Originally posted by
Jav400:
Everyone has to make a living. The question for me is one of service afterwards in cases like this.
There is no way a little shop can compete with Dell, its not gonna happen. But, if you have a problem and this guy is 5 miles down the road and takes care if it immediately for you with minimum fuss, then thats something Dell can't do either.
I was going to post something similar. It's hard to compare someone who is willing to
not make a profit to someone who is. It's just plain
My Personal history:
In the mid-90's, the little guy was making a lot of money. Back then, the industry (HP, Compaq, etc.) had just got done saturating the market with $1700 systems. Money stopped flowing to large corporations so they started the upgrade machine. By that time, people sunk their money into $1700 systems, so getting an upgrade from a local guy was a positive choice. Also, it was generally only the local guy that had ALL of the parts someone could want. Of course, people like myself that didn't have $1700 bought Cyrix chips, motherboards, etc to build our own. $325 for a whole system. Again, going to the little guy was the best place for those parts. Computer Shows sprouted and everyone started buying whole systems from these palce. Even the average joe. Again, the little guy was making a very good living. Around 2000-2001, their goal was to get people to buy a whole new machine about every three years. The Industry started buying huge volumes of parts...getting OEMs to discount as well. Selling whole systems for $1000 or less was on the menu. At the same time, my friends and part suppliers (the local little guy) started having their prices dramatically increase. Probably footing the bill for the discounts that were given to large corporations. Fast forward to present. The industry won. Mix the cheap systems with the general American sense of 'I must have everything new' and spyware/malware/virus, you get, "My computer is so bogged down. I am just going to buy a new one instead of reformatting or cleaning it out." Even though most people computering habits haven't changed much.
My friends and old part suppliers have long since switched gears and aimed their services at Small Businesses. A lot of them have gotten out of the hardware business all together and provide consulting and IT help. Unfortunately, the big corporations have now shifted their aim at Small Businesses too.