Re: WHAT recession ?

[Robert Macy <robert.a.macy@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 11, 11:51=A0am, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Jan 11, 11:52=A0am, "Bill" <billnomailnosp...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > "Jim" =A0wrote in message
>
> > > ...Jeeeeeze ..... now I actually have to go to work again.
>
> > And are accounts paying their bills on time?
>
> > Delinquent accounts lessening? Same? Growing?
>
> Over the last few years I've lost a higher number of accounts than
> usual. Some (I'm sure) due to the economy. Lost jobs, people moving to
> another state because of job changes, etc. However ( and let this be
> of interest to those of you who have been in this business for many
> years) I've been in this industry for 43 years. One of the attrition
> issues that I never considered was that I would start losing accounts
> because they died. Other related losses are due to moving to Florida
> for retirement, can't afford fee because they're retired on limited
> income. One spouse dies or gets sick and the other can no longer
> afford it. Sold house and moved in with family/to gated community/
> senior community, etc. So ..... the longer you're in business the more
> you have to deal with this kind of attrition.
>
> There are a few delinquet accounts that I'm carrying for a while .....
> just because they've been good customers for so long and are going
> through hard times. Some I've had to cancel after a while. Others I'll
> carry for a bit to see how it goes. Some I've carried have come back
> and I've forgiven past due. I play this by ear.
>
> However. as far as growth, as far as alarm accounts go, I'd have to
> say it's about status quo or a little less. But ....... In the last
> 4/5 years I've increased my home theater and CCTV, automated lighting,
> whole house audio and residential network wiring, and setup business.
> It's not recurring income but the profit margin is lots better, so
> income is growing. And I peiodiacally increase monthly monitoring fees
> in small amounts too.
>
> How about you?

I remember when my absolutely first consulting client died! He was
more than just my first consulting client, he was a friend. Years and
years of working with him, he had slowly gotten behind and owed me
enough to run our firm on for a year. Upon his death, I just walked
away, couldn't push collecting the debt since he left a widow and
subteen daughter, and a lot of debts behind. Months later, the widow
showed up with a truck full of his electronic test equipment and said
they didn't offer her much money for this stuff and asked if I could
use it. You bet!  Along with the myriad of items buried in the truck
were such goodies as BERT [bit error rate tester for communications
channels], HP Function Generators, Tektronix scopes and spectrum
analyzer with tracking generator option! and a full blown Intel
Development System!