Alex

Great predictions! In addition, I predict that... * European Union will have more issues and come closer to falling apart, bringing problems for the euro. * US Federal Internet "fairness" tax will come in some form to level the playing field between "brick & mortar" and online retailers, also giving states more revenue....all by requiring online merchants to collect tax by state if they don't already online. * AutoShopOwner will hit the 1000 members mark.

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a happy & healthy 2012!

Thank you for the great feedback!

Thanks! That's me and my daughter at Rockefeller center in NYC a week or so a go. Wifey took the pic.

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone has a wonderful X-Mas! Happy Hanukkah if you celebrate! All the best this holiday season to you, and your families. This is the first year my 4 year old dauhter is actually understanding and waiting for Santa! I'm gonna have to eat he cookies...shhh..don't tell her!

I'm also a fan of Mitchell, then R.O.Writer. You can also look at Baymaster & Invomax as solutions.

Welcome to ASO!

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I'm not sure I see the conflict...let's see... Salaried with normal day off on Monday during Memorial Day week for a shop normally open Monday through Saturday let's say, and the other day off is Sunday. Closing on Memorial Day. Salaried - Days off are Sunday (closed), Monday (usual & holiday closed), and one more day picked or given in leu of holiday. That becomes let's say a 32 (8 hour a day) hour actual work week. Yes salary is not hourly, but to make it a fair time wise comparison, I'm using an 8 hour day. But, because they are salaried, they got their full 40 hour pay that week. So their benefit is the extra day off. Hourly - Days off Thursday (usual), Sunday (closed), & Monday (holiday closed). They worked only 4 days that week, or 32 hours. You paid them 'holiday pay" an extra 8 hours for Monday, which brought them up to 40 hours for their week. Their benefit is also an extra paid day off. Again, this is not for everyone, but if you go to a large chain like Sears Auto or other corporation, more than likely, they follow something like this. In addition, hourly employees could get time in a half if the business is open and they have to work, in addition to 8 hours of holiday pay. Salaried, get no time in a half. It's all part of a benefits package a business offers. A smaller business may have an issue granting the extra day, so maybe they get a little bonus for the holiday or something.

So...choosing a smart phone can be tough, because yes...there are allot of choices! When you choose your next smart phone, unless you buy off contract your next phone, you are deciding for the next 2 years, because you'll be locked in...in most cases. Smartphones are really about the operating system and the hardware. It looks like allot of choices, but in actuallity, it's only 4 major operating systems.. Android (All your Motorola Droids, LG Revolution, HTC Thunderbolt, Samsung n Nexus, etc..) iOS (iPhone only) BlackBerry (All your BlackBerry devices) Windows 7 (Nokia, HTC, and whoever else has started to pick it up..) Android has now trumped iOS with 40% of the US market share, only because it's 1 iphone vs a bunch of various Android handsets on the market. Also has a huge ecosystem of apps and features. Android 4.0 is the latest/most appealing version, and available on the Samsung Nexus and most phones in January like the Droid Razr. iPhone, well...it's the iPhone. It's got 28% of the US market share. It's on iOS 5 and has a neat little feature called Siri for a personal assistant. Huge ecosystem of apps, and easy to use. Great hardware. BlackBerry is falling hard, yet they are trying to keep up...The Operating sytem is less appealing with less features, plus plagued with recent outages, unless they overhaul their OS, they're in for some more trouble. Windows 7 is really just starting, growing slowly. More and more apps and is said to be very easy to use. It's based on a tile system for activity. I think it will grow more with windows 8 on both mobile and pcs. There are some other operating systems like webOS (Palm, HP), Meebo..etc. I currently use a Palm Pre 2 which is webOS, and that's because I love the operating system, but it's a dying phone with discontinued hardware. I'm hoping it gets revived, otherwise I will need to make some choices myself here... The other big factor to look at is 4G/LTE and how fast it's growing. If you are going to be with a phone for the next 2 years, do you want 4G? It's growing fast, especialy Verizon. In summary... 1. Choose an operating system that you like most. 2. If Android, choose good hardware (Nexus or RAZR, etc). The iPhone has one choice and it's very good already. 3. If you want 4G, at this time it's mostly Android phones only. Some carriers have Windows 7 4G. 4. Read online reviews.

Anyone using MaxxTraxx Pro in their shop? I think I read a post or topic somewhere about someone using it. Just curious if anyone is or if they ever evaluated the features and benefits of the software. I met one shop manager that swears by it, but that's it really. I know it's developed by a company called Scott systems.

I gotta agree, they actually get screwed out of a holiday... I think it all boils down to what you offer as part of your company benefits package. There is no actual law requiring you to pay exempt employees time off on holidays, but from what I have seen, honoring the 6 standard US paid holidays for salaried employees is usually fair in most cases as part of the benefits package...as long as it makes sense for your business. The days are.. New Years Day Memorial Day 4th of July Labor Day Thanksgiving Christmas Day If the holiday falls on a weekend day when the shop is closed, there could be an observed day given, like the following Monday. So for salaried employees, a week that includes one of those holidays, they should in actuality have 3 days off. If you close your shop the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas/New Years Eve, that should be one of their days off and not a paid holiday. It really just depends on what your policy is, but I feel that if you pay hourly employees holiday pay, salaried should get some compensation as well in a way of an extra day off or a floating day to be used at a later date in leu of the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! * Merged this topic into last years....

Got power back today!

We got over a foot of snow, but had power up until today. Running the house on a generator right now.

We're supposed to get hit with some snow tomorrow, 6-12 inches last I heard. A little early...leaves are still on the trees, which means power outages!