I was prompted to put this blog entry out when I pulled the renewal notice out of my USPS Post Office box yesterday to be hit with a 24% increase. Yes, 24%!!!! Annual fee going from $118 to $146. Not a huge hit to the pocket - couple of bucks a month - but still, really?
Okay, enough bashing of the Post Office, but it's a lead-in to a little insight on what it takes to run this outfit, aka "overhead". I'm always amazed at the extremes we often encounter when asked to quote the cost of a tow. It ranges from, "Is that all?" (to which I like to respond, "Well, I can always charge you more....") to the other extreme of, "OMG!" or simply stunned silence (to which I respond, "If I was getting rich at this, do you think my wife would be driving a 12 year old Camry???"). Often the "OMG" folks are from regions with much higher prices; apparently they have never had to pay for a tow in New York/Boston/Philadelphia, et al. Go figure.
This being the start of a new year and having just done end-of-year bookkeeping, I decided to put together this little graphic to show just where the money goes from your tow. I hope anyone seeing it will appreciate my computer skills. Note that direct truck-related expenses, as expected, eat up nearly half of the money.
John
