Who Is Johnny No Name and Should You Hire Him for a Job?
Who is Johnny no name and why should you even care about him?Johnny no name is the guy you see everyday on almost every road in America. He’s the guy in a pick up truck driving around taking jobs from legitimate businesses. He might be a handy man, landscaper, painter or some other type of self employed hazard. He has no sign on his truck and a bunch of equipment in the back. This guy is like a little rat in the economy and he affects us all.
Johnny no name can always do the job cheaper than a legitimate business because he has no overhead. He does not pay for a business license, he does not carry business insurance, and he pays his helper a low wage with cash so he does not pay payroll taxes. He may even be claiming unemployment benefits since he does not claim taxes on any of the jobs he does. Real businesses have so many expenses that it is almost impossible to compete with Johnny no name and with the tight economy many people are choosing Johnny no names over legitimate business which means that many states are losing income from taxes that real business have to pay. No need to wonder why so many states are in deep financial trouble.
Since Johnny no name does not pay for business insurance if he, his helper or anyone gets seriously injured on your property they may want you to make a claim on your homeowners insurance which could cause your rates to rise higher. That is a big reason to make sure that the company you hire carries business insurance, even if it means you have to pay a little more.
Many times Johnny no name and his helper are unfit employees and that is why he has his own so called business. They can’t pass a drug test and make it to work five days in a row on time so maintaining a legitimate job where you pay taxes is impossible for them. So it’s a gamble as to whether or not he will be there when he says he will. He is also the guy behind all those horror stories you hear about where somebody will hire a Johnny no name to do a job, he never shows up on time and leaves the job half done. He will take months to finish the job or do the absolute worse job possible and in some situations he doesn’t do the job at all. We have all heard stories like this and the poor sap that hired the Johnny no name to do the job usually ends up calling a real business and paying for the job twice spending more money in the long run than if they had just hired a legitimate company in the first place.
A legitimate company will usually stand behind their work, if something goes wrong with the job they will usually fix it and a Johnny no name will have a lot of reasons why he shouldn’t have to fix the problem; it’s just too bad for you, his work is not guaranteed.
A legitimate company has to pay taxes, and a lot of them. These taxes are so high that sometimes it can even put these companies out of business, especially if people keep hiring the Johnny no names. They also try to pay their employees a fair wage and they pay things like payroll taxes and into the social security funds which help the states and the economy. So if you are considering re-landscaping your yard or painting your house hire a legitimate company that is well established instead of a Johnny no name and please make sure they are insured and will stand behind their work.
