In Israel, I often get around by taxi, if a bus isn’t convenient. Many fear the public transportation system, because of past history of bus bombings, and avoid it altogether.
You have two choices when you climb in an Israeli taxi. You can have them use the meter, or you can negotiate a price. Negotiate a price for a cab ride? There is no such thing as a set price in Israel, or the ME in general. I’ve haggled with merchants for everything, including a loaf of bread.
If you do the standard method and use the meter, the time and distance traveled is how they get paid. What’s the incentive to them to get it done as fast as possible? So sometimes (I’ve personally experience this multiple times) where they’ll take longer routes, get stuck in traffic, and generally take a long while, because it’s in their best interest to run up the meter. Sure you could try and give them specific directions, but that requires more involvement on your part.
But if you agree on a price in the beginning, it’s very different. They know what they are being paid, and they want you at your destination as fast as possible, mainly so they can get to the next client and make more money. You get there faster. It’s a win-win situation.
“Work” in general feels the same way for me. Whenever I’ve done development work, I always aim for a flat price. It helps specify, when possible, the exact deliverables, and the client will know that it’ll change if the requirements change. If the client gets what they want, and the developer didn’t grossly underestimate the amount of time required, who cares how long it actually took?
You may be thinking that the taxi driver doesn’t have to worry about quality, other than getting from point A to point B without being killed – which in Israeli traffic is quite a feat itself. That’s true. We, however, do. But quality of work breeds follow-on work (even in a full-time job, if you don’t deliver quality, you’ll be fired…. or should be), so it’s our incentive to deliver quality work no matter what.
