To think that beauticians & hairdressers shouldn’t be hiking prices?

[Anon778833]

I’m a therapist myself. But we have all felt the pinch of covid 19. Why should clients be expected to make up for the fact that we couldn’t work for 4 months?

PPE and cleaning time - suck it up

Most of them are upping prices because they’re having to provide PPE so more costs and because the restrictions mean they can’t take as many clients in a day, so less turnover.

What do you expect them to do?

You should clean thoroughly after clients anyway. That shouldn’t be new. My own therapist hasn’t increased her prices. I think if hairdressers add on an extra £40 people will simply go to someone who doesn’t.

My nail tech has added costs and i thoight she was reasonable anyway and i can see its for PPE and additional kit she has needed to get to comply

If anyone didnt like the price increase there are others they could go to noone will force clients to pay

I agree but apparently a lot are not being upfront at the time of booking.

If we don't put the prices up soon in our hair salon we will probably not survive the year as a business. Covid has left us in debt and our income is now less than pre-Covid due to the extra PPE costs, the gaps between appointments for cleaning etc. And all the team are working longer hours to try and make ends meet but it's tough. We have been casually asking our clients over the last 10 days about our ideas for price rises, to gauge the climate, and all said they understand if we have to put the prices up.

I’m happy to contribute to the actual cost of PPE. My dental hygienist has restricted the appointment to 30 minutes (this may be mandatory) and increased the price from £55 to £67. Also it must all be done by hand so both slower and probably less effective. I’m not very happy with this but what to do?

My barber has added the cost of PPE, they have also slightly increased their price to cover the period between clients to clean.

Yes they should clean between clients and they do. But any hairdresser or barber saying before covid that they used an anti-viral cleaner on everything, allowed it to dry for five minutes then did the same again, put on a new apron and disinfected all tools including hairdriers etc is a liar. So of course cleaning will take longer.

I was so grateful to get my hair cut and coloured that I offered to pay double!!!

My hairdresser wouldn't take it but is adding on about 10% to cover PPE, hand sanitizer, cleaning costs and solo appointments.

I think that's very reasonable.

If they need to add on costs which reasonably reflect the extra expenses then that is fair enough.

What is not fair enough is putting up prices unreasonably to help cover the costs of when they could not work.

As PPS say, fewer clients in at a time with distancing, PPE, and extra cleaning - it makes sense to me.

The physiotherapy clinic that I attend is needing to clean down a lot of surfaces between clients because it's the changing area, the consultation room and the rooms with gym facilities. Wall bars, the mats, the weights, the resistance bands, the chairs - it's a lot. They didn't previously need a cleaner during clinic hours and now they do - that money has to come from somewhere.

@itsmesoitis would you be able to afford that every time though?

@SugarbabyMilly

If they need to add on costs which reasonably reflect the extra expenses then that is fair enough.

What is not fair enough is putting up prices unreasonably to help cover the costs of when they could not work.

I agree with you OP. I think a lot of these price rises will be permanent too.

I don’t mind paying a little bit extra to cover extra costs. However, £40 would make it unaffordable to me so I would have to swerve that.

Yes @Haretodaygonetomorrow - prices never go down. And they won’t go down if they stop having to use PPE.

Would you rather they put their prices up or not exist, as that will be the harsh reality for some businesses?

YABU. Most will probably still see a drop in income due to being forced to be closed, extra costs, reduced capacity etc.

If the increased price becomes unaffordable, you can always find somewhere cheaper or have a style that allows you to go less often. Use a box dye instead of salon colour if you have your hair coloured.

And apart from a basic haircut to keep yourself tidy, it's all an optional luxury anyway. No-one forces anyone to have appointments with therapists and beauticians.

I can do my own treatments (not hair though!) so I’m ok really. But I think it’s going to be hard for businesses to stay open if they make loyal clients feel that they are being ripped off.

Don't forget that the cost of PPE has at least trebled - OH is a dentist and the masks they usually use have quadrupled in price. Now add on the additional PPE such as gowns (£25 each instead of £10) Add in the extra cleaning reducing the turn around time between patients and then the 'fogging' of the surgery three times a day! His prices have gone up.

My usual hairdressers sent out an email to explain that they'd had to put up their prices to cover:

• specialist cleaning products
• less clients during the day
• extended lighting / hours costs as they've opened longer to have more clients

I don't mind paying it - their ability to have clients has diminished massively as instead of 15 clients, they can now only have 6. I'd rather they were upfront and honest about the issues so that they can stay in business. Seems a bit mean to know all of these issues and still demand that all price rises are absorbed by an already struggling business.

Oh - and they need to pay for PPE. YBMU.

I can't cut my own hair. My hairdresser probably furloughed her staff but, as a business wouldn't be able to claim anything as her profits would presumably exceed £50k. If it was a choice between her hiking prices or me having to choose a different hairdresser, I would gladly pay much more.

What is not fair enough is putting up prices unreasonably to help cover the costs of when they could not work.

I assume you're not self employed then. If you could increase your prices by 5% to help boost your yearly profit, you would. Bills and business expenses still needed to be paid. Loads of sole traders couldn't access any help.

They are only trying to recoup their losses , I would have no complaints if I had to pay a bit more , knowing the reason behind it