Well, it was bound to happen: Store Manager made good on his threat to the new Regional, the guy who brought in so much stress that it ended up putting a guy who I had no issue working for in the hospital for cardiac reasons. I had to replace the battery in my wife’s vehicle this morning and found out that he quit after filing his grievances with Corporate. The Bearded One was given the store manager position, but to put it mildly (and not to undermine the Beard’s abilities at all), this store is doomed. To understand the impact, a $400,000 per year store was pushing hard into $1,000,000 per year territory, even with a turnover rate pushing 40 people a year. But the new Regional did not have the ability to determine who was responsible for those gains. All he knew was that there was a huge turnover ratio, and without caring one bit about why people were leaving, totaled out Store Manager’s last annual review and all but fired him. The hospital incident put him over the edge, and honestly, I know that he is better off working at a place of business that won’t stress him out to the point of wearing a heart monitor.
I doubt that anyone who is way up the chain at any of the major parts stores ever reads the drivel I post here. I’m one barely disgruntled ex-employee who normally makes light of the daily situations in the store. But if, by some miracle, any execs are reading this, hear me clearly: Turnover is mostly due to moderate-to-good workers finding a better opportunity because chain stores do not offer them. You are never…EVER…going to stop turnover when the kid flipping burgers at Sonic is making equal or better pay than your clerks. Happy employees will come about via one of two ways: either you will treat them like transient employees, understand that the counter is a temporary position for them, and keep your pay at the same level and not complain when said employees find a better opportunity and move along; or you will finally come to the conclusion that there is more to running a successful parts store than punching quick information into a computer and waiting for the 35-year-old operating system to regurgitate a part number. It baffles me…honestly baffles me…that store leadership isn’t allowed to figure out who might actually have more than passing knowledge on a car, and instead of working the holy hell out of them until they burn out and move on, instead cultivate and reward (both professionally and financially) that employee. How often does a big box store get a new hire that can speak gearhead? Or, even an employee who is willing to learn the small differences between certain vehicles, all of which go towards keeping customers returning, asking for the same guy over and over, because they trust that clerk, because they know that the individual behind the counter KNOWS WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE DOING!
I’m convinced it will never happen. Instead, more gearheads will buy on-line, stores will become a thing of the past, and management will wonder what the hell happened. And I will remember all of the times I had customers ask for me by name, thank me for helping them out, hug me in appreciation, shake my hand, and recommend me to their friends. And I will know exactly what to say to anyone who ever asks: “I was good at my job, but I had to move on to something better.” I hope Store Manager has done the same thing. As much as we may have butted heads when I was an employee, honestly he’s a good guy and didn’t deserve to put up with half of what he did.
Amen. Excellent.
I agree 100% with what you observed. I was in the part biz for 30+ yrs. As great as computer catalogs & inventory control are, they helped create the situation you describe. It seems once computers arrived, owners thought that meant any moron could be a parts guy and the pay scale stalled to reflect this misinformed belief. Established managers, like me, continued to do OK but the younger, on the way up guys disappeared. Entry level quickly became a slight step above flipping burgers. I had entry level , no experience, applicants that had NO car knowledge expect to make nearly as much as I did. The great parts guys out there do it for the same reason, THEY ARE CAR GUYS!
I was “that guy” at a Western Auto. Gearhead that I am, people trusted me and, if they noticed my car not in the parking lot, would not come in. I truly loved working there and the Owner, when I decided to re-enter the military, offered me to be his roving manager overseeing his five stores. As tempting as that was, I had something to complete in the military. I have since completed that mission (retired honorably after 21 years) and want to get back into the parts world.
Actually, nearly all businesses do stupid things. I worked part time at a retail store and got chewed out because I didn’t carry my little book so I could fill out personal info from customers. Why would I ask, “What brought you into the lawn and garden department today?” I was sure they weren’t looking for new underwear and felt mighty stupid asking the question. After making great sales numbers, I was called on the carpet for selling too much stuff and not asking enough for personal information. I sold lots because people just wanted to buy what they wanted. Not be grilled about personal info.
Same with my auto parts job. I managed a store for years. All my employees were car guys. We sold lots of stuff. It helped we all could advise customers on how to do the repair themselves and sell them the right parts. We sold lots of performance parts. Upper management didn’t like speed equipment to be stocked. I couldn’t impress upon them how much high profit stuff sold with speed equipment. They didn’t like cases of oil in stock, headers, intake manifolds, ect. Gardening gloves? No problem. That store is long gone now. Despit all that and 70 hour weeks, I really miss that job.
– I got bitched at for not “up selling” / I can’t sell people crap they don’t need
many customers ask for me by name…weird right?
– I make less than min wage but get 2% commission. I was the top selling
salesman last weekend. I made $14 in commission. Pathetic
– I get bitched out because I refuse to have customers fill out a form on our
“performance” The customer give us SO MUCH info to get a car serviced
then it takes 15 minutes to clear their work order then they want us to
have the customer fill out yet another form asking about their experience.
It is overkill…again, customers ask for me by name. Crazy!
– We only employ ASE techs part time. This means that most of the work is
done by GST’s. Big jobs take days to get out the door due to the limited
availibility of ASE techs. Why do we only have part time ASE’s? Because
the store does not pay them crap. The ones we do have are moonlighting.
– We have far more crap in stock than car parts and tires. If you want a
225/75/16 or a 2brl carb for a 70’s pickup I’ll most certainly have to order it
but if you want stick on LED’s a home security system or an “As Seen On
TV’ wallet….well, we’ve got plenty of those. Also, we’ve got TONS of phone
accesories and remote controll cars that dont sell but they wont clearance
them because they would lose their ass. The retail people are short
sighted…
– This is an industry that doesn’t rely on knowledge as much as it does
employing someone who will work for pennies and not complain about it.It
employs leadership who are focused on the bottom dollar first and
personnel last. They don’t care that keeping the personnel fat and happy
leads to a productive and profitable environment….but what do I know…I
am just a parts guy