What the hell is going on with shops?

What... write offs.... you can't write off everything, what do you think i got back this year ?

So many people have their hand in business owners pockets it isn't even funny, the fed, the state, local, town, witholding tax, bs licenses and bs permits... Where is my salary for collecting sales tax ?? wtf the govt wants sales tax and i want $20 an hour for doing there job, or they can stand there and collect there tax from you when you walk out..
If i really added all the costs in, prices would change drastically.... DRASTICALLY... My prices on many MANY things would be much much higher...
For example, taxes went up, gas went up since 1.80g , electric has gone way up, parts went up, supplies went up, delivery prices went up yet i still charge the same prices for many common alterations on shafts and t-cases and diffs for the past 10 years or actually longer on many many things, my diff builds and rebuilds are the same labor for the last 10 years or more...
Oil went up, grease went up, parts went up, the cost of living has went up BIG TIME!! property tax went up, rent went up and then the govt comes up with new bs and new requirements all unknown by you, the consumer, but EVERY consumer thinks business owners are all rich...

My equipment costs huge money, i have 2 machines just those 2 all by themselves total more than $150,000..... have you any idea what it takes to make that money back ? and thats just 2 machines, lathes, bridgeports, welders, tooling, hand tools, electric tools... all costs, when i have a new employee wrecking $90 a piece bits on a job that costs $75 and they wreck 6 of them, would you want the phone call that your car is now $525 ? Somehow i don't think you want the call when tooling breaks adding to what it cost to repair your parts or vehicle...

OR you buy a new car and the manufacture changes the design just to be assholes, like say you have a vibe in your shaft and now that shaft needs new fixtures to mimic the car, you want to pay the $75 or the $950 for the 2 fixtures ? that there is no guarantee will be used 15 more times to compensate the cost before it becomes a tool making money...
I have fixtures that cost $1300 each and have been used 4 times in 7 years, they are a huge loss that i never get back, and you can only claim losses so many times.

write offs, please write offs are based on percentages of taxes, not overall cost, and then lets remember the insurance to cover the nearly 2 million dollars of equipment every month, and the ins for the jerk off that might want to sue, the ins for the truck to deliver and p/u just to make the customer happy, that they think is must for them, it's a courtesy that isn't figured into ANY job, so now we have another burden ins, driver, truck cost, maintenance, oil, gas
Yeah write offs are so awesome, they don't cover the amount of gas used for the shop truck in 2 weeks...

There is so much the consumer has no idea about, they think it's just get this and that and make money...

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I was really on neither side of this debate. but this posting really made me think about things differently. My good friend opened his own shop 2 years ago now, and I have never really given a lot of these things mentioned a thought.. I never question his prices, and I know he probably loses money on some of the jobs he does for myself and my wife, as well as a few other close friends as we were all part of the 'word of mouth' club to get business his way.. these days his shop is doing well, and he has added an employee to help. After reading this I feel like I should stop by after work and give him some extra money for jobs he has done for me LOL .. but for me this whole debate comes down to this... if i have the skills and know how to fix something, i'll just do it myself.. If not, I have to get someone with those skills to do it.. if I feel im getting raped, I look elsewhere.. but it is what it is.. people talk about doctors making too much.. and even auto shops charging too much.. there are a lot of jobs and payments for such jobs out of whack. I've seen people ***** about paying $1500 for motor work at a shop, (key word is WORK.. and sometimes hard unpleasant work) then spend $400 on tickets to go to a professional football game, where they will blow $40 for parking, $50 or better for beer and food.. $100 for soveniers, all to cheer on a team where the stars make multi millions of dollars a year to PLAY a game...

Yea, I drifted off course a bit there.. sorry lol