Saving a Penny might cost a Dollar

I was reminded this morning of what lengths some folk will go to to save a few pence, only to find that the tables turn on them and their folly costs more than they might have saved.

I took out one of my test meters and this particular meter must be calibrated every 12 months or less. It is used to certify electrical installations and without a calibration certificate for it, then I ain’t working and earning money. My meter has a large red label attached to the strap, making it easier to identify when several of us are working together.

Several years ago, I took it into the electrical wholesalers, as in previous years, to have them send it away for calibration. It takes perhaps an hour to calibrate a meter like this, but it is always away for about three weeks.

And then, I was in the wholesalers just about three weeks later to pick up some stock.

Glancing behind the counter I could see my meter, the one with the red label, on the manager’s desk. Brilliant, its back on time and now I can certify last weeks work.

“I will take my meter with me” I declare.

“Oh, its not back yet”

“Yes it is I can see it on the manager’s desk, the meter with the red label”

That was when the manager owned up to his attempt to save a penny or two. If he could hold onto my meter until he had another customer wanting calibration, he could send both meters together and only pay one carrier charge himself, yet bill both of us for an individual carrier charge each, thereby making an extra few pounds profit.

So … after Vesuvius had erupted, I calmed down.

The embarrassed manager agreed to send it off the same day by special delivery and he agreed that I should get the calibration free of charge, otherwise I would never use that wholesaler again. The meter came back and I have never been through their doors since. He lost a good customer, I was spending £3-5k a month in his shop, every month.

I’m not sure what his profit margin is, but on my average spend of £4000 a month , it’s a lot more than the postage he would have saved.

Which brings me to the point – we’ve all seen so many occasions when the vendor, the video maker, the web entrepreneur, you, me, have gone 80% of the way to providing a good service only to throw it away on that little tiny bit at the end – called completion.

Complete each stage of your activities and don’t try to stack them all up to economise on cost or time or whatever. Finish the job, get it published and move on to the next project. There have been many times over the years when I’ve completed two videos a few days apart and thought that maybe I should have waited – and then realised that no, that first video is up and published and making money, pennies dropping into the piggy bank already.

Does anyone still use a piggy bank. The worst one I had was one with a slot for the coins and no hole at the bottom to get the coins out. My granfather actually put a One Pound paper note in the piggy bank – a fortune when I was a child, how the heck was that ever going to come out. Sorry piggy, but my need for that pound was greater than your need to remain intact.

C’est la vie.

Have a super week chaps and chapesses. The sun is out, what a great day.

Bux