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andyd [at] lug.org.uk said:
> But what you're doing is devaluing the work of commercial computer > repair people. This is dangerous. I'm sure it's not your intention to > take a means to earn away from local IT shops, but this is precisely > what you risk doing.
Wittier souls than I have responded already – I’ll try a straight bat with this one.
I’ve given a fair amount of thought to this one, as I also fix computers for local organisations as both a volunteer and for money (through a social enterprise). Although in the community context the point is often made that the poorest people just can’t afford to get their pc’s fixed and this is largely true, it is also true to say that if people value what a computer does for them highly then they’ll pay full the going rate to get it fixed. However, I see the real value of our community service is to spread the understanding that computers bring power – google alone makes my computer the most useful object in my house. Whilst people don’t appreciate what they could do with a computer – how they can collaborate with Peru or find a local plumber etc. etc. – then they won’t be bothered to get them working.
With organisations I am often told ‘there is no budget for this’ – so I spend time as a volunteer configuring free software, struggle to get old hardware working etc. etc. However, I also promote taking IT seriously and putting IT in the budget – getting people to see how it’s not just an electronic typewriter but can help them do more effective work on the ground. Where groups or individuals have got money to spend – I won’t volunteer for those organisations and I won’t prioritise those individuals in our queue. However, on a practical level I would rather do the odd job that would really take money from a local repair service for a ‘rich’ person than ask everyone how much money they had and then only help the ‘poor’ ones! My personal experience is that if people have money they tend to upgrade every couple of years and then they give the old computer to family or friends – something that I am happy to support.
The reality is that local PC shops should be delighted with us doing all the hard work for them – and sending people round to them with exactly what they need written down, and not needing much support afterwards either. The repair that these places do is mainly to get people to the point of purchase – when the profit from the purchase covers the repair time. So if we do the repair and send them on for the purchase they are quids in! Plus if more people use computers these shops can only benefit from this in the long term.
For organisations, they appreciate that you get a different service from a volunteer than a paid worker – and as soon as the organisation realises that it needs computers to function effectively these days; and can get it in the budget – they’ll upgrade to paid technical staff.
As it happens I’m going to a meeting tomorrow with a local PC shop owner who is giving a computer to their local city farm. I’ll ask about their reaction to our service and if they regard it as taking honest trade from them. I don’t know of anyone who offers a fix-it service at the kind of rates that would tempt people who didn’t currently value having a working computer – I have always assumed because it’s not a commercial proposition. If I’m wrong then please let me know.
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