How much has your weekly food bill gone up every week? I have a theory that we have had an increase of
25% or more on all goods sold.
Everything is moved by truck or train -- meaning with fuel and that has gone
way up. At my business (autobody and upholstery) energy has gone up, paper, paint, tape, vinyl, glue, permits, insurance, bank fees, parts -- you get the idea.
There is no way to pay anyone more money because there's no where to pull the money from.
![Banging head on wall 0|](https://www.reenactor.net/Smileys/default/banghead.gif)
I've even had to let people go because I just cannot afford them anymore
and... I've had to go back to working in the paint shop myself, just to survive this mess. And by the way, if you raise prices it won't help -- you'll just have the work leave for somewhere else. If you make a 10% profit (
which I don't), the overall 25% increase puts you behind 15% -- that means if I can cut costs 15%, I can break even. That's no profit at all for me. The national average for body shops is 5-7%net profit. 7.00 per 100.00. 70.00 per thousand. The increase of 25% in my paint alone will eat at least half of that. What are your thoughts?
good luck,
Jim Wise (Marsh's Brother)