Re: Gas prices

[Frank Olson <use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark Leuck wrote:

>> Stevens missed the point.  Sure, gas prices are up.  But that's such a
>> small portion of the overall budget of an alarm company as make it
>> trivial.  Suppose the average installer gets only 20 mpg in the
>> company van and the average job is within 20 miles of the office.
>> That means he uses 2 gallons or less per day driving from the office
>> to the jobsite.
>
> Lets see the flaws in the above statement
>
> 1. 20 mpg in a company van, yea sure if your company "van" is a Geo Metro

The specs on the Chevy Astro vans we use list 15 mpg city and 24 mpg
highway.  I figure it's closer to 11 mpg in the city.  In the Vancouver
"district" area, you can drive between 25 and 40 km's between service
calls (that's 15 to 30 miles).  It can take upwards of an hour for a
tech for travel time (more if the traffic is moderate to heavy).


> 2. Lets say the average job IS within 20 miles of the office, you seem
> to assume he's only going to do 1 job per day, I did 4 to 6 and it was
> common to put 150 to 200 miles per day within a 20 to 25 mile circle.


A good technician "on service" will hand in between eight and fourteen
service tickets per day if we're able to coordinate his activities
within a five mile radius (that's on a "good day" for a "good tech").
I've shied away from fuel surcharges on invoices.  I happened to come
across a Chubb service work order the other day.  They're charging $7.50
per trip as a "fuel charge".  That's highway robbery.