HAVE ROTOTILLER WILL TRAVEL

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Our paper seemed to be rotating the positions of the ads, and mine fell into an unfavorable spot in the order and appeared first on Monday and last on Saturday. Also, the CAPS 1'd requested somehow got left off. I was already getting as many calls as I wanted, though, so I let the message run as it was.

Other advertising possibilities are handbills, notes on supermarket bulletin boards, and a sign on your vehicle. Give the county agricultural agent your name and telephone number and ask greenhouse operators to post your notices. In all your publicity, mention the hours when orders will be taken and be sure that someone will be waiting by the phone during the periods specified.

If a person other than the tiller operator is answering the calls, he or she should note the customer's name, address (with directions, if appropriate), and telephone number. The assistant should then ask some questions: How big is the garden 20' X 30'; 30' X 30', or whatever? Has it been tilled regularly, or is it new? In the latter case, is the ground covered with quack grass or Bermuda grass (both extremely difficult to work)? Is the soil loamy sand, clay, or what? Are there a lot of rocks?

The answers to these questions are the basis for your estimate. In our area the following rates have proven acceptable:

FIRST CATEGORY: established garden plots, under 600 square feet and nearby (within three or four miles), $5.00. The charge can go as high as $10.00 if the trip meant 10 to 12 miles of one-way travel. Sometimes, if I have several jobs in the same area, I'll give all the customers a discount (down to an average of $7.00 each). I even encourage people to ask their friends and neighbors whether they'd like their gardens tilled.

SECOND CATEGORY: over 600 but under 1,000 square feet, a minimum of $10.00. Most gardens of this size tend toward the high end of the square footage limits . - . and when they don't, the owners always want me to enlarge their plots a foot or two on either end. (Oddly enough, people never mention this until you've unloaded your machine and started to work.)

THIRD CATEGORY: 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, $10.00 or $15.00 with the, average $12.00 or 1,500 to 2,500 square feet, $15.00 to $20.00. 1 doubt that you'll get a job larger than that, simply because anyone with a plot bigger than Z500 square feet is a garden freak and probably has his own tractor, tiller or what have you. You'll notice that my charges for previously tilled gardens work out to about $1.00 per hundred square feet, with room to bargain. When the plots run this size, though, it's a good idea to adjust the rates and give the owners a break.

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