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?

Are they? If so I'll probably stick with colouring my own and going for a cut 3 times a year.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

that’s one of the reasons I couldn’t run a business. I’d feel terrible about putting prices up

It honestly doesn't have to be difficult, Sugarbaby; there are many challenges to running a business but IME this isn't one of them as long as you have a good business model, a decent reputation and remember the value of clarity and communication

Oh, and as long as you're reasonable of course

And that a global pandemic doesn’t come along, blowing all of your careful planning out of the water. You haven’t said how much you pay for your haircuts?

Dunno, during lockdown I’ve been startled to discover that my hair looks better when I cut it than when the hairdresser does (it’s curly and layered so easy to cut). I don’t plan to go back to the hairdressers anytime soon!

You haven’t said how much you pay for your haircuts?

No, and I don't intend to

I don't engage with people who suggest I'm a liar so this will be my last response to you

Mines stayed same price. She had these cheap masks for sale for £1 each that was only difference.

I don’t understand... are you saying a hair cut now costs double what it did before covid

It could well cost double. Due to needing to space the chairs further apart and do more cleaning between clients, their revenue will be reduced.

They still have the same rent and rates and still need to cover the cost of staff wages, utilities, products, laundry, disposable PPE etc plus hopefully a profit on top so the salon owner actually makes a wage, so the £X per day that they need to bring in has increased, while the number of clients, Y will have gone down.

A shift upwards in X at the same time as a shift downwards in Y could well lead to X/Y, ie the price per client for a profitable salon, doubling.

Ultimately the customer decides what something is worth, if it's too expensive it won't sell. That might be because people go elsewhere, decide they can manage without or simply are unable to pay it.

I think in this initial flush, people will pay what is asked, especially as they have saved during lockdown and have some sympathy with the businesses but most won't be able to continue with such high prices if they want to stay in business.

Whether they can justify the price or not doesn't matter if people are unwilling or unable to pay it and many of their customers will also be facing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic.

To find an extra £3.50 added to your bill for PPE, even if you have paid for and are wearing your own, is a bit of a nerve. I’m paying for mine and paying for theirs.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

My mum had hers done this week (cut & colour) it’s gone from £105 to £140 and then they charged her an extra £35 for the PPE

Out of interest, what kind of PPE were they using? Mine has a reusable face visor, solution and wipes to clean all used surfaces and further solution to sterilise equipment

Even if they have fewer clients I wouldn't have thought that averaged out at £35 each, especially when they'd already put another £35 on the styling price

Apparently the hairdresser had visor, disposable apron & disposable paper mask, my mum took her own mask. I can’t imagine it cost £35 (in top of the £35 price rise) Short sighted really - my mum is high maintenance - hair washed & dried at hairdressers at least twice a week (usually 3 times) cut & coloured to a religious schedule. She was happy to pay the price increase, not prepared to swallow an extra £35 every time she goes! Pre lockdown she was thinking of changing hairdresser but probably wouldn’t have bothered - this has made her mind up

Yes - my hairdresser was in reusable PPE and
told customers they didn't have to wear any as the hairdresser was wearing it. They still added £3.50 to the bill of all customers despite them not using any!
I had invested in a good quality mask and had gloves - still had to pay.

I don't know what my hairdresser charged pre-lockdown because it was a different stylist, mine is on maternity leave. So they may have increased their prices but they only added on £1 for a disposable mask. It was about £5 more expensive but I often had some sort of discount before through a loyalty scheme.

I had a normal gown, they had visor and washable mask on.

£35 surcharge is ludicrous.

Wasn't the £10k grant given to small businesses to tide them over the past few months? As such why are they trying to gain lost money from that period in their prices?
Having owned tattoo studios most of my adult life I can assure you that disinfectants and ppe (masks, gloves, arm covers) costs pennies per customers.

Wasn't the £10k grant given to small businesses to tide them over the past few months? As such why are they trying to gain lost money from that period in their prices?
Our business got a 10k grant . Most went to our LL on rent . Take out phone/broadband bills, insurance, and other fixed costs and theres not a lot left to make up for 3 -4 months lost income.

Any money 'given' to businesses either will be taxed or loans to be paid back.

A 'reasonable' increase is fine. More than 10% is mickey-taking

Wasn't the £10k grant given to small businesses to tide them over the past few months? As such why are they trying to gain lost money from that period in their prices?

Only small businesses directly registered for business rates qualified for that. Lots of hairdressers etc are "rent a chair" or in shared premises, so wouldn't have been eligible. It was usually the principal/landlord who got the business rates bill and therefore who got the grant.

Those without a business rate bill in their name are some of the circa 4 MILLION self employed/small business owners who havn't received any grants.

But even if they received the grant, it was to pay for rent, power, security, insurance, and other overheads connected with having business premises - all the kind of costs that continued to need paying whether open or not. It was certainly not £10k into the pocket of the business owner as a "wage". And as others have said, it was also liable for tax and NIC, so HMRC will get back 29% of it!