Maybe why the vintage tvs have dried up.Everyone assumes they're worthless so they throw em' away.Anyway after years of getting discarded tvs and when it was more profitable non-working ones bought at auction and selling them at the flea market I have pulled everything out of the flea market.I can sell some of the lighter smaller tvs to a vendor that sells them along with other things he sells.No longer worth it for me to sell used electronics alone.All summer maybe sold 15 tvs and cheap.Went to the only auction around here that used to be the one to sell electronics at and get anything for it(Wilson's auction in Lincoln,De) tonight to try to unload a few that I knew he wouldn't want.They didn't want to bother with hooking them up.The newer tvs were taking up room on the stand.But not that many.2 that I took were the Sony 26" from the mid 80's.They are remote(no bid,not even $1)I know they work good too.1 has a slightly weak green gun but the other is strong all the way.The other was a mid 80's Sony but non-remote.Again no bid.The only one that got a bid on it that I took was a early 90's all black Toshiba19"(modern looking)I admit I rejuvenated the tube and I didn't want to sell it other than anonymously.Got $4.Other tvs with no bids were a mid 80's RCA 25" remote tv hooked up and playing great,another black cased but particle board,not plastic with the glass in front(probably late 80's think it was a Wards)Hooked up and playing great.No bids.He didn't even bother with an RCA console and 2 80's woodgrain 19"tvs.One Sharp,one Panasonic.Both remote control.They did have one Sharp 25" turn knob tv hooked up with excellent color.Don't recall what it brought but I'm sure cheap.Best tvs were late 90's Magnavox 27"($22),late 90's Magnavox 19"($15) and a late 90's Magnavox 13"(again $15).Early 90's Magnavox brought only $5.Surprising but a couple b/ws sold.1 12" for $2 and a cute little 5" with radio for $2.As far as I'm concerned my broken ones aren't even worth fixing.Anyone in Maryland or nearby fooling around with mid to late 70's solid state tvs?I hate to throw those workhorses away.Too much to hope for anyone into vintage tvs wanting later tvs.The other guy on here near me only wants tube tvs.I'm not into filling my house up with tvs.Already got enough with jukeboxes,vintage record players and records.My boss called me stupid for hauling the unsold tvs back home.I asked them what they would do with them if I left them and they said the dumpster.I may be stupid but I hate to see working tvs go in the trash,especially ones I fixed up so I took them home and offered them up on freecycle.I kept up selling used tvs as long as I could.Trying anymore would be :deadhorse .As much as I liked to fix them I'm not a collector and no outlet for them.I repair tvs for a living for someone else.Carry in work has declined but a lot of people will still have their existing tv repaired and plenty of warranty work.Most people have larger tvs and will pay for in home service.I'm on the road a lot and put nearly 100,000 on the van in the last 3 years.He sells some used tvs for far better prices than I do due to having an ad in the local Guide and having a storefront but very slowly.He doesn't want to sell any of my "junk"Already got a glut of them in the shop.Believe me most of you guys wouldn't want to be modern tv repairmen.The pay really sucks unless you have your own shop but no way you could do it alone.My boss is on the phone and the computer doing warranty claims,ordering parts for new crap and getting tech support for new crap a lotwhile I'm burning up the road running to people's houses and doing bench work too.I bet most of you wouldn't want to be so poorly paid you lived in a rented mobil home no matter much you loved repairing tvs.

A sad state of affairs. I have watched the ads in the classifieds for the little tv shop down in Berlin & I guess they used to get close to $100 for used 19" sets then the price kept dropping, $75, $65, $55, finally bottomed out at $35. I think the newest ad was back up to $45. I know you can't afford to do much to a tv set for that amount of money. I know used tv's were a good business at one time. There were a couple vendors at Bargain Bill's flea market & all the used furniture stores had a row of sets. The first line of your post says it all. When even a good, working, modern set won't sell for a dollar, why is someone going to bother even trying to sell a 40 year old tv?

The tv we have in the bedroom is a 13" Samsung that my wife picked up when we were in KY/OH. Got it for $35 at an indoor flea market. The vendor has a large booth full of used electronics. I've been to his place probably 6 times over the last 4 years & I have no idea how he sells enough to pay the rent. Most of the inventory just sits & sits. It was Wal*Mart that did this, of course. If it wasn't for them most folks would still be buying their sets from hometown tv shops; they would pay high prices, probably double or more what those Flung Dung sets are going for now at Wally World. That would keep the price of used sets high, as well. Old Wal*Mart isn't evil, they just play havoc with the economies here in small town America.

When I was growing up I made a lot of money selling VCRs and TVs that I had repaired. Even 4 or 5 years ago there was a pretty good market for used TVs. Now I only bother with things like HD sets and ones I'm interested in for myself. I only do other things by request. I could have a number of nice 27"-35" TVs right now, but I'd end up stuck with them for months. I can't believe some of the junk people pay to fix, but they won't by a much better used set.

I am in this same boat. I bought a brand new Corvette in high school, my first house at 19. All with money from picking up broken TVs in the trash and at garage sales, fixing and selling them in the paper and doing repairs on older TVs that the shops thought were too old. I was a kid, so most TV owners wouldn't trust me with a new $1000 Sony 26", but there were a heck of a lot of PortaColors and old round tube TVs in my neighborhood in West Los Angeles that I would get repair jobs on. On used sales, I got $100-$250 for any color console, $200 for most portable colors, and $35-$50 for B&W sets. And I could get them for between nothing and maybe $50 for a nonworking late-model set. On repairs, I usually charged $45 + parts on B&W and $75+ parts on color console, and $100+ parts on Sony and solid state flat. This was from the late 70s to the mid 80s, I call the Golden Days of Used TV.

Rented mobile home? You JCFitz are not alone! Just moved into mine in June... New Corvette is now a 10-year-old Toyota Diesel pickup. I actually don't even repair TVs anymore, as I got tired of being called a crook when I wanted $50 to fix TVs that could be bought new for $99 even though it was maybe a 2-hour troubleshoot plus parts. And the only used TVs that I can make good money on (after having fun fixing :banana: ) are the round tube color sets for collectors and other antique sets. I just threw out a nice RCA 20" late 90s table model that was working fine. Nobody wanted it, and I put it at the dumpster with a sign FREE, WORKS! It was still there when the trash truck came for it.

WalMart is one cause, along with the manufacturers who enslave 9-year-old children in the Far East and Africa to assemble the new TVs and other electronics for a bowl of rice. And we buy it all. Shame on us, I suppose. We cooked our own goose. It was better before. Yes; you could buy a 12" B&W TV at Zody's or Gemco in the early 70s cheap, but for the livingroom TV you would go (in Los Angeles) to Ham the Zenith Man or Harvey's. The properly paid salesman would find the right TV for you, and would personally deliver it and install it that night. And the shop that sold it to you would work to build a relationship from which you would call them back for service, and even buy a second TV from them for the bedroom. Times gone by but fondly remembered.

I hope John R. Meagher (author, Pict-O-Guide, and RCA head tech and maybe most famous pioneering TV repairman) was able to escape (retire) in time before this career disappeared... Bless him, I think he probably did :thmbsp:

Charles

It's hard to believe that they can make new TVs and sell them for such a low price that it's impossible for used TVs to compete. Even if I pick up a 27" TV for free and fix it with parts from a junk board it's still not worth doing when it takes 6 months to sell it for maybe $75 tops.

I think it's the fact that TVs now are throw away sets. They have barely anything in them. A PCB that drives the CRT, a cable tuner and some sort of microcontroller module, AV inputs and that's it. It's cheap to make, low BOM and low assembly labor. And most assembly is done in Asia and Mexico. A super cheap TV that cost maybe $45 costs probably $30 to make, including BOM and assembly. And yes, they are enslaved children that get a bowl of rice per day for their labor. This is why TVs are so cheap. I think this is a real shame, and why I'll do whatever I can to royally screw these electronics companies when I get a chance. RCA is one of them...

Jonathan

The sad thing is that it costs to dump tvs.I usually sneak some junkers in my bosses' dumpster.Now I'm going to get rid of a lot and don't have a dump permit.My stepfather is going to let me use his trailer as he has a dump permit.I might take the BPC stereo recievers that don't work but still light up up there to the auction.Saw a Yamaha go for $17.50.Was a late 80's and probably low power as it only had 1 output chip for both channels.And modern light junky vcrs some of those went for a few dollars.Better than throwing them away.I'll keep the newer modern tvs as there's some hope of selling them.But anything that looks older in the eyes of the buyer will not sell.Woodgrain sides,red number instead of OSD,speaker on side anything and they don't want it.I will no longer rescue tvs when I see them in the trash unless I see a vintage collector tv or a 32" or bigger as I can unload them and may use it myself.Gonna be tough when I ride by but I have to remind myself there is no money there.Wish I didn't have to throw the 70's ones away because that is within interest to some on here but I'm probably too far away from anyone that wants them.

What I would recommend if you are in the TV repair business is to:
1. diversify your income streams
and 2. change your repair focus to products which people WILL pay to repair.

We have a repair shop that specializes in Jukeboxes, PA amps, antique radios, tube stereo equipment, guitar amps, arcade machines, phono needles/cartridges etc. People have held on to these pieces of equipment and they WILL pay to have them fixed. We have more work out there then we can do at one time.

There is not too much out there to repair as far as TV's and much of the time the modern sets are not economically repairable. Most old TV's have been junked whereas the old jukes, guitar amps etc are still held in high regard and appreciation. We have done a very few TV's but most of the TV work we do is for our own collection.

Also I would recommend diversifying your income streams...My business partners and I all have other full-time jobs and we don't rely on the shop to support us solely, because even though we have a lot of work it still wouldn't be enough to make your whole living at.
If you are just working in the TV repair biz I would seriously recommend thinking about some of these changes now because I don't think that business will get any better.

From the late 60's to the early 90's I probably averaged selling 100 restored used sets per month. Then it changed, did it ever. I added big satellite dishes and that changed, too. So we have to keep changing. Now I do educational technology work for schools across the state and that keeps changing. I did start collecting & restoring old TV's about 15 yrs ago + selling some now-so I guess I've come full circle.

I am in this same boat. I bought a brand new Corvette in high school, my first house at 19. All with money from picking up broken TVs in the trash and at garage sales, fixing and selling them in the paper and doing repairs on older TVs that the shops thought were too old. I was a kid, so most TV owners wouldn't trust me with a new $1000 Sony 26", but there were a heck of a lot of PortaColors and old round tube TVs in my neighborhood in West Los Angeles that I would get repair jobs on. On used sales, I got $100-$250 for any color console, $200 for most portable colors, and $35-$50 for B&W sets. And I could get them for between nothing and maybe $50 for a nonworking late-model set. On repairs, I usually charged $45 + parts on B&W and $75+ parts on color console, and $100+ parts on Sony and solid state flat. This was from the late 70s to the mid 80s, I call the Golden Days of Used TV.


Charles
I'm envious of the money you made back then and your technical ability at a young age.You are only a year older than me so you must have got into it much earlier than me.You must be one hell of a tech.In the late 70's I took my record changer apart and couldn't put it back together.Poor thing went to the dump.A few radios I ventured into went there too.One my dad saved but he had to cut a hole in the side of the case so you could stick something in there and tune it.I knocked the dial string off track.No one would let me near a tv.I didn't know enough to fix tvs til the mid 80's after I took electronics in vo-tech in high school and never got really good at it til I worked for a while in a shop,the one I still work for.In the mid 80's I was working at MCDonalds after school and for a few years as I picked up tvs to fix and sell on the side or at Bargain Bill's flea market.I don't think I ever got the prices you did.Maybe $100 -$150 for color consoles or the rare portable 25" that came up back then.Maybe $75-$150 for color portables and $15-$20 for B/W.By the time I started getting enough tvs to get a significant amount out of them I was hooked on vinyl records and spent all my tv money on getting them and building a collection.Maybe a Corvette(late 70's-early 80's price not present day) worth spent there but never a house.And the days of finding good(collectible stuff like original Elvis,Beatles,Stones,Motown,Etc) records for a pittance are gone.Hardly any show up at auction or SA other than common 70's stuff and all the easy listeninng dreck they must have made millions of.So I'm glad I got while the getting was good.But I sure wish I had gotten an older house while they were cheap.Houses are out of my league now for sure.The work money just barely paid the bills.Lived with grandma til 1999 when she passed away.The last vehicle I bought was a 1998 Ranger.Bought it new and plan to drive it until it falls apart and then some.Was sure glad when the payments were over and don't want anymore.The used market seemed to decline gradually enough that I could see the writing on the wall.I thought I could unload more this year than I did to clean out but it seemed like when 2005 hit it was like the bottom suddenly fell out completely.

During the late 70's while I was in high school I worked at a Zenith dealer. He would let me buy the older trade in's he did not want. I would get the round color sets for free that way he would not have to hual them to the dump. I could even sell the round sets for $50 to $75 back then. The shop I worked for is long gone now but back then they had more work then they could handle. I saved my money to buy test equipment and for school. I also worked at a radio station to watch the transmitter for the DJ's that didn't have a 1st phone. It was fun to be a kid and help the guys service those big tube transmitters in the middle of the night. After a while they learned they could trust the "kid" to make adjustments without checking with them first.

Most of my friends worked at gas statations , Disneyland or in fast food they tought what I was doing was boring but I think I learnd a lot for later and had a lot more fun at least I think I did.

It's a shame a lot of stuff is junked so early in it's life where I work now we take a lot of pride in keeping things running and still meeting spec.

I'm 21, and most people trust me. They think I'm part of the "computer" generation who "knows everything about computers". I'm trained as an electronics tech, I got an EET degree for it, but people still say "Oh, you are into computers?". People do trust me to fix their expensive equipment, but all I've ever been offered to do is fix the pesky problems with windows and it's adware/spyware and hook up things for people. Right now, being a tech and having a shop where people bring in their electronics for cd/dvd players, stereos, modern tvs, etc just won't work because most electronics are digital, cheap, difficult-if not possibly to dianose and fix, and a real pita, even with the limited service data that is available because electronics companies think everyone will steal their designs. I hate it how people would hand me a dvd player and expect me to magically get it working again thinking it will require no effort at all because I'm "smart" when in reality the dvd player was made for $20 over in china and the no-name IC is fried, or the drive mechanism broke and I have no way to get it calibrated so the mechanisms move the way they should. Not to mention the surface mount stuff is impossible to diagnose problems with it, as well as desolder it too.

Infact I was handed a bill acceptor from an arcade machine which has some problem with it. I was told it "displays 3", probably meaning some error code that's used in the game it was connected to. Without any service documentation, test jigs, pc software, calibration procedure, etc I'm expected to pull a magic wand out of my ass, wave it around the bill acceptor and have it automatically fixed. Then they ask what was wrong with it and I tell them what's wrong and they have no clue about what I'm talking about... Unfortunately, this is the only way to make extra money fixing things for people. But I should look on the bright side, because I'm so "smart" and I know "computers", people trust me! :)

Jonathan

Had I been born just 5 years sooner I'm sure I'd have gotten into tv repair professionally. By the time I got out of school in '90 I was tinkering a lot with tv's but not getting anywhere. Sometimes I would get lucky with an old tube set but then they were hard to sell. A number of people gave me sets to fix but I don't recall many repairs that held. Around that time the local tv shop was looking for someone to help install antennas & I sometimes wonder how things would have turned out had I applied. 5 years later the place was out of the tv business, so I don't know. I'm still no good with solid state gear, though I know I could have been taught. And maybe you don't have to be that good to get by sometimes? A good old guy I know is a retired tv repairman from Sears. He gave me a bunch of stuff that was going to the dumpster. Said over & over that he really was never any good with solid state stuff & that he doesn't know why he didn't get fired years ago! That made me feel better!

Even though I was no good at it, I spent years lugging home sets I found for free or cheap. The house was always cluttered with stuff. I finally broke myself of it.

The Tv shops in town here are really struggling. The guys do a lot of trading of chassis and parts. A lot of the time they are sending the chassis out to PTS for a rebuild. That is in the $200+ range. Most folks are not willing to pay it. The Tv is then bought or donated and ends up being parts.

One local repairman was told by this man to fix the set because the insurance was going to pay to fix it. The insurance check minus depreciation amounted to way less that the man thought. The Tv man put a lot of money to fix the set. Now it is sitting there waiting for the man to come up with the rest of the money. I would imigine that the set will be sold soon to pay the bill. He does not like doing that. There is a big screen sittin there for over two years waiting for the payment. I told him to just sell it. Most of the local shops are requesting payment before fixing the set. That way they do not have money tied up in a set that will not be paid for.

I think most folks want the 200 plus channels and no knobs on the set. I am just sick at the look of all the black plastic stuff on the Tv shelf. If it is not 32" or bigger most folks will not get it either.

I picked up a 36" Mitsu yesterday. Paid $15.00 at a local thrift store. Has a vertical problem that should be easy to fix. The Tv man was happy that I found it for him. I trade Newer televisions for Tv help/repair. Sometimes I can't figure it out and he will have the answer. :)

polaraman

I worked for a few TV repairmen about 30 years ago as I was going to college. Even then, I noticed that none of them seemed to make a lot of money. The ones who did the best had other sidelines. One who did farily well was a postal carrier for 1/2 day. The other one who did well was retired military and had a side job as a security guard.

I enjoyed electronics, so I got a degree in electrical engineering. To date this has paid far better than TV repair ever would have. I am glad I went the path that I did as I still enjoy working with electronics.

Restoring tube type TVs and radios my hobby which I enjoy. I learned how to work in the tube type equipment in a high school tech course and by working with these repairmen.

On another note, all of the TV repairmen that I ever met smoked. I know that one of them died as a result of this(lung disease). Is this the experience of the others in this post?

I must add that two of the 4 repairmen drive a school bus to supplement income.


polaraman

A couple years ago a local TV and jukebox repair shop was destroyed by a fire that took out the entire building (shared with a ceramics art shop). Seems a plumber who did a repair with a blow torch may have set it smoldering until it went to full fire late at night. Nobody inside when it did burn down. In any event I wouldn't expect this TV repair business to reappear in the replacement building whenever it does get built on the site.

This shop had a few 80's era TV sets on display in the front window, along with a jukebox. I don't think that he moved much inventory before the fire happened.

Another shop in the next town folded about 6 months before the fire. Both had shop signs with Zenith logos.

Once I mentioned to a friend that WallMart was evil. He said in reply that they still have great prices.....

I never had alot of real repair experience with tube sets. By the time my shop got established, tube sets were few and far between. Roundies? Never.

I kept a small stock of deflection tubes for later tube color sets. 6JE6, 22KM6, etc. I have at least 4 6LQ6/6JE6's for a late '60's RCA that my cousin has in her living room.

I stopped repairs after a year of being bitched out for overcharging. "50 bucks? I can buy a new one for $99!!!" VCR repairs went on a little longer, as I had some good suppliers of older parts. I liked repairing VCR's that were metal. For awhile, Emerson had that little ORION built machine that broke a single nylon guide with a steel pin in it. I bought 500 of the guide part from them, and sold them all. Life was good.

When Magnavox dropped Panasonic built VCR's and went to FUNAI with their crap power supplies, I decided that it was time to stop.

My personal home TV's are all Sony's... 2-27" sets from the early 1990's, and a 13" Sony in the kitchen. One of the Sonys is their first XBR set. It was left with me, and the owner never came to pick it up, even after I contacted them by phone and by letter at least 4 times.

My big RCA CTC-10 dominates the living room, and runs thru a 1984 Hitachi hi-fi VCR that refuses to die.

I lurk on the streets of my town these days looking for old TV's. I found a screen mask for an Admiral a few months ago, but I let it go. I gave it to a friend that used it in a display.

I dont like to go to Wal-Mart either.

Worked part time in a TV shop (by the hour), watched the market change till we closed up in 98, at the end we did claims for 3 insurance companies, big screens (projection), no VCR's, no sets under 27", far cry from when I started in 90 when we took in anything and VCR's were a good portion of the income.

I currently do a little part time work in a repair shop. I get paid per piece, so I always try to finish as many things as possible when I'm there. I'm often surprised at the junk people bring in and have repaired. Things like 70's BSR record changers and low end TVs.

The big problem is that they are understaffed. It's not unusual for a TV to take a month or longer to finish by the time I get to it and parts arrive. I can't blame people for not wanting to wait that long next time the TV breaks and just replacing it.

Professional A/V equipment is by far the most profitable. They will still pay well over $100 for a basic repair on a pro VCR. There are plenty of unskilled people working on pro equipment. I once saved a $10,000 JVC that was judged unrepairable. It turned out to mostly be damage caused by the last repair attempt. Fortunately, none of it was serious. Bose is also a good source of income. People will gladly pay for repairs and they are usually very easy to fix. Service manuals and parts are also pretty reasonably priced too.

Obviously the trick is to stick to things that are worth repairing. You can't make money fixing VCRs now any more than you could have on B/W TVs in the 70's.

in the early eightys customers would buy the consoles off of my work table before the were really finshed. how much. up to $250.00 they would pay. but i didnt sell any junk. always put dependable sets out there. i have installed a lot of 25" replacement picture tubes, $250.00 plus tax. the tubes cost i believe $79.00 and were brought to me every tuesday. i used to have 2 parts salesman every week come by to see what i needed. also every 2 weeks here come the rca salesman philco and sony salsman. rca always got my business. up untill about 3 years ago i got a load of rca a week. pretty impressive for a town of only 2500 people. i draw a large area. why because i give great service with resonable repair prices. and have been here for over 25 years. i must admit i am almost ready to quit. business is good but i am getting bored. steve

Steve, are you still an RCA dealer? I can't think of anybody independent around here who still carries them. Our town is the same size as yours, I think the shop downtown here is the only independent left in our county. In fact, I think the only other place you can buy a new tv in Caroline County, MD is in the Roses discount store in the county seat. Well, a Radio Shack dealer just opened up there but I haven't been in to see what he carries. Anyway, the shop in town here still has signage for Zenith & Philips Magnavox but I think what little he sells he buys from another dealer 30 minutes away.

<<<It's hard to believe that they can make new TVs and sell them for such a low price that it's impossible for used TVs to compete>>

I'm picturing a hoard of Chinese political prisoners being whipped while installing the picture tubes into cheapo 13-inch color sets...

yes we are still an rca dealer. been selling mostly dlp sets as of lately. i dont want one of thoes to break down but they will. we are buying loads of scratch and dent proj. sets. last load was sony and samsung. the sonys are a pain in the big ass to fix. these sets sell real well. about $600.00 each. most are in fine condition when they get here. some have broke mirrors and some have had tech,s in them that did not know how to fix a big screen. still i am ready to give it up. steve