We spend a great deal of time trying to find and test substitute TV parts. If you scroll down to the bottom of many product pages, you’ll notice that we have a “Substitute Parts” section:

These are compatible parts that we’ve researched and tested. Yes, one of our experienced TV techs has actually tested every substitute on our website. To make finding these substitutes easier for you, especially on out-of-stock TV parts, we also added this section (“These TV Parts Also Work”) near the top of the product page:

If you know of a proven substitute and it’s not listed on the product page of its compatible TV part, please use the “Let us know!” link to inform us! If we’re able to test and confirm your tip, we’ll gladly give you a discount toward your next purchase! Thanks for your help.

Today is a special day, friends. Exactly* five years ago, Jimmy founded ShopJimmy.com out of his garage with no more than a few TVs and a dream. We want to celebrate by thanking you for your support and business this past half-decade!

According to WebMD, here are the milestones we should’ve achieved by now…

1. Speak clearly using more complex sentences. (Have you seen one of our email threads?)
2. Count ten or more objects. (We counted 272,783 TV parts today. Check this one off the list.)
3. Correctly name at least four colors and three shapes. (We’re confused. Pass.)
4. Recognize some letters and possibly write his or her name. (Someone just sent an email with “B” as their signature, so we’re still working on recognizing letters.)
5. Better understand the concept of time and the order of daily activities. (Jimmy sends emails between 1-4 am. Regularly.)
6. Have a greater attention span. (Hey, look! A shiny object!)
7. Follow two- to three-part commands. (Backlight inverter. Backlight inverter slave. Next.)
8. Recognize familiar words, such as “STOP.” (But there’s only one more milestone?)
9. Know his or her address and phone number. (Ladies, my number is 612-50… just kidding.)

*Well, not exactly. Our official birthday is 1/30, but we’ve celebrated it on 2/1 the past few years. I guess we’re still working on that whole counting milestone.

Our very own Jimmy “Golden Voice” Vosika chatted with WCCO’s John Hines yesterday about ShopJimmy and its “dumb luck” beginnings. Listen to it here!

The Star Tribune ran an great article this weekend about us, Jimmy, and our recent recycling efforts. Here’s an excerpt from the article by Star Tribune writer, Neal St. Anthony:

“Jimmy Vosika has turned the dark side of our love of flat-panel TVs into a growth machine, five years after he started ShopJimmy.com in his garage.

Vosika, a one-time Delta Air Lines baggage handler and computer programmer, turned an idea he had while working for his father-in-law’s recycling company in 2006 into a specialty recycler that refurbishes plasma and LCD TVs, and sells parts nationally through a workforce of nearly 100 full-time and contract workers.”

You can read the full article here. Thanks, Star Tribune!

1,994,153 pounds of e-waste, to be exact.

We have to admit, we’re pretty darn proud of that number. It’s a numerical testament to our commitment to “going green” and reducing global electronics waste. How much is 1.99 million pounds? Try 181 African Elephants. Over 15 jumbo jets (747s). The Statue of Liberty multiplied four and a half times.

Our environmental initiatives don’t stop there, either. We’re constantly tweaking our TV teardown processes and business practices to recycle as much as possible. In fact, we also recycled 3,255 pounds of paper and 1,290 pounds of beverage containers last year.

All of these environmental-friendly steps coincide with our recent ISO 14001 certification, which addresses and establishes guidelines to minimize our company’s impact on the environment. If you’re looking to join us in our quest to reduce e-waste, check out these sources for more information:

- Find a recycling location near you.
- Recycle your electronics at Best Buy.
- Are you a Mac? Recycle your old Apple products.

We’re very honored to announce that NEW awarded us as their “Distributor of the Year” last week at CES in Las Vegas! This award means a great deal to us; NEW is the leader in extended service plans and protection programs for consumer products and one of our invaluable industry partners.

Twelve other TV and electronics parts distributors were eligible for this award, which ranked all of us on criteria from inventory quality and cost to returns to customer support.

Thanks, NEW!

Name: Kara

Position at ShopJimmy: Accounts Receivable

One sentence job description: For all you billing customers, I’m the lady who asks for your payments.

Favorite LCD breakage story: Sad…I don’t have one. :(

TV model in your living room: Samsung LED. So glad I didn’t get asked 3 weeks ago!

Family: In due to time…I’ve got the boyfriend, which I think is a good starting point.

Hobbies: Working out, home improvements, being creative and finding time to relax.

Favorite restaurant: Good Earth

Go-to Pandora/Spotify station: Lately country with an emphasis on Zac Brown Band.

Beverage of choice: Crispin Cider – haven’t heard of it? You’re probably part of the cool people who can still eat gluten.

In-flight reading material: Reading? I prefer a long nap.

Sports team(s) you root for: Good ol’ T-Pups (Timberwolves)

Three things you’d bring to a deserted island: Knife, matches and a Martha Stuart Living Magazine.

On a web dating service, you’d describe yourself as: Fun, spontaneous, driven and not interested in finding someone on the internet.

You can find me on…

In a relatively surprising move, Sony and its OLED TVs have changed their relationship status with the consumer market. Sales of Sony OLEDs actually discontinued in 2010, but exports to America and Europe continued to the present. The CE titan plans to refocus on the LCD market, making us a bit somber, as we loved drooling over their ultra-thin OLEDs at CES.

Speaking of CES 2012, we are officially in Sin City for the tech and gadget horde, so give us a shout if you spot us canvassing the convention halls! For more tech-related CES news, follow Engadget’s / The Verge’s awesome CES round-ups.

We now offer bulk pricing on product pages for select replacement DLP lamps! For instance, check out this Sony XL-2100 Complete Lamp w/Housing. You can save up to 21% on an order of 7+ lamps! Pretty cool, huh?

Click here to browse through all of our replacement DLP lamps with bulk pricing. The not-so-fine print:

- OEM-compatible, high-quality (tested by our in-house technicians), and carry a 12-month warranty!
- These are complete lamps with housing.
- All orders include FREE GROUND SHIPPING!

Remember, don’t hesitate to contact us with questions!

We updated our site’s design recently (with more changes to come soon) and think it’s pretty cool. We thought it’d be fun to see how far we’ve come these past few years, so we dug into the SJ archives and discovered this gem: our design circa June, 2009. It doesn’t look too shabby, right?

Look who we caught in our warehouse filling his bag with TV parts for this weekend…

P.S. For those who haven’t seen the movie, Elf, here’s the scene that our blog title references (at the 0:30 mark).

I think we can all agree that consensus is a difficult thing to find these days. (Heh. See what I did there?) Another thing we can all agree on is this: Cancer is bad. Very, very bad. Even worse than crossing the streams.

And while I was perusing some old Scientific American articles, I happened across something really surprising.

Now, while we’ve noted that improperly disposed TV parts can cause cancer, did you know that some TV parts can fight cancer?

It’s true!

The way DLP tech works is it uses an optical semi-conductor called a digital micro-mirror device (DMD) to digitally modulate light. It does this via thousands of micro-mirrors to project an image, displaying 1024 shades of gray and — in some of the more high end sets — 35 trillion colors. Yep, with a “T”. That looks like this: 35,000,000,000,000.

Based on the above capabilities of DLP chips, which are one of our most popular parts (we’re working on getting more, I assure you), doctors are now using them to help focus radiation blasts during treatments to keep the healthy tissue surrounding a cancerous tumor, well, healthy.

They are also developing DLP-based imaging technology that would allow doctors to look at what are essentially holograms of our internal organs, including any tumors, and more accurately plan injection sites and surgeries.

This is done by projecting two-dimensional cross-sections of individual organs at 5000(!) images a
second. Since our feeble brains can’t process images that fast, we see a fully three dimensional rendering that can be moved and viewed in 360 degrees. (Most movies are shot at a measly 24 frames per second that we still don’t notice. Are our brains lazy or something? C’mon!)

The future is, well not exactly now, but like, super soon.

Happy Holidays! We’d rather you worry about forcing a fake smile to the great-aunt who just gave you a knitted, cat sweater vest than making sure your TV parts arrive on-time, so here’s our holiday hours and shipping schedule:

We will be closed:

- December 24th (Saturday)
- December 25th (Sunday)
- December 31st (Saturday)
- January 1st (Sunday)

We will have a limited staff:

- December 23rd (Friday)
- December 30th (Friday)

We will not be shipping:

- December 24th (Saturday)
- December 25th (Sunday)
- December 26th (Monday)

(Any orders on these above dates, along with orders placed after 3:15 CST on December 23rd, will ship on Tuesday, December 27th.)

- December 31st (Saturday)
- January 1st (Sunday)
- January 2nd (Monday)

(Any orders on these above dates, along with orders placed after 3:15 CST on December 30th, will ship on Tuesday, January 3rd.)

We want to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season! Thank you for your business in 2011!

Time Warner recently created a video unveiling the “mystery” of cable TV. Sure, it’s a technology that’s been around for over six decades, but hey, there’s no better time than now. The media conglomerate tapped one of its chief engineers (who happens to have a sweet accent) to explain the process. Thanks, Time Warner.

Last Friday night, we gathered at a hotel ballroom near, (Ok, not down the block, but close enough.)
To celebrate our hard work and spread holiday cheer. (Cue semi-awkward conversations.)

Food was enjoyed and drinks were consumed, (Things quickly became less awkward.)
Even a magician wondered the decorated room. (His card tricks had us dumbfounded.)

Jimmy took the stage and gave a rousing speech, (Believe it or not, he’s a pretty funny guy.)
Thanking all and chronicling this year’s feats. (More customer happiness, less company hardware.)

With bellies full and raffle winners surprised, (Pasta/Turkey/Tacos/Dessert and TVs, respectively.)
Volunteers bravely gathered to be hypnotized. (“Bravely” is a loose term. See: borderline mental.)

They pretended to chew gum, lift weights, and drive cars, (Jimmy’s wife, Christy, was hilarious.)
But funniest of all was Chris, one of our great CSRs. (There’s hypnosis, then there’s hypnoChris.)

Complete with an accompanying band and hearty laughs, (Jon played a mean saxophone.)
He did an Elvis impersonation better than most Vegas acts. (His hips definitely did not lie.)

Yes, we celebrated our hard work and spread holiday cheer, (Local Advil sales spiked on Saturday.)
We hope you do the same and have a very Happy New Year! (Sincerely, all of us at ShopJimmy.)