I went to my native place last weekend. I was waiting for a bus to take me home (I ventured out in the evening to get a glimpse of my regular world, i.e. check my e-mail). I was customer watching or behaviour watching to kill time. I saw an old lady hail an auto rickshaw. The driver asked for Rs. 30 for a distance which should be about 1 km or so. The lady said “I am sure you’ll not be able to pick up any customer till that point, that’s why I hailed you, hoping you’ll charge me something very low”. The driver gave a sarcastic answer and looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and was wondering how shrewd, the old lady should be.
But on something really struck me, I believe the lady was right. The money that the lady was ready to pay is “scrap value of a service”. We all know what a scrap is, i.e. _________________(of course take the liberty to give your own definition).
Why shouldn’t a service have a scrap value? After all a service is the most perishable commodity someone can ever come across. It can’t be stored, it can’t be moved, in some situations it can’t even been seen. Hence I believe service is the most important commodity that should have a scrap value. In this auto rickshaw, example, the scrap value can be the fuel cost, wear & tear and a small profit. If all this put together came up to 7 or 8 rupees and I am sure the lady would have paid the money. If the driver has done that, he would have utilized an irrecoverable resource (time) and made some money. Now if this is not scrap value of service what else would be?
