Is it wrong to charge wealthy people more for the same service

[drwelfare]

In my job I do a decent amount of work in some nice exclusive areas where houses cost 10-20 times what mine is worth. One customer today just openly admitted that people charge them more because of the neighborhood.

I do not charge more and notice that a lot of the time they are actually really nice to you, on several occasions giving me tips of $50-100.

Is it wrong to charge someone more for the exact same item or service just because they have a huge house and or $100K + car in the driveway?

[Deleted]

if they are getting the exact same service as the guy down the road, then yeah i would say it is wrong to charge them more.

[Schattenlied]

Yes, it is wrong.

[Laize]

In my job I do a decent amount of work in some nice exclusive areas where houses cost 10-20 times what mine is worth. One customer today just openly admitted that people charge them more because of the neighborhood.

I do not charge more and notice that a lot of the time they are actually really nice to you, on several occasions giving me tips of $50-100.

Is it wrong to charge someone more for the exact same item or service just because they have a huge house and or $100K + car in the driveway?

If you can charge more and get away with it, you're damn right you're gonna charge more and get away with it.

[Grakey]

That's the big question in politics right now, believe it or not.

[Slammin Shaman]

Wrong, and illegal.

[Schattenlied]

It's your right to charge anyone whatever you want, but don't be an asshole and charge someone extra just because they are successful. You should be charging everyone the same amount.

[drwelfare]

That's the big question in politics right now, believe it or not.

In some cases I see it as a class warfare argument.
You want to hit someone for 10-20% more than someone 5 miles away.

Some people are aware of this and call for prices giving a vague address or just saying the part of town they live in trying to get a price, then letting you know where they live once they have a price.

I will try to push higher end products more in some of these areas, but charge the same for them.

[DEATHETERNAL]

No. Economic discrimination is not wrong on an individual level by an individual running a business. Your goal is to maximize your profits, and if charging the rich guy twice what you charge the other normal guy increases your profits substantially while maintaining your customer base, then it is the right business decision. Price fixing for the sake of equality (which would be what stopping those guys from charging the rich people more would be) is something Soviets do, not anyone who supports anything close to a free market.

That's the big question in politics right now, believe it or not.

Government taxation policy is an entirely different realm of discussion.

[Laize]

Wrong, and illegal.

Not illegal at all.

if it were, stores in wealthy neighborhoods wouldn't be allowed to charge more than in other neighborhoods. Yet they do.

[slackjawsix]

if im say a repair man in a high scale neighbourhood i would have to raise my rates compared to repairmen down in lower areas cause i gota pay more to live in those places

Did those u asked say they pay more from the say person for the same service?

[drwelfare]

On the other end, what about charging more for work in the "ghetto".

I think my chances of having something stolen if left unattended or being robbed is much greater than it would be in a gated community.

[Kasierith]

No, it isn't wrong... it isn't immoral to put your price at the highest point where someone is willing to pay in exchange for your services. It's business. If the person who is charged more find out and has a problem with it, than he's free to refuse said services and look for another person.

[drwelfare]

if im say a repair man in a high scale neighbourhood i would have to raise my rates compared to repairmen down in lower areas cause i gota pay more to live in those places

Did those u asked say they pay more from the say person for the same service?

A decent amount of them expect that people will try to charge them more or take advantage, some contractors openly admit to other contractors that they charge that area more.

I am not talking more expensive cities, I mean different parts of town these $1,2,3million+ houses are a 10-15 minute trip from the $100-150k simple houses.

[Grakey]

Government taxation policy is an entirely different realm of discussion.

How so? Are taxes not paid in order to provide the government with the ability to provide a service to people? Its fairly obvious that the more wealthy are paying more for the same service, if you chose to look at it that way.

[DEATHETERNAL]

On the other end, what about charging more for work in the "ghetto".

I think my chances of having something stolen if left unattended or being robbed is much greater than it would be in a gated community.

Also not wrong. If doing business in an area entails meaningfully more risk for you, then you should of course charge more to work in that area.

How so? Are taxes not paid in order to provide the government with the ability to provide a service to people? Its fairly obvious that the more wealthy are paying more for the same service, if you chose to look at it that way.

Government taxation is not something you can opt out of and not something that you will necessarily directly receive a benefit from with an increase making it entirely different than a private consensual business transaction. I'm a flat tax person myself, but regardless, you cannot discuss an individual business charging different people different prices for the same thing and differing government taxation on different individuals as if they are the even in the same ballpark. They just aren't.

[Arkenaw]

Maybe it is wrong, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it if you can get away with it and it's not illegal

[vindicatorx]

I would say yes it is morally wrong but how many of those guys got their by charging more than they should have for whatever they are selling.

[someotherguy]

Don't you have a higher chance of breaking something expensive in there? therefore you need to account for the cost to replace those items.
BTW as a business person, you're supposed to charge based on how much you can get from this person, not how much you can get from the person down the road.

As someone else pointed out, it is also perfectly valid to charge more for working in "ghetto".

[mistuhbull]

How so? Are taxes not paid in order to provide the government with the ability to provide a service to people? Its fairly obvious that the more wealthy are paying more for the same service, if you chose to look at it that way.

everyone is taxed the same on the same amounts of money though.