2000% profit

--
/

Amatus

/
"The Real Bev" <bashley101+usenet[at]gmail.com> wrote in message
news:gQ0rk.685$4s1.473[at]newsfe06.iad...
- quote -

tenthmed wrote:

- quote -

I'm sorry, was a case in progress?

Hey, I was an English major and I speak 3 languages. You want math, go
elsewhere.

--
Cheers,
Bev
-------------- Linux: The penguin is mightier than the sword

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

tenthmed wrote:

- quote -

He sold for $100 something that cost him $5. 95% of the selling price
was profit. Included, however, was customer service and updates
forever. He even taught some customers how to do assembly language
programming over the phone. As long as they were paying for the phone
call he'd help them solve their problems.

Some USPS office somewhere sent him a multipage form to fill out
explaining how he arrived at his price. He sent them back a letter
saying he surveyed the competition and cut the lowest price in half and
that if that price was too low he'd be happy to charge them whatever
they wanted to pay, just let him know. They placed the order at the
regular price.

--
Cheers,
Bev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't need instructions, I have a hammer."
-- T.W. Wier

What I'm asking is this:

Did your husband charge $105.00 for a piece of software that cost him
$100.00

or

Did your husband charge $195.00 for a piece of software that cost him
$100.00

One is a 5% profit, the other is a 95% profit.

Please explain.

tenthmed wrote:

- quote -

The only costs were postage, diskettes (see, I SAID 'back in the old
days'), envelopes and xeroxing. ~$5 on a $100 product -- or a $150
product or a $400 product.

Oh yeah, we also had to buy invoice books. Very important :-)

--
Cheers, Bev
===============================================
"If God had wanted us to use the metric system,
Jesus would have had 10 apostles."
- Jesse Helms

"The Real Bev" <bashley101+usenet[at]gmail.com> wrote in message
news:53rqk.21068$Bt6.8762[at]newsfe04.iad...
- quote -

Not so. There are doctors (and I imagine dentists) who specialize in
providing paid testimony for lawers.



--
Vaughn

- quote -

your message. Google refuses to control the flood of spam messages originating
in their system, so on any given day I may or may not have Google blocked. Try
a real NNTP server & news reader program and you will never go back. All you
need is access to an NNTP server (AKA "news server") and a news reader program.
You probably already have a news reader program in your computer (Hint: Outlook
Express). Assuming that your Usenet needs are modest, use
http://news.aioe.org/ for free and/or http://www.teranews.com/ for a one-time
$3.95 setup fee.
- quote -

Will poofread for food.

So you are saying your husband had a 95% profit? Not bad.

Steven Bornfeld wrote:

- quote -

The Valenzuela office we used had 2 dentists (Valenzuela and one other),
one accountant-receptionist, and 3 or 4 assistants. If they needed an
endodontist or periodontist, they came in from outside. Root canals
were $140. Porcelain+metal crowns were $200 (other offices quoted $120)
and $280 if a post was required.

The office was small, but clean, air-conditioned and cheerful. The
chairs could have been a lot better, of course; we did a LOT of
sitting. Maybe most people shop...

--
Cheers,
Bev
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Do not try to solve all life's problems at once -- learn to
dread each day as it comes. -- Donald Kaul

tenthmed wrote:

- quote -

FWIW, when my husband sold cross-assembler software by mail-order out of
the house, the profit margin was something like 95% and we were still
undercutting the less-sophisticated and less-useful competition who
actually ADVERTISED.

- quote -

The doc said there were ~150 dentists there, but he didn't know how many
independent businesses there were. There were definitely a lot of
multi-office practices, and many offered both dental and optical
services. A few added in cosmetic surgery of various sorts; the one
doctor we talked to carried out his liposuction procedures in the local
hospital.

The bargains were on Mexican-made (or maybe Chinese-made) stuff --
pharmaceuticals, glasses. Made-in-USA stuff like Pert shampoo and
contact lenses were comparable to USA prices. One of the websites said
that services were cheap because of low salary expectations, low
overhead, low prices on whatever people had to buy, and no malpractice
insurance.

Based on my experience you can't get a doctor to testify against another
doctor unless circumstances are so egregious that complicity might be
suspected -- accordingly, the lack of malpractice insurance is irrelevant.

Maybe it was an act for the tourists, but everybody we talked to was
friendly and not insulted if you didn't want to buy their stuff. As a
long-time yard-sale shopper I'm used to haggling, and neither of us was
offended by the process -- unlike a lot of USAians who seem to be
outraged that their cast-off goods don't command 90% of the original
purchase price.

Everything I observed was certainly as professional as anything I've had
done in the USA, and in some cases moreso -- and I've had a LOT of
dental work done in nearly 6 decades.

Here's a handy list of some of the dental / optical / medical
establishments in Algodones. We used Jose Valenzuela and my
sister-in-law used Connie Ayala.
http://www.losalgodones.com/dental_index.htm

And, for those interested, here's a list of Tijuana plastic surgeons:
http://www.sdro.com/tjplastic_surgeons.htm

It may be noted that an eye surgeon in Bogota pioneered lasik surgery.
Sometimes the first world isn't all it's cracked up to be.

--
Cheers,
Bev
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Do not try to solve all life's problems at once -- learn to
dread each day as it comes. -- Donald Kaul

tenthmed wrote:
- quote -


Seems to me a primarily service-oriented business has to show a greater
relative profit relative to (for example) retailing. A dentist only has
2 hands.

Steve

Not to be totally OT, but does anyone know what the mean % net profit of
the average sole-proprietorship business is? For example, the local
plumber, electrician, restauranteur, IT consultant, lawyer, neighborhood
pharmacy (if there are any left).

I do not mean the net % profit for a corporation, where in the instance
of a dental business it is usually zero, as all the profit is supposed
to be distributed as either income to the dentist or as end of FY
dividends to the dentist. But what is the average % net for the average
sole-proprietorship.

The dental management gurus throw the number out as a 40% goal for the
dental business environment in the USA, but most dentists seem to be
happy with a 30 - 35% figure. Do other business people turn a similar
level of profit?

I was also wondering if the fictitious Dra. Luz Garcia-Ruiz in Matamoros
is netting 40% or is she also living in a squalid state of poverty? What
is the difference in the Cost Of Living, Cost of Labor, and taxation
between Matamoros and Brownsville? I'm sure that she is not giving away
her dentistry and that she does have overhead expenses such as
rent/mortgage, electricity, salaries, supplies, taxes, lab fees, et
cetera. Do Mexican dentists pay the same as US/Canadian dentists for
Cerec machines, digital x-ray systems, operating microscopes,
steri-centers, handpieces, computers, dental units/chairs/lights, and
lasers, or do the corporations like Siemens, GE, Mid-West, and ADEC,
make and sell them for much lower countries like Mexico/Costa
Rica/India/China?

If all these dental practices and pharmacias are privately owned
businesses, then there has to be a profit somewhere. It is not
state-supported/socialized dentistry. Anyone remember seeing 1980's
dentistry from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc nations? Remember
N2, I hear it is still alive and well.

Bottom line: DO IT!

*THE GOOD*

The natives are friendly. Most speak English, and if they don't there's
somebody nearby who does.

The dentists are willing to work for 4 hours or more at a sitting and
will shoot you sufficiently full of lidocaine that you're numb the
entire time AND MORE. I had possibly 9 (I didn't count and don't have a
detailed bill yet) crowns and three fillings. Total chair time 16 hours
spread over 6 days. $2700. Husband has implants, crowns, a root canal,
a bridge and a partial. BIL had crowns, root canals and partials.
Their work required much less chair time than mine. Implant post
insertion and attached teeth still to go in 6 months.

They use bottled water for drinking/dental purposes, but the sinks use
whatever comes out of the tap. Some website said Algodones used Yuma
city water, but the office didn't confirm that.

They had higher-tech equipment (digital x-rays) than the last local
dentist I went to.

If you need a specialist, (s)he will come to YOU, and possibly while you
wait.

Prescription stuff IS cheaper and the big pharmacy is only a few short
blocks from the border. The pet pharmacy is a little further.

August means no crowds. Free parking (when that gets filled up there's
a huge $5/day lot). Short or no pedestrian line to cross the border
back into the US. Don't even think of driving across the border, the
parking probably won't be any closer to where you want to go and you
risk whatever you risk by driving across the border -- not the least
being a LOOOOOOONG wait even in August.

We found an ordinary motel with AC, 2 double beds, TV (HBO too),
microwave, refrigerator and a small pool for $40/night. RegaLodge on
4th Avenue. The Del Sol supermarket is a few blocks away.

I know nothing about silver jewelry prices (they price by weight,
apparently), but the stuff sold by the street vendors is attractive. I
bought a ring for $20.

Lots of opticians too. Even with my nasty prescription, I got my
glasses in an hour. Cheapest: $20 for single-vision or bifocals plus
$10 for tint and $10 for exam. My right lens was better than the one
I'm wearing. The left one wasn't, so the guy made another left one in
my old prescription. An acceptable outcome. If you don't like the
frames this shop has, go to the next. There are hundreds.


*THE BAD*

Had I accepted the offer of a private tour of the Yuma Sewage Treatment
Plant it would have been the highlight of the trip. There is nothing to
do in Yuma that you can't do in the town you left because there was
nothing to do there. Plan on bringing your entertainment with you
unless you're an alcoholic.

Air conditioning is essential. Check out the high and low temperatures
and plan accordingly.

Food quality was not a high priority ("soft" is prime), but avoid the
Jack-in-the-Box breakfast bowl.

If you go in a group, it's probably wise for everybody to go to a
different dentist. There were only a few other patients while we were
there, but the three of us did a lot of waiting while the two dentists
worked on us. I'd recommend bringing some kind of cushion -- my
tailbone is really painful.

I don't know how you choose a dentist. My SIL used one recommended by
someone she knew. I picked ours because they had the most
professional-looking webpage, handled all the procedures we needed, and
responded promptly and in excellent English to my emailed questions.

My tongue is still sore so I can't really tell how the crowns feel, but
they seem a little rough with some unexpected edges. If they don't
disappear with time and usage I'll have the guy smooth them down when we
go back in 6 months.


*THE UGLY*

Yuma. It's not actually ugly, it's just like every other town of
similar size in the US that's REALLY warm.

--
Cheers, Bev
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^
Why should I be tarred with the epithet "loony" merely
because I have a pet halibut? --Monty Python