I suppose you could always bury your trip charge in your labor rates, thus offering "free tripping". 
Brewman
Well- some I could, some I couldnt- My customers are largely referal based and this can create problem if they ever got together and started comparing notes.
We thought we needed it in the early days, but in reality looking at the balance sheet at the end of the year it was not $10K Plus dollars. So for what a pain in the @$$ it was to explain it to customers it wasn't worth it.
Wasnt worth it?
My service truck has about 252,000 miles on the clock, and I put between 1,100 and 2,400 miles on it a month depending on the time of year. I have it serviced every 3,000 miles, and feed it more than a hundred gallons of fuel a month at more than $2.00 a gallon. (current local price is $2.09-was as high as $2.49 here.)
Looking at conservative numbers-
1200 gallons of gasoline @ $2.10 = $2520.00
Oil and filter change service 6X $26.99= $161.94
Just between these two expenses I'd be forking out over $2600.00.
This is not to mention the transmission service, the windshield that had to be replaced, the converter replaced to make my trailer tail lights work, the replaced fuel fill pipe, the replaced water pump, the replaced serpentine belt, the brakes that had to be serivced, and the four tires that I put on this year. I havent run the numbers on all of the goodies put into the truck, but Im guesstimating that it cost me another $3,000.00 to keep me on the road.
Another $1,000.00 for insurance.
What about drive time? My service rate is currently $55.00 an hour- If I werent driving an hour to get to a customer, I'd be making that actually working on someone else's spa--- not driving to one to fix. And theres the drive back. On a service call that is an hour drive away- Im losing revenue by sitting in the truck to the tune of $110.00 and burning more than $15.00 in fuel by not charging mileage or a trip charge. $125.00 not that big of deal? Multiply that by 4 or 5 times a month, and that works up to more than $6000.00 in added expenses and lost revenue.
Let me throw you all a curve.
Everyone is getting charged for added mileage or trips reguardless of what is being said here. [/b]You cant conduct business for long by running into the red, where your expenses siphon off your income with any regularity-- If a service provider says they arent charging for the trip they must be burying the charges in their labor rate as Brewman suggested, or they have difficulty paying their bills, unable to make ends meet, and working hand to mouth.
This is a for profit business. Im not in this to donate my time and my resources without recieving a net return-- and there are times when I do make such donations.. but its toward fostering referals. I will make no apologies for this and to this end, Im up front about what I charge my customers.
