WiGoMan Blog - Tech Care (Repair, Reuse, Recycle) Industry Leader

This year the brilliant minds that have led the Electronic Reuse Conference (ERC) and E-Scrap Conference (ESC) decided to combine forces in Chicago and put on one combined show. Can I just say, yes please!   Combining the resources of these two organizations was a great move and something that should become permanent for years to come. I attended all three days of the show (Mon/Tue/Wed.) and was able to sit in on multiple sessions and networking events while also meeting many of the exhibitors in the exhibition hall.  First Enjoy this video overview of our visit to ERC/ESC 2021 Most of the conference sessions I would grade an A+ with experienced speakers and thoughtful moderators. The sessions were broken down into specific segments of the industry, joint sessions, and App only sessions. Like most conferences it's tough to get to everything, so it was nice that some of the sessions were recorded App only sessions you could watch later. I got into town late Mon...

As I walked into the conference area of the hotel in Nashville on the first day of ERC 2020 I realized that this year was going to be much different than years past. I took a deep breath as I prepared for non-stop interaction with many of the great people in the tech repair, reuse and recycle industry. I was really looking forward to shaking some hands, giving some hugs and getting up close and personal with my friends in the industry. But then it hit me like a ton of bricks as I heard an all to familiar sound...   ...my alarm clock that snapped me back into reality. As I awoke from my slumbers I decided that today -- since it was the first day of the virtual conference -- I would go ahead and take a shower before noon and even wear pants before logging into the first session of the  VIRTUAL ERC 2020  show. As I headed into my HOME OFFICE I took the opportunity to shake hands with my 13 year old daughter -- who is attending virtual school and working on her handshake...

The TECH REPAIR INDUSTRY is huge! I mean really, really big. Billions of dollars in revenue flow thru thousands of tech repair shops and independent tech repair people all over the country. But MOST people don't even know that tech repair is a thing! Sad 😞but true! You see, when my company started repairing cell phones as part of our AT&T retail business in 2006 every single customer would say, "I never knew anyone who fixed phones". Then w hen I opened my first standalone repair shop in 2010 almost everyone who came into our shop would say, "I never knew anyone who fixed phones". Well of course, that made sense, because we were one of the first companies to offer on the spot immediate cell phone repair in the country. The thing that really surprised  me was that for  ten years  we still had a lot of people coming in and saying the same thing!? INDEPENDENT RESEARCH Before I sold my repair business in 2016 I decided to do some research. I went ou...

I remember it like it was yesterday -- and at one of the thousands of tech repair shops around the country it was yesterday -- I got a call in my office that one of my good friends from church was down at the repair shop and he was super upset. My tech told me he was frantic and needed to talk to me directly. I was in a meeting with my warehouse staff but I jumped up from my desk and headed down to the shop. On the way I wondered what was wrong. Had someone in our small group been injured? Maybe one of my family members were hurt? Was it another fundraising campaign for the new church building? What could be so important??? I hugged my good friend as I met him in the shop and asked him what was wrong. With tears in his eyes he said, "I really hope you can help Rob." I thought for sure that someone had died.  He slowly lifted a beach bag and emptied four *almost* brand new iPhone's on the counter next to a couple of sea shells along with a little sand mixed-in. The ...

In the old days - dang I sound like an old man - you would get stuff fixed when it broke. I fondly remember helping my dad carry our TV console down to the car to take to the repair shop. Heck I even remember going with dad to get a blender fixed one time at a local repair shop. Things changed in 1989 when Gordon Jump became the "Maytag Repairman" and his character became an iconic metaphor for a professional whose services are rarely needed. You see innovation in the home appliance market had pretty much peaked by this time. So to sell more product companies like Maytag built a better product that they could charge more for and convince folks that they could do without "ol' Lonely" as he was called. Many other industries followed suit and tried to build better stuff that didn't need to be repaired as often. Really only the high-tech stuff, that was still innovating needed repair centers. The Cell Phone industry was one of those products as both Noki...

In the old days - dang I sound like an old man - you would get stuff fixed when it broke. I fondly remember helping my dad carry our TV console down to the car to take to the repair shop. Heck I even remember going with dad to get a blender fixed one time at a local repair shop. Then in 1989 Gordon Jump became the "Maytag Repairman" and his character became an iconic metaphor for a professional whose services are rarely needed. You see innovation in the home appliance market had pretty much peaked by this time. So to sell more product companies like Maytag built a better product that they could charge more for and convince folks that they could do without "ol' Lonely" as he was called. Many other industries followed suit and tried to build better stuff that didn't need to be repaired as often. Really only the high-tech stuff, that was still innovating needed repair centers. The Cell Phone industry was one of those products as both Nokia and Motorola ...