PRICING can be a tricky business. In this industry, particularly, it’s vital to get your costings correct on all jobs – and the bigger the order the more important it is. Just how many firms have gone under for getting their sums horribly wrong?
Now I’m no economist but I do question the pricing policies of some highly successful businesses. Most notable of these is that well-established purveyor of all things bun-like – Burger King.

Stick with me on this one. I have learned from experience (believe me, it’s not all editor’s expense-account lunches) that a bacon double cheese burger and chips costs the princely sum of something like £5.38. Strangely, a bacon double cheese burger and chips AND a drink costs £4.99 as part of its ‘meal deal’. Go figure that one!

Now, 39p is neither here nor there as far as I’m concerned but how do you justify giving someone more but actually charging them less? On a similar note I once used to frequent a pub where two halves of Guinness were actually cheaper than a pint. The barman was fully aware of this fact and shrugged his shoulders, blaming accountants at corporate headquarters. It was some months of us going through the charade of ordering two halves of Guinness each but asking the barman to serve them in a pint glass (you have to make your own entertainment around here) before a price increase finally brought a state of parity back to the local Guinness market. I still have this vision, however, of the brewery accountants scratching their heads wondering why one particular pub sold so much of its Guinness in halves

Anyway, back to BK; at one of their motorway service station establishments recently I decided to try and strike a deal with the spotty youth behind the counter. Not being thirsty, I asked him if I could order the ‘meal deal’, ie the burger, chips and drink, but not actually have the drink. He thought about this for a while before agreeing. Or at least I thought he had, because he then continued to stand behind his touch screen till staring at me expectantly.

“You actually want to know what drink I don’t want, don’t you?” Scarily, he nodded to the affirmative.

Rising to the game, I said “Can you give me a couple of minutes, I can’t decide whether I don’t want coffee or whether I don’t want Coke” Now the coffee is pretty vile so I decided not to have that, which seemed to please him greatly.

Anyway when the burger arrived I was standing by the condiments stand looking quizzical.

“Can I help you, sir?,” the youth enquired.

“Yes,” I said, “Perhaps you can help me decide whether or not to have sugar with the coffee I’m not having.”

I left feeling smug that I had done my little bit for a saner society. Now there is very little point to this story (over and above the fact that we might not be as bad at pricing jobs as we thought) except that you would have to question how environmentally friendly such a pricing policy is.

Neil Everitt Editor