It's hard to belive that so many people managed to work as bike mechanics for so many years and never once got a clue about what's actually involved in running a business.
Well, I guess it's actually not that much of a surprise...there's lots of oblivious going around these days. It's not just 'replacing a spoke, done', it's just a bit more.
Paying a mechanic a wage to do the work.
Paying payroll tax for that employee.
Possibly paying health insurance premiums for that employee.
Paying for the lease or mortgage on the building he works in.
Paying insurance premiums for the business.
Paying for the lights and power.
Paying for the spokes you have to have in stock so the 10min repair doesn't take a week when you have to order said spoke.
Paying for the tools used for the repair.
Anything else I'm forgetting @
surreal? We charge, as I've said, $30.00 for a spoke replacement plus the spoke. We charge $100.00 for a wheel build. We can barely keep up w/ service and 1.5yr ago moved one of our shops from a 1200sq ft location to a 9000sq ft location. We have a constant flow of new customers. I fail to see how this could happen if we charged 1/3 the labor fee we do now...
When we go out of business due to overcharging and no one coming in, I'll let you know.
