There's a lot of great points in this thread! Yes, as one poster pointed out, there are multiple factors that go into the fee for a shop. I certainly understand that, but am really focusing on just the one aspect of the fee to report relationship. Simply put, a low priced shop should have an easy report and a higher priced shop would have an expectation of a more demanding report.
The $8 bank shop with three minute shop and super easy report is an example of what an $8 job should be. Why do some MSC think they can offer an $8 for an hour plus on-site and ridiculously long, narrative filed report? The fee isn't commensurate with the effort.
I guess the real answer is that since we work with some many different MSC over the course of the year, what one company feels is reasonable varies greatly from the next company.
I also only take one or two new (to me) shops initially so I can see what the shop/report is like and then either add it to my 'like' list, or 'only with higher bonus list', or maybe the 'never again' list LOL.
I continue to be amazed that some of the low fee / difficult reports get picked up at the base rate. Maybe if they sat on the job board untouched, the MSC would get the hint and raise the pay.
"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."