Word: repairable
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...course, a better option than getting laid off, not receiving our 2008 tax refund or being unable to drive through an abandoned highway repair project - the brutal realities of a state in freefall with no balanced budget. But it's still a bit of a shock. "The average Californian hasn't figured out exactly what this particular budget means for him or her yet," says Mark Baldassare, president and chief executive officer of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. "But they're going to feel it soon...
...past, one of the biggest challenges tradespeople faced was a psychological barrier that kept consumers out of the repair shop: I will not stoop so low as to squeeze more life out of these musty shoes or this old dress. That feeling still exists. An Indianapolis publishing executive named Pat, who just took four suit jackets in for restoration, asked that her last name not be printed because "it's nobody's business that I'm recycling clothing." But the economic realities eventually prevail. Pat was looking to extend her wardrobe when she chose between new and used. "Should...
...repair trade is delivering positive numbers even to the wrecked automobile industry. Since consumers can't afford a new car right now, they are holding on to their old ones longer. During December, for example, the average trade-in time for cars was 6.3 years, compared with 5.7 years in 2007. These rides often need repairs to stay alive. "Overall, our members are saying they are seeing a revenue increase," says Angie Wilson, vice president of marketing and communications for the Automotive Service Association, which represents 8,000 independent car-repair shops in the U.S. According to an association survey...
...Further, even though car dealerships are like ghost towns these days, on-site-service sales rose 2% during the past four months. Paul Taylor, chief economist of the National Automobile Dealers Association, is projecting growth "significantly above 3%" this year. "It's welcome news," Taylor says of the repair rise. "It's important that when consumer expenditures are dead in the water, this sector of the economy is growing...
...While the recession has helped all types of repair professions, cobblers seem to be enjoying their luck more than others. Shoe repair is a dying industry. During the Great Depression, there were some 130,000 shops in the country. Now there are only 7,000. Graying, middle-aged repairers are the Young Turks; there's a clear shortage of 20- and 30-something cobblers in today's shops. "We have a chance to reintroduce our industry," says Randy Lipson, who runs four shoe-repair shops in St. Louis, Mo. The shoes are falling off the shelves in Lipson's shops...