Retirement? For Me, No Way!
by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com
How long do you want to do what you are doing? This interesting question gets many responses. I’m starting to see people a little older than me retire from the job they had and, I see this as a mixed bag. Some just stay home tinkering or have hobbies that seem to keep them busy. Others have taken another job, maybe working at Home Depot or Walmart mainly to keep busy and make a few bucks.
I have a friend who’s been a CPA for over 40 years. His business card even says that. I spoke to him recently about retiring and he said he has no plans to do so. He feels great, likes his clients and loves his schedule. But, he did say he made new business cards that didn’t make him seem so old, changing the 40-year line to read “over 20 years’ experience.”
I recently went to my doctor for my regular checkup. His practice, like many, was bought by a bigger group affiliated with a hospital. After my checkup, he told me he’s retiring and thanked me for my loyalty as a patient over many years. He handed me a card with two doctors’ names, suggesting I make an appointment a year out for my next checkup.
Then, I find out that a local farmstead that grows the best white corn is closing down. It’s sad because I would go there to buy plants in the spring and get fruit and vegetables when in season. The lady who runs the farm is selling the property. Her children are tired of working the farm so she’s retiring, probably going to Florida. I expect to see many homes built upon the soil of this fertile farmland with no more sweet corn in the summer.
I think of the many people in our industry who’ve retired. Some hit it big and got out while others timed out and moved on. I believe this ebb and flow of people is good for the industry. We need to hire young people to learn the business and bring new ideas and technologies. Upon further reflection, losing some of the veterans means that you also lose some of our industry’s history and people with vast experience but maybe that’s yet another reason to hang onto your RePlay Magazines.
I had a collection of RePlays, dating back to the very first issue in October of 1975, which I donated to The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y. They are a true chronicle of industry history and I believe they need to be preserved as a resource for the future.
Next October is RePlay Magazine’s 50th anniversary. Think of it this way, if you worked a job for 20 years and retired, that’s two-and-a-half careers! The people at RePlay are not retiring. In fact, they are celebrating and are just getting warmed up. I don’t expect an invite to an Eddie Adlum retirement party! When you truly love what you do, and love who you are doing it with, time flies and it doesn’t feel like work.
I feel the same way. I’ve joked that if I were to retire, which I have no plans to do, I’d buy a coconut stand on the road to Hana on Maui. I’ve passed the one pictured above a few times and while it looks perfect, I’m sure it would get boring after a little while. The grass is greener on my side of the fence and there’s just so many coconuts to split.
With that, my wife Joanne and I wish you and yours a very blessed holiday season, Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
Jack Guarnieri started servicing electromechanical pinball machines in 1975 and has been involved in every phase of the amusement game business since then. He was an operator in NYC, then began a distributorship in 1999, PinballSales.com, selling coin-op to the consumer market. In January of 2011, he founded Jersey Jack Pinball (named after his RePlay Magazine pen name), which builds award-winning, full-featured, coin-op pinball machines. Email Jack at [email protected].
