[STN-Affiliates] Damaged equipment response

[Ray Lund]

Hi, Carrie,

I wish I had an answer for you.  It has been frustrating educating my  
administrators as to the cost of operating a program that is  
dependent on technology.  A lot of what I buy is consumer level.   
Moms and dads use this stuff for birthdays and other special  
occasions and then it sits on a shelf until next time.  For those of  
us teaching creative video making and broadcast journalism have to  
use everything on a daily basis with different users handling the  
equipment.  We have to accept the fact that the equipment was not  
designed for such use.  These have been my repair costs for the last  
few years:

2003-04: $2,490
2004-05: $2,731
2006-07: $740
2007-08: $1200
2008-09: $1320 and counting

Firewire ports were a real headache for awhile.  My preaching about  
not turning on the camcorder before attaching to the computer and  
booting the computer has helped. of late it has been bad video heads.

We collect bottles and cans and redeem them.  A real pain and time  
consuming task.  Some programs are fortunate to have repair money  
allocated for the year.  I'm working on that.

Hang in there.

Ray