When a job arrives, it has to be un-packaged and logged in. When it goes out, it has to be re-packaged, various shipping and insurance papers have to be filled out, and then there’s a trip to the dreaded Post Office which generally takes about an hour, but is usually split between several jobs being returned at the same time. All in all, it can easily take close to an hours worth of overhead per package. On a complete restoration job, I don’t charge for ‘handling’ or any of the rest of the hidden costs to return a job. However, some customers want to send a very small job, which might take 10 minutes to do, but still takes close to an hour to handle. Job-minimum charges are meant to discourage someone from sending a job to have 3 letters in the address re-cut, or something similar. Obviously, I can’t charge 10 minutes time for a 10 minute job that really takes an hour in total. Effective 5-1-07, my job minimum will be $50 plus return shipping charges. A ‘job’ may not be a single piece. It could be, say, 3 barrels for small amounts of work each. A ‘job’ is actually one incoming package. Let’s say these 3 barrels take 40 minutes total time to complete. That would fall under the minimum charge since the time involved is less than $50 in labor charges. I receive a great many requests to restore the ‘United States Property’ markings on a 1911. At $1.50/letter average that would come to $30. However, since the $30 is less than the minimum, this job would run $50. If the customer wanted the finish touched-up after the lettering was done, it would probably still run $50. These are just some examples of how the minimum might apply. If in doubt, please ask.
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