Jonathan Graham wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 12, 2004 at 11:01:29AM -0500, Bruce Markowitz wrote:
> > AND
> > In the past, they refused to sell me parts at all, unless I had a serial
> > number of the appropriate machine, and then even later, they would not sell
> > parts to the public at all.
>
> Actually if you manage your channel right this is how you do things. For example suppose I manufacture 20 000 Thickpads. Part of your manufacturing cost is estimating warranty repair. If there's a 10% chance in the first 6 months that the CPU fails, 1% for every month after that until the four year mark and at lest 20% after that. Then you make a decision on how long you will support the product. Then you make (or order) the appropriate number of CPU's.
>
> So if you allow just anyone to order parts then you can no longer guarentee that you can profitably support the machine.
>
Huh? Whether IBM fixes them or someone else does, as long as that doesn't affect the failure/re-failure rates or the demand for replacement CPUs, the number of replacement CPUs does not vary -- secondary warehousing factors notwithstanding. And it may further be the case that due to higher margins on sales versus internal warranty work, it could be more profitable to let others do the work.
- Bob Mann
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Received on Fri Mar 12 12:40:08 2004
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