Not really, post a job opening and you'll likely get plenty of applicants, many of whom are indeed qualified. You taking the time to vet them and choose one is a benefit of having too many options. Getting customers is harder, you have to advertise and market your product, "acquisition cost" is a real thing.

> As long as they're getting a good value on a quality product

But especially early on, how do new customers know the product is quality? Someone has to be the first to eat at a restaurant or to hire you to paint their house, whatever. Even established companies - ordering clothes online when you can't actually feel the material, picking a dentist when you dont actually know how he/she will treat you, letting Uber decide who will drive you to the airport, how a pair of skis will perform from looking at them on a carpeted floor - most customer purchases and decisions are made with far-from-perfect information and they just have to put faith in the seller or service provider - and that's what I'm suggesting is worth future compensation.

> if I get beat on prices today they're gone tomorrow

If this is the case you really havent built much of a business, you're just selling commodities, and your employees have failed in differentiating your company from your competitors.