Well it's certainly true that if you can get 10 or 15 of these easy jobs per
day and collect $100 for each one, you can make a decent living.
If you bring in even a dozen such jobs per day, you deserve the money you're
making.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glen Goodwin" <acme_ent(a)bellsouth.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2002 8:50 PM
Subject: Repair vs. replace (was Re: APPLEVISION Monitor)
From: Richard
Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com>
The guys who can't afford more than $100 are
not a big part of the
market.
However, it's not fair to ignore 'em.
The reason most shops here croak after a couple of years is because they
*do* ignore them. In fact, many send this sort of customer to me.
I just don't see how one can make a
living selling used parts when a replacement for the whole she-bang costs
$10
like the one I snagged last week. Are people really willing to pay $100
to
repair something they could easily replace for
$10 if they were to look?
Yes. Many of these folks are using hand-me-down computers and wouldn't
have a clue of what to buy if they were looking for a replacement. A
number of my customers are SOHO, auto repair, day care, etc., and need to
retain their data and applications, so for them to just buy a replacement
would be disruptive to their business.
As far as making a living doing this, I charge about $100 (*new* parts and
labor) to replace a power supply, modem, or CD-ROM drive, or to wipe the
hdd and reload Windows and the device drivers (which the customer almost
never has). After 10 years in business we have a reputation for doing the
job right, and for honoring the warranties we put on our work.
If you can get 'em to pay it, you're definitely in the right place.
Can you see how it would be possible to make a living doing 10 or 15 of
these easy jobs every day?
Glen
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