On Sat, 3 Dec 2011 15:28:56 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:


Please give me the name of the auto mechanic who didn't fix your car.


His name would be Wayne or Jennings Chevrolet.
Or maybe Joe Blow.

I want to ask him if he noticed that the pocket money he was carrying
(i.e. his net worth) was decreased by $1000 after you fixed your own
car. I mean, the money came "right out of his pocket" didn't it? He
must be $1000 poorer now than he was before you fixed your car, right?


Essentially, yes.
When costs are known, it's a zero sum game.
What money doesn't accrue to him/them accrues to me.
I get a dealer price of $1200 to change my intake manifold gasket.
However many hours labor at $100 per.
It has to be done, just like BobR's lawn has to be done.
I hire myself to do it, take maybe twice as long, and pocket what I
would have paid the dealer minus my costs.
That income is absolutely missing from his pocket, whether he can
attach that to me or not.
He lost the competition for my dollars.
I can calculate my hourly pay or not.
Bottom line is he lost income, I lost expense.
Earnings = (income - expense)
What's so hard to understand about that?

Wait...maybe you didn't have a specific auto mechanic that you would
have used. So how does it work then? Did 1000 mechanics have their
pocket cash decreased by $1 each? or 500 by $2? or 2000 by 50 cents?
or is there just 1 random auto mechanic out there someplace who is
$1000 poorer? Gosh, I hope not. Doesn't seem fair, does it? I mean,
why *him*?

Just whose pocket(s) are lighter by $1000 now that your car is fixed?

Geez, it's as if you never heard somebody in business say "Things are
slow, ain't making no money."
Anybody who has ever worked in a trade understands this.
They frown on DIYers for more than one reason.
As an aside, just about everybody in my neighborhood uses a
landscaping service. I do that myself.
The service costs about $50 a week, or maybe $1000 per season.
I know that. Everybody else knows that.
When I see the lady across the street mowing her lawn I don't think
it's because she can't afford the service.
It's because she understands that cutting expenses increases earnings.

--Vic