Sigh

[Teefies2]

So I'm a photo tech at a drugstore ... actually the Head photo tech, so all of the following is on my shoulders.

A week ago last Tuesday, the photo printer started acting funny, printing lines where they shouldn't be. It was late, so I left a note for the morning person to call repair. Before I did that though, I did all the troubleshooting things I could do ... cleaning the machine, rebooting, etc. So the morning person calls repair and has to go through the same dang things I had done the night before GRRRRR. Anyway, she convinced them that repair really *was* needed and they said they would send a tech out.

Thursday, the tech comes out and decides we need a new print head. But of course, he doesn't have one, it has to be ordered. So day FOUR begins with the print head arriving, but the tech is "tied up and will be there as soon as he can." Meanwhile, I'm up to 30 pending photo orders ... most of which are needed "naooooowwww!" on SC time.

Friday, the tech comes back and attempts to install the new print head. Well, guess what? That's not the problem ... it's a little tiny part (seriously, about 1 1/2 inches long). Okay I say, how do we replace that? And then the bottom falls out .....

"We can't" he says. "We have to bring in an entirely new machine."
Ok fine whatever. Let's get this done! He promises me we will be "NUMBER ONE PRIORITY" for the replacement. We shake hands on it.

If you're counting, Saturday is day 6. At this point, I call all the customers that have pending orders to see if they want to wait or cancel. Amazingly, despite all the whining and gnashing of teeth that had occurred, only one person cancels. Of course, we all know nothing gets done on Sunday.

Monday arrives and I am assured that the replacement has been ordered and since we are "NUMBER ONE PRIORITY" it should be here late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Still counting?? We're on day 8 Monday. Ok whatever. I just see my profits dwindling cause you know I'm going to have to discount everybody's orders.

Tuesday and Wednesday I am scheduled off, but I call the store about every 3 hours to see if the new machine has arrived. No.

So today is Thursday, day 11. The tech arrives to install the new machine at 9am. YAY! Unfortunately, the new machine doesn't arrive until 3 pm - UPS was late. The tech, of course, doesn't wait past 9:30 am, as he has other calls. So now it will be at least Friday before the new machine is installed, and that's if I'm REALLY REALLY lucky!!!!!!

So, if you've been following along:

Days without a photo printer .... moving into 12.
Size of part that caused problem .... 1 1/2 inches.
Potential - no make that Definite lost profit .... At least $500.
Cost of my stress level .... PRICELESS

Sigh.

[Trixie]

Last year just after Christmas our machine went down and I think it was the print head. Or maybe that was earlier this year. It's hard to keep track because it's rare that a whole week goes by that one of our machines doesn't malfunction somehow. Anyway, the machine gets fixed, I come into work the next day and the manager says the machine is down again. So right after the holidays our lab was down for about a week. It was a mess. People weren't called. No orders were done, even ones that were for the other printers we have.

Right now we don't have a head photo, everyone keeps telling me I'm going to get it but somedays I'm not sure if I do. That mess should be settled after the holidays but that story probably belongs in the management section.

[sms001]

I feel for ya' Teefies2. That's gotta be frustrating. Just out of curiosity, is this tech support in-house or contracted?

[Android Kaeli]

Replace 'photo lab' for 'bakery' and 'printing machine' for 'label maker' and 'ovens' and you are in my job. It seems that if one of the ovens needed for the bread doesn't break down, one of the label printers doesn't work. In the last month we had an oven break down during a busy weekend and wasn't fixed until the following Friday, both label printers have been on the fritz, and now we are down one label printer. Because of the sheer amount of labels just the baker side does (think around 200+ labels a day ), there have been a few times where there's a backlog of labels.

[Trixie]

I feel for ya' Teefies2. That's gotta be frustrating. Just out of curiosity, is this tech support in-house or contracted?

I'm pretty sure I work for the same company as Teefies2 and it's outside support.

[Teefies2]

Trixie and I do work for the same company and it is outside support.

UPDATE:

Today was my late day (2-10pm). When I arrived, I see the repair guy in the photo area AS WELL AS the store manager, and the assistant store manager. Of course, once I'm there SM and ASM skedaddle (don't blame them, they have other things to do). Repair guy (Larry, a really cool guy) finishes up putting the new machine online, tells me what has occurred and proceeds to print several back orders to prove that it is working. YAY!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!

So Larry is packing up and in walks HIS boss ..... to APOLOGIZE to me!!! I was blown away. Not only did repair company take responsibility for the fact that they had let this repair go way too long, the Boss came to my store to apologize! Wow!

So all is well that ends well. It took me 3 1/2 hours of non-stop processing, but I got ALL the back orders done, as well as called each of those customers to tell them it is ready. I'm still gonna take a hit on profit, but at least it's done. YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wolfie]

Teefies, is your store part of a large chain? Is the equipment standardized across the chain? If both are true, if I were in your shoes I'd send some feedback to corporate, documenting the actual (discounted orders) and potential (customers you turned away due to the lack of a working printer) lost profits (after all, management only listens to money). Suggest a check of the past year to see how many machines have been "down" due to a part needing to be ordered, and whether it would be cost-effective to have an "extra" machine kept at the regional distribution centre.

With an "extra" machine, if the tech finds that a "down" machine needs a part ordered (i.e. a few days wait to get it running), swap in the "extra" machine, and repair the old one (now at the RDC) when the part arrives. The repaired machine now becomes the "extra" waiting for the next failure.

It's a one-time cost (purchase of the machine), but puts a "cap" on the time it takes to get machines repaired (even if the part takes a week to arrive, the store whose machine failed is up and running once the machine is swapped out).

[Teefies2]

Wolfie,

We are a large chain, but equipment is not standardized unfortunately. Also corporate is really into cost-cutting right now, so I can't really see what you suggest happening. But a good idea anyway, thanks!

[Gilhelmi]

Ah yes, "Cost-cutting".

Always seems like corporate "Cost-cutting" costs more money then saves.

[Trixie]

I'm not sure if this is right or it may have been true at one point but I don't think we actually own any of the equipment, it's a leased from the company who makes it. We order daily supplies like paper and ink from our warehouse but any kind of parts we have to call the outside company to get them. Or at least the stuff we're able to replace.

[prjkt]

That sounds like some of the issues I've had to deal with with *major PC brand now pulling out of photo lab business* - nothing quite so epic, but I feel your pain on calling the support hotline...

[wolfie]

but equipment is not standardized unfortunately. Also corporate is really into cost-cutting right now, so I can't really see what you suggest happening.

Always seems like corporate "Cost-cutting" costs more money then saves.

You know, if corporate laid off all the employees and sold/terminated leases on all the properties, they could cut their costs to zero. Of course, they'd cut off their revenue stream in the process. Sometimes you need to spend money in order to make money.

In the long term, standardization saves money because you don't need to keep multiple sets of spare parts. Equipment being "down" costs money, whether it's a discount on an order that's already been placed due to the inconvenience of it not being ready by the promised time, orders not being placed because there's no equipment to service them, or people going elsewhere because extended downtime means you're no longer a reliable service provider - potential customers save themselves time by going to a competitor instead of to you.

Unfortunately, corporate is too focused on the short term to see that having a spare machine is an investment (get the store up and running quicker, in order to protect the revenue stream) rather than a cost. If the revenue stream being protected is credited to a different manager than the spending on equipment to protect it would be billed against, fugheddaboutit. What's needed is someone with a long-term viewpoint, placed high enough that both "silos" (the spending and the revenue stream) are in their "fiefdom". Of course, corporate does a VERY good job of weeding out people with long-term views before they can advance far enough for them to be able to benefit the company.

[eltf177]

Ah yes, "Cost-cutting".

Always seems like corporate "Cost-cutting" costs more money then saves.

Ah, but then the money is available for management bonus'! And for them to not get one is just unthinkable <sarcasm mode off>.

[bbbr]

One of the welders I run is used on every single part the company I work ships to the customers. when it breaks (and it does as it's running outside of its normal settings), it's typically a week + turn around to get if back and that's with one of us running to the Vendor directly. No welder, no parts being made and no money flowing in until its back and proved in.

You would think that such a critical piece of gear would have a spare but nope. One of the engineers spotted one on Craiglist in Arizona for $800 (new ones sell for $30,000 + tooling), the big boss refused to buy it since he couldn't physically verify it ran. Never mind the fact that for a little over a grand it could be refurbished to like new condition or that it could be used as a source of spare parts to keep the primary machine running. Didn't matter, he still refused to sign off on it.

[mhkohne]

In the long term, standardization saves money because you don't need to keep multiple sets of spare parts.

You do have to be a little careful on that front - if you give all your business to one vendor, then if that vendor decides to take some extra profits, there's bupkis you can do about except pay up. On the other hand, if you use multiple vendors you get to be the one screwing THEM over by demanding absurd pricing deals that drive them near the point of bankruptcy.