SERVICE DEPARTMENT

Welcome to the Service Department here at 292 Radio Shop. Thanks for stopping by. Many of
you will be viewing this page for the first time simply out of curiosity, while I am sure that
some of you are here because you are at your wits end looking for a service facility that can
satisfy your 2 way radio needs. It is to the latter of the two that the following will be
directed.

Round and round and round you go, and when you'll stop having to dump money into that radio,
nobody knows. Sound familiar? Sit back, relax and read on, because the "dumping" stops here!
As in any field of endeavor, this one has its share of incompetence. The area of electronic
service and repair is not immune. In the daily race to "make the big bucks", the quality of
workmanship and pride in ones own handiwork have taken a back seat while maximizing profits
and raising sales and ticket averages are foremost in most shop owners minds. Quantity of sales,
not quality of service, is the battle cry in the american workplace today.

At the same time, there is another driving force behind this recklessness in retail, as it
involves the citizens band radio service. For many years now, any one who had a good "story"
and could create the illusion of "competence" has been able to take advantage of the buying
consumer public as a whole, knowing full well that they would never be "questioned" as to their
credentials regarding their professed technical prowess. Well, that mindset is slowly grinding
to a screeching halt.

Just to give you an example, several years ago I applied for a job as a radio technician at a
commercial radio shop in the phoenix area, and after the interview, I was informed that I would
be in charge of developing the cb business for this prominent shop owner. Only one problem. The
truck stop that was adjacent to his shop had been closed down because of the new federal
regulations regarding underground fuel storage on the property and there were no customers just
outside the door anymore. Great, I thought, I was just looking for some gainful employment, not
creating a new business in a poor traffic location. Eventually, this particular business in the
years to follow grossed between 1 to 1.5 million dollars a year as a result of my initial under-
taking. But what shortly followed afterwards is a story that is all too familiar in the business
world today. A few years after I had left this individuals employ, he found it difficult to find
the necessary "talent" to continue the service end of the business, until all that was left for
him to do was to adopt the facade of competence. Just recently, I found out that the shop was
closed and put out of business as a result of the local truck stop management receiving numerous
complaints of work and services not performed as promised. I can't say I was surprised.

A recent trend has emerged from experiences such as the one above, and it is to the benefit of
the retail public. In light of the fact that this industry is not regulated, a handful of techs
and shop owners around the country have opted out of the rat race facet of this business. They
have come to realize the truth of the matter and have decided, for whatever reasons, to attempt
to return to the values that have been left behind by the majority of businesses currently
engaged in this occupation. When I say a "handful", I mean less than 5% of the shops in the
country. With education not being what it used to be, and those who do have the training opting
for traditionally higher paying jobs, what we are soon to be left with is a small group of the
"old school" techs, performing service and repair via mail order and in shop, for those who are
fortunate enough to be able to do so.

I can tell you this. Those who are left in the days to come will be few and far between

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