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@Travlr you said I should be embarrassed to charge $150 an hour. Then you said it seems like grifting to the guy paying that bill.

You seem to want to change the entire world and how it operates. Good luck with that.

As for the socket it's simple supply/demand. Something very in demand typically has lots of supply so price goes down. A 95mm socket has low demand so low supply so high cost. If you have a way to change how world economics functions be my guest. Lol
 
I'm not saying work in a shop isn't worth significant money...

I'm not saying people don't deserve to be well paid for valuable work.

You say all that which sounds good.

You charge $1500 a day to work on someone's equipment?... I'd be embarrassed to charge that kind of money...

... that look a lot like grift to the guy paying the bill.

Then you contract yourself with these posts that make it sound criminal for a guy to be fairly compensated for his knowledge, time, and equipment.
 
@Travlr you said I should be embarrassed to charge $150 an hour.

No I didn't. I went back and checked. That's not what I said.

Then you said it seems like grifting to the guy paying that bill.

And it would to many.

You seem to want to change the entire world and how it operates. Good luck with that.

Yeah, I like to think that thinking people could do things better. So sue me. (Oh, that was snide, wasn't it?)

As for the socket it's simple supply/demand. Something very in demand typically has lots of supply so price goes down. A 95mm socket has low demand so low supply so high cost. If you have a way to change how world economics functions be my guest. Lol

Sure, supply/demand makes things unnecessarily expensive if there is only a limited number of sources and they can get people to buy tools for a huge mark-up. Thanks for agreeing with what I said.
 
Sure, supply/demand makes things unnecessarily expensive if there is only a limited number of sources and they can get people to buy tools for a huge mark-up. Thanks for agreeing with what I said.

So then go into manufacturing and build actual quality tools at low prices. Not recycled Chinese pop can tools that cost $30 and last one use. Actual quality tools that I can buy now and pass on to my kids.

When you figure out all the costs to produce those items let me know if it's more or less than $350.
 
So then go into manufacturing and build actual quality tools at low prices. Not recycled Chinese pop can tools that cost $30 and last one use. Actual quality tools that I can buy now and pass on to my kids.

When you figure out all the costs to produce those items let me know if it's more or less than $350.
Maybe you also missed the post about me working for Snap-on and knowing where and how the tools are made. And I never said it, but I've worked in the industry from the parts/tools side for decades and I know plenty about how "book rate" gets charged for work that is actually done in half the time and various other abuses of the system. And I'm NOT saying that you are the one abusing the system. But I've literally seen people come in with a leaking thermostat gasket (less than a buck, and twenty minutes to fix) and be handed a bill for $4500 on a truck that is worth $3500 after the work was done, because the tech was brutal about upselling everything he could think of. And it doesn't make the tech a bad mechanic. Most of them are entirely competent. They just have a financial incentive to make money, and it's easier to do it with the vehicle that's already in their bay than it is to drive another vehicle in to do the next job. So my experience is with the entire spectrum of mechanics and shop practices in which there were some very good examples, but it's not those I remember best. If I sound bitter it's because I am.
 
Did you actually manufacture the tools and know every cost associated with manufacturing them down to the penny? You signed the checks? Sourced the material? Did the machine work?

If you knew half as much as you think you do you would know that other than some warranty/PIP work on new equipment there really isn't a "book rate" for off highway equipment repair. If your mechanic gives you a quote it's because he's done it and knows what it takes or has asked someone who has.

Anywho I'll just keep on being embarrassed charging a fair wage and grifting people out of their money I guess.
 
I don't have a problem paying someone top dollar for work done when they know what they are doing. My problem is paying top dollar and getting low dollar work. I have had it happen a couple times. Once I paid the local John Deere dealer to work on a tractor and they put a mechanic on in that just prior was working for a tire shop. He was not a tractor mechanic. Another time I took our diesel pickup to replace an injector, and he mess something else up in the process and had no clue how to fix it. The tractor was a loss, and pickup was fixed by to local Chevy dealer at no cost; it was just a minor adjustment.
 
Did you actually manufacture the tools and know every cost associated with manufacturing them down to the penny? You signed the checks? Sourced the material? Did the machine work?

If you knew half as much as you think you do you would know that other than some warranty/PIP work on new equipment there really isn't a "book rate" for off highway equipment repair. If your mechanic gives you a quote it's because he's done it and knows what it takes or has asked someone who has.

Anywho I'll just keep on being embarrassed charging a fair wage and grifting people out of their money I guess.
Thanks for misunderstanding...
 
The only thing worse than buying a new Troy built lawnmower, is buying a used one..
Troy bilt when broke years ago now its just an MTD with different colored paint. There is only two or three companies building lawnmowers at this time.
 
May be a graphic of text
 
I don't have a problem paying someone top dollar for work done when they know what they are doing. My problem is paying top dollar and getting low dollar work. I have had it happen a couple times. Once I paid the local John Deere dealer to work on a tractor and they put a mechanic on in that just prior was working for a tire shop. He was not a tractor mechanic. Another time I took our diesel pickup to replace an injector, and he mess something else up in the process and had no clue how to fix it. The tractor was a loss, and pickup was fixed by to local Chevy dealer at no cost; it was just a minor adjustment.
Yep. I hate when they put a wram body in and think they are going charge the same price.

I use to see it all the time with crews. They would try to charge for a pusher and a 3 man crew. We would end up with a fat guy that couldn't get out if his truck and the helpers or a 2 decent guys and 2 not worth a flip. I would got out there and work with them or watch them. I would pay for new guys learning but would not pay for lazy hands. I would call them and tell them don't send so and so and bill me for 3 man crew.
 
Yep. 1" drive will hold up to 4k ftlb of torque without too much issue.

We won't tell Travlr about the $3200 torque multiplier to accurately torque the 95mm nut to 3200ftlbs. Or the nearly 6k bucks you can spend on an impact capable of removing such tight bolts. Hahaha

Find someone with the tools to properly do the job for $75 an hour and I'll shake his hand.
I have a pipe 10' long and hang 320 lbs of weight on the end of it.

Ken
 
I have a pipe 10' long and hang 320 lbs of weight on the end of it.

Ken

That works in some applications. Other applications there's no room for a 10' pipe maybe an 18" torque wrench if your lucky. So an 18.5:1 torque multiplier allows you to achieve high torque readings from easy to use hand tools.
 
That works in some applications. Other applications there's no room for a 10' pipe maybe an 18" torque wrench if your lucky. So an 18.5:1 torque multiplier allows you to achieve high torque readings from easy to use hand tools.
Yeh I know but sometimes if there is a will there is a way. I do have a small cheap torque multiplier for my truck wheel nuts and I know they can put on or undo a lot better than my length of pipe.

Ken
 
Pinion nut on a piece of logging equipment I did a few weeks back torqued to around 3k ftlb. It's 3 foot off the ground working on your back thru an 8" wide hole in the belly pan. Torque multiplier is the only way unless you disassemble half the machine and remove the axle or flop it over on its roof.
 
I didn't know there was such a critter as a torque multiplier until reading this thread. Who knew, sure looks like this old carpenter learned something new. I have twisted more wrenches in my short time of farming and ranching than I had in all my years of butchering wood.
 
I'm not saying people don't deserve to be well paid for valuable work.

But I hear people complaining about prices and inflation, and the price of real estate... and it doesn't seem like anyone is thinking about why everything costs more.

A $350 socket is hard to understand. Just like a $30 single aspirin is hard to understand. And every time something is outrageously priced someone is making a LOT of money and someone else is passing on those costs in some way to everyone else. Even if someone goes bankrupt they are passing on the costs of their bankruptcy to everyone else.
It's not just increased costs in products that raise prices, (shipping today drives that up more than ever due to fuel costs,) it's also a big increase in labor for most that aren't a 1 man operation. Labor for a company is an increasing portion of a repair because of the hidden costs and it's not just hourly pay. We have customers sometimes complain because they compare our charges to their wages and the cost of a part from ebay and an OEM part from our stock. The overhead to support a technician is massive, it can't be compared to a 1 man operation. The tech is supported by an office with admin that a 1 man shop doesn't have, is covered with insurance in an amount that most 1 men shops don't carry, include burdened labor which that business owner has to pay (SS match benefits etc) and all of that goes into pricing. Then add the cost of additional training because of government mandates and the labor costs keep on going up. The tech also has to be sent to the job in a truck that costs 800 a month plus insurance and get 12 miles to the gallon and is a 30 minute drive minimum to the job. When you start adding everything up, the costs can be huge that get attributed to the labor side.
 

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