Quote:
Originally Posted by whunter
Why young people don't want to be mechanics.
A good basic tool set is $50,000.00 USD..
You must digest several 100,000 pages of new material every year because of changes, developments, and laws.
It is rare for a customer to walk in happy..
Today, most companies get rid of older more experienced = more expensive mechanics first.
Shop politics BS frequently pushes good people out.
The work is always on a deadline.
The conditions range from mud trails to a nice mall.
The work is frequently dirty, dangerous, and frustrating.
Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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x one thousand.
Everyone owes their life to the Snap on and Mac trucks. My buddies in fleet service used to bust my balls for buying tools from walmart, sears, or hunting craigslist forever, and I just replied that I didn't want to have to hand over my first born to the damn snap on truck guy.
If I was buying a 500 dollar air tool from that guy, it was cash up front for me, nothing on any payment plans, a lot of guys don't see it that way, as there definitely is a qualitative difference for the most part, a nicer tool does make the job easier, if you can afford them.
additionally, my impression these days is that its a rare person who understands the value of preventative maintenance and brings their car in to be tuned up on a regular basis. Cars are now viewed as throwaway, not as machines requiring tending.
In one of our situations, we serviced a fleet of 30-50 trucks for a big customer. On a yearly basis, they would drop us after we expanded to cover the whole fleet, even breaking a contract and paying a penalty to do so, and then come crawling back after 4 months when trucks started to fail. All the trucks started to fall apart with poor repairs, and when they came back, the bill to repair them all properly was higher, at which point some bean counter would freak out, and drop us again.
It was like clockwork.
Single customers we dealt with were like this generally IMO, only worse, as for them, even basic maintenance is seemingly preposterous. At least the fleet guys saw the value in changing the oil on a regular basis