Is it just me or?

[nb Innisfree]

Seems to me there is no such thing as a 'fair' rate, surely the aim is to charge as much as the market can stand? A business that manufactures goods doesn't add a percentage for profit, instead it researches the market and makes a guess on how much it can charge based on how much potential customers are prepared to pay. The difference between that figure and the cost of manufacture is the profit which decides whether it's worth doing. Same principle applies to any business, it needs to make as much profit as it can to survive possible lean times ahead.

[Bee]

I find the thing to avoid on 240v is touching the wires on your tongue to see if there is a tingle like there is on 12v. NO, really don`t try this at home, forget I ever said it.

[John V]

 

 

 

Snip it all out and start again is usually best. At least re-wiring neatly takes a broadly predictable length of time. Reverse-engineering a bird's nest can be truly indeterminate in my experience.

 

MtB

 

 

Agree totally, I have lately worked on some elderly commercial vessels that have been a nightmare. The whole boat was wired for 220v DC and 24v DC but actually used 220v AC and 12v DC, there were fuseboards and cables everywhere some of which had been re-used for the new supplies and some hadn't....it took almost a week to work out what was what and remove the surplus....for the sanity of anyone working on your boat in the future, if it doesn't work please remove it and all its associated cables

[MtB]

Seems to me there is no such thing as a 'fair' rate, surely the aim is to charge as much as the market can stand? A business that manufactures goods doesn't add a percentage for profit, instead it researches the market and makes a guess on how much it can charge based on how much potential customers are prepared to pay. The difference between that figure and the cost of manufacture is the profit which decides whether it's worth doing. Same principle applies to any business, it needs to make as much profit as it can to survive possible lean times ahead.

 

There is another principle that can be followed. This is to add the minimum possible profit margin necessary. This lets you dominate your market and large profits come from massive turnover. It also locks out new entrants because they simply can't compete and make a profit too.

 

This falls down eventually as all companies doing it get greedy. They fall prey to the temptation to raise prices and take advantage of their near big market share which creates some headroom for competitors to pop up. Tesco are an example. They used to be the cheapest supermarket out there but they got comfortable, raised their prices and now Aldi and Lidl have usurped their bottom end market sector.

 

 

MtB

[Emerald Fox]

11.50 GBP/hour is what bus drivers in Finland are earning - that's 14 euros/hour in Continental Speak.

We have to carry up to 130 passengers (18m long articulated bus), and, with shorter National Express-type buses, are expected to drive at 100km/h (65mph).

A fair amount of skill and experience required to do this day after day without accidents.

Are they having a laugh (the bosses) ??!!

(Estonian bus drivers in Estonia earn one seventh of this. Slovakian Police in Slovakia earn one quarter of this).

...looks like Britain is awash with dosh!

[MtB]

11.50 GBP/hour is what bus drivers in Finland are earning - that's 14 euros/hour in Continental Speak.

We have to carry up to 130 passengers (18m long articulated bus), and, with shorter National Express-type buses, are expected to drive at 100km/h (65mph).

A fair amount of skill and experience required to do this day after day without accidents.

Are they having a laugh (the bosses) ??!!

(Estonian bus drivers in Estonia earn one seventh of this. Slovakian Police in Slovakia earn one quarter of this).

...looks like Britain is awash with dosh!

 

 

I agree.

 

Never has there been such a privileged population so unaware of just how privileged they really are.

 

MtB

[Bee]

Looks like Finland is the place to be, heavy goods drivers in GB are lucky to earn more than £10 per hour and for driving non artic vehicles £8 is about the norm. Dunno about bus drivers.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Bee

[Alan de Enfield]

 

(Estonian bus drivers in Estonia earn one seventh of this. Slovakian Police in Slovakia earn one quarter of this).

...looks like Britain is awash with dosh!

 

And the price of a loaf of bread at the supermarket, or Sausage Egg & Chips ( or local equivalent) in the local pub is ?

 

The Police in Cambodia earn around US $500 per month. A graduate accountant earns from $1000 per month

[Neil2]

Looks like Finland is the place to be, heavy goods drivers in GB are lucky to earn more than £10 per hour and for driving non artic vehicles £8 is about the norm. Dunno about bus drivers.

Absolutely. I used to have a PCV licence, only used it for a year and never earned more than minimum wage. From what I can recall that's about what Stagecoach drivers get and they don't get to supplement their wages with tips.

[nb Innisfree]

 

There is another principle that can be followed. This is to add the minimum possible profit margin necessary. This lets you dominate your market and large profits come from massive turnover. It also locks out new entrants because they simply can't compete and make a profit too.

 

This falls down eventually as all companies doing it get greedy. They fall prey to the temptation to raise prices and take advantage of their near big market share which creates some headroom for competitors to pop up. Tesco are an example. They used to be the cheapest supermarket out there but they got comfortable, raised their prices and now Aldi and Lidl have usurped their bottom end market sector.

 

 

MtB

Not sure about that, we visit our local Lidl much less now due to their slow checkout. Instead we go to Tesco, nice cafe, similar prices, fill our own bags straight from the shelf and no waiting in queues for checkout. Quick scan of barcode on pay machine and away to the car.

 

I reckon Lidl/Aldi could have already peaked and if they don't up their game coukd be facing a possible downturn. Years ago Walmart, aka Asda, vowed to knock Tesco off their perch. Still waiting.

[Emerald Fox]

A shot of whisky in my local 'fake Irish pub' (dontcha just hate those?) 12 Euros (!!!). From a bottle with loads of air in it (= whisky spoiled already).

 

Prices in Finland have gone up slightly in the past 30 years, prices in Britain have really shot up, so that prices in both countries are about the same now.

 

Unemployment in Finland used to be 4% - joined the EU in, what, 1992, and Unemployment rose to 20%.

 

No canals (as in England) in Finland, but perfect country for cycle touring - only that no-one does it! Terrible waste. Empty roads, pleasant scenery, not dangerous. Finland has many lakes and 'lake systems' so you can drive a motor boat for many days, something England doesn't have. Finland is the home of the Moomins and Angry Birds.

 

Finland has no decent pubs, and no proper 'pub culture'. England is way ahead there.

 

Things work in Finland (good no-nonsense showers) and Finnish products are good quality - Fiskars scissors, for instance. NOKIA is international/global now, and even Finns piss on them (especially now they have got into bed with Microsoft), Samsung cellphones being better quality.

 

Finland has the Northern Lights and there is Santa in his workshop in Rovaniemi (Brits pay 2500 GBP to visit him for a daytrip!) - but Finland has no decent pubs!

 

As it's Friday evening and I'm in a strange mood, I'll post 3 links to some Finnish songs which I consider to be quite OK:

 

 

 

 

Also yesterday I found this nice piece, something I taped from the 1989 Eurovision screech contest, I see someone has stuck it up on Youtube. It's not Finnish -

 

[Bob the welder]

I must up my rates

 

Richard

me to bob the welder

[MyLady]

I've been on both sides of this: Morrisons once asked me to install a tannoy system in one of their warehouses, I didn't want the job, so quoted a price "I couldn't refuse" - they still booked me, it seemed I looked cheap to them (and I was late going on holiday with my family, which earned me lots of penalty points, maybe I should have charged more?); on another occasion my car door lock failed, so I took it to the garage, but they couldn't fit me in for several days and that would have meant the car, or contents, was highly likely to get nicked, so I bought the bits and fixed it at the roadside outside the garage. When I'd done, I asked to use their facilities to wash up, then asked what their price would have been to do the job (I wondered how much I'd saved), they told me - and justified the amount with the time for the job out of their official manual. That time was slightly more than I'd taken, working with minimal tools and facilities at the roadside, including washing off afterwards. Their was no charge for using their wash room.

 

Pounds per hour is subject to many variables, but I still maintain that: "the labourer is worthy of his hire."

 

The Chinese apparently had a principle: if the price is fair, both customer and seller feel that they've made a good deal; if either feels they've been ripped off, then the price wasn't fair. Sounds good to me!

 

Roger