As for raising prices, competitors might have sliding scale pricing for services that are in demand. Look at what FedEx has done with parcel delivery. People are willing to pay more for a service that the USPS didn't offer and now the USPS is trying to recapture that market by offering better service for parcel delivery.
USPS is just one example and perhaps not the best since there is some competition for that service. In other agencies where competition is forbidden or the government artificially lowers pricing by making up the shortfall with tax money, we see more egregious examples of lack of customer service.
For the record, I often tell my clients that there is fast, good and cheap... they can have any TWO, but not all three. That my clients have an entitlement mentality is beside the point. If I serve them better at a cost they are willing to pay, then I make money. If I take a stand on principle, I might lose those clients to someone willing to meet their needs. I, myself, end up in situations, sometimes of my own making, where I demand more from my consultants than I should. That they perform is why I am loyal to them and refuse to shop them based solely on price.
>>For the record, I often tell my clients that there is fast, good and cheap... they can have any TWO, but not all three.
Me too. Usually, they think that I don’t have the right to say that...but I’m sure they tell their customers the same thing. I guess that its just human nature to expect everyone else to work cheap, but value your own labor higher than all other. That’s the entitlement mentality I’m talking about.
Its like the story about the doctor who lives next to an auto mechanic. He expects the mechanic to “help him out” by working on his car for free, but when the mechanic shows up at the doc’s office for a free visit, he gets told that you always have to pay for professional services.