IPAlarms

Would the old farts amongst us care to share their experiences of how the security industry was effected last time there was an economic downturn ?

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"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member"

MrElectricity

A lot of the guys from back then never came back to the Trade.

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It's hard to make a come back when I havn't been anywhere
I finally got my head together, now my bodies falling apart.

IPAlarms

That bad eh ?

Our industry is supposed to be recession proof. I guess we are about to find out.

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"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member"

Tecom Master

You never know, the crime rate might go up, could be good for business.

MrElectricity

No industry that is not vital can be recession proof, if customers can put off buying somthing they do. I remember security, electricial, plumbing also pool builders and carpenters that had never been out of work working at the markets to keep paying the mortgage. Eventually most leave for a steady job in a factory or warehouse somewhere never to return.

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It's hard to make a come back when I havn't been anywhere
I finally got my head together, now my bodies falling apart.

kalboy

WHAT bloody recession. Rudd AKA Paul Keeting ; the recession we have to have.

IPAlarms

You guys down under might not be feeling it yet, but it's hitting most installers real hard in the US and UK. You can relax Kalboy - it probably won't reach WA for another decade or so yet !

I noticed the Oz unemployment figures have just risen, so you might not be too far away.

I think the security industry is much less effected than most and hopefully you won't have to resort to doing stand-up comedy at the weekends to make ends meet ;-)

I've heard that there is to be a rewrite of the security standards. I'm thinking of applying for a part-time job on the committee. The money's not too good, but I've heard the perks can more than make up for it

Seriously though, we will probably all be forced to look very closely at our outgoings to find out where savings can be made. Fingers crossed - alarm monitoring will escape the full force of cut-backs. Your landline - now that is a different story. I reckon it will be one of the first things to go for many homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage and household bills each month.

Long live naked DSL

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"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member"

kiwitech

In the last recession I was an apprentice. We were that busy we had a back log of about 6 months work. I was working for the biggest install company in NZ, then. Friends in OZ back then tell me they had never had so much work either. Who knows how we go this time, but if the past month is anything to go by it does not look promising.

Security-Tech

Don't you think the gov has enough money, all that fkn hoarded cash,
why did fuel nearly reach $2 a litre and no one did a thing about it, its so the gov could cash up for the big downturn in economic land,

Has anyone ever seen how much the u.s prints, they need to stop printing cash and ruining their economy ,,

Kevin bloody dudd, hes a joke, he was recently visiting american to talk about global warming, and they are going through a recession,
Its a joke, if you believe their dribble, innuendo and rohetric then your just as gullible and prolly deserve it hard in the back door,

I don't monitor alarms, I don't even bureau, so doesn't affect me in the least, i can always go back to running fibre in pits, now that pstn's will be a thing of the past.
Hope you guys haven't put everything into the one basket, and have an out or sideline, A good mate of mine 3 yrs ago std looking at other avenues as there's NO money in monitoring and security is a dead horse your all flogging, a smart business man who could foresee the future, he will go far.

S.T aka SF wink wink

Time will tell.

bss904

The only thing that changes is less routine maintenance and getting your clients to pre pay for large jobs so you can be assured of getting payed and not have to spend months chasing them to get your money only to be told that they really could'nt afford it and have now gone bankrupt.

No Brainer

As a former Bank Manager who weathered the storm in the "Recession That We Had To have" and saw a lot of good customers go under...I have a fair idea what to look out for..

There is no doubt that things are going to get tough and businesses will go .....it comes down to the management processes that are in place to adapt to the situation....

Well run businesses will thrive.....

noRbackwards

Some old farts went broke due to the high interest tates (18%), some farts declared themselfs bankrupt and other farths went on with plenty of work.

Moral of this is simple if you borrowed money things were tough but some of these old farts are still in the industry today enoying the crap out of what we call self taught technicians. Yes us old farths all held trade qualifications and were proud of it.

As far as old farts some of us love the industry as our work never ends and during the last 20 years I survived by fixing other so called "technicians" bad installations and am still doing it today. Just remember that this old fart guarenteed against false alarms when we installed and moniotored systems in 1984 when some of yours were still sucking breasts for a feed as we knew how to eat by ourselfs.

Retire no way just happy enoying the crap out of STI's

Have a nice day young fellow and hope that you survive as long as us old farts.

No Brainer

Mate it sounds like you come from the days when a technician...was a technician....

I take my hat off to ya !!

IPAlarms

Not been called young fellow for a long time

Sadly, 22 years in the industry puts me firmly in the old farts camp

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"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member"

noRbackwards

Sorry but you are still a young fellow as I started with a Company called Electric Signals in Bribane in the early 70's and that proudly put me in the old farths club and enjoying it

Sadly for some techs this side of the country the old fart is still enoying the crap out of them and with my super just destroyed I just have to keep on working until I get dementure as I have got a denture so getting close.

IPAlarms

Well, look on the bright side, you should be able to get a job with Chubb once it arrives

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"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member"

noRbackwards

That the problem worked for them fell of a ladder that they supplied and it collapsed then they waved goodbeye to me as they thought I was unable to work after I had a week off (yes I was taken to hospital)

Pity as some years later I took thenm to court and won so any return to chubb would out of the question as my wife will remind me should I forget.

IPAlarms

What the hell just happened to the Aussie dollar ?

I know it doesn't really effect you when you live in Oz (unless you're an importer/exporter), but for me living outside the country, the dollars I earn can no longer buy me enough burnt sausages to feed my hungry kids :-(

I also noticed that your stock market is down 42% in the last 12 months. This after hearing BHT Billiton had made 15 billion in profits this year. This begs the question - why do you guys not just let BHT run the country ?

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z80

It's BHP not BHT dude....

IPAlarms

It's 1 too many Singha beers

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"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member"