That's a pretty good article. I thought at one time that the hourly charge was way out of line but I have changed my views on it over time. I work part time for a shop in my area and after seeing all of the overhead that a shop has it's very expensive to keep a shop up to date. Every new car out there needs some special tool that you will only use a few times a year. Mitchell on demand is a common program to help with working and trouble shooting problems on thousands of different vehicles. This program needs to be purchased every year and it is not cheap. You also warranty your work for one year if any thing goes wrong in that year it's on you. Flat rape (rate) works out well in less than 50% of the jobs that are done. If you work on the same brand of cars day in and day out the flat rate system works out very well but if you work on every kind of car it does you know favors. The only jobs that I see that is very profitable is front end work and brakes. It's easy work and the parts and labor to replace them works out well.