Business Strategy

When the expensive printer/ photocopier in an office

began print black lines on every page, The office manager

called a local repair shop, where a friendly man informed

him that the unit probably needed only to be cleaned.

Because the store charged $100 for such cleaning, he said,

the manager might try reading the manual and doing the job

himself. Pleasantly surprised by his candor, the office

manager asked, “Does your boss know that you discourage

business?” “Actually it’s my boss’s idea,” the

employee replied. “We usually make more money on repairs

if we let people try to fix things themselves first.”