As a supplier of all types of measuring instruments, we are regularly asked to quote the cost of repairing some of them. In days gone by, it was a common service offered by many in the industry but modern technology has changed all that while increasing the amount of garbage to the local landfill. Marketing and manufacturing are both to blame.
On the marketing side, service has been seen as a way to capture customers. How is this done? Simple: don’t sell parts to anyone that is not an authorized distributor of your products. This was highlighted in a recent article where one of the leading makers of farm equipment was taken to task for such a policy. Farmers were up in arms because they are used to doing their own repairs but now have to wait for the local equipment dealer to show up when there is a failure. As noted in the article, if a tractor breaks down during a harvest, the farmer cannot afford to wait half a day or more for the local expert to show up to replace a circuit board or two to get things working again.