Joe Marconi

American capitalism gone with a whimper

 

American capitalism gone with a whimper - Pravda.Ru

This article not only rings true...it downright scary!

We have created a population of uneducated, ill-informed people. The question is can we stop it?

I just read in the Wall Street Journal about how a number of school districts have gone to a 4-day school week to save money on their budget. SAVE MONEY!

Who is running the asylum, the insane? How much will a four day school week cost us in the future? Our younger generation has a hard enough time competing now. Other countries have extended their school; we want to retreat?

There is a hidden agenda that’s moving this country in the wrong direction.

We have 3 master techs and 1 lube tech. What I see is happening is 4 cars are worked on right away, diagnosing and etc. Then they bring the work order to the Service Writer and he has to estimate the work, call the customer and get an OK, then order parts. There is too much standing around. Yes, they grab another car and the circle continues, finally catching up later. If anybody has a suggestion, I would love to hear it. We also have 2 people that answer the phone and make appointments. The service writer is working on his 4 techs

I had the same issue. You may not want to hear this, but, you need to hire another service writer. My original shop had 6 bays, 4 techs, one service writer. We built the car counts up to 100 to 120 per week. Our productivity suffered because the one writer could not get the paper work processed quick enough and sell the work. After a while, we were not selling the work we knew we could sell.

I hired another service writer, and the productivity went up and up-sells went up too.

We now have 10 bays, 7 techs and do 180 to 200 cars per week and have three service writers. (I help too, if needed). You need enough service people if you have the work. The service writer needs the time to speak with the customer, create the estimate and sell jobs. Techs standing around will bleed money from your business. Plus, you will eventually burn out the service writer.

The increase in productivity and the increase in those up-sells will pay for the additional service writer.

Why is the general public so resistant to paying diagnostic time? If one goes to the doctor you wind up paying for xrays, cat scans, MRI's, lab work, etc. All of that is diagnostic and is not cheap.

Why, because too many shops don't charge for diag time, or don't charge enough, or apply the diag charge if the customer authorizes the repair and so on. The problem is not the general public, the problem is us.

Are the beads just for truck tires or can they be used on passenger tires (especially low profile)?

Yes, that's it.

Hi everyone, If you have been reading my posts then you probably have already read this article in it's original version.

Diagnostic fee or Diagnostic free... If you haven't here it is edited for Brake and Front end magazine.

 

This is the FIRST article for Brake and Front end. I'm pretty proud of it if ya can't tell.

 

What can you do for me... besides reading my posts ??

 

Go to the link that takes you to the article at Brake and Front end and leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Say whatever you would like, but of course it would even better to say something that would encourage the editors/staff to want to print more of my stories... sure would appreciate it.

 

BTW... every article that I am working on that I will eventually send out I let you guys see it first... it's a good feed back as to what I should change or add to the articles. Thanx again... Gonzo

 

Here is the link to my article...

 

Diagnostic...

Nice article, great points that needed to be said.

I held a workshop at a shop networking meeting a while ago where we had to calculate the true cost to the shop for one hour of diag time. When you total all the shop costs (tech payroll, information systems, shop overhead, other data bases like IATN & Identifix, scan tools, scan tool updates, meters and other tools) the average among the group was $95.85. Let me repeat; that's $95.85 just to break even for one hour of diag time!!!

We need top charge, plain and simple...

I understand the ones that voted for it didn't even know what all it contained. How could they with that many pages. The only way I see to change our government is to let them know we will not vote for them again. It is time we all made our vote count and that is the only way

You are right on both counts. The people in this country must get out on election day and tell this adminstration: We will not take it any longer!

No idea what they are. Are they bags used to store tires for summer or winter?

No, these bags are used instead of balance with weights. You just throw the bag into the tire. I think it was first used for large trucks. Here is the link again:

Magnum Plus Balancing Compound

Hopefully he learned his lesson, but I don't know...A Tiger cannot changed its stripes.

He didn't really react one way or another which may have been that he was totally suprised at what I did. He never said another word. I have a feeling that he is a bully who is use to bullying people around. If I know anything internal he was probably kicking himself because now he had spent all of this time and trouble, had a fair price, from people he trusted, and now he has to start over. He probably wishes he had keep his mouth shut and he probably has a new respect for our shop. He sees that we are not hard up for business. If he goes to the wrong shop he will find this an expensive lesson.

Hopefull he learned his lesson, but I don't know...A Tiger cannot changed its stripes.

I had an interesting experience yesterday, a customer who wanted to short cut a repair (pad slap a vehicle instead of replacing the rotors) which we agreed to do. In our brake package pricing we include machining rotors. We never charge more to machine rotors as a part of pad replacement but we never charge less if we do not machine the rotors. The brake service I had quoted to this man also included a substantial discount under a promotion we have going. He then began to argue that we should charge him less because we were not machining the rotors and I explained to him why it was the same. Finally he relented and said go ahead and do it but he added "I will not be back." I just told him we didn't have to do anything and turned around and told the shop to just back it out which we did. He would have been the type of customer coming back in seeking a refund or with a complaint and would have wanted to use the baseball bat technique on him. Fortunately, we have a lot of great customers who do not mind paying a fair price for a repair and I do not have to put up with that type of customer.

You are right, like I always say; You can't be everything to everyone". Stay the course and you will be fine.

Was the customer's reaction when you refused to work on his car? I would have loved to be there to see that!

Tire dealers denounce health care bill

 

http://www.moderntiredealer.com/News/Story/2010/03/Dealers-sound-off-on-health-care-bill.aspx

Maybe the fight is not over yet.

You know what’s strange; I can't find one person who is FOR the health bill. Isn't the government: "for the people, by the people"???????

Refund? How About a Bat to the Head?

 

Refund...

 

Here is a different approach to customer service. I haven't tried this once yet but there has been a time or two I might have been tempted.

I must admit there were times I felt like this guy, but actually taking a bat to someone? I don't know, this guy sounds nuts.

Joe this sounds like the same program or one very similar.

It probably is much the same. All these programs try to mimick each other to stay competetive.

Maybe because they are offered by a new startup type business. This is thru O'Reilly which seems to be a strong company. Go to the Certified website and type in your zip code and you can see if there are shops offering this in your area. They also offer a road hazard warranty on new tire sales that is good nationwide. It costs you 5% of the tire price or a minimum of $5.50 per tire. CARRoadHazard.com -Certified Auto Repair Centers Road Hazard Program

We are a TECH-NET Facility (Through CARQUEST Auto Parts) and it operates much the same way. We also have a nationwide warranty program and it works great. I would highly recommend shops to explore the idea of becoming a member of one of these programs. We get a rebate on our purchases, marketing programs, training and a lot of other benefits.

Here's the link:

TECH-NET Professional Auto Service® - Home

That quote from Thomas Jefferson says it all. The schools don't teach history anymore so there is no learning from the past and those that don't learn from the past are destined to repeat the same stupid mistakes.

This country was founded by great people, that most of us have forgotten.

You know the health care bill is 2,700 pages? The US Constitution is only 6. That speaks volumes!

Never even heard of them. Got any links to the info?

Yes: Here is the company that NYTECH Tire Supply is selling,

Magnum Plus Balancing Compound

Is anyone using the new tire balance bags? I just got a sample from NYTECH. Just wondering if anyone has any feedback, good, bad? These bags are used instead of wheel weights and claim to be better and maintain proper tire balance as the tire wears. Plus, according to NYTECH, will not damage the TPMS sensor.

Is anyone using the new tire bags? I just got a sample from NYTECH. Just wondering of anyone has any feedback, good, bad?

It could be, I will check when I get into the office on Monday to see what i paid.

Elite changed their entire site and accoirding to the site, the new price for membership is $79.00. Elite has a lot to offer and is worth checking into. It's a great business source. As I mentioned before, I am a member and know the founder, Bob Cooper, for many years.

What New Health Care Law Means to You

 

Health Care...

This is another example of "Feel Good" legislation. The fact is that someone will have to pay for this. When will the people of this once great land stand up and say, "we have had enough"!

The waste, fruad, phony law suits and political agendas have more to do with what's wrong in this country than anything else.

This administration wants to grow the size of government, and that's goes against the princples of why and how this country was formed:

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases". Thomas Jefferson

I've had similar problems with techs. Some ... when they do call in late for the 3rd or 4th time... I tell them not to bother coming in at all... but I reserve that for the bad ones. The good techs.. well, I won't assign them work... If you come in late... you get nothing. Eventually they either get the idea or they quit.

 

My worst offenders of this whole thing has always been the interns... I ended up handling them this way.... first off they are usually college or high school students... keep that in mind too. What I do is stand by their work area at exactly the start of the day... IF you are not there ON TIME... then GO HOME... all day. Until you can make it in the real world at the real time... you don't need this job. I'll usually play this game thru their entire internship... then when it's grading time it will show on thier report card.

 

It's worked in the past... hope this helps. Gonzo

At least with interns you stand a chance of making a difference, but when a 35 year old still has an issue with coming in on time, I think its too late.

A few years ago I had a similar problem with repeated warnings. Finally, one morning the guys wife called in to say he was running late and I told her to tell him not to bother. That was that. Fortunately, he was not a really good tech.

I had a similiar story, but this tech was good. I hated to let him go, but life goes on and we survived. It's not that I don't worry about losing a great tech, but if the tech stays, what will that do to my business due to bad morale and hard feelings among the other employees?

Joe, you are right but I don't know what I am going to do now to change a thing. Our U.S. representative has announced he will vote for it although the overwhelming majority of his conservative constituents are againts it. It seems that the Democratic Party cares nothing about the will of the people. Who are they elected to represent anyway? This legislation will place a mandate on small business like ours that will only make it harder to survive and be profitable. Do you think they have any idea how hard it is to make any money?

I think you go it right, they don't care. They want bigger government, not help grow businesses in this country. Their agenda is not in align with the people, I fear we are moving closer and closer to socialism.

Depending upon how valuable the owner thinks this tech is it could either be termination or a weeks suspension with termination to follow if repeat behaviour is encountered.

Have you been in this situation? If so, how did you handle it.

I will post up some pictures and info when I have it. I would love to see info from anyone else that will be holding these to get ideas.

That is a great idea. I will do the same when I hold my next event. Great tip!