@MFJohnston wrote:
@ColoKate63 wrote:
and know when I’m asking questions who to trust and who is a bootlicker and apologist for the bad MSPs..
I can say, as a mathematician, this is exactly the how bias is introduced. You and I do see a lot of things differently when it comes to how MSC's operate. I believe that I am a lot more patient than you are when dealing with imperfect MSC's, for instance. This does not make either of us "right" or "wrong." We simply have different perspectives. I would also suggest that, looking at nothing more than our styles when writing on this forum, we have different approaches to communication...
Agreed.
1. I use strong language like “bootlicker” to describe some of the behavior I see here. To me, it captures the servile, cringing attitude of some posters when discussing issues like 90+ day pay cycles.
2. After a decade doing this work (beginning when I was a Chemistry teacher) - I’ve been treated VERY well on projects. I have twice been loaned a $135,000 sports car for a five month project, and received payment in advance weekly for said project. I’ve received payment for video shops within 72 hours. On routes, I get expedited payment.
3. There are some ethical, professional MSPs out there, and I’d like to put some evolutionary pressure on the “bad apples” in order to favor the good ones. I won’t cry any tears when a couple of the lousy ones fold.
4. Twice in the last year, I’ve received a “help me!” text from a fellow video shopper who, through bad luck and no fault of their own, needed an emergency cash infusion. Both were on routes for the same company. I sent the money so that they continue their routes, was repaid within 48h, but... this is awful. Literally sleeping in the car because the pay cycles are so long and you’re like a hamster in a wheel, frantically trying to keep your route going?
That’s B.S. - when a route shopper can’t get an advance from ownership and has to reach out to another shopper so they can get a tank of gas, or a cheap hotel room.
5. I’ve accidentally been CC’d several times over the last decade with: (1) my finished, edited product, (2) scoring sheets and spreadsheets with shop results, and (3) fee sheets and invoices showing me what the profit margins are for these MSPs. On average, the MSPs are collecting between 75-85 percent of the fees for work done.
Doing the math, at 85%, that shopper’s work for a $45 retail shop is being billed at $300 by the MSP. I’ve seen the invoices. That’s no B.S.
And the finished product sent to the client did NOT have $255 worth of editing, scoring and value added.
I get mad about these inequalities, and it’s because I’ve seen “the other side” of what GOOD companies do and how they value their ICs.
In my ideal world, there’d be 50-100, not 200, MSPs. All sufficiently capitalized so that they could pay their ICs in 30 days or less. Not everyone who has $15K on a credit card or a daddy to buy them a business should be doing this.
Edited a few times, because I had a lot to get off my chest.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2020 05:37PM by ColoKate63.