Pricing Help Please

[piperc744]

Hi guys,
not sure if I should be posting this here or not, but really need some quick advice. Im meeting with a client to bid a job in about 2 hours, and he asked me on the phone this morning if I could help him pick up a couple pallets in my truck and bring them back, the trip is about a 100 miles away and he said he would compensate for gas, I told him i would get back to him on pricing when we meet in a couple hours, how should i price this service as ive never done this before?

thanks.

[56FordGuy]

How bad do you want that potential client to be a client?

If you're going there anyway, and taking the truck anyway, be his buddy and throw the pallets in the truck.

[Lt CHEG]

It depends on the relationship with the client. If you have a previous relationship, in other words he's paid for your services in the past, then I would just move the pallets for free if you are going to have to go there anyway. If this is a new client I would divide the number of miles round trip by the average hand calculated city fuel economy that your truck gets. I'd tell him that the price for fuel will be the price for fuel at your normal station for however many gallons you've calculated that you'll need BUT if he chooses to hire you for whatever service you're offering then you will put the fuel costs towards the cost of the work that he is considering hiring you to perform.