People are getting much bigger!

[baileyuph]

It sure seems that way, I have had three or four major newer furniture repairs the last few days where springs were actually broken and several pulled loose from the frames.  This furniture is less than a year old and it must be bigger people causing most of the problem.

The clips at the end of a spring are literally broken from the frame, this is the type that have the barbs holding them to the frame (under tension).  I replace them and in the process added a small wood screw for extra strength.

I guess the repair work will grow with all this, at least it has for me.  Some of the work is profitable, but looking at the seaming of a gang of tiered pillows (down the back), I don't think this furniture is a candidate for reupholstery ----way to time consuming. 

When I think/hear of robots and how they can spit out the volume, actually it is tough for a small custom shop to think about getting involved in redoing this furniture.

I am sure you guys have noticed what I am talking about - bigger people?

Doyle

[sofadoc]

Yes, people are getting bigger. And furniture is getting cheaper.
And the more people spend on food, the less they spend on quality furniture.

So the problem is only going to get worse before it gets better (if indeed it ever does get better).

My repair work seems to be drying up. There has been a recent influx of in-home repair guys popping up in my area. The local furniture stores are using them instead of me (since I rarely agree to do service calls).

But for every facet of my business that goes away, something better takes it's place. Right now, I'm doing more restaurant, beauty shop, and healthcare seating than ever before.

[kodydog]

I was sitting in Publix parking lot waiting for Rose. Couldn't help but notice all the huge people coming and going. Must have been 10 big for every normal or skinny person.

I'm a lightweight. 140lbs most of my life. I have the opposite problem of keeping pounds on.

[baileyuph]

You are right Dennis, the new repair work I get now is usually the deeper problems.  If it is relatively easy or simple, I guess someone else is getting it. 

Plus, I have picked up on the medical establishment seating and examining pads also.  It is more satisfying to do.  I did the furniture recently to open two additional offices for a group.

Just do our jobs is all we can do.  My marine work is down (economy I think), but marine seats, etc. isn't my preference.  I think that is primarily due to the economy or available money people have after all necessities.

Stay tuned nothing has ever stayed the same.

Doyle

[sofadoc]

I'm about 50lbs. overweight. So I really don't have any right to talk about others, but here goes anyway.

I frequently stop at a nearby convenience store. Nearly every time I go in there, I see a boy come in from an apartment complex next to it.

I would guess him to be about 10-11 years old. 5'4" 200 lbs. No matter what time of day, he's always wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms and a flattened out pair of flip-flops.
He usually is buying some popcorn chicken (or something else from their selection of fried crap), plus a couple of Red Bull sodas, some candy bars, and of course a giant Mountain Dew.

I want to grab the kid and shake him, and try to make him understand that he's fast tracking to a stroke or diabetes.
But there was a time when I was young and felt invincible, and nobody could've got anything through my thick skull either.

I've always equated kids like him to dogs. If you spoil a dog on table scraps, then you could put him on a desert island with nothing to eat but a big  healthy bag of dry dog food, and he would lay there and starve to death because he doesn't even recognize it as food. Same thing with kids and junk food.

I don't see it getting any better, because our economy would be devastated if the government imposed limits on our nation's junk food intake. Not to mention the violent protests that would ensue. You think America gets angry about police shootings or Obama Care? Try telling them that they can't have pizza.

[SteveA]

Manufacturer's are using a loss ratio to handle call backs.  My view is that there is not enough of bent clips to be concerned given the volume they do.  Every time I get a broken or bent sinuous spring clip the problem is under fastening.  I to like Doyle put screws on each side of the clip.  If $ 150.00 is authorized for a house call they never mind paying whatever additional charges you need for the time.  They are willing to pay for your time but not willing to make a better product. 
SA

[gene]

America has the fattest people and yet wins the most gold medals at the Olympics. Go figure?

For the first time in history we have created a class of fat poor people. Our poor people in the good ol' U S of A have diseases that used to be only among the rich: gout, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.

There is a negative correlation between education/economic status, and obesity. The more educated and the richer you are, the less likely you are to be fat.

I'm only fat when I look in the mirror.

gene

[brmax]

They lowered the "wanted " average weight earlier in the nineties and so all my runnin mates after the usual yearly DOT exams were deemed over 20lbs, so now after retired I'm 40 over at 214n6'nshrunk1'': ) and I still don't eat bon bons but I probably would if it was given to me as I was taught be respectful, nowadays they don't want to hurt my feelings and say hey ya best lose a few.

Also if I was seen flopping down on a piece of furniture I "was allowed to even look at" well it was most certain my az was getting whooped, them were the old days where everybody learned well the first time!. But if it was mom that seen the act it was no! on most anything and everything for evvver it seemed. That was again when us old people walked uphill in the snow both going and coming from school.
I remember as a kid me and my buddy would mow grass use all the money 5.00 split doing 2 acre lots, we would buy all the soda and gum we could stand then wait for my mom or his dad to take us to play league baseball omg it was tough all summer mowing daily, picking up bails of hay a bit later on.
Turn the cable off, nix the so called safety phone with its games n camera and watch the activity.

[byhammerandhand]

Yeah, I am one of those in home repair guys.   My average travel time is 30 minutes out and average service time is less than an hour.   So by the time I'd load it up, haul it back, fix it and return it, I'd be into several calls later.

A few years ago, I had a repair where the (95 lb soaking wet, petite) lady could not get her recliner un-reclined.  A few days later, I had to fix a sheared bolt from a guy that at 400  lb lived in his recliner, except when he walked to the bakery at the end of the block.  I'm thinking I would not want to be the mechanical engineer figuring out all the arms and levers of a recliner mech that would satisfy both clients.

I'm 6'5", so I have a lot distance to spread weight out.   I got on a Dr's office balance beam scale recently and the nurse started out at 150.   Better knock that 50 lb arm up a notch, dear.

But yeah, cheaper is a cause too.  Cheap material, cheap fasteners, cheap manufacturing methods.  Probably the worst I saw was a sectional that had just collapsed in the back.  Particle board frame stapled together (more staples, the better, huh?).   The frame had come apart, fell, ripped the fabric, broke parts of the frame and springs and padding every which way.   The guy was a fireman and quite fit, so I just blamed it on manufacturing issues.
[quote author=sofadoc link=topic=14166.msg115707#msg115707 date=1471185875
My repair work seems to be drying up. There has been a recent influx of in-home repair guys popping up in my area. The local furniture stores are using them instead of me (since I rarely agree to do service calls).

[/quote]

[brmax]

Its interesting Keith you mention Engineers my direct bosses forever were these guys n gals and who I daily chatted and worked for and alongside. To get on with it I recall many times they saying in one way or another they cannot always build to suit themselves it is more on the lines of cost actually that finally rules it, they being the ones figuring out the exact time it can last under these situations.
It was nice working with these people for sure, they simply blew me away with their ability to compute figures on call in a snap without calculator!

Floyd