Sick of it All

[madmoney]

I am sick of the economy. Let me tell you why. All this bailout crap has completely changed the mindset of every consumer in this world.

Case in point, one of the businesses I own provides a web based service to a customer that was customized to customers needs back a few years ago. Customer was paying $800/month for the service. 6 months ago customer said they were going to cancel unless they got a better price, locked them into a $500/month price for 6 months.

Today the customer sends an email saying they want to cancel at the end of their current term, 4/1, I ask if there is anything we can do. Customer says sure if the price were around $250/month – $275/month they may reconsider. I said if they signed a year long contract we can give it to them at $275/month. They are going to do it now.

Everyone is looking for a damn bailout! Thank you U.S. Government. Sure I could have told the customer to kiss my ass but with a small business that is trying to survive and having shed several customers already I would rather have a customer at $275/month than a customer at $0/month. Of course at some point I wouldn’t have done it, say anything below $250, but regardless I’m starting to hate this process. This is just one example, I could go on. When is this going to end? Is it ever going to end?

[HLS]

MM..
Excellent post.. Deflation… falling prices for goods and services, and rent and houses, etc

It becomes about survival. You have given an example of now selling a product @ $275 a month that you previously charged $800 a month for.

Is there an actual cost to YOU for this or were you just getting as much as the market would bear ?

Was it really worth $800 a month ??

The world is full of products and services that are HIGHLY overpriced, and it seems that only recently people are waking up to this fact.

If you were hungry for business, you might accept $100 a month if faced with the choice of $100 or $0

Japan is going on 20 years,,, America may be in for a big surprise….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7955931.stm

[HLS]

MM..
Excellent post.. Deflation… falling prices for goods and services, and rent and houses, etc

It becomes about survival. You have given an example of now selling a product @ $275 a month that you previously charged $800 a month for.

Is there an actual cost to YOU for this or were you just getting as much as the market would bear ?

Was it really worth $800 a month ??

The world is full of products and services that are HIGHLY overpriced, and it seems that only recently people are waking up to this fact.

If you were hungry for business, you might accept $100 a month if faced with the choice of $100 or $0

Japan is going on 20 years,,, America may be in for a big surprise….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7955931.stm

[HLS]

MM..
Excellent post.. Deflation… falling prices for goods and services, and rent and houses, etc

It becomes about survival. You have given an example of now selling a product @ $275 a month that you previously charged $800 a month for.

Is there an actual cost to YOU for this or were you just getting as much as the market would bear ?

Was it really worth $800 a month ??

The world is full of products and services that are HIGHLY overpriced, and it seems that only recently people are waking up to this fact.

If you were hungry for business, you might accept $100 a month if faced with the choice of $100 or $0

Japan is going on 20 years,,, America may be in for a big surprise….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7955931.stm

[HLS]

MM..
Excellent post.. Deflation… falling prices for goods and services, and rent and houses, etc

It becomes about survival. You have given an example of now selling a product @ $275 a month that you previously charged $800 a month for.

Is there an actual cost to YOU for this or were you just getting as much as the market would bear ?

Was it really worth $800 a month ??

The world is full of products and services that are HIGHLY overpriced, and it seems that only recently people are waking up to this fact.

If you were hungry for business, you might accept $100 a month if faced with the choice of $100 or $0

Japan is going on 20 years,,, America may be in for a big surprise….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7955931.stm

[HLS]

MM..
Excellent post.. Deflation… falling prices for goods and services, and rent and houses, etc

It becomes about survival. You have given an example of now selling a product @ $275 a month that you previously charged $800 a month for.

Is there an actual cost to YOU for this or were you just getting as much as the market would bear ?

Was it really worth $800 a month ??

The world is full of products and services that are HIGHLY overpriced, and it seems that only recently people are waking up to this fact.

If you were hungry for business, you might accept $100 a month if faced with the choice of $100 or $0

Japan is going on 20 years,,, America may be in for a big surprise….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7955931.stm

[Anonymous]

I think HLS has a point.

Sorry to hear that you lost some revenue, but this may simply be a case of market forces at work.

[Anonymous]

I think HLS has a point.

Sorry to hear that you lost some revenue, but this may simply be a case of market forces at work.

[Anonymous]

I think HLS has a point.

Sorry to hear that you lost some revenue, but this may simply be a case of market forces at work.

[Anonymous]

I think HLS has a point.

Sorry to hear that you lost some revenue, but this may simply be a case of market forces at work.

[Anonymous]

I think HLS has a point.

Sorry to hear that you lost some revenue, but this may simply be a case of market forces at work.

[madmoney]

Well, the $800/month price was based on 2005 pricing and was competitive at the time with other offerings. The service is a maintenance software and helps people that do repair work for major retailers keep track of every work order that is going on. Essentially helping them run their business. (I’m sure these people are hurting though)

I didn’t think of the deflation angle that is interesting. I honestly think it is not only deflation but maybe deflation coupled with a bailout mindset.

There really isn’t much cost to me, but I mean the servers have to be maintained, power/bandwidth paid for, etc.. There is some cost there. I wouldn’t do it for $100/month, I already dumped one of the customers that wanted to go from $500/month down to $150/month.

[madmoney]

Well, the $800/month price was based on 2005 pricing and was competitive at the time with other offerings. The service is a maintenance software and helps people that do repair work for major retailers keep track of every work order that is going on. Essentially helping them run their business. (I’m sure these people are hurting though)

I didn’t think of the deflation angle that is interesting. I honestly think it is not only deflation but maybe deflation coupled with a bailout mindset.

There really isn’t much cost to me, but I mean the servers have to be maintained, power/bandwidth paid for, etc.. There is some cost there. I wouldn’t do it for $100/month, I already dumped one of the customers that wanted to go from $500/month down to $150/month.

[madmoney]

Well, the $800/month price was based on 2005 pricing and was competitive at the time with other offerings. The service is a maintenance software and helps people that do repair work for major retailers keep track of every work order that is going on. Essentially helping them run their business. (I’m sure these people are hurting though)

I didn’t think of the deflation angle that is interesting. I honestly think it is not only deflation but maybe deflation coupled with a bailout mindset.

There really isn’t much cost to me, but I mean the servers have to be maintained, power/bandwidth paid for, etc.. There is some cost there. I wouldn’t do it for $100/month, I already dumped one of the customers that wanted to go from $500/month down to $150/month.

[madmoney]

Well, the $800/month price was based on 2005 pricing and was competitive at the time with other offerings. The service is a maintenance software and helps people that do repair work for major retailers keep track of every work order that is going on. Essentially helping them run their business. (I’m sure these people are hurting though)

I didn’t think of the deflation angle that is interesting. I honestly think it is not only deflation but maybe deflation coupled with a bailout mindset.

There really isn’t much cost to me, but I mean the servers have to be maintained, power/bandwidth paid for, etc.. There is some cost there. I wouldn’t do it for $100/month, I already dumped one of the customers that wanted to go from $500/month down to $150/month.

[Author]

Posts