An interview with a person who is also called the last fort of floppy disk sales is open
by Floppy Disk Fever
Floppy disks were once widely distributed as a recording medium for PCs, but with the advent of new recording media, floppy disks have long been regarded as outdated relics, but some companies and
We Spoke With the Last Person Standing in the Floppy Disk Business – Eye on Design
https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/we-spoke-with-the-last-person-standing-in-the-floppy-disk-business/
Thomas Persky founded floppydisks.com, which is still selling floppy disks as of 2022. Since all manufacturers have already finished producing floppy disks, Mr. Persky isdoing the business of purchasing unnecessary floppy disks, formatting and reselling them .
Interviewer Niek Hilkman first asked, ``When did you get the domain of floppydisks.com?'' Persky replied, ``I think it was around 1990.'' It seems fortunate that Mr. Persky got a domain that points to the floppy disk itself, but he said that this domain was originally purchased from another person. The act of acquiring and reselling domain names containing character strings such as trademarks first is called `` cybersquatting '', but Mr. Persky disliked this and thought it was a crime. . However, it seems that Mr. Persky's wife immediately decided to purchase and issued a check. Mr. Persky said, 'It was against my principles, but my wife was much smarter than me,' he said, ultimately leading to his own interests.
Mr. Persky now works to sell empty floppy disks, but at the time he founded the company his job was to copy floppy disks. In the 1980s and 1990s, copying floppy disks was 'like printing money,' Persky said.
At that time, floppy disks were sold everywhere, so he didn't even think about selling empty floppy disks. However, as major manufacturers stop producing floppy disks, people will rely on Mr. Persky who continues to handle floppy disks. Mr. Persky, who has a large amount of inventory, gradually turned to selling empty floppy disks and now accounts for 90% of the business.
Originally Mr. Persky worked as a tax accountant, but while developing tax-related software in cooperation with programmers, it became necessary to copy the software to a large amount of floppy disks. Initially, they asked an agency to make a copy, but the quality was not so good, and it took a lot of money and time, so they decided to do it themselves.
In this way, Mr. Persky's office started copying himself, but they felt that it was a waste of a copy machine that was used only once a quarter, and they gradually contracted other people's copies. In this way, Mr. Persky became independent from the office that wore two pairs of software development and copying, and launched floppydisks.com as a company that specializes in copying and data migration.
by Floppy Disk Fever
Next, when asked, 'Why are you sticking to floppy disks?' Mr. Persky replied, 'I forgot to quit my job.' “At the time, we were copying floppy disks, but we thought we would never copy CDs. I remember saying never, I ended up doing DVD copying, and now I'm copying USB sticks too, so I know I've never had a great vision. I think you'll get it,' Persky said.
'Everyone in the world thought that 'this industry is going to die', but I just bought all the equipment and products, so I just thought 'Let's secure a source of income as it is'. As time went on, the number of floppy disk users decreased, but the number of manufacturers decreased even faster, and as a result, the share of the man who stayed in the floppy disk industry until the end increased. That man is me,' Persky said.
Persky last purchased a floppy disk from a manufacturer around 2010. Since the manufacturer has stopped producing them, the inventory is in danger, but as of 2022, 500,000 copies are on hand, and about 1,000 unnecessary floppy disks are sent every day. 'Every day feels like Christmas,' says Persky. It can be seen that Mr. Persky, who still purchases floppy disks, is a blessing for companies that want to dispose of old floppy disks.
by Floppy Disk Fever
The main buyers of these floppy disks are said to be companies that still use floppy disks. Especially in the aviation and medical industries, floppy disks have been used for a long time, so there seems to be still a lot of demand.
However, the question that arises against this current situation is 'Why don't manufacturers make floppy disks that are still in demand?' The reason for this is the difficulty of producing floppy disks. Mr. Persky said, ``Unlike CDs and DVDs, which are roughly completed by pouring plastic into a mold, floppy disks require multiple parts, so the production line is integrated. It costs money to make it from scratch, and there is no company that wants to produce floppy disks that are in stock all over the world even though there is not much demand.'
Mr. Persky, who is also in charge of data migration, said that customers would also send joyful voices such as 'I'm happy to see the photos of my deceased grandmother and baby again.'
Also, Mr. Persky, who was asked, 'Is there a future for floppy disks?' “Several American writers say that they can only write on a typewriter. Typewriters are very important to them because they are associated with their artistic talents. I think, I can not exchange it. '
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