The bad economy: we hear over and over about the drop in housing costs, loss of jobs, businesses being barely able to hang on and a reduced demand for goods & services.  In such a scenario, you would think that businesses facing hard times would do anything to stay afloat… like bidding at cost to keep employees employed, selling at cost to move merchandise out of warehouses/showrooms, taking smaller jobs, offering better service, etc.

Maybe things are different here (central Texas), but other than a drop in housing costs and more homes on the market, I don’t see any businesses making price concessions or offering more value added services… oh, yeah - lots of talk, but it is biz as usual.  

How about where you live?

I already give my clients the best that my people can do at the best price that we can afford and still make a decent living.

We recently have had a couple of clients want to "re-negotiate" contracts (lower of course...no one wants to renegotiate "up"...) I generally tell them that we are already as low as we can go.

If they don't understand that, I just tell them that I have enough "hobbies" already ("hobby" is anything that you do for fun and don't make any money at...) If I want another hobby, I'll just go shooting more (or retire...)

I'm in Central Texas too.  Our local economy has not suffered as much as some other areas.

Yeah, it SUCKED ASS that my house lost about $20k in value, but I have a good job that is secure and the company is doing well.   I've been able to adjust my budget and cut out some things that I didn't need, like cable TV.