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Services are having to lower their prices, too..sm

Posted By: MTSO on 2006-04-25
In Reply to: Not the OP, but it's what the nationals are willing to pay, not what they charge. Most of us out - here will never see 11-15 cpl. nm

I get routinely outbid for work by other services who are willing to do 24 hour TAT and fax or print the reports - all for 11 cents per line...So don't be too sure the services are making all the money either!


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The prices of homes are high, but the RE taxes are a bit lower.
Welcome to the East Coast! There is really nothing "cheap" on this side of the US.

Good luck - hope you have a smooth transition!
Does your program change lower case to upper? If so, type all in lower and
it will change the ones it is supposed to.
I wouldn't lower my rates. Should I request a lower CPL from my employer
because I use a ton of normals, templates and such to increase my line count?
Upper case is lower, lower case is upper. Using InstaText. Anyone know how to fix this?

Aargh.  It happened all day yesterday.  When I brought in text that was all caps


IMPRESSION:


and had lower case on keyboard (as always do), it reverses keyboard commands.  This is driving me c-r-a-z-y.


Gas prices
Last saw between $2.36 and $2.43 at the independent stations-- name brands a lot higher. 
Gas prices. sm
Regular jumped from $2.58 to $3.19 per gallon today.

This is ridiculous!
Gas prices

Subject: Gas Prices

I went into the Shell gas station this morning and asked for five dollars
                              worth of gas.

                 The clerk farted and gave me a receipt.




Gas Prices
Wow, I need to come to Georgia. Her in NY they're still close to $3.00 a gallon, although I think the last time I checked it was down to the $2.50-$2.80 range.
Gas prices
Gas prices here are up over $4.13 a gallon. It is definitely times like these that I am glad I work from home.
Gas Prices
It is no mistake.  I live in a little town called Carmi, IL which is 1 hour from Marion.  All towns around us went up considerably last night.  Carbondale IL was $5.29 a gallon and McLeansboro, IL was $4.89.  I do not know how long they stayed that but I do know there went up there.  ABSOLUTELY CRAZY
Our prices went from $2.55 to $2.99 this morning. nm
x
Gas Prices Shooting Up
Ours jumped 23 cents yesterday. Ouch!
lovely gas prices
2.99 in West Texas .... and I have a hundred mile rnd trip to get to work *sigh*. I wonder how much longer I can afford to GO to work! LOLOL
with the gas prices going sky high and, therefore, (sm)
the prices of food and other items more than likely going to skyrocket, what is everyone doing to plan for this?
Rising gas prices
I am currently paying $3.39 a gallon up here in NY. Heard it may go up to $6.00/gallon possibly before it lowers in price again.
not sure of the prices in your area

..but gas here is $2.73 (cheap stuff) 


Home prices have gone through the roof here.  We sold our home last year for 250, and we bought it 2 yrs prior for 170.  In our area, homes sell before they even make it to the MLS listings. 


I am an IC and have no problem finding work.  I have actually turned away 2 offices last week.


Oh, health insurance, may not want to hear this one--we pay 200. per week for a family of four.


I live in the Tampa area.


Best of luck,


Sunny!


European prices.
Taxes are the main reason gas prices are so high in Europe. The taxes are used to provide things like outstanding public transportation and universal health care. I'd be glad to pay $6 a gallon if health care was covered and I could ride excellent public transportation anyplace I needed to go. That's a bargain!
hair cut prices
Just curious, how much do you pay for a hair cut and how long does it take?  My stylist just raised her prices quite a bit and without notice.  I'm sure it varies quite a bit.  I live in the Midwest (small town) and now pay 12 bucks.  What do you pay?
haircut prices...
Wow...12 bucks is not expensive at all.  I'm in the southeast and pay total about $40...that's for shampoo, cut, blow dry, and tip.  As far how long it takes, I am assuming you mean to get a hair cut? Mine usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how much I get cut off, stying, etc...consider yourself lucky!
hair cut prices
I live in the Southeast as well and would love to find someone for $12! My stylist is $45 for wash, HC, blowdry. It takes 45 minutes to an hour.
Hair cut/prices
Well after going to high priced hair salons and paying 30-50/cut/blow dry. I found a great stylist at yes - SuperCuts, costs me 15.00 cut/blow dry and she actually cuts my hair the way I want it instead of the way she wants, and it is only 5 minutes away from my house and I call ahead and make an appointment with her, so I am very happy. I have tried so many different places and now color my own hair with Loreal Preference and get my hair cut at SuperCuts and it works for me. Guess you just have to find the right person to style/cut your hair to your liking.
Not with current gas prices ...
I wouldn't. And you are talking about a total of 4 hours of driving per day, 20 hours per week, that you don't get paid for. You don't say where you live, but do you get snow, ice, etc. in the winter? That would be a nightmare.

It's good money, but personally I don't think it's worth it.
True about prices. sm
You are correct; services are competitive right now. I was very explicit about the services I offered and gave her a competitive price. It is her right to go to someone else and to shop around, but she seemed to know enough information to have made a choice. She also said she had a few more calls to make. I'm just curious because I get sometimes get calls from offices asking around like they're looking for the cheapest price. This one sounded so promising. Guess I can't keep my hopes up and move on.
slashing prices
I would just have to charge for the extra ink. Tell them that printing letterheads for them cost a little bit more. So I could cover the ink costs.
food prices
They certainly are! If you have a salvage grocery in your area, you can save quite a bit. We are blessed to have three. Some cans a bent - I only buy the ones with a ding, and boxes are bent. You have to be selective, but can save quit a bit. Also if you have an ALDI store, they are less expensive and their products are good. Hope this helps someone.
How's your gas prices today? Ours $2.95 and climbing.

Gas prices today? We're at $3.19

One way to beat the high gas prices...
Gas prices drive man to commute by horse


By Associated Press











MINOT, N.D. --Jim Jundt was so determined to rein in his spending on gasoline that he got out of bed early and rode his 14-year-old quarterhorse mare to work.

Jundt lives 15 miles south of Minot and works as a mechanic at Goodyear Tire & Auto Service in the city.

He said he and his co-workers had been talking about rising fuel prices, and he joked that he would ride his horse to work if gasoline ever hit $3 a gallon.

His co-workers laughed, but when the price at the pump soared to $3.20 last week, Jundt headed for the barn.

He said he was only five minutes late riding his mare, Patty, to work.

While he worked, Patty waited patiently, eating hay out of the back of a truck.

© Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


No. Is it good? Have they brought their prices down?
Competition is a good thing to me. Wish we had more competition within our industry with companies fighting for good MTs.
bodycandy.com - They have really good prices.
x
Doctor fishing for prices?
I had a doctor call me, and she said they wanted to get an MT ASAP. It sounded like she had called other services, including the "nationals." She knew what a 65-character line was. I was told I would hear back from her today. I wrote a follow-up note, but am wondering if she is just fishing for prices. How can I minimize that? Does anyone have a phrase that sounds appropriate to deal with that? Thanks.
But it's nobody's fault but the MTSO that the prices have dropped.
THEY were the ones who started the offshore outsourcing in an attempt to make a bigger profit and get more clients.  Figuring that they could pay Indian transcriptionists 3 or 4 cpl, they could offer the clients a cheaper rate. By doing this, the MTSO changed the field forever into the cut-throat market it is today. The MTSO virtually eliminated the independent transcriptionist from the market who was able to have a few accounts and making a lucrative living and the larger MTSOs are putting the smaller ones out of business.  The MTSOs brought it upon themselves and now everyone in the field is suffering because of it, including the patient.  I feel no pity for them whatsoever.
Regarding Walmart vs grocery store prices

This got buried on the second page, but I pointed out that Bounty paper towels are more at Walmart than my local grocer.  Someone replied back saying that overall the grocery store is more.  Nope.  This is my reply:


The paper towel price increase is not a momentary thing.  I started comparing prices a few years ago between Walmart and the grocery store.  I used to buy food at the grocery store and everything else at Walmart.  Until Walmart got to be just as expensive or MORE expensive in some cases than the grocery store.  It is NOT just paper towels.  Same with Era detergent.  Same with a multitude of other products.  Walmart has gotten GREEDY.


Now I clip coupons for the paper goods, cleaners and what not and the grocery store doubles any coupons 50 cents or less (I don't use them if they don't double).  So with the prices being less than Walmart to begin with, plus using coupons, I come out WAY ahead.  So I don't even make a Walmart trip at all anymore.  Might as well just buy everything at the grocery store.  It's closer, more convenient, and CHEAPER.


Our gas prices are just over $3/gallon and summer's coming!

I'll want to use my A/C in my car plus do a little extra driving in the summertime.


Right now it's costing me about $44 to $46 to fill my tank up.  It HURTS! 


Thinking about buying  a bicycle to get around town on!  lol


 


 


Europe's been paying these prices much longer than us

.


I'd price low and post a sign that says prices

are priced to sale and firm.  I've seen people price something that was worth close to $100 for $4.00 and someone who knew it was a good value still wanted to haggle over the price.   I don't have yard sales anymore.  I give it all to Goodwill and take a tax write-off because it is a lot of work.


I would put an ad in your local paper, put up brightly colored, readable signs on the main streets in your area.  Lots of times people put up a sign that is 8 x 11 or smaller and you just can't read them if you are passing them  as you drive down the street, or they don't secure them properly and the fold in half. 


Having a sale for 2 days, Friday and Saturday, is extra work, but may get more people.  I've found if you have tools (even if just a hammer or screwdriver) and list them you get lots of people who otherwise may not come, though you'll have old guys tell you these "stories" in order to get you to lower your prices, but they are just going to resale them. 


And you high prices take the jobs overseas
There is a happy medium, she is not an MTSO, no IC overhead, etc.  So I think that she can charge .12 and make a good living. 
Long distance site to compare prices. sm
http://ld.net/?6040


I heard a news report predicting that prices will
YIKES!!
Competition is driving prices down. Companies are not making
Sooner or later you will have to face facts that this industry is in a freeze hold due to several factors.

If the companies are not able to raise their prices to customers, they cannot raise their payouts to workers.


You undercut yourself, which drives prices down industry-wide. sm
For a hospital, NEVER go under $0.16 per line to start. Most will want to negotiate and the lowest should be 0.14 per line.
Anyone else notice prices of food getting higher every week?

We filled our gas tanks full earlier this week before the prices went up.

We've got bicycles and a scooter to ride whenever possible.  We're already saving money on gasoline by working at home or close to home, compared with our former 25 mile round trips each to get to work and back.  We're thinking about selling our truck to get an economy car.  We canceled cable and got a Netflix membership so we don't have to drive to the video store any more.


I've been freezing and canning fruits and vegetables from the garden.  We're going to stock up on meat by buying a side of beef locally.  I buy extra whenever there's a good sale at the store.  I shop at the day old bakery, dollar store, and hit the loss leaders at the grocery stores that are all within walking/riding distance from the house.


I can't think of anything else but would love to hear more ideas.


Does anyone know where to get a good deal on a Kodak digital with zoom and who has the best prices
on them. I just want a simple to use Kodak easyshare that is reasonably priced with zoom on it.
Well if Target did business like Walmart then the prices would drop but everyone would hate them to.
Walmart fights the good fight for the consumer Target isn't willing to. But love Target commercials and children's clothes. I take the best of both stores and don't begrudge either for their marketing style.
gas prices and general misery in the world just depresses me, worse than my job LOL
nm
Where are the services that pay 11.5?
I have 18 years of experience, and the most I've been offered is 9 cpl and that's jumping through hoops.  11.5 for a company is just not the norm, sorry!
HIM/services will get you any way they can!

Howwouldtheyliketoreadareportjustlikethisandcodeasfastorbill? Maybe we can charge "air time" for all those times the docs leave us hanging while they figure out what they are going to say.


services
Carol, I have never worked for an on-line service but was thinking of switching. I'm tired of getting screwed by the hospital and cheated on line counts. Which services are you speaking of.
Services
Services Provided as Key Activity of the Business

If a worker provides services that are a key aspect of the business, it is more likely that the business will have the right to direct and control his or her activities. For example, if a law firm hires an attorney, it is likely that it will present the attorney’s work as its own and would have the right to control or direct that work. This would indicate an employer-employee relationship.

Does this mean I am not an IC because my company presents my work as its own and they tell me what platform I have to use?
You keep saying they tried other services?
Why did they try other services if they were so happy with you? Maybe they keep coming back, but one day they may not...