Giving Credit, Where Due --Dickeson

Think about this for a moment. We've spent all that money for a computerized estimating system to give us a target selling price and then we turn around and effectively give 36 percent to 73 percent of that price back to the customer by a quick-pay discount.

We buy new equipment because it promises to give us a payback in three years—33 percent annually. Who are we kidding? We harangue production for a 5 percent increase in efficiency. We holler if makeready waste increases by a few points. We're puzzled by the wide variance in job costs and general ledger profits. If every customer took advantage of that discount all year long we'd wind up in deep hot slop, wouldn't we?