Will start chasing as many small issues as possible. Have purchased Gerber IVb, Gerber Scanner 1, Sprint 15" & 30", SuperSprint 15" & 30", two HS15+, one HS750+, two Edge printers, Maxx printer and the Sabre 408 router. Counting materials and consumables easily spent over a million dollars with them and when purchased dealer promised support. Now dealers say do not support Gerber equipment anymore. Called Gerber and they sent me this price list.
Travel Expenses including all car rental, airfare, hotel, and meal charges: At cost
Weekday Labor for travel both ways and while on-site (two hour minimum): $220 per hour
Parts: At MSRP
Shipping charges for Parts: At cost
I am assuming tech flies into Atlanta from Massachusetts, rents car, settles in hotel room, starts next morning and best case says "need part #xxxx" has overnight shipped to install, tests, update firmware, drives back to Atlanta spending night at hotel airport waiting on flight and have spent $10,000 or so dollars. Worst case he spends two days finding issue then says control box has to be sent to China for repair or buy new and when shows up router still does not work and say have to fly back and start over, never finds problem and have $20,000+ in router still dead.
We have been closed two years because I have been going through two different types of cancer plus have had over a dozen spine surgeries. If file disability cant pay my bills as spent huge amount of savings when rear ended on way home from work in 2007 breaking my neck and in scans doctors noticed a brain tumor. Due to "boss man" not on site sales and production dropped rapidly then 2008 market crashed but paid my two key full time guys their full 40 hours per week and two key part time men their average twenty hours per week and most weeks shop closed by noon Wednesday for lack of work through 2010 and I returned to work after dealt with brain tumor, broken neck and a little spin around the block to clear my mind on motorcycle and deer ran out in road and ended up having orthopedic surgeon take 14.5 hours to fix it. Knew if men didnt get paid would be gone when health/economy recovered. We have done this through every economic downturn back to 1972 OPEC oil crisis and minor downturns in the 1960s. Soon as post health and 2008 crash picked up, got busy hired on more men and went back at it. Went to lumber store and when returned two of seven men were left. Soon as I left a competitor came in and offered everyone a $2 per hour raise to come with him and five followed him. Had a lof of upset clients when production slowed and lost a few to shop who hired my guys as one took all our graphics files and Quickbooks price/customer list for a cash bonus.
Since 1952 we have been honest, treated clients honest and employees like family but learned the hard way world doesnt work that way. Remember dad meeting once a week for breakfast with owners of every shop in town, we helped each other, loaned materials, helped each other through jobs and everyone did well. When the sign computer became common and vendors popped up in every retail strip center our industry went from friendly competition to fighting over lowest bid on a 3'×6' banner or 18"×24" for sale by owner but we kept motoring on providing quality. Rebuilt my team then covid hit, had mandatory shut downs but paid my men their weekly average pay reaching in savings.
Covid shutdowns ended, material shortages continued to cause client issues when told them the Gerber 220 vinyl used to mark vehicles was back ordered then as work picked up and material shortages normalized had another competitor with human resources issue in and offered everyone who came to his shop a raise and as tried to rebuild a team got diagnosed with cancer early 2022 and doctors found some tumors in back that from time showed on MRI as size of end of my thumb came out bigger than a baseball. Been out of work majority of 2022 and all 2023 and been unable to hire anyone that stays. Am considering fixing router, servicing all the plotters and printers then selling them. Think I can go to hand lettering, pin striping, hand carved signs, screen printing reproduction wall paper for houses being restored to their 1800s glory, recreating complicated crown moldings, window casings, custom iron work, gold leaf and all the skills I learned growing up in a big 17 man sign shop during the 1960s and 1970s. Work others have no idea how to do unless 3D print and still hard to do and be historically correct.
I had done three hand carved signs back to back when my Gerber dealer showed me a brochure and video on Sabre 408 and ordered it that day. Sent demo of Artcam Pro full 3D software, spent $10,000 for licensed copy and week training for myself and my full time graphics guy. Made enough money first three years to pay for it on one client but all his work was 60"×60" mold masters whose only complaint was all being made in two pieces. He saw a 62" wide Multicam machine asked me if intended to buy one and said was too much cost to replace a router when had a "no real issue" work around to his 60" issue so he purchased amulti cam, hired an operator then when discovered his work only kept machine busy one to two days per week went from client to competitor.
I am about to turn 61 but was hand cutting Ulano "stay sharp" and 3M Contoltac with a knife from age ten when a job needed vinyl instead of paint. Was hand lettering before I started at an easel on a box doing "grocery store window posters" after lunch when kindergarten let out then using water based temporary paint lettering prices on windshields of cars on dealer lots all through elementary school. Dad would pop inspection panel in lighted signs, shove me inside and I would swap bulbs without dad having to pull faces. Remember our old shop when moved had almost two inche worn spot in concrete along the easels from four men walking back and forth slinging lettering brushes all day. My dad, Wimpy Cantrell, "Big Dan" Griffin, "Shady" Williams and other letterheads who taught me the trade. "Big Dan's" specialty was painting road runners, other Mopar graphics and cutting film for screens, "Wimpy" taught me cartooning, "Shady" taught me gold leaf, glass smalt, hand carving and more while dad was all about knocking out 4'×8's, billboards, "wall dogging" and a clean fast style that turned fast money and nice signs. Fix router, service all plotters and printers then sell while some value left then go back to 1800s to 1960s handmcrafted work.
It's nice knocking out a design on my work station and sending it to a machine but everyone can do that. Had an uncle who had his "sign kit" with lettering enamel and brushes tied on back of a bicycle and rode that bike town to town for fifteen years before buying a truck, never bought into computer sign equipment till finally began ordering printed banners for billboards to save time from a subcontractor and died a multimillionaire. May be time to hang up the sign business all together to restore antique motorcycles and build custom guns. This router issue is going to swing my life decision really big as if get it running know I can sell enough work off it to make good money napping while it runs. Being the first to embrace every new machine technology did me well but now anyone can buy Chinese printer and plotter, rent 600 sq ft store front and are instant sign professionals. Question Is will my back hold up to three days with chisels, full days of striping cars, engine turning gold leaf and letting go of the machines. If able to solve router issue have half dozen jobs could beging Jan 2 so it's a quandry.
