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Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Oh, No, He’s Testing Stores Out! Did An AutoZone Pass UPCG’s Test?


Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Oh, No, He’s Testing Stores Out! Did An AutoZone Pass UPCG’s Test?

For a few years now, I’ve bitched, moaned, made fun of, and shared stories from my experiences as a parts counter guy, and honestly, I’m running on fumes at this point. I don’t work behind the counter anymore, so when I do get stories, they are usually from my old store and it’s the same stuff 95% of the time. It gets kind of stale, and I am fully aware of that. But, what if I went checking out random parts stores when I travel out of state…kind of like a “secret shopper” deal, except the secret shopper has all of the mischievous and semi-malicious intent of Billy Bob Thornton’s character in “Bad Santa”? The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Who better to analyze a store than someone with experience behind a counter, acting as a customer?

So, I made my mind up and have decided that when I’m out and about, that I will randomly drop into a store for one reason or another. I might just roam and peruse and disappear, or I might find something cheap to panic the clerk over, just to see if they are helpful or not. My first target: an AutoZone in mid-Ohio and a guy in his early twenties we will call “Mr. Philips”. The item: a fender well retaining pin for a Chrysler LX. Just the cheap plastic part:

fender pin

The good: Mr. Philips was eager to a fault to assist. What he lacked in technical knowledge he more than made up for in enthusiasm and learning…most people wouldn’t rip apart the entire Dorman display for one plastic retainer pin. Not Mr. Philips, he attached that display like an angry pit bull and didn’t stop until he had about five potential likelihoods….all before he even went to the computer! Unfortunately, after running the numbers on his computer, he realized he wasn’t even close. Deflated, he offered to let me take a crack at looking it up after I mentioned something about working at a parts store before. Dear AutoZone: your computer system sucks out loud. It isn’t close to intuitive and doesn’t understand basic parts names. RETAINER PIN. PUSH PIN. WHEEL LINING PIN. BOWLING PIN. F***ING BOWLING PIN. It didn’t matter what I typed in, there was no way I’d get the computer to realize what it was without having the Chrysler part number in-hand to cross-reference with the system. No wonder people have such a hard time with AutoZones…Bill Gates himself would need a year to fix that crap before some random guy off of the street could make use of it!

Result: Fail to get part, but not the fault of the clerk so much as a lack of knowledge combined with a horrifyingly bad search system. Mr. Philips, you did as good as you could given your tools. Keep your enthusiasm up…and next time, maybe don’t offer to tear into a pin kit to offer up one that should work. AutoZone might not like that…


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6 thoughts on “Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Oh, No, He’s Testing Stores Out! Did An AutoZone Pass UPCG’s Test?

  1. crazy

    As a former parts guy, you should\’ve known the correct keywords to use, for the part , none you listed are.
    push clip, push rivet, plastic rivet, body hardware ,
    Plastic Rivets, Fender/Bumper Fastener Push Clips .

    search engines work this way, junk in, junk out..
    you inputted junk, and got no parts found, or no correct for your needs found.. you knew this before you typed into the computer system..
    I can\’t blame the counter guy that at least tried, or the parts store computer system, when the former parts guy, knowingly inputs keywords that won\’t give the correct parts..
    hat is just as bad as a customer that comes in wanting, needing a thingamcbob, or a whatchacallit..
    You knew better, but did this to get a story out of it.. that\’s not really fair or wise..
    Or did you really not know the correct name for the part.. if so.. put down that stone before you walk back into that glass house..

    1. greg

      I would kinda disagree with your comment cause as many of you know Carquest got bought out by Advance Auto. My Carquest store got shut down and i got transferred to an Advance store,after 3 months I’m still learning how they describe different parts.Some of it just blows my mind! Like the lack of illistration and dimension books.

      1. Crazy

        The sad part is the partsbook the shops see online is different than the retail customer and the store is different than both..
        the shops get a better system than the counter guys..
        but the author ,knew this going in..

  2. ram50boosted

    this happened in our shop a few years ago.
    counter guy: how may i help you
    cust: i need a part for my car
    counter guy: what part do you need?
    cust: i don’t know
    counter guy: What kind of car are you working on?
    cust: i don’t know.
    counter guy: it is going to be real hard to get you a part that you do not know what it is or what kind of car it goes on.
    cust: let me talk to someone who knows what he is talking about!

    1. Roger Felling

      I have had that as well.

      What Kind of car?

      I don’t know. A blue one.

      Yep, going to be hard to go with this…

  3. Roger Felling

    After having worked at Autozone for 4 years, I can attest the system is not lookup friendly for sure. If you don’t know what data entry called it, then you are screwed. Try finding a VSS for a Ford pickup after 1992, and it shows you a transmission sensor. Look up abs sensor for the same truck, and you get the proper sensor located in the rear axle.

    While helping counter guys at Advance, (no longer a parts counter guy) I find there systems sucks worse than AZ… The sad thing is the internet system is waaaay better to use than the in store version for both stores.

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