CP650 Issue

[Randy Stankey]

It's about doing the best possible job you can when you do it...

I think it's about how people value human labor. Not just the cost of labor but how much value one places on the act of one person doing something for another and the belief that a job worth doing should be a job done well.

Yes, there is the cost of parts and supplies plus tools and equipment. You also have to consider the dollar value of a person's time to do the work. I agree that, in some situations, it might not be worth it from a monetary point of view, especially if you believe that improvements might be small.

If you are running a business strictly from a financial perspective, especially a corporate one, it might not be worth it. You could probably buy a new piece of equipment, instead. If you look at your business as a service where you are providing something for the community in return for being paid a fair price, you might go the other way.

Look at it this way... Are you the kind of person who fixes up his old car and takes pride in taking care of it instead of buying a new car?
I would rather be the guy who drives a classic Corvette that he has restored himself. It brings a sense of ownership and pride that you can't get when you buy a new car.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't consider which path to take. Depending on the situation, I might not do the work.

I'm only saying that there's more to the decision that just bean counting.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Randy, I think that's true to en.extent, but I was located pretty far from quite a few of my customers and was often encouraged by them to take extra time or even wait for needed parts to show up. The extra hours of labor was quite often cheaper than the mileage charge.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I took on the idea of recapping, etc. on a case-by-case basis when I ran my service show. I agree with Steve about yes, there is an actual, tangible monetary impact on the business for sure, but I also felt that sacrificing some time (and yes, revenue) for certain clients got repaid many times over by the goodwill and level of attention to service it showed to said clients. (Who referred me to other clients, which generated revenue.)

Not to get "political" about it, but the problem with far too many businesses is that they are so obsessed with the minutiae of the bottom line that they have seriously lost sight of the far greater benefits of providing superior service. I tried very hard to do that in my time running my company. I felt that most of the time I did it right, but I also realize that there were times I fell way short of the mark.

My last employer and I kerfuffled over this, as a job I supervised for them to help them get a much bigger job ran over on manhours (around 16 hrs, one person), but I saved them 80% (!) on materials by thinking outside the box and working with the other trades more than usual. (And the ONLY reason I was over on hours was because the moron in the office did not put commissioning time in the bid. The ACTUAL installation work was done UNDER the bid hours.) BTW I didn't even get so much as a thank you for getting them that bigger job. So glad I no longer work for them.

[Randy Stankey]

Randy, I think that's true to en.extent, but I was located pretty far from quite a few of my customers and was often encouraged by them to take extra time or even wait for needed parts to show up. The extra hours of labor was quite often cheaper than the mileage charge.

Yes, you're right about that.

It's often better to do the job well, even if it takes extra time, rather than have to make two long trips which the customer might have to pay for.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yes, you're right about that.

It's often better to do the job well, even if it takes extra time, rather than have to make two long trips which the customer might have to pay for.

The amount of time spent replacing caps is miniscule compared to a major projector repair, etc...Even recapping a DTS MB only took about 2 hours and the only other option was to send the whole thing back to DTS for the motherboard upgrade which was uber expensive.

[Neal Scanlan]

Today I received the power supply and installed it and hey presto it worked. I left the processor on for several hours and it remained stable.
Thank you all for the advice which gave me the confidence to order a replacement power supply.