Re: oil change $125????
Also a wise man once told me...you get paid for what you know...not what you do. Anyone can pound keys on a keyboard...it is your industry knowledge that makes you valuable as a network engineer. How often do we see threads about where is my oil filer? What filer should I use? What oil should I use? How do I get a stick filter off? I'm not sure changing oil for everyone is as cut and dried as you make it.
You are correct, and I see your point if it is just you doing everything, and you don't have enough business coming through to justify an "oil-changer".
Of course you have to charge the same rate for an oil change as an engine re-build. Buy maybe if you offered an oil change for $35/hr instead of 85, more people would have you do it, instead of doing it themselves, and you might get enough oil-change business to hire that guy for $12.50/hr, and employee someone, and make some extra money yourself too.
I had my own consulting business. When they need a highly experienced network design engineer, I charge them the maximum rate, which was roughly three times what I make now as a salaried employee, and it pretty much equals out by the time you cover expenses, which I think is what you're getting at.
My point though, is if they just need some computers hooked up, I'm didn't go out there and do it at my billing rate, I contracted some guy out at the tech school to go do it for say maybe $14/hr, and charge them $22/hr to cover my overhead and expenses.
Back in the 80's and early 90's businesses did charge $75/hr for computer work, even the easy stuff. Now those places are all out of business, because people did decide to do it themselves.
Mechanics have an advantage because working conditions are far less than ideal, and the nature of the business, but I still believe charging the same rate for different skill sets is wrong in principle.
And end the end, guess what? I pay the shop rate to get my oil changed, and just go away disgruntled and unhappy about how much it cost every time. All that being said, here in the USA we have capitalism and I totally agree, if you don't like the price, go somewhere else or do it yourself.
But I did answer the question that was asked I think, which was do I think it was a rip-off? yes.
Looking back I probably shouldn't have answered, not being a mechanic. I think he was trying to get a perspective about whether other mechanics thought he paid to much.
My apologies for stirring things up. Moderator please remove my comments, since they aren't relative to helping with the response to the question asked.
