Those lazy days..

[Josh93]

Though I am fairly new to all this, I am always eager to get out there, and ill have a go at almost any problem.

But lately things have been slow, a month or two back I was doing 5-6 calls a day, now I am lucky if I get one. I guess I am the youngest tech, so if any one sits around the office when their is not much going on its me, and thank the lord for CTN or I would have nothing to do...

(PS I am not incredibly ugly, or at least I hope not, so I don't get kept indoors out of pity.. I think...)

How much downtime do you guys all get, are you flat out? Or does it vary different times of the year?

Don't know if I should be worried or not, redundancy doesn't sound to fantastic :/

[vincent64]

Re: Those lazy days..

I too have days like that, but we are a 2 tech shop, so it don't last long, but compared to what I used to have to do, its a nice change of pace.
Some days 2 or 3, some days 1, and some toner deliveries to do, other days its one after another on calls, but that is rare.
So I don't mind it.

[DAG COPIERS & COMPUTERS]

Re: Those lazy days..

Rapid technological changes continue to take place in this industry, it's becoming hard to almost keep abreast with, especially in the IT sector; generally the print industry seem to be in 'upheaval' sort of, since businesses and individuals are printing less and less, yet this business depends on the volumes of hard copies made. I also think the world economy hasn't yet fully recovered from recession, it will take sometime.
Generally, our planet seem to be bedeviled with too many wars,diseases and epidemics etc, ALL these do not auger well for business the world over since we are now a global village!

Business i think is generally slow the world over, but we have to 'keep on keeping on' , while at the same time adjusting to these changes, lest we perish. Never give up.

[walterman]

Re: Those lazy days..

The copier world is different than it was years ago.. now, almost everybody has the super- store mentality, and everybody shops the internet for the best prices, they don't care about your training and years of experience, they basically want something for nothing and the internet has created that. I acually have had customers who bought stuff from the internet ( to supposedly save money) and finally asked me to install the parts! I have also run into some new customers who have been raked over the coals by big corporate copier companies and sales people and opted to just buy throw away machines because they don't want to deal with the BS. Most of my customers own machines that are over three years old and the boxes still run great. It has always been relatively slow in the summertime for us, but that is a great time to stop in and say hello to your customers and do courtesy calls.. or brush up on my skills with research.

[Akitu]

Re: Those lazy days..

2 tech shop here. It fluctuates depending on the time of the year and what your customer base is like. I would think it's a safe assumption to say that schools are a huge part of this industry, when schools go down for summer/spring break/Christmas break etc., things slow down noticeably. Whether or not you have a school as a client, things take a different swing throughout the year.

A few years ago, we averaged about .7 calls a day for the entire month of April, followed by about 3-5 calls a day the next month. It comes and goes, as long as the bosses are happy and the shop is clean when there's downtime, all parts are rebuilt and everything - I would hope they understand the situation that sometimes there's just nothing to do. It's bound to happen to everyone at least once.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Those lazy days..

Seasonally, it's always quieter in the summer and holidays, when the schools and churches are at low activity levels. On a weekly scale Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are always busier than Thursdays and Fridays. My particular job description means that I rarely lack for things to do. =^..^=

[slimslob]

Re: Those lazy days..

I have one school district that found out years ago that it was less expensive to hire someone that knows about printing and have him print most of the material used in the class room. He also does most of their multi-part NCR forms. They currently have a Pro 1357ex, a Pro 1107ex and an LDD 130 that is used mostly for envelopes. He takes vacation at the end of June. Come July, he starts on all the material that the schools will need to start the next school year. From then until the start of the school year he can do 200K or more per machine per week.