EN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and white list ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ******************************* Comments on why alarm industry pays so poorly July 20, 2019 ******************** Comments on why alarm industry pays so poorly from July 15, 2019 ******************** Ken In regards to “Why does the alarm industry pay so poorly” There are many factors here that contribute to this problem. Firstly, the internet has created a storm where human skill, knowledge and labor no longer have any value. This is not just reserved for the security industry either. Why would the consumer pay for a human when they can click a link on the internet and get it shipped to their home or business? The other issue is that YouTube has created a conduit where the average person can research their own open heart surgery online and do it themselves. Why would I want to hire someone if I can do it myself, save money and be happy. Yeah, it may not be completely installed properly, but good is just good enough. This comes to my 3rd point. With customers now, a bargain is more important that quality. Good is just Good enough. Install system or actually blitz it in and keep the price low and you have a sale. Next, relationships are devalued. Nowadays you can click on a link and remove that person from your life and never see that person again! The days of having meaningful connections in business and personal life are long gone. Everyone texts, emails, has voicemail and instant messages and chats. When was there any real meaningful facetime!!??? We are social creatures but have created technology to void that socialization. The alarm industry has become a transactional business much the same with buying toilet paper. Lastly, the big companies started the devaluation of what we dealers provide by giving away free security systems. I get calls all the time from residentials looking for “one of those FREE security systems.” If you give someone away for FREE it no longer has the value that it should and it is a downward spiral because you can’t ever go back to charging for this service or product again. In the end, our margins are slim or not at all. So, when we look at the above factors we have the pay installers, sales and operations even less or go without. John ********************** Ken, As I read your comment regarding low wages in the alarm industry, it occurred to me that ..... what if the alarm industry had a National Association that could ----- Oh ---- wait a minute ----- How silly of me. I'm told that we DO have a National Association; Errr ---- Don't we? ------ Oh well. Any day now. Gene Reliable Alarm *********************** Ken Surely you aren’t conflating ‘guards’ with ‘technicians or installers’. This will be lively. And when did Chicago take on an attribute like this that represents or simulates the rest of the known world. Zeke ******************** Response ******************** First of all, Zeke, don’t call me Shirley. Gene, you can’t blame the associations for every issue facing the alarm / security / fire industries. Price fixing would be illegal. One would think that owners want to pay as little as they can, and employees want to make as much as they can. These positions are hard to reconcile. There must be a middle ground. If owners are to make the same and employees more, then customers have to pay more, or those servicing the industry need to charge less [except lawyers]. Low wages in the alarm industry is historic, so it’s hard to claim that low wages will doom the industry. As far as alarm work goes the technology gets more and more sophisticated and the industry can expect the caliber or technician to warrant higher pay. Security guards are another matter. I am not sure whether Zeke thinks guards should be paid more or less than security technicians, but let’s face it; a guard has a target on his back. When a guard is required to intervene, and a guard never knows when or how often that may occur, it’s likely that he will be saying something other than, “do you want fries with that”. Crazy that a guard would not be compensated adequately. OK, they aren’t police officers or fire fighters and can’t expect to be compensated as these First Responders [who are for the most part underpaid and under appreciated], but surely they deserve proper compensation. What do you think Shirley? ******************** To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related forms, click here:www.alarmcontracts.com ************************* CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY PROGRAM You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** NOTICE: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles *********************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC Attorneys at Law 200 Garden City Plaza Garden City, NY 11530 516 747 6700 x 301 ken@kirschenbaumesq.com www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
