Read this link

I did a combo of raise and cost of living increase in 2011. Don't plan one for 2012, however.

Excellent link!!! And, great idea.

I'd be interested to see how this unfolds. On one hand it would possibly reduce your student base if they thought you were already pretty pricey; on the other hand it would show you how many students are committed to you the individual as opposed to the mere idea of taking piano lessons from the most affordable person.

This also leads to another interesting question. What's the ideal wage for a piano teacher? Ideal meaning maximum total monthly take home before a higher hrly price reduces your student base enough to reduce your monthly pay more than it was the month before.

Also, do you base your rate increase off of what others around you are charging through formal/informal teacher collusions?

How do you handle the family that really wants to learn but can't afford the rate increase?

We put our prices up every January - in fact, it specifically states that this will happen in our terms and cons, now. This way, we can keep the increments relatively small, and we don't have to formally announce every rise as it happens - we simply hand the invoice out at the end of December with the new prices.

This year, the price increase for *individual lessons went up by approximately 5% - not a single eyebrow raised in response.

*Paired lessons remained at the same price, as they have done for the last few years, as we wanted to bring them into line with the recommended 2/3 of individual price - when we first opened, we kept the exact same price structure as the music school we'd just left. From next year, they will be subject to the same percentage increase as individual lessons.

I'm surprised that there are not more positive comments. Raising prices of course, 'might' lose some clients but, how good we are, at what we do, clenches sales and retains clients too.

Well after three years in a row of 5% increases, my eyebrows are raised. My income has taken a 15% hit over the last four years. My finances are already being strained, and the latest increase has me thinking. I might have to cut back on the length of my lesson.

And the mystery guest has signed in. This response is more of what I would expect from the person who pays the bills these days.


I guess it depends on whether you teach in a wealthy neighborhood or an area where income is closer to the average household income and whose breadwinners are struggling with unemployment potential and mortgage payments.

There are too many dynamics at play to simply suggest that giving your self a raise is a good idea for everyone. And even though you may feel good about the idea, I would just say look before you leap.

I raise my rates every August. It helps weed out those students who are in just for an "activity" and doesn't affect the more serious students.

While I don't mind the idea of weeding out students who are lackluster about the piano if thats your preference, I am a little concenred that you seem to equate wealth and means of payment as a sign of committment.

I live in Rexburg, ID and the culture here is for parents to enroll every child in piano lessons for as cheap as possible. Even the more established teachers don't charge much which makes it difficult to raise prices. Is it like that in every college town?

Thanks for your concern, D4v3. It's a fact of life that when people pay a little more for something, they take it more seriously. And I have a couple of serious students on scholarship too.

The nice thing about owning your own business is that you can chose what kind of work to do. It's more enjoyable for me to work with students who practice and enjoy music than those who do not. (They don't have to be especially talented.) So that's what I do!

I'm in a college town too, but I still get plenty of requests.

it is a theory rather than a fact of life. It holds true in societies where there is affluence, where people pursue affluence and measure their worth by their ability to spend and the cost of things. It starts swinging the other way when people have very little. So much suffering and hardship is involved in trying to get together the money for expensive things, possibly depriving family members of real needs, that high price becomes a definite deterrant.

Someone who has yearned for private teaching and has not been able to get it in anything - let alone what your affluent students get, for whom piano lessons are one thing among many - will appreciate and do his best because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

This is not the same thing as coming into a poor community as an act of charity and throwing music lessons at anyone just because he's poor. obviously appreciation will be hit and miss, with mostly misses.

Stanny, it is good to hear about the scholarships.

Yeah, you are probably right. I should have said "a fact of MY life." I've been lucky to have been born and raised in a town which is fairly recession-proof, so my view of the world is likely skewed. But I still have a couple of students who would not be able to study music if not given some help along the way.

I don't think my students are affluent. Some have lost jobs, gone from two paychecks in the family to one, but definitely not poor. Just very middle class. But it doesn't mean I have to charge less just to help everyone else.

Stanny, you should charge what you are worth. It is only the statement about dedication linked to money that bothers me every time it comes up. It is often true, but not always.

I understand that price rises will inevitably lead to the occasional situation such as yours. However, this isn't really what I implied by saying there were no raised eyebrows - it could well be that some of my students are starting to find it tougher to afford the lessons, too. What I meant was, that by keeping them regular and incremental, our price rises are rarely seen as being unreasonable.

Even after this latest rise, our pricing structure is very competitive in our area.

When it’s time to raise rates, many freelancers worry about hurting their long-time, loyal clients. After all, you may have developed personal relationships over the years. However, it’s critical to remove any emotion from the equation. Increasing your rates shouldn’t offend anyone — it is a pure business necessity. Even Social Security will receive a 3.6% cost of living increase for 2012.

I have raised my prices as the years have gone by, but I don't do it every year. I usually put together a formal letter and send it out a few months in advance of the increase. It is always much easier to raise my rates with new students, but I haven't lost any current students due to increased rates.

I did have one instance where a students parent thought I was doing such a good job and actually gave me a raise! This was when I first started teaching and hasn't happened since, but it was such an encouragement!

I hear what you are saying about "removing emotion from the equation" and that it shouldn't offend people as it is purely a business situation. Try to understand though that the same emotions some teachers get when a student/parent tells them they are leaving for another teacher, may be similar to how a student feels when they discover they can no longer afford to take lessons.

I would also say to expect the parent/person paying to question the merits of the raise against the progress of their child/selves. If I were taking lessons and something more than base inflation was put on me and the teacher was not doing anything more now than they had when we first started then I'm starting to look at the graduate student listings. Now, to me it would be cold of me to do this if I could afford the increase and knew the teacher as a friend and they needed the money, but as you say, I guess it's business and I should only care about my interests and remove emotion from the equation.

So, if a piano teacher is charging I don't know, I'll pick a figure $40 an hour and they raise their rates by 6 % they don't deserve that $2.40 increase but, the rest of the world gets their raises. Fair is fair for everyone.

1. Not everyone in the US gets raises or cost of living increases, infact very few do. Hence the current Occupy Wallstreet movements.

2. Be sensative to the fact that the average hourly wage of Americans is $23.
Average Hourly Wage in US

So as a consumer who makes $17 less than your $40 and who may not get raises, then yes, that 6% raise for an expensive luxury service, non necessity, can be a hard sell for you.

Fact number 1: UPS raising rates in 2012, most by 4.9 percent or more......

By Lynn Adler

Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:39pm EST

(Reuters) - United Parcel Service (UPS.N), the world's largest package delivery company, announced higher rates for most shipping services for 2012.

2: SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - One month ago, thousands of families in Western Massachusetts were still in the dark after the October snowstorm. Next year, WMECO customers will be paying more for their electric bills.

WMECO customers can expect their bills to be about five percent more in 2012. For every $100 you pay, you can add five dollars on that to. If you're electric bill is around $300 a month, you'll be paying around $15 more.

3. The Public Service Commission Thursday approved new electricity and natural gas rates for Madison Gas & Electric Company, which will take effect on January 1, 2012.

It's a 4.1 percent rate increase for electricity and 0.3 percent hike for natural gas. The average residential household will pay an estimated $3.30 more for electricity and $2.26 more for natural gas each month

4. The cold, hard facts
Shipping giant FedEx (NYSE: FDX ) has announced on its website that it will raise some of its shipping rates in 2012. Among the rate hikes to take effect on Jan. 2, 2012, are a 5.9% average hike on FedEx Express package and freight rates and a 5.9% average increase on FedEx Ground and Home Delivery services.

5. Florida wants an extra quarter from drivers on toll roads next year, including at the pay plazas on the Veterans Expressway and the Suncoast Parkway.

6. The USPS® has announced that it will raise shipping rates by approximately 4.6%, effective January 22nd, 2012. The increase comes amidst a chaotic financial outlook for the USPS®. Having recently faced significant plant consolidations, financial losses in the millions, and increased competition, they have strategically responded to these threats by raising their shipping rates.

It's a fact of life. Price increases. None of us can afford to just keep our rates low or keep them below the cost of living. Business just does not work that way unfortunately. I'll re-post this in my other thread as well. Nobody likes it. But, is, the way it is. Eat the cost of doing business? We can only do that for so long. Many of us have already done that for to long now.

The average hourly wage has nothing to do with us. A good number of workers in the US don't have a college degree, or multiple degrees as many piano teachers have.

I think you should raise your rates to the level the market will bear. If you have a waiting list, then you are probably not charging enough.

I think the logic should be reversed, what good did getting those multiple degrees do you when you feel comfortable charging twice as much, plus additional raises, as what the vast majority earn to pay for a service that is a luxury not a necessity.

/ps I'm sorry you see a degree as a form of entitlement.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/ahetpi/10

Feb., 2009: Most workers saw their purchasing power increase in February, according to a report Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This one climbed too. http://fxtrade.oanda.com/analysis/econom...hourly-earnings

Piano teachers deserve a raise as much as anyone else does.

Real average weekly and hourly earnings increased 3.6 percent last month compared with a year ago. Real average earnings are a measure of the purchasing power of a worker’s earnings when adjusted for inflation.

I don't see free health care as a form of entitlement either. Piano teachers work hard for their degree and if you don't have one, you should not be paid as much then either in my not so humble opinion.

I think this is where your argument hits a brick wall. The rest of the world is not getting their raises.

D4v3: So everyone from physicians on down should all earn the same amount of money?

Although my political leanings are to the left, I'm not going to charge what the average American earns. I would be the lowest paid teacher in my city, which would not do any of the teachers any good.

By the way, I did not write the articles I quoted. I do agree with them however. Read the stats. They most certainly are getting raises. My health insurance rates went up last May 2nd by 53 %. On average, they have increased 20 to 35 % per year for the past 38 years. How am I to pay for these increases if I cannot raise my own rates too?

Stamps are going up once again. Postal workers got an increase. Ford and GM got one too. A LOT more than they should have gotten plus bonuses. Most anything that has a union, gets a price increase at some time or another and so does everyone else.

Ditto.

Not sure where you think the rest of the world gets their raises. I have had over a 45% pay cut in the last 5 years. I know some people who have had a 100% pay cut.

I am not saying that piano teachers or technicians should not raise prices, but not based on the above logic.

Remember what happened to NetFlix?

Jonathan