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February 1972 Popular Electronics
Table of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Popular Electronics,
published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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Although not entirely
necessary to enjoy this story, it occurs to me that many people reading it might
not know how to compare the size of a "man cookie" to a 45 rpm record - or
for that matter even know what a record is (other than a unit of database storage).
A 45 rpm record (single) is 7 inches in diameter, as opposed
to a 33-1/3 rpm
(LP 'long playing' album) which is 12 inches. Now you can get past the opening
paragraph and glean the advice offered by electronic repair shop owner Mac McGregor
regarding seeking out repair services. It applies to automobiles as well as electronics.
The really interesting point I found, however, was his quoting of a 1970 statistic
claiming that by 1980 the U.S. would employ more service employees than manufacturing
employees. That was pretty prescient given the dismal state of today's manufacturing
sector. What Mac, Barney, and Matilda couldn't know was by the turn of the century
most products would have no user serviceable - or repair shop serviceable - parts
inside, and that a large majority of products would be designed to be disposable
and/or obsolete within a couple years.
Mac's Service Shop: Getting the Most from Your Service Dollars
By John T. Frye, W9EGV, KHD4167
 It was coffee break time at Mac's Service Shop.
The owner and his redheaded assistant, Barney, were seated side by side on the service
bench, while Matilda, the office girl, was enthroned on a high stool where she could
keep an eye on the front door. She had baked and brought in a big platter of what
she called "man cookies" - huge sugar sprinkled affairs almost the size of 45-rpm
records-and these were disappearing fast along with the coffee.
"You know," Barney mumbled with a full mouth, "I don't see how a girl with such
a tart disposition can bake such sweet and tasty cookies."
"Watch your smart Irish tongue or you'll taste no more of them," Matilda retorted.
"All right, you two," Mac interrupted quickly; "I want your opinions about something.
Last night I read that in 1970 this country passed a milestone: for the first time
the cost of services accounted for more of the gross national product than did manufactured
goods. What's more, the U.S. Department of Labor predicts that by 1980 seven out
of every ten workers will be engaged in service rather than manufacturing."
"How about that!" Barney exclaimed. "It looks like we're in the right business."
"I'm not so sure that's altogether good," Matilda said thoughtfully. "It seems
to me the production of manufactured goods actually contributes to the real wealth
of the country, while services make a necessary but more intangible and hard-to-measure
contribution. Some services, I'm sure, add nothing to the nation's wealth."
"I understand what's bothering you," Mac said with a nod. "I've some reservations
of my own about an economy that's becoming more and more service-oriented.
But be that as it may, it seems evident we're going to be putting out more money
for service than we put out for manufactured articles. Since such a high percentage
of our income is going to be spent for service, it would seem to behoove us to give
some thought as to how we can get the best return on those service dollars."
"That seems logical," Matilda agreed.
"After all, we have magazines and books devoted to explaining how to get the
most value for the dollars we spend for things. Perhaps we need something similar
to tell people how to get the most value for money spent for service."
"Say, whose side are you on?" Barney demanded, reaching for another cookie. "Don't
forget we're in the service business."
"We, as well as everybody else, are also in the consuming business," Mac reminded
him. "But I like Matilda's idea about telling the customer how to get the most for
his service dollar. We may not be able to help much with the plumber, electrician,
dentist, doctor, or auto mechanic but we should be able to tell how to get the most
out of dollars spent for radio and TV service."
Pick a Good Technician. "The first thing to do is pick a good
service technician," Barney led off, "and that's not easy. To coin a phrase, 'Only
another technician knows for sure.' The layman lacks the technical knowledge necessary
to evaluate the work a TV technician performs. He is likely to be much more impressed
by the simple problem of locating a shorted capacitor quickly than he is by a brilliant
job of tracking down an elusive intermittent condition calling for complete mastery
of theory plus a great deal of experience.
"However, there are some things a customer can look for in selecting a service
shop. Has it been in business long? Is it well equipped? If the state has licensing,
is there a license hanging on the wall and do the technicians wear license badges?
If the state has a certification program, how many of the shop technicians are certified?
Are any of them graduates of factory training schools or of other recognized training
institutions?
"Read the advertising carefully. If the word 'Free' is tossed about recklessly,
look out. Are parts and labor both guaranteed or only parts? For how long? Finally,
if the customer knows one honest and capable service technician in any mechanical
field, ask him to recommend a TV technician. A good mechanic usually recognizes
and respects capable work in an adjacent field."
What Customer Should Do. "Now let me tell what the customer
should do before he calls us," Matilda urged. "The first thing he should do is get
out his operator's manual and read it carefully. Is the set plugged into an active
socket? Is the antenna attached properly? Are the controls correctly set? Is the
circuit-breaker closed? If everything checks out and the set still will not function,
a service technician should be called.
"Before calling, however, the caller should get together pertinent information:
what is the make, model, and serial number of the defective unit? Is it connected
to the cable or to an indoor or outdoor antenna? Exactly what is the complaint?
Is it with the picture, the sound, or both? Is only the color at fault? In what
way is reception abnormal? Is this condition present on all channels or on only
some? Which ones? Is the trouble always there or it is intermittent? If the latter
is true, how soon does it appear after the set is turned on? If it goes away by
itself, when does that happen? Does anything you do to the set change the condition?
Did you see or smell any smoke around the set? Was there a popping, snapping sound?
When will you be home so the technician can call?"
"Hey, Matilda, that's pretty good," Barney admitted with grudging admiration.
"With the answers to those questions, the technician should be able to make a shrewd
guess as to the trouble and have proper service information and parts with him when
he calls. That saves his time and the customer's money."
"Yes, and the customer can save more time and money by having everything ready
for that call," Mac suggested. "I mean all the stuff should be removed from the
top of the set; adequate lighting should be provided; and the kids should be corralled
in another part of the house."
"Hear, hear!" Barney applauded. "And the customer herself should not try to entertain
the service technician with a lot of small talk. Anything that diverts his attention
from what he is doing simply increases the time necessary to do it. If she wants
to sit over in a corner and watch, that's fine, but a good way to squander her money
is to keep peppering the technician with questions such as 'What is that thing?
What makes it do that? How much longer will it take you to fix it? Are you sure
it isn't the color power tube as my cousin Willie thinks?' Neither should she regale
the technician with a detailed recital of experiences she has had with other 'incompetent
and crooked technicians.' She might be giving him ideas!"
"When the job is done, she should receive a dated and itemized bill," Matilda
.added, "Before paying that bill she should make sure the set is operating satisfactorily
on all channels. The original complaint should be stated on the bill, especially
if it was intermittent in nature. Then if the trouble comes back after the technician
leaves, it will be a matter of record that the complaint was not corrected. On the
other hand, the technician cannot be held responsible for an entirely new trouble
that shows up later."
"That brings us to the matter of trusting the service technician," Mac said.
"My own practice is to pick a man I think I can trust and then to trust him until
I am convinced that trust is misplaced. We all know that a radio and TV service
technician can deceive a customer in dozens of different ways if he is so inclined.
We also know that if he charges what his knowledge is worth, he does not need to
resort to such shabby business to make a good living. Human nature being what it
is, there is always a tendency to meet expectations. If someone obviously distrusts
you and expects you to try to cheat him, his hostility arouses your own, and there's
always the temptation to give him the business just to prove you can. If your ethics
do not permit this - and ours do not - you still do not give him any breaks. On
the other hand, you have to be a dirty dog to take advantage of a customer who trusts
you and treats you with friendliness and respect. You're much more likely to throw
in a few little extra touches in servicing the receiver of such a customer."
Putting It All Together. "Okay, let's put all this together,"
Matilda said, plucking a pencil from Mac's jacket pocket and starting to jot shorthand
on the back of a service tag. "Americans are spending more money for service than
they do for merchandise. That means getting the most for their service dollars is
becoming increasingly important. They can do this by (1) picking a service shop
as carefully as they do a new car or a new living room suite, (2) calling for service
only when they are sure they need it, (.3) having all pertinent information at hand
when they call for service, (4) having things ready for the technician when he arrives,
(5) allowing him to work with a minimum of distraction, and (6) trusting him and
his judgment. While we've been thinking in terms of radio and TV service, the same
general principles apply to all kinds of service, from dealing with auto mechanics
to doctors."
"That's a good summary, Matilda," her employer said, "but now the coffee and
cookies are all gone, perhaps we'd better quit talking about service and start practicing
it."
"It sure is tough working for a doggone slave driver," Barney muttered, starting
to gather up the coffee cups.
Mac's Radio Service Shop Episodes on RF Cafe
This series of instructive
technodrama™
stories was the brainchild of none other than John T. Frye, creator of the
Carl and Jerry series that ran in
Popular Electronics for many years. "Mac's Radio Service Shop" began life
in April 1948 in Radio News
magazine (which later became Radio & Television News, then
Electronics
World), and changed its name to simply "Mac's Service Shop" until the final
episode was published in a 1977
Popular Electronics magazine. "Mac" is electronics repair shop owner Mac
McGregor, and Barney Jameson his his eager, if not somewhat naive, technician assistant.
"Lessons" are taught in story format with dialogs between Mac and Barney.
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