I live in Falls Church, VA and there is a local job shop which is good for me. I changed the motor on my drill press but wanted to keep the original step pulley. The old motor had a flat and set screw and the new motor has a keyway. So, for $50, these guys are going to cut the keyway into my step pulley.

I went over there to drop off the pulley and it was like a tomb. The one guy working there said there used to be 5 people working there plus the owner. Now it's down to the owner, one full-time guy and one half-timer. This place seemed to be oriented more towards automotive stuff. Milling heads, valve jobs and such. I saw no CNC machines but I did see some really big iron from the '30s. I saw 2 Bridgeport universal mills gathering dust. I saw a lot of machines I didn't recognize so I would guess that they are for automotive type things.

I wonder how commercial machine shops are surviving. Are these folks just too behind the times? It sure was nice having to drive only a couple of miles to a place next door to our veterinarian and across the street from our grocery store. If they go under, I would guess that my next best bet would be 30 miles.