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Input needed…..

MSLiechty | Posted in Business on May 5, 2009 08:06am

I have an opportunity to make a small part for my employer than we use a lot of. They get to save some $ and I get to make some $.

Would I be better off doing it all myself buying the material and paying my quarterly taxes or having them buy the material, and just paying me a lump sum to produce a number of them, and just take teh taxes out about with my regular payroll.

ML

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  1. peteshlagor | May 05, 2009 08:11pm | #1

    You'll have more incentive to continue to lower the cost and increase your profit if you do it all yourself - IF you can.

     

    1. MSLiechty | May 05, 2009 08:23pm | #2

      Thanks Pete, since the piece is so small not sure if I can make them any cheaper, only faster increasing my hrly rate. At least i wouldn't have to worry about the taxes. My take would be $.15/ each on $.10/ piece of aluminum that I bend and punch 2 holes in. We use about 25K pieces/ year.ML

      1. User avater
        Mongo | May 05, 2009 08:56pm | #3

        I recommend you control the process yourself.You never know where this may lead. You might end up creating a jig or bending/punching machine that cuts your labor to a fraction of what it is today.You could end up fabricating the same pieces for others. Or expanding your offerings by fabricating similar pieces. Who knows.Slight tangent...years ago my aunt worked for a wire staple manufacturer in Mass, the staples used for fastening romex and other electrical cables to framing. They had machinery that installed the plastic liner on the smaller staples, but installing it on the larger staples was done by hand. They paid piecework.When we invited my aunt to visit us at the beach in Maine, she brought several drywall buckets of metal and plastic and spent her evenings piecing them together. My kids helped, back then they were 4th and 6th graders.To make a short story long, she gave my kids a few drywall buckets of material to take home with them. My kids ended up brainstorming and came up with ideas. Some were silly, some had merit. We refined them, built prototypes, and came up with a gadget that worked. My kids were stonewalled at first by the company, so they cranked out pieces faster than the company could sell them. THAT got the company interested, we ended up selling the idea for a nice chunk of change.

        1. MSLiechty | May 05, 2009 09:06pm | #4

          Good point I didn't think of offering it to other contractors. Would be hard to pull that off if my employer controlled all the material.ML

        2. joeh | May 05, 2009 09:08pm | #5

          Put your poor old auntie out of a job huh?

          Probably ended up living under a bridge eating dog food.............

          Joe H

          1. User avater
            Mongo | May 05, 2009 10:23pm | #8

            No, that piece work wasn't her job. She's still working there as their office secretary. The owners sort of guilted her into doing the piecework on the side because they could never get anyone to do it for what they were paying. It was pretty tough on the hands.Heck, she got a labor free garage-to-apartment conversion out of me several years ago and every year she gets a week at my beach house in Maine.She ain't complaining.

          2. User avater
            JeffBuck | May 06, 2009 12:43am | #9

            She ain't complaining

             

            well no ...

            not since the kids stapled her mouth shut.

             

            Jeff    Buck Construction

             Artistry In Carpentry

                 Pittsburgh Pa

          3. User avater
            Mongo | May 06, 2009 04:25am | #11

            Sort of like braces, she'll have a nice smile when all is said and done.

      2. User avater
        PeteDraganic | May 06, 2009 03:39am | #10

        is that for a 5 or 15 cent profit per piece?

        <!----><!----><!----> 

        I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish.        Pete Draganic

         

        Take life as a test and shoot for a better score each day.          Matt Garcia

        1. MSLiechty | May 06, 2009 05:52pm | #12

          ran a bunch last night. 300 pieces/ hr complete is not real hard. ML

  2. MikeHennessy | May 05, 2009 09:10pm | #6

    Based on your later post, it sounds like you'll be bringing in around $4K extra. I'd just have them pay you directly, but increase your withholding a bit so you keep up with the extra tax obligation and don't have to make quarterly estimated payments.

    Mike Hennessy
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Everything fits, until you put glue on it.

  3. joeh | May 05, 2009 09:13pm | #7

    Sounds like an opportunity to start a business that could grow into something.

    If you control it, it's yours.

    Any tools or supplies are write offs, if you make enough of them all those holes you punch will fill barrels of valuable scrap aluminum.

    If you can do it in your garage you may be able to skip all the licenses that the State County & City want you to buy.

    I'd not tell the neighbors you've opened a manufacturing facility in the hood.

    Joe H

    What's that saying, something bout from a tiny acorn a mighty Oak ?

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