So I ran into a guy who has been working on copiers in my town for about 30 years. He has been a Cannon tech for a while now. I see him about once every year and a half, and we gossip about the local copier biz like 2 old women talking about a slut in church. At some point in the conversation he mentioned wanting to quit and move. I said "It would be great if you fucked up that "No Bid" contract you have at the JSOC compound and give me a shot at it" He grinned real big and said "You want to hear how we got that contract?" "Well , it sounds like there is a story in it, so yes"
The Background...
JSOC stands for "Joint Special Operations Command". It is a mix of all forces, run by the Navy, doing covert ops, the same folks that got Bin Laden. In the mid 80's is when they built their compound on base. At that time they would have been, and still are, on a level with CIA. The compound is a fortress. A few months ago one of the guards searched my notebook for drawings. What this means to a copier company is that they have a limitless budget and can get what they want. Money is no object.
It is 1985 and the copier choice has come down to Xerox and Cannon. I don't know what 28 fully dressed copiers cost in 1985, but Xerox won the deal. I do not think low bid was an issue. Back then they were not leased, they paid cash. The machines are placed. There are no issues for 3 months and then one of them needs service. The machine is in the office of the highest ranking civilian there. He has as much power as a general.
The tech shows up, take one look at the machine and says something like "This machine is not set up to site specifications, I am not working on it."
The man in charge told him that he had better fix the copier. The tech refused. He was escorted out of the compound. As soon as he left, the customer got on the phone and called the 27 other locations that had a copier, ordered them to unplug the machine, and push them into the parking lot. He then called the Cannon dealer that lost the deal and told them that if they could get 28 machines together by close of business next day, they were in. I was told that they had to pull machines from across 3 states to get 28 built and ready boxes. That was almost 30 years ago and they have been there every since, and the contract never goes out to bid. I was also told that the Xerox boxes sat overnight in the rain before being picked up.
This story may be part of another one that I was told shortly after starting work out here. One of the reasons Xerox was chosen was because they already had copiers on main base. My first contract manager, who was on base back then told me of a Xerox tech, [I know the guys name, but won't say because I think he is still in the business] who refused to fix a generals copier, and was BANNED from base. This means that for the length of that contract, they had to dispatch a tech from 2 hours away to do service daily.
I guess if there is a moral, it is , DON"T PISS OFF THE CUSTOMER, if they have rank and power. You have to choose your battles.
Well, hope you enjoyed. It is 5:30 am and I am up for the day and bored, so I thought I would share.
The Background...
JSOC stands for "Joint Special Operations Command". It is a mix of all forces, run by the Navy, doing covert ops, the same folks that got Bin Laden. In the mid 80's is when they built their compound on base. At that time they would have been, and still are, on a level with CIA. The compound is a fortress. A few months ago one of the guards searched my notebook for drawings. What this means to a copier company is that they have a limitless budget and can get what they want. Money is no object.
It is 1985 and the copier choice has come down to Xerox and Cannon. I don't know what 28 fully dressed copiers cost in 1985, but Xerox won the deal. I do not think low bid was an issue. Back then they were not leased, they paid cash. The machines are placed. There are no issues for 3 months and then one of them needs service. The machine is in the office of the highest ranking civilian there. He has as much power as a general.
The tech shows up, take one look at the machine and says something like "This machine is not set up to site specifications, I am not working on it."
The man in charge told him that he had better fix the copier. The tech refused. He was escorted out of the compound. As soon as he left, the customer got on the phone and called the 27 other locations that had a copier, ordered them to unplug the machine, and push them into the parking lot. He then called the Cannon dealer that lost the deal and told them that if they could get 28 machines together by close of business next day, they were in. I was told that they had to pull machines from across 3 states to get 28 built and ready boxes. That was almost 30 years ago and they have been there every since, and the contract never goes out to bid. I was also told that the Xerox boxes sat overnight in the rain before being picked up.
This story may be part of another one that I was told shortly after starting work out here. One of the reasons Xerox was chosen was because they already had copiers on main base. My first contract manager, who was on base back then told me of a Xerox tech, [I know the guys name, but won't say because I think he is still in the business] who refused to fix a generals copier, and was BANNED from base. This means that for the length of that contract, they had to dispatch a tech from 2 hours away to do service daily.
I guess if there is a moral, it is , DON"T PISS OFF THE CUSTOMER, if they have rank and power. You have to choose your battles.
Well, hope you enjoyed. It is 5:30 am and I am up for the day and bored, so I thought I would share.
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