A good friend of mine raised his price from $200 to $250 in one year - a 25% increase. He said only one person noticed but didn't care. He also said that year has been his busiest to date, so I'd say it's worked out well for him.
I've heard that same story from several different people. In every case, most clients don't notice or care. I think we worry about raising our prices a lot more than we should. Price increases are part of life, and everyone understands that.
Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2026 12:23
From: Wim Blees
Subject: gas money
Loren
Your calculations make a lot of sense. Based on today's tuning fees, it does not seem to have much of an effect on our rates. But the last time we had a big price increase in gas was about 20 or 25 years ago, when our fees were less than half of what we're charging now, so the percentages were higher.
I raise my prices once a year on January 1st. I used to increase them just a few dollars back in the 80's, and then $5 in the 00's. But now I go up $10 every two years. For those of you who are reluctant to increase your fees, don't be afraid. One year I went up $15, and I didn't miss a beat. My regular customers paid the increase without complaint, and my new customers didn't know what I charged before, so they accepted my new fee.
Wim
Original Message:
Sent: 3/24/2026 9:16:00 AM
From: Loren Kelley
Subject: RE: gas money
I have heard economists recently say that the price of gas is very visible, so people react to it, but their psychological reaction isn't really justified by the actual effect on their finances. Here's the math that very roughly reflects the current situation. Suppose your car gets 20 mpg. At $3/gal, the cost for fuel is 15 cents a mile, and at $4/gal it's 20 cents a mile. That seems like a dramatic increase, and for someone with marginal finances it might be significant, but the thing to focus on is the difference, which is 5 cents a mile. If you drove 40 miles for each customer on a particular day (way above the average for me), it would be $2 extra per customer. With the rates that we charge, would anyone consider that enough to pass on to the customer? The price increase for gasoline is likely to be only for a period of months.
I remember from a discussion about credit card fees that a lot of folks just consider that a general business expense and don't add it to the bill, whereas I do. For a standard tuning fee, the credit card fee is very roughly $5. I prefer checks and cash.
Without getting into politics, I think it's interesting that there is often a lot of public commentary on gasoline prices, but practically none about the cost of insurance, which to me seems outlandish. It has gone up way faster than inflation.
I'm glad that I now own a Chevy Bolt, which costs on average over the year about 3 cents a mile to drive for the "fuel." Of course, it's not as handy for long trips, but 95% of my driving is powered by just plugging it into the wall in my garage. It holds all of my tools. I even fit my piano tilter in it for a job last week.
Original Message:
Sent: 3/23/2026 10:03:00 PM
From: Wim Blees
Subject: gas money
I'm not tuning full time and driving all over the place, but back when I did, and we had a massive increase in gas prices, along with a lot of other tuners, I increased my tuning fee to pay for the added expense. Since then, however, the price of gas has gone down, but as far as I know, no one lowered their fee.
My question to all of you working full time, since we've had an increase of almost $1 per gallon, have you increased your fee, and will you lower it when gas prices go down again?
(Please, no political discussions)
Wim
------------------------------
Willem "Wim" Blees, RPT
St. Augustine, FL 32095
Wim@Tnrwim.com
------------------------------