Anyhow, to prove a point I dropped an application in at 10 different fast food restaurants and did the basic pestering to try to get hired, yet still I get no call or anything. I hope it isn’t like this everywhere. It really worries me since I’ll be going to college in the spring and I have no place to go to find a job and help out my parents, sister, and girlfriend, who all currently live in the same house as me.

If there’s one thing that can really down a person’s spirit, it would be to feel like a bum, and right now when money is tight and the only person working is my father, it looks bad on me. I’m fairly certain there are plenty of people out there who can relate to my current situation(A rock and a hard place.) Times are getting hard, and probably going to get harder.

How are people going to enjoy quality of life if the government keeps sending us into recession/depressions with these ignorant decisions. I think I’m gonna go Canadian, . Lol.

—
Justin C. Kinnaird
Programmer

It seems like almost yesterday, I can recall loading over 100 used Pentium III and Pentium 4 computers [with monitors] on my trailer for less than $400. These were working units! That’s not the case these days.

I have been keeping an eye on GovDeals and Nashville e-Bid the past year now… Wow. It amazes me, yet makes sense why most “mom and pop” computer repair and sales shops struggle so bad. Recently, I saw a lot (two pallets actually) of used Dell P4 desktops [34 computers total] go for over $1500. The listing clearly stated: most are non-functional.

Now take 34 computers. If you were to get half them working – lets say more than half – that’s 20 total. That’s $75 you have into each computer – and you STILL have to test, re-load, and clean the computer. Lets say your time to do all this is only worth $25 (you sure could not pay me $25 to test, re-install, and clean a computer)… Now you have $100 into this computer. So are you going to sell it for $150 and make a $50 profit? Remember you still have overhead: lights, phones, Internet, etc. Where are you making your money?

Perhaps you will sell the computer for $200-$250. Now you have another issue… Is it really worth that? Of coarse, you can GET that much out of it, but are you truly providing your customer with good value? Good advertising, and sales tactics may sell that computer, but in today’s economy, customer retention is far more important than “just selling the merchandise”. Put simply: a Dell P4 2.0ghz w/ 512 megs ram and 40gb hard drive is **not** worth a dime over $150-$175ish.

Remember: when you make a bad impression towards a customer, you change his/her image of ALL small computer repair businesses!

Back in the day, small shops actually got along. Hell, the owners of several PC repair businesses could actually get together on a weekend, have a cookout, and play a couple good games of pool or golf. Unlike the “I am jealous of all the other repair shops” mentality that clouds the industry today, we would use this time together to find out who was wholesaling what, for how much, and where. We actually worked together in order to ensure we ALL got good deals on the stuff – rather than mindlessly bidding against each other and going out of our way to cut every one’s throat.

I have seen dozens of shops come and go over the years – myself included. Everyone needs to work together on this, otherwise the only ones left will be the Geek Squad…