In New South Wales the National Roads and Motorists' Association - known by it's initials NRMA - is almost a legend. It is comforting to it's members to know that if they experience a mechanical breakdown or their car will not start in the morning, one phone call will dispatch a highly trained automotive mechanic with a mobile workshop to bring them aid. If the fault requires major repair, they will arrange for a tow to the owners choice of repair destination.
Over the years, NRMA has widened the scope of it's automotive services. It is now one of the biggest suppliers of general insurance, publishes a members magazine and has a division on call to replace a faulty car battery on a 24/7 basis. It seems that member services are ever expanding and now encompasses the provision of low cost holidays to exotic locations.
Innovative thinking is now taking it into the area of emergency home services. Just as motorists look to the NRMA service van to get them out of trouble when they experience a car fault, a new division is offering competent trades people on a twenty-four hour roster, 365 days a year to attend to a host of home emergencies that can suddenly arise.
The aim of this new division is to have the appropriate tradesman knocking on your door within one hour of your call to take care of the problem - and that includes everything from a power blackout, broken hot water service, gas leak, flood from a blocked gutter, blocked toilet, or a roof leak. They will even dispatch a locksmith if you have been locked out of your home. In essence, this simply extends the service car drivers are accustomed to - to the problems that can arise within the home.
It is expected that this service will be very popular. Trying to find someone to call in the middle of the night or during a weekend can be a huge hassle - and call out costs can be very expensive for emergency services. It would be nice to know that a simple annual membership fee of just $ 190 will see the problems taken care of free of charge - and that the fee covers up to eight emergency call outs in a year. And all it takes is one phone call to summon the help you need.
At present, this new service is available in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, but similar to NRMA road service, it will soon extend to most other areas of this state.
We certainly live in a changing world and the present tendency is to concentrate the source of our many needs in a single location. The grocery duopoly is building ever bigger stores and including liquor, insurance and other services under the one roof. They have developed a grip on the hardware trade with hardware mega stores that are fast depleting small independents, and they now share a fast growing segment of the petrol trade.
This accumulation of services under a single entity provides an availability bonus for the customer, but it will come at a cost. Quality "Tradies " will be contracted to provide the necessary services and their renumeration will be at a rate commensurate with the advantages that their provider delivers by way of regular job allocation. This contraction of work opportunities will make it much harder for independent plumbers, carpenters, electricians, locksmiths - and the others providing trade services - to make a living.
A decade or so from now, the job scene may look very different. Just as the era of the supermarket brought the end of the corner shop and many independent butchers and greengrocers - the concentration of services under a single roof will weed out many providing independent services.
The winners will be those who read the signals correctly - and make the right decisions to form the right alliances !
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