We’ve focused quite a bit on both ends of the counter here, and I’ve taken a shot or two at a store manager before. But have you wondered what else could be affecting the morale and selection of the employees at the local Parts Store? Let’s look at this with a real-world scenario: what happened this weekend at Holley’s LS Fest.
Beech Bend has sponsorship ties with O’Reilly Auto Parts. It would make sense that during a large-scale event like LS Fest that O’Reilly’s has some sort of presence at the track, right? It’s a great marketing location and as an added bonus you can skip an emergency trip to the store and get parts ordered in to the track, which makes racers happy. There are two O’Reilly’s in Bowling Green. One is physically close to Beech Bend but is a pain in the ass to get to because it’s in a very congested area. The other is a little longer of a drive, but it’s accessible. Both places have the same hours and both places deliver. The store further away volunteers to go out to Beech Bend, set up a pop-up tent and will keep a driver on standby to run parts specifically for the track. Sweet idea, right? Mid-management (either district or regional) made the decision that the closer store would do the work. From a very basic standpoint, I understand that decision; it makes sense to use the closest store. But here’s how it ended up playing out: The store manager at the closer store informed his workers that working at the races would be voluntary (i.e. no pay) and flat-out dropped the ball on support. Not one employee was out at Beech Bend the whole three days. In fact, I’d be trashing O’Reilly’s for skipping out on such a large event if it weren’t for the further store supplying over $160 worth of oil and filters at the last possible minute for the Engine Swap Challenge.
So what was the point of that example? Middle management can do more damage than a poor store manager can, because mid-management barely scratches the surface of being personable: they deal with the store manager and tend to act friendly toward the employees in the hopes of learning the truth from them. Meanwhile their focus is on numbers: sales, payroll, and the like. When a middle manager gets pressure from up top about something, a middle manager tends to one-track focus on the numbers, not giving one rat’s ass about the people. I’ve heard some horror stories: a store manager being ordered to work up to 70 hours/week while keeping his employees under 10% of payroll…a hiring freeze until payroll meets expectations…a “managerial overhaul” if sales aren’t satisfactory. A lot of the time these guys aren’t local to the store to understand trends and sales highs and lows. During early spring, the store I was at had a sales boom as the farmers got their equipment ready for the field. When that high fell off, mid-management went nuts, trying to figure out why our numbers were down. They track sales, not specifically what was sold. It’s the reason that Duck Dynasty air fresheners were still in the store long after it was known that they weren’t selling, period. Same reason that the Fast and the Furious aisles are still in most stores.
Ever heard the phrase “shit rolls downhill”? That’s what happens. The mid-manager makes the store manager’s life hell by making arbitrary changes, cutting hours, and tying their hands, and that in turn affects the employees at that store, even if the store manager makes a concentrated effort to protect their employees. This is where a store ends up burning out and losing good people. I know several guys who got cut to fifteen hours a week and ended up having to go get another job because the check from the parts store wasn’t worth the gas used to for the commute. Sad, ain’t it? When the kid at the Burger King up the street makes more than you by putting onion rings in a cardboard container, it kills the incentive to be a decent parts clerk.
I know this Parts Guy column wasn’t funny. I’ll get back to the jokes, I promise, but after some discussions this week with some people I know, I felt it necessary to point out some of the other side of the coin. There are good people in the business, and a lot of them now view working the counter as a McDonald’s job on the way to anything better. That’s a trend that needs to be reversed.
Everything that you said is all too true, as I see it at the auto parts store that I currently work at while I attend school on the GI Bill, luckily for me I am also retired military, so I am more fortunate than others.
I have seen my store manager have to put up with the T/M and D/M telling him how to run his store, although they have no clue as to what is going on.
I have also seen my manager have to hear from our T/M after a “prima donna” commercial account doesn’t get there way they call and bitch and moan to the T/M if they don’t get there way, then the shit rolls downhill, I feel for my manager who has to put up with this shit on almost a daily bases and this along with the hours only makes the business lose good hard working people. Thank you Bangshift for letting me vent my rant, you will be hearing from my manager soon.
Unfortunately it’s just not in the auto parts business this crap happens. But I know of three very good counter folks and one manager that got out of the auto parts business just because of shit like this.
It’s also why I only use a local store. It cost a bit more for parts but they take care of their employees and have a low turnover rate compared to the chain stores in town.
Well said.
The local stores are a dying breed unfortunately. Support them while they are still in business!
This stuff happens because some douche is trying to validate his/her job. The corporations put theses jerks as DM’s that really have no sense as to what is going on. I hate to sound like a jerk but when you have to deal with a woman in this type of position its the WORST! They really feel they have to prove something with stupid little policies and shit. Then feel like they have to prove something due to being a female. Pain in the ass.
Not only does “shit roll downhill”, it also picks up velocity. This means the guy at the bottom gets hit with the crap under a bunch of pressure, and changes are expected by the end of the week. Thanks Bangshift, you just talked me out of a career change.
couldn’t agree more – in Australia there are a few auto store chains but not to the level you guys have. What we DO have is a hardware chain called Bunnings that are all over the place – my daughter worked at one that was literally just around the corner restocking shelves at night when she was studying. So far so good…until the managers got involved. One of their stores is in Elizabeth (northern suburbs, around an hour from where we live) and one night she rang me from work to say `you’ll need to pick me up from the Elizabeth store’. When I picked her up she said they’d been short of workers at Elizabeth so they’d called in a couple of cabs and carted 10 or so staff up there to help out. Fair enough so far….but then this became a regular occurrence every week. Turns out a manager was trying to cut costs at Elizabeth so he wouldn’t employ enough staff. He was higher up the food chain than the manager at the other store so he could order them to do this. Where it got to be bullshit was that they would no longer pay cab fares. In the end the lower level manager drove staff out there in her own car ( a 63 Pontiac! unusual in Australia, but doubly so when the manager was a chick in her 20’s but I digress). They wouldn’t pay for cabs going home….So, rather than do something about it the managers spread a rumour that ` soon’ all the hours were going to be cut, and people should look elsewhere for work… my daughter and a bunch of other staff ended up leaving as a result. We were in there the other day and talked to a few of the staff to see how things were now…. BOTH stores are massively understaffed basically so the managers don’t look bad…..
It’s all a function of corporate greed & a super-competitive labor market. Not that I was alive for it, but I have to suspect we were better off before the massive corporate chain became the norm.
We have a local chain of Napa stores here with pretty decent employees selling quality parts. For oddball / custom / “Hell if I know what it came from” parts you have to do your homework and there are still counter folks I know to avoid if possible. Compared to the Oreilley’s or the Advance in town.. well, there’s no comparison. Riebes pays people a living wage and doesn’t seem to break balls too much. Therefore people stay and get good at what they do. This shows.
Oreilley seems to have a lot of turnover and at $9 an hour with constant sales tracking & performance analysis, well, of course they have a lot of turnover.
Let people do their jobs without interference and they’ll generally do it well. If they don’t do it on their own, tell them how. If that doesn’t work, can them and tell them why. Seems simple, right?