Phone repairman takes business on the road

April 10-- Apr. 10--A local computer and phone repair whiz is taking his business on the road.

Paul Cockram, owner of PC's PCs & Portables, has maintained a storefront for his device repair shop since November 2014 at 1805 S. Belt Highway.

In September 2018, Cockram became the exclusive cellphone repair partner for Asurion Insurance, one of the largest phone insurance companies in the country and insurance provider for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Since then, Cockram has been busy driving to and from repair appointments in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas.

Eventually, it became clear to him giving up his storefront and becoming a completely mobile operation by buying a van and taking his equipment on the road would be the next logical step.

"I just decided that really the best move would be for me to transition the business to a straight mobile operation," Cockram said. "That way, I can schedule appointments wrapped around my Asurion appointments as much as possible and I can still take care of people that have depended upon me for four and a half years."

Cockram has been a St. Joseph Transit bus driver for years and originally planned on quitting his full-time job once his business took off.

"The plan was as soon as the shop was off the ground and I was doing $400 or $500 a week in business over and above my cost, I was going to resign at Transit," he said. "I would get there but then all of a sudden we would tail off and I was going to hold off a bit longer and it just kind of would go up and down."

Cutting overhead costs by giving up his store allows Cockram to officially retire from his full-time job while giving him more time to take on repair jobs. He was nervous about his customers' feedback at first but said it's been positive so far.

"Some customers have called me 'Oh, I have a hard time getting anywhere because I work until 6:30 p.m.' or whatever," Cockram said. "Now I can say to that person 'No problem, I'll meet you at your lunch break right there at work and you hand me your phone, I'll sit down in the parking lot in my van and do the repair and bring it in, drop it off for you'."

Cockram said he makes an effort to meet his clients whenever and wherever is convenient for them. To schedule an appointment with PC's PCs & Portables, call 816 301-4721.

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Jessica Kopp can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow her on Twitter: @NPNOWKopp

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