Friday, April 19, 2013

When a Service is Really a Disservice

A message from our President


** I have thought of something before that is an honest consideration that I have considered bringing up to potential tarp customers, which is: Do you think there could be a conflict of interest in having the company that sells you new tarps also be the decision maker in deciding when your tarps are "unrepairable"? 
It seems like they would have an incentive to be quick to declare a tarp "unrepairable" so that they could increase the volume of new tarps they sell you.  Think about it...why would somebody repair tarps for free?  Or even at no profit?  Do our customers deliver freight for free? 
Doesn't really make a lot of sense if you think about it.  Unless...perhaps if you could sell the victim a lot more new tarps, now that would make sense to someone who was of such a mind. 
Now this is not to say that they don't repair any tarps, they certainly do.  After all, they have to maintain appearances.  As a degreed accountant who has worked in a professional setting, we would call this a breakdown in controls, a failure in the system and we would feel obliged to point this out to our clients.  This principle is called separation of duties, it basically means you don't give people unfettered access to your wallet. 
I think those same potential customers of ours could ask their accountant about separation of duties and whether or not it's important and he would give them an ear full.  Those same customers might find that if they engaged a company that truly had a financial interest (an incentive) in repairing their tarps or they did it themselves, they may find that the number of new tarps they have to buy goes down significantly and the amount of money they spend on tarps as well.  My Grandparents' generation knew this well...that's why everybody I grew up with knew the saying:  "There's no such thing as a free lunch."  Sometimes I think that a lot of people didn't listen to their Grandparents. **


Even if a company like that just decided to "not put all their eggs in one basket" (again listening to Grandparents), the company doing the repairs for free or for no profit would have a diminished incentive to try to pull one over on them.  Regarding those free repairs, have you ever gotten one of those calls where they say:  You've just been selected to win a free vacation!  Sometimes free gets mighty expensive.
 
 
 
Have a safe driving day,
 
Harp's Tarps
 
 
 
 

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