snip


Fifteen years ago the local Yellow Pages was full of TV repair shops.
Except for me there are now two other guys still involved in
television within 50 miles. One is 85 and rarely opens the store. And
even if he did it looks like a page right out of 1950. The other guy
is about the same age and does some sales I guess but little else. So
for all intents and purposes, for the time being anyway, (and I don't
see any young guys lining up to be TV repairmen) it's me, and I've
been told only me. If not for the commercial work we would really be
scratching.

I wonder how some of you guys also in the consumer electronics repair
business have handled these sort of things?
Lenny

Most electrical / electronic stores do not employ any kind of service
technician these days, because there's simply not enough work to justify it.
Enter me. I hire myself out to multiple stores as a self-employed tech. I
have fixed charges per equipment type, which allows the store to quote to
their customer with a high degree of certainty. For sure, it's a 'some you
win, some you lose' situation when you are working on fixed prices, but
overall, I win, and so does the store. Also, I don't get involved with
holding accounts with manufacturers for parts. I let the store do that. I
just tell them what part is needed when it's not a simple resistor or
transistor or whatever, and it's then up to them to liaise with their
customer about any extra costs. If it's all agreed, they get the part, and I
fit it. That allows them to mark up the part cost as well, if that's what
they want to do. If the customer decides not to go ahead, then I still get
my fixed exam and admin charge, which comes out of the deposit that all of
the stores charge.

It's win all round for me really, as I have a steady supply of work (most of
the time anyway) from multiple sources. I don't have to get involved with
the public and their shenanigans, and I don't have to do field calls. The
stores are happy because they don't have to employ anyone that might be idle
half the time, and they still make a good wedge for themselves, for merely
'fronting' me.

Arfa