Combrook · Mill Street

A missed appointment costs us $53.

That is why we ask for a $20 deposit. It does not pay for itself: the sum below puts break-even at $33.13, and we charge less on purpose, because we would rather absorb it than turn people away.

What one no-show costs

$53.00

What we ask for

$20.00

Late cancels we refill

40%

The deposit

What the $20 actually pays for

A chair sits empty for the length of your appointment whether you are in it or not. The rent, the light and the stylist are all paid either way. What we do not spend is the colour, the foils and the shampoo, and that is why the loss is $53 rather than the $65 on the menu.

The deposit comes off your bill. Move the appointment with a day’s notice and it moves with you. Tell us the same day and we keep it, because by then the chair cannot be refilled.

Where the $65 goes

Menu price

$65.00

Colour, foils, shampoo

−$12.00

What an empty chair costs

$53.00

At $20 we are about $688 a month down on the deposit policy alone, against a break-even of $33.13. We think that is the right trade. The calculator below will show you where your own crossover sits.

Run it on your own salon

The whole sum, including the part against us

Our numbers are in it. Change any of them and watch what happens, particularly the deterrence rate, which is the figure that makes a deposit a bad idea if you set it too high.

No-show and deposit calculator
Lost contribution this month
$4,862
13.27% of $36,626 in monthly revenue, split $2,778.05 to no-shows and $2,083.54 to late cancels that never refilled.
Your deposit policy, net
-$687.96
Recovers $1,048.32 from no-shows, an estimated $1,736.28 in bookings turned away by requiring it.
A bare no-show percentage, priced at the full ticket with no credit for an unopened consumable or a refilled cancellation, would show $7,666 lost this month.
Break-even deposit: $33.13Below $33.13 the deposit costs you more in turned-away bookings than it recovers from no-shows. At exactly that figure the two are equal and the net effect is zero; above it, the policy is a genuine gain.
Capacity and attendanceNo-shows and late cancels
Deposit deterrenceMembership vs pay-per-visit
Client pays, membership$139.00
Client pays, per visit$130.00
Salon keeps, membership$115.00
Salon keeps, per visit$106.00
The client pays $9.00 more on membership at this pace. The salon keeps $9.00 more from membership. These are not the same question, and the sign can differ on each side.
An estimate from the figures entered, not a quotation.

Membership

Worth it at two visits a month, not at one

At two visits a month

Membership

Per visit

What you pay

$139.00

$130.00

What we keep after consumables

$115.00

$106.00

At one visit a month membership costs you more than paying as you go, and we will say so at the desk. The crossover is the second visit. Change the pace in the calculator above and the sign flips on both sides of the table, which is the honest way round.

Book a chair

Tell us what you want doing and roughly when. We will come back with a time and take the deposit then, not before.

Start a booking

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