A waste of manpower

Today I finally found out one of the reasons why Fortis charges so much for their gas.
 
Fortis advised me, some months ago, that my gas meter was too close to my neighbours driveway and they would require a metal post be placed in front of the meter to prevent it from being damaged, should my neighbour drive his car into it.
 
Well, on Thursday, Fortis came to put the metal protection post in front of my meter. To my surprise, a front end tractor loader and 2 Fortis pick up trucks parked in my driveway, and 4 men got out of the vehicles to put this post in.
 
The operator of the tractor loader dug a hole, one man shovelled to clean it and make it the right size, while the loader operator and two men watched (supervised) the placing of the post and filling in with dirt to compact it by this one fellow. Incidentally, they didn’t even use any cement to make the post ridged or secured in the ground.
 
If we calculate these four men’s average hourly rate at $25 per hour (and I think I am being very conservative on this rate), and it took them 2 hours to do this job, the cost to put that post in, would be a minimum of $200. This does not include travel time from the work yard, fuel, wear and tear, licensing and insurance for their trucks and loader, the cost of the pipe and don’t forget the benefits these fellows get. It probably cost Fortis, a conservative total cost of $500.
 
Such a waste of manpower, time etc. when the job could have been done by one person instead of four. Shame on Fortis!

Charles Murray