly rate for each week its gone is 100% fair in that regard. Where it gets dicey is as I mentioned, the total cost starts to get to where the client could just buy the product. An X32 is roughly $1,500 new these days and your daily-weekly rates are right on par with what I would charge. I don't think you could fairly ask for the $1,500 that it would actually cost, and even asking for $1k would be hard because you can buy a used one for roughly that amount. I think $1k is fair though. It is essentially a 3 week rate ( 4th week free plus a small discount on top of that ), you still make money and it puts the mixer right at the point where the client has to decide rent or buy. To buy they have to consider casing and lead time as well as taking the risk of failure of the product. If they rent, most of those issues disappear.

[Tim McCulloch]

3 day week, 3 week month, less any trade or "frequent flyer" discounts.

Remember that by not buying, the client is saving the insurance, maintenance, warehousing and depreciation costs.  Those are expenses to you that are above and beyond the purchase price - expenses that YOU have to pay regardless of rental frequency or rental price.

[Kevin Conlon]

3 day week, 3 week month, less any trade or "frequent flyer" discounts.

Remember that by not buying, the client is saving the insurance, maintenance, warehousing and depreciation costs.  Those are expenses to you that are above and beyond the purchase price - expenses that YOU have to pay regardless of rental frequency or rental price.

I am not in the rental end. But i could be soon. So with all this talk about money, what is the average % charged per piece per day?

[Richard Turner]

Its one of those pieces where the customer will look online this week, see some buy today special of $1750  that is 20% below the regular street price of $2k and divide by 24 and figure $100/ month including case should be something you will bend over backwards to supply, then will say a month means the calender month of december that will include 5 saturdays plus NYE.... good luck..... not that I'm a pessimist or anything....

[Geert Friedhof]

I invested some time, and investigated earlier OP posts.
He seems to own a x32 producer.
 
IMHO the OP wants to own an X32 full, and wants to have it paid for by the end of the month. Excuse me, but if i was quoted 1/2 the MSRP price for one month rent i would say thank you, but no. I would also NEVER refer to the one who quoted it.

But maybe that's just me...

[ProSoundWeb Community]