Solar Refrigeration & Appliance Service was recently featured in an article from The Washington Post published on October 22, 2020!
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought big changes within the appliance repair industry. This article investigates the steady rise in demand for appliance repair services due to a number of factors.
Washington Post writer Soo Youn reached out to our owner, Corrine Caruso, who is also the president of the United Appliance Servicers Association. As a successful service company owner and head of our industry’s largest trade association, Corrine was able to provide her unique perspective on the changes brought about by COVID-19.
Before the pandemic hit, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics had projected a steady decline in repair services for products like major home appliances, as well as reduced wages for repair technicians. These projections haven’t aligned with the reality we see from within the appliance repair industry, and the opposite has been true during the pandemic.
Along with a decrease in the production of new appliances, many consumers are choosing to repair their broken appliances instead of replacing them. Skilled repair technicians are also in higher demand than ever before as the article states:
Corrine C. Caruso, president of the United Appliance Servicers Association, the industry’s main trade association, vehemently disagrees with the BLS’s projections, as well as its data placing the mean annual salary at $42,400.
She said techs average $60,000 to $70,000, with top earners clearing six figures.
“There aren’t enough appliance service technicians because there are very few formal training schools available. The majority have learned on the job,” Caruso said. “Generally, if you’ve trained a technician from the ground up, a business owner has made quite an investment into this technician, so will pay well to keep the technician, and will offer good benefits so that it is a career, not just a job.”
Solar Refrigeration & Appliance Service is proud to have earned a reputation as one of our industry’s leaders who can share this valuable information about the appliance repair trade. And as the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, we’ll continue to make the changes needed to provide our customers with safe service they can count on.
Read the full Washington Post article here: Ovens, Dishwashers & Washing Machines are Breaking Down Like Never Before. But There’s Nobody to Fix Them.
