Can we ever retire?

[Jon Page]

Dick,
Way to go, keep 'em rollin' !

As for myself, I'll never stop til I drop.

I may slow down considerably, but my heart is in it; that will never change.

Jon Page

At 10:15 AM 3/14/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi again all....
>I really didn't mean to start anything by telling you I am 82 yrs old.  I
>spent 44 years working for an airline as radio operator, then station
>manager at several locations.  Got interesten in pianos thru a friend, then
>in Weather Bureau, in 1993, went to Little Red School House in 95 and really
>loved it.  Been tuning part time since 1994.  Retired from airline in Dec.
>81. Joined PTG in about 83....good move!! Still enjoying it....have six
>pianos lined up for this week.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Newton Hunt <nhunt@jagat.com>
>To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Date: Sunday, March 14, 1999 6:32 AM
>Subject: Re: Can we ever retire?
>
>
>>Hi Wally,
>>
>>> "Old piano tuners don't die - they just go beatless!"
>>
>>from Dick Beaton, and don't know
>>> if I should react positively or negatively.
>>>
>>> "I'm 82 yrs old now and don't usually do more than one tuning a day."
>>>
>>> On the positive side, I'm glad that piano tuning is an occupation that a
>>> person with reasonably good health and hearing can continue well past the
>>> normal "retirement years".
>>>
>>> On the negative side, I'm not sure if this is a clue that piano
>technicians
>>> geneally are not able to take a "normal retirement".
>>>
>>> The 1997 PTG survey shows that 17.8% of members responding were over 65
>>> years of age. Of them, quite a few still put in 20, 30, and even 40 hours
>>> per week at piano related activities.
>>>
>>> Maybe the question should be, "Would we ever WANT to retire?" Is this an
>>> occupation that only gets more and more enjoyable the older we get, or is
>>> it simply one in which the majority of us can never earn enough money to
>>> afford a comfortable retirement?
>>>
>>> One question that we might want to ask on a future survey:
>>> "What percent of your total household annual income is from your present
>>> piano related activities?"
>>>
>>> Wally Scherer, Piano Technician, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
>>> Associate member of the PTG, Hampton Roads, Va. chapter
>>> mailto:WallyTS@iName.com
>>> Web page: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/2411
>>> "Old piano tuners don't die - they just go beatless!"
>>>
>>>
>>
>