Service contract expenses constitute a large proportion of many EM laboratory budgets each year and managers, under constant pressure to reduce costs, no longer look at the expense as sacred. Increasingly, microscopists are faced with finding alternatives to the full service contracts they enjoyed so long. I facilitated a discussion group at the Microscopy & Microanalysis '97 meeting held recently in Cleveland entitled "EM Maintenance: Can you do it yourself?" The audience of 50 represented microscopists from industry, academic and government facilities with a common interest - learning how to sensibly reduce service contract costs. In this article, I will offer my perspective on the subject and relate issues raised by the audience.