Yes, he has officially cut the cord. He has been semi-retired since December 2022, only answering tech calls and coming in the office for a few hours one or two times a week. He has been traveling quite a bit over the last year, but the trips were always being planned around cell phone reception, limiting where they would go. Answering multiple tech calls and messages on a trip is not exactly relaxing. My observation over the last couple of years is that some of the calls were really starting to take a toll / irritate him as well. We get a lot of tech calls at the office that are people simply not bothering to read the directions or just don't want to follow them then want to argue because they are having problems, he was getting a lot of those too which was removing the joy of the tech line for him.
The abruptness caught us a bit off guard as well, but i think it was well played. Had he not just cut all communication the phone would have rang off the hook once it was announced and he would be giving 30 minute explanations to every person as to why.
Nothing has changed from a company perspective, it's not selling or shutting down. the values are still here, the quality is still here, the customer service is still here.. there's just no longer a direct line to Barry. He will still be involved in the background some as well.
I doubt you will see him chime in or even log in here for the same reason as i mentioned above, but I'm sure he still browses this forum on a daily basis as he will never completely detach. He did drop by the warehouse a few days ago- his demeanor was completely different, he was not wound up or stressed out as usual. He has talked for many of years about doing a coastal tour as well as a cross country trip, and now that he is no longer anchored down to this place he should be able to pull it off and enjoy his retirement!
