@OfCourseItsAnAlter, I think I love you
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I mean, I can ask the feed owner or my lawyer why the prices have increased, and we can hopefully have a discussion about it so I can get a better understanding, and I may not like or agree with the answer. The more knowledge a boarder/consumer has, hopefully that will give them a better understanding of why the increase. âOh, the hay I prefer to have fed to my horse is costing my BO an additional $50 a monthâ. With the end result being that this OP in particular and others can feel OK with the increase. Again, Iâm not against price increases. I just donât agree with the âitâs none of your businessâ saucy attitude. Like, we are all adults, we can have an emotionless discussion. The cause of a lot of pain in the world is when people start making up things in their instead of learning the actual truth of the matter. So letâs not create this weird power dynamic from knowledge hoarding.
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You do realize that the negotiation process doesnât always result in a change of anything, right? It can be a process where more information is shared, or a new deal is struck, or nothing changes. It could go something like: BO has what boarder wants but it costs X, and boarder can no longer afford that, but through an open discussion, boarder learns BO is willing to offset some costs if boarder works at barn. And yeah, I totally feel empowered to ask for prices at medical appointments. I may not like the price, but I can shop around. Either way, no one has to get their panties in a knot over any of this.
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Saucy attitude???
It is none of your business why a barn owner raises the board, full stop. None at all. If you donât like it, or canât afford it, then leave. That, btw, is why board contracts leave both parties a 30 day out
Horse farm owners and workers are not the help. We are service providers. We have to make a living, also, and are entitled to make as good of a living as we can, and do not have to justify raising our rates to anybody. Just like anybody else.
Do you not see how condescending your attitude toward barn owners and trainers is?
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I never said they had to justify anything. If a BO raises their rates and doesnât give an explanation (and usually a simple âdue to increased costsâŠâ would suffice) then they are going to leave people wondering, hence having an open dialogue can help. The OP said she has been taken advantage of before, so for her individual situation I can see why a discussion could help her see that she maybe she isnât being taken advantage of. And yes, saucy attitude. Itâs a money/business discussion, no one needs to get all up in arms over it, however horse owners and BO/trainers are taken advantage of regularly across the industry. Why?
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well how about charging for parking at the barn âŠget some parking meters
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LOL. I mean just wow. Itâs the BO choice if they just want to do board (some will charge an arena fee if boarders bring in an outside trainer which is totally fair), however, they are only going to be able to charge board for what the market allows.
In my area board ranges from $375-600. The lower priced places donât have onsite trainers, itâs just board and they donât have indoor arenas. If they start charging $600, which yes is a common price in my area, they will have a hard time finding boarders as the $600 facilities all have heated wash racks, and an indoor. So yeah they can attempt to charge that for their basic facility, but the market may not allow for it. So, if they are finding they canât break a profit on their $375, they may have to find other revenue streams (build an indoor? Pony camps, do a specialized rehab program). These are just ideas and obviously they donât have to do any of it, but the market will dictate if they can get that $600 or even $450-500.
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In my area, $650 would be a run down, shabby not very nice facility. If you want a clean, safe, well lit, good footing well maintained barn, with heat (necessary in our area) you will pay closer to $800. If you want the same amenities with a good trainer, it will be over $900. If you want a top notch show barn that doesnât have a riding school, so the place is quiet all the time, and the trainer is available to you as needed, plan on spending $1500-2000. None of these rates include training, etc, itâs just what is necessary to keep the facility running at itâs peak level And the boarding is still not making the money people seem to think it is.
Staffing is very expensive, and without a good staff, youâre toast. .Feed, hay, equipment, fuel, taxes, insurance, facility maintenance, mowing blah blah blah. All expensive.
And no, we donât owe anybody an explanation about why we raised the rates.
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Yeah if you travel north about 2 hours from me youâll hit the big city and those barns are in the 800-1500 range. Land, everything is more expensive and the market allows for it. Iâm in a smaller ag town and lots of people have their own land (myself included). I donât technically have to board, I can bring my horse home, but I like having an indoor arena and all the amenities to use at a barn, so I happily pay for it. Look, you can charge whatever you want and deal with people however you want, argue whatever, thatâs up to you lol. But if a long time client asked you, âmay I ask why the board fee is changingâ would you really stomp your feet and proclaim ânone of your business!â LOL yâall are wild!
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I think a lot of what people are really debating is simple politeness:
âIâm sorry, but due to increased costsâhay, fuel, laborâIâm going to have to raise monthly rates this year, starting June 1st. I understand this is a difficult time for all of us, but Iâm afraid this has been long overdue.â
âGoddamn, you %#^%$ers donât know how hard I work. Iâm raising rates on June 1st and youâre all lucky Iâm not raising them more because Iâm barely breaking even. Donât you dare complain, and yes, that means you, the person who texts me after 11pm who owns the cribber who poops in the water bucket every day.â
I mean, both may be true, maybe even the second response is âmore trueâ but itâs just more pleasant to deal with a BO who communicates sending texts/emails like the first rather than the second. (Not that the owner of the cribbing water bucket-pooper shouldnât sit on her hands and not text a word.)
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Question:
If you asked me why I raised the board rate and my answer is because I did a market analysis, found that my prices are lower than other barns with comparable amenities, so I raised my fees even though my expenses did not change one bit. Would that satisfy you?
I donât understand why a rate change has to be attached to an increase in BO expenses. Why canât it be simply because the person running the business deserves a raise?
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Of course you did. You said âI think board increases overall are generally warranted due to increased cost.â The definition of âwarrantâ is âjustify or necessitate.â Thus, you think that increased costs may justify board increases.
What if your BO said, âI want a new truck and I canât afford the payments unless I increase board?â Would you think that board increases are warranted in that case? How about âI want some nicer clothesâ or âI want to take nicer vacations?â Warranted in those cases?
Your initial post was condescending. It read very much like a parent lecturing a child:
âExplore other revenue streamsâ = âIf you want a bigger allowance you need to do more chores.â
âJustify an increase in boardâ = âYes, I will give you $5 if I approve of what you want to spend it on.â
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I agree that the polite approach is always best and I donât think any of us are advocating for your second response. And Iâll bet that 99.9% of BOs raising board this year have said something very much like your first response.
The place where this gets thorny is the idea, repeated by way too many people posting in this discussion, that a board increase must be justified to the boarders, the subtext being âYou have to tell me why youâre raising my board so I can decide if youâve got a good enough reason.â
That is a really offensive notion. You, as a boarder, donât get to decide if my board increase is âjustified.â I can increase board for any reason. If, as in the example @2bayboys gave, I decide to increase board because I found out my prices were below the market average, I can do that and Iâm not required to persuade my boarders that itâs OK for me to do so and get their permission first.
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LOL! Increased cost means increased income for the BO too, doesnât that go without saying? I expect that the barn I board at gives their staff raises, and I expect that comes from increasing the prices of the bevy of services they provide. I get annual raises, why shouldnât the people running the barn?
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I donât think itâs offensive. Thatâs why Iâm confused why any of this needs to be an emotional discussion. âDue to increase costs, board is going up by X effective Xâ. Hey, when itâs annual raise time at work, and Iâm told Iâm not going to get a raise, Iâd expect some kind of communication about it. Most companies will offer some reason, or excuse. If my employer goes the route of âitâs none of your business!â Welp, theyâve made their bed I guess. No one wants to interact with someone being saucy like that.
I think there is also another element at play. Possibly some BO never raised the rate for some long term boarders for many years, and now that everyone is feeling the pinch, theyâve got some folks with one current rate and others at a steep discount comparatively. I think probably across the board rates need to raise annually for everyone to keep up with inflation/raises, etc.
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Yes, I understand what you mean, and thatâs a very fair point. As an editor, I actually have increased my rates at times when I realized I was undercharging (or underestimated the work, not just the hours needed) for a project. Sometimes it is hard as an independent contractor to know whatâs fair to charge, and board prices of competitors can be difficult to figure out sometimes (some barns in my area have rates from 2014 on their webpages, if they have rates posted at all). But I was very polite, and unfortunately when an individual (versus a large, faceless corporation) is setting rates, things can get emotional. So again, itâs best to be nice and polite, if firm, and maybe a little bit opaque about the fact âI need more money, full stop, to make this worthwhile to continue.â
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See, saying we are stomping. our feet is the condescension we are talking about.
Who stomps their feet? We are extremely professional. It is in our rules and board contract that we reserve the right to raise the rates at any given time. We always give 60 days notice of a change of rate, to let people prepare for it. But we dont explain, nor do we apologize for it. And our good customers never complain, they get it.
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When you move in to a boarding barn, do you ask for a breakdown of expenses to justify the price of board? No?
Then why would you expect the same when the price changes?
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I say stomping feet because here you are treating yourself to a tanty over my opinions. Ultimately, why do you care what my stance is? Yâall keep going on about itâs ânobodyâs businessâ, but how is that conversation going to go when someone actually wants to have a mature conversation about it. Will you fancy a foot stomping? I donât know, but yâall are wild here LOL!
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Iâm both heartened and disheartened by this thread.
Full disclosure, Iâm a BO, but I donât offer pasture board so Iâm not the OPâs BO.
Generally speaking, BOs do not raise rates arbitrarily. Every BO that I know, including in the BO Facebook groups, is sick that we are being faced with such increasing prices and worried about having to raise rates for our boarders.
Both my husband and I work 6 figure full-time jobs to be able to afford this place. I just fired my stall cleaner to absorb some of the costs, and so Iâll be doing stalls in the morning before work. I already work 2-3 hours per night after work to feed and make repairs, in addition to all weekends. Weâve had to invest 30k in repairs this year, and the cost of lumber is through the roof just like everything else.
I will have to raise board. For some people it wonât be a big deal. But I know there are people who are struggling with the cost already, and my heart just breaks for them. At the same time, I already subsidize each horse to the tune of $100/mo and I canât keep doing that.
So, while it would be totally reasonable on the one hand to ask about an increase, Iâm not sure boarders understand how close to the edge emotionally most of us are. Especially now. We donât want to close because we know high quality boarding is hard to find. At the same time, Iâm tired.
Best of luck OP.
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