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If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

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Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#61

Post by jberryman »

cubicle67 wrote: post #54
axiom wrote: post #14

This is the difference between business-to-business versus buying consumer goods. You can't waste time negotiating with every client who buys a $50 pair of shoes from you - it's just not cost effective. So you have a fixed price for everyone. However you can (and should) negotiate with people buying $20k worth of services from you. Historically, the consumer experience is actually the exception, not b2b. Up until fai…

I bargain for almost everything (much to my wife's embarrassment :). One thing I've found, is that if you can't get them to reduce the price, you can often get extras thrown in. I recently bought a fairly expensive coffee machine (a real one, not one of those electronic ones); supplier wouldn't budge on price, but I did manage to get $400 credited to my account, 2x barrista training vouchers worth $150 each, and a fe…

Yeah better stop with the haggling for stale donuts ;)

What are "white/brown goods"?

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#62

Post by staunch »

vacri wrote: post #55
hartror wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a walk down Lygon st or Hardware Lane of an evening. All the maitre d's will vi for your business with the best deal. You play it cool and you can get 30%+ off the menu costs especially in a large group (Lygon St for groups, Hardware Lane can be touch and go on tables as it is smaller). I am a bit more shifty as I normally have the target place chosen before I even leave home and will try to make sure the maitre…

Now I have an image of Lygon St spruikers madly typing in vi... A near lifelong citizen of Fitzroy and Brunswick, I've noticed that locals have shifted heavily away from Lygon St - for me, I refuse to eat there simply because even after you've had a satisfying dinner, you can't walk down the street without being accosted by every spruiker you come across. Having to walk a couple of hundred meters continually chanting…

For the rest of us.

spruiker:

(Australian) One who promotes his own cause; one who toots their own horn.

(figurative) A person standing outside a place of business trying to persuade patrons to enter, or vigourously trying to persuade customers to purchase a their wares (ie. a fruiterer calling out the price of bananas)

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#63

Post by cubicle67 »

jberryman wrote: post #61
cubicle67 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bargain for almost everything (much to my wife's embarrassment :). One thing I've found, is that if you can't get them to reduce the price, you can often get extras thrown in. I recently bought a fairly expensive coffee machine (a real one, not one of those electronic ones); supplier wouldn't budge on price, but I did manage to get $400 credited to my account, 2x barrista training vouchers worth $150 each, and a fe…

Yeah better stop with the haggling for stale donuts ;) What are "white/brown goods"?

white goods are fridges, washing machines and the like. brown goods are tvs, stereos etc

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#64

Post by zalew »

axiom wrote: post #14

This is the difference between business-to-business versus buying consumer goods. You can't waste time negotiating with every client who buys a $50 pair of shoes from you - it's just not cost effective. So you have a fixed price for everyone. However you can (and should) negotiate with people buying $20k worth of services from you. Historically, the consumer experience is actually the exception, not b2b. Up until fai…

Exactly. Funny is, I've seen this video months ago (or more) linked as 'pay for marketing/advertising/webdesign', so it applies to most industries.

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#65

Post by Timothee »

jberryman wrote: post #61
cubicle67 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bargain for almost everything (much to my wife's embarrassment :). One thing I've found, is that if you can't get them to reduce the price, you can often get extras thrown in. I recently bought a fairly expensive coffee machine (a real one, not one of those electronic ones); supplier wouldn't budge on price, but I did manage to get $400 credited to my account, 2x barrista training vouchers worth $150 each, and a fe…

Yeah better stop with the haggling for stale donuts ;) What are "white/brown goods"?

White goods are washing machines, dish washers, fridges…, while brown goods are the audio/video stuff (TVs, stereo).

Kind of old fashion but based on the typical color of these items (mostly from a couple of decades or more ago: washing machines and fridges are in many colors and A/V stuff is almost always black and/or silver)

According to Wikipedia, it seems to be mostly a UK idiom.

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#66

Post by billswift »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #27
noonespecial wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Un-ripped MP3's? I thought they were just how AOL mailed software.

AOL? Is that some sort of mass-market related startup?

Not a startup, more a winding-down.

By the way, is AOL still doing that? I used to get a couple every year, but I haven't received one in several years now.

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#68

Post by billswift »

jwh wrote: post #20

The video shows perfectly why unwritten/verbal/implied contracts are to be avoided at all cost. Against my better judgement I recently completed some work without a written contract. It was exactly like the restaurant scene: they'd received the services and used them but started questioning the bill (after it became overdue). I still find it strange that people view other people as a commodity like oil or pork bellie…

I used to work for an architectural and landscape designer and builder. After getting a judgement against him when a client took him to court, he quit using written contracts and instead went to week-by-week meetings with clients and billing on the same basis, so neither ran away with misunderstandings or too great sunk costs. It worked pretty well for the next 25 years, until he retired.

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#69

Post by noahth »

noonespecial wrote: post #22
dholowiski wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shiny things they used to put un-ripped MP3's on.

Un-ripped MP3's? I thought they were just how AOL mailed software.

for a while I tried to start a collection of those "free install!" discs from various ISPs. it got too depressing.

Re: If people tried to pay for other services like they try to pay for programming

#70

Post by michael_dorfman »

vacri wrote: post #58
kls wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I don't know about smart, but it is practical. The problem with our profession and the reason the video while comical is not accurate. We get compared to other professionals a lot, like doctors or lawyers but the problem is unlike doctors or lawyers, each new job we do, is like performing a completely new procedure. I mean if the doctor overruns putting your new liver in, it is by a few hours at most. The econom…

"I mean if the doctor overruns putting your new liver in, it is by a few hours at most." Speaking as someone who went to get a new filling in June, went through getting a root canal on another tooth, and finally will end up going under a GA to get some more serious work done in a month or two, I can assure you that doctors (well, dentists) do not charge on a fixed-symptom basis. Even if you need to return to a doctor…

* I can assure you that doctors (well, dentists) do not charge on a fixed-symptom basis.*

Interestingly, under the Medicare reimbursement system, that's pretty much exactly how they are paid (if the patient is a Medicare patient).

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