Pete: I can understand your frustrations. However I think your sentiment that “the current situation needs to be addressed, either in Watsonville or otherwise” doesn’t recognize current global business realities.
As background, I lived in Monterey, just down the road from Watsonville, for three years (2013-2016) and I know the area well. Watsonville has a population of about 50,000 and the primary industry (about 80% of the business in the area) is agriculture. People won’t move to small/medium sized agricultural communities because there isn’t a lot there for them, so importing skilled staff isn’t feasible. Domestically there aren’t skilled persons around who could be hired to work on the radios because again it’s primarily an agricultural community. The company itself isn’t large, I understand, and they’re going as fast as they can all the time. With the current global labor shortage it’s close to impossible to hire people in ANY industry, and electronics fabrication and repair is no exception. So basically what you’re saying is the company should buck the global trend and import or train staff who are willing to move to a small agricultural community in north central California to work on skilled electronics repair. It just won’t happen. There IS no way to “address the situation”. This is the global reality in a post COVID world and it behooves us to be patient since it can’t be changed. And FYI, uplifting an entire company and moving elsewhere is simply impractical. And it still won’t address the labor shortage. 73, Adrian K7RJS > On Dec 15, 2023, at 12:26 PM, Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Since I'm the one who started this discussion, let me summarize what I think > I've learned. The most effective argument, for me, is the synergy among > techs and relatively low marginal cost of adding them in Watsonville, versus > working with even established, independent technicians elsewhere. That said, > does anyone think it's acceptable to have even a 4-week hold between arrival > of the item there and its entering the repair process? Elecraft equipment > isn't cheap, and I believe that the current situation needs to be addressed, > either in Watsonville or otherwise. > > 73, Pete N4ZR > >> On 12/15/2023 3:09 PM, Bob McGraw wrote: >> I can totally agree with Joe, W4TV. At one time I was repairing radios for >> various companies. I was doing warranty and non-warranty repairs. The >> companies decided it was cost ineffective to maintain independent repair >> services. Hence, I no longer repair radios, and no longer have test >> equipment to do so. There were other reasons as well, but I agree with Joe, >> W4TV, the expert knowledge base is in Watsonville. >> >> 73 >> >> Bob, K4TAX >> >> >>> On 12/15/2023 11:57 AM, elecraft-requ...@mailman.qth.net wrote: >>> Message: 5 >>> Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 13:03:23 -0500 >>> From: "Joe Subich, W4TV"<li...@subich.com> >>> To:elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] User's Dilemma >>> Message-ID:<c45ff819-bde7-400f-b461-012a99b70...@subich.com> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed >>> >>> >>>> They clearly aren't interested in setting up a third party repair >>>> center. >>> Given the cost of setting up and running a second "factory >>> warranty/repair center" it just doesn't make sense. Notice >>> that none of the other radio manufacturers offer duplicate >>> facilities on the east/west coast ... even those that did so >>> at one time have pulled back. >>> >>> The cost of facilities, duplicate test equipment, duplicate >>> spare/repair parts, etc. simply can not be amortized economically >>> across one or two technicians. It's far more efficient to simply >>> add another technician or two (*IF* one can find a qualified tech) >>> "at the mothership". >>> >>> 73, >>> >>> ... Joe, W4TV >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >> Message delivered to pete.n...@gmail.com > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to kj7...@gmail.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
