I work in a repair shop. It's nothing glamorous or exciting, but it affords me other opportunities, like a flexible work schedule and weekends off (hey there's a lot of people who have to work on the weekends). At my work we repair, and sell, floor maintenance equipment. A lot of the equipment that comes in for repair is pretty beat up. It may not look pretty, but at least it will get the job done.
Then there's the pieces of equipment that are beat to hell and then some. I mean these things are held together with tape and twine - literally. I understand the janitorial/sanitary maintenance industry is very competitive, and profit margins can be low, but seriously, sometimes you need to invest in the tools you use to get your job done.
Then there's the customers that have had there machine for over 30 years. These customer come from an era when things you purchased were built to last; everything could be repaired. However, wow we are in an age of low cost, disposable products. Most of the machines you can buy at Home Depot are cheap, and I mean cheap in both price and quality. When these customers buy a cheap machine, lets say a pressure washer, from Home Depot and it breaks they bring it to us. We are capable of repairing most of the machines, but the problem is the machines are sold so cheap it's actually more expensive to repair the machine then it is to buy a new one.
When we tell the customer this they usually get upset. They're still stuck with the perspective that anything can be repaired, and that it's more cost effective to repair things than buy new ones.
I truly wish vendors/manufacturers would focus on quality over price, but we are in an age where we focus on price. Most of us aren't willing to pay the extra money for quality, so we get sold a low quality product at a great price. My dad always says "You buy cheap, you buy twice".
So the lesson for the day is spend a little extra money and buy a quality product.
Then there's the pieces of equipment that are beat to hell and then some. I mean these things are held together with tape and twine - literally. I understand the janitorial/sanitary maintenance industry is very competitive, and profit margins can be low, but seriously, sometimes you need to invest in the tools you use to get your job done.
Then there's the customers that have had there machine for over 30 years. These customer come from an era when things you purchased were built to last; everything could be repaired. However, wow we are in an age of low cost, disposable products. Most of the machines you can buy at Home Depot are cheap, and I mean cheap in both price and quality. When these customers buy a cheap machine, lets say a pressure washer, from Home Depot and it breaks they bring it to us. We are capable of repairing most of the machines, but the problem is the machines are sold so cheap it's actually more expensive to repair the machine then it is to buy a new one.
When we tell the customer this they usually get upset. They're still stuck with the perspective that anything can be repaired, and that it's more cost effective to repair things than buy new ones.
I truly wish vendors/manufacturers would focus on quality over price, but we are in an age where we focus on price. Most of us aren't willing to pay the extra money for quality, so we get sold a low quality product at a great price. My dad always says "You buy cheap, you buy twice".
So the lesson for the day is spend a little extra money and buy a quality product.
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