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Old 21st Jul 2021, 7:59 pm   #10
Junk Box Nick
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
Default Re: (The trade). Golden years?

An outsider looking in but I knew many household electronics/TV repairmen in the 1970s & 80s. This period seemed to be a busy time for them. It had been suggested at school that I should consider the trade but I went another way. Despite the economic turmoil of the era, the late 70s seemed to be boom time with new products coming along all the while. Items were repairable and there always seemed plenty of work. Some guys built up quite lucrative rental businesses. By the mid 1980s change was in the air and the smart ones were getting out. By the early 2000s I only knew one guy still trying to eke a living out of repairs and he wasn’t long in giving up.

In a competely different trade but my best working days were in the 1980s when my industry was still analogue. If you knew what you were doing there was plenty of work and reasonable remuneration. It had its pressures but it was enjoyable and you were respected for your abilities. I was an early adopter when the computers started to arrive but digital removed a lot of highly skilled people and changed the attitudes both in the trade and of the customers/clients. I soon missed the old community and its characters and the race to the bottom started.
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