Over the years, I’ve come to know myself well. For instance, I am a poor gambler. For that reason, I don’t gamble.

Lee Amaradio, Jr.

Las Vegas has a unique way of separating a man from his money. A person is more likely to throw down a chip than money, so casinos replace your dollars with chips. Once the action starts, it is easy to lose track of the fact that chips represent hard-earned dollars.

Some research certainly shows it is easier for someone to part with a $100 casino chip than a $100 bill. In a similar way, when discussing labor hours or units with insurance adjusters, we allow them to cut .5 here and there without realizing that every .5 the insurance company takes is costing us $20 or more.

Try this the next time someone tries to cut your labor time: For every half hour you give back, take a $20 bill and light it on fire. This is exactly what you are doing, because every half hour you give back is throwing money away.

It is necessary to retrain our brains to think in terms of dollars not hours. Take the average 4.0 hour dent. Using a  body labor rate of $40 per hour, the labor costs $160. When the adjuster comes in and deducts 1.0 hour, he only sees a 3.0 hour dent. Even though you think the repair time has already been undervalued (since it probably takes closer to 5.0 hours to complete the job), 1.0 hours does not equate to the $40 it actually represents and is easier to give away.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but what have you agreed to? First, you agreed with the adjuster that you were overcharging him in the first place. Second, you just reduced all future 4.0 hour dents to only 3.0 hour dents. Third, you affected every other shop he enters and reduces 4.0 hour dents to only 3.0 hrs. And finally, you just gave him 25% off on the labor on top of other discounts you may be already giving.
Looking at this transaction in terms of dollars, $40 was given back without even a second thought. Follow me here – now we are only charging $120 for the damage.

But what kind skilled labor can you really buy nowadays for $120?