The "small business" label saving them money part is backwards. If a vendor bills you at a small business rate, that usually means they're the ones getting a break, not you, because they're pricing the job to win your account. What you're really seeing is shops quoting different rates based on what they think you'll pay, and your address on Gratiot tells them plenty before anyone picks up the phone. Hamtramck has nothing to do with it either, that's just a zip code that reads a certain way to guys pricing work off a map. The label on the invoice is just how they justify the number after the fact. If your 9 guys are pulling the same volume as shops twice your size, the fix is getting quotes without the address attached and seeing if the number moves.

A gash like that usually means the clamp pressure is off, not the blade. Those corner rounders wander when the stock shifts even a hair, so try a strip of double sided tape under the leather and clamp the whole thing to your bench. A corner rounder is the wrong tool for thick veg tan anyway, a head knife or a chisel gives you way more control.