--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "markmeredith2002" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > When I taught full time I never saw myself as "selling mantras" or > some such thing, but charging for the cost of maintaining a center, > publicity and other expenses, and a maintainance lifestyle for me the > teacher - plus of course giving about 1/2 to the parent corp as a > franchise fee for its role in developing the product and conducting > other support operations - at least that's the business angle on > understanding the course fee for TM. In short you're charging for the > cost of making tm easy and convenient for someone in the US to learn.
Agreed. > I think that was fair when the cost was $75-$175 which it was when I > taught. Now with the fee at $2500 or more, that whole model breaks > down in my mind. I just checked an inflation index from 1968 -- when prices were $75/$35 for adults and students. Prices have increased by a factor of 12.3 times since then. A surprisingly large factor, but then again, adult theatre tickets were around $1, a gal of gas around $.3, a nice middle class home in the SF Bay Area waS $30,000, a large Hersheys chocolate bar with almonds was $.10, etc., an all day ski lift ticket at a premier area was $5 ($75 now), hard bound "best sellers were around $2, a new VW was $1200 or so (I think), etc Thus in "today's dollars", the 1968 equivalent price TM for an adult is about $925. One could argue (not me particularly) that the value of the prodcut has increased due to the availability of adjuct products that are now available to enhance the core porduct: AV, jyotish, yagyas, gems, sidhis, collective consiousness, etc. Thus a price of $1500-2000 would not be unreasonable given the more complete product portfolio available compared to the lone product offering at $925. An extra $500 (25%) ($20 in 1968 terms) is added for "humanitarian projects" not unlike what some firms like Starbucks and Ben and Jerry's do (thought their percentage may be different). Voila $2500 is "reasonable". And not so far off from 1968 prices. And heck, you get a King thrown in for free! (See link. You need to do some multiplication to get the index back 38 years.) http://www.watsonwyatt.com/europe/pubs/longtermstats/render2.asp?ID=14440 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
