So much for going down the plumbing route

[DodgyAgent]

One of my heros "Del Boy" was beaten on a quote by an Irishman to decorate Mike's pub. Del quoted £1000 and the Irishman quoted £500. Mike was about to give the work to the paddy when del stepped in with a new quote.

"Tell you what Mike I will do it for £2500" said Del

"£2500! Del, your having a laugh, the paddy says he will do it for £500!"

"No listen Mike, thats £1000 to you and a £1000 to me, plus £500 to the dopey paddy to do the work!"

Del got the job.

[DodgyAgent]

Here is what I know:

a) prices for services like plumbing are notoriously high

b) these prices don't deflate, even though price deflation rampart elsewhere (including IT)

A competitive market would have resulted in enterpreneurs moving in to win market share by reducing costs of labour - this happened in IT with FTVs and outsourcing - but this does not happen in plumbing/legal/some others.

Conclusion is that these markets are not-competitive and thus should be subject to regulation of prices and/or making sure that markets become competitive.

They obviously are competitive or someone would be undercutting the market you dopey pillock. Or do you think that the thousands of plumbers are talking to each other to fix prices??? the last thing anyone needs is more govt interference.

[AtW]

the last thing anyone needs is more govt interference.

And how else do you plan on making sure market is competitive? How else would have BT made to act in the interests of customers who want broadband if it was not for regulation?

The fact that high prices don't fall clearly indicates that market is not competitive. Wake up and look around - price deflation galore! Food, cars, electrical goods, IT rates - everything deflates, but somehow plumbers and solicitors manage to get away with extremely high prices, I mean, ffs, who can afford to fight a legal case unless they get legal aid (sucked by aforementioned solicitors)?

I mean, just look at BS that happens in legal profession - Barristers who will chages 100s of pounds per hour have to fight for limited spaces to actually be allowed to get called Barristers, and Legal grads have to do work for feck all money while they are being charged out at 80 quid per hour!

[privateeye]

This thread's been going on longer than 2 hours, by your calculations you could have had the job done by now.

[AtW]

If you actually bothered to read it you would have noticed that its not my problem with the carpet - I mentioned it more than once, whatever the quote is it has no direct relevance to me at this time.

[bfg]

Person to answer phone 5 minutes @ £5.50/h = 45p
1/2h travelling to quote @ £15/h = £7.50
1/2 doing quote = £7.50
20 minutes dicking about arguing price = £5.00

cost £20.45 + rates + heat/light/phone + other sundry tulipe like insurance and NI.

approx £40

Then you don't get the job.

Someone has to pay this - it's called overheads.

[DodgyAgent]

And how else do you plan on making sure market is competitive? How else would have BT made to act in the interests of customers who want broadband if it was not for regulation?

The fact that high prices don't fall clearly indicates that market is not competitive. Wake up and look around - price deflation galore! Food, cars, electrical goods, IT rates - everything deflates, but somehow plumbers and solicitors manage to get away with extremely high prices, I mean, ffs, who can afford to fight a legal case unless they get legal aid (sucked by aforementioned solicitors)?

I mean, just look at BS that happens in legal profession - Barristers who will chages 100s of pounds per hour have to fight for limited spaces to actually be allowed to get called Barristers, and Legal grads have to do work for feck all money while they are being charged out at 80 quid per hour!

BT was a monopoly plumbers are not.

[AtW]

BT was a monopoly plumbers are not.

Monopoly is the opposite to competition. What are the side effects of competition? Better products and/or lower prices. Good example is IT hardware - every year you can buy more memory for the same price or same memory for less price than last year.

Broadband now costs less than before and its a lot faster - clearly competitive forces are working, and they were made to work thanks to regulation that forced BT to abandon its attitude where they wanted to charge different amounts for national and overseas Internet traffic.

Now what do we have with plumbers and solicitors? Are they doing this year jobs faster and better than last year? Are they charging less? Do we see new entrants into the market that would make deal for consumers much better?

NO. It does not happen.

Therefore legal profession, plumbers et al are not operating in competitive market. It may not be monopoly, but market is not competitive - something has to be done about it.

[DodgyAgent]

Monopoly is the opposite to competition. What are the side effects of competition? Better products and/or lower prices. Good example is IT hardware - every year you can buy more memory for the same price or same memory for less price than last year.

Broadband now costs less than before and its a lot faster - clearly competitive forces are working, and they were made to work thanks to regulation that forced BT to abandon its attitude where they wanted to charge different amounts for national and overseas Internet traffic.

Now what do we have with plumbers and solicitors? Are they doing this year jobs faster and better than last year? Are they charging less? Do we see new entrants into the market that would make deal for consumers much better?

NO. It does not happen.

Therefore legal profession, plumbers et al are not operating in competitive market. It may not be monopoly, but market is not competitive - something has to be done about it.

There is a futility to debating with you AtW that I learnt long ago. You are quite right plumbers are monopolies and should be regulated accordingly

[threaded]

Plumber in Monopoly, where? There's a lead pipe in Cluedo. Do you have them mixed up?