Are Parts Store Employees Getting Worse?

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Some parts store employees are very knowledgeable. Some aren’t. I went to get a tone ring for my Escape and he looked at me like I was from Mars. He asked what is a tone ring? I said it’s for the ABS and he is like oh, did cars from 2008 have ABS? And I’m like yeah they have had that way before 2008 and he was like oh ok. So he looks it up and gives it too me and told me thanks for teaching him something. That was at Auto Zone. At Advance there are only two people I will deal with because I know them and they are very knowledgeable one is a retired mechanic. They offered me a job saying all I had to know how to do was wipers, light bulbs and batteries. I said no thanks.
 
Nick1994 said:
Is it just me or is the intelligence level getting lower? Every once in a while I get a good parts store person but lately it seems they really either aren't too bright in general or just don't know anything about cars. Here's a few of my encounters.

While standing in line the person infront of me was inquiring about the special O'Reilly's had going on at the time which was Havoline Full Synthetic and some filter. The parts store guy looked up the filter part number and wrote it down, and then asked what kind of car the guy had (I don't remember what it was) and the parts store employee brought back 5 quarts of 5w30. The owner then said "Oh, but my car has high miles, 75,000." Then the parts store employee without saying a word went and got 10w30 of the same oil (Non-HM) instead. Apparently that's better for such a high mileage car LOL.

When getting parts for a 1970 Beetle (which they often do have in stock) I had a hard time explaining myself to the parts store employee. I even had to show him how to search for it on the computer.

In an import parts store where they sell lots of vintage VW parts I went in asking for some retractable seat belts for the 70' Beetle. The guy looked at me like I was an idiot and tried to get me to buy them from some other store across the street. But I wanted to spend my money at their store for the part that they had. He wouldn't have it. It would have required him to put in a special order that would have taken a week for it to get there. I don't care how long it takes the car rarely gets driven anyways. I spent my money elsewhere.

Customer infront of me has a check engine light for an engine misfire. Parts store employee hands over a $2.99 bottle of fuel injector cleaner and says to try this first. What?

At the dealer wanting to buy a filter for my VW TDI and asked if they had oil. The parts counter guy reaches back and gets 5 quarts of 5w30 which apparently does back-spec for my car, but I asked if he had any 5w40 and he said no. I then told him I didn't want the oil and I would order some online. He looked at me like I was crazy and insisted on me buying the oil there because regardless of all the camshaft failures on my car's type of engine, he wanted to sell me a 5w30 and kind of tried to force me to buy it. Back off dude, it's my car. I call the shots.

Went in to O'Reilly's to buy some gear oil. I asked for Mobil 1 which they keep in the back and not on the shelf. The employee then tries to get me not to buy the Mobil 1 because it's all just a marketing gimmick and they're all the exact same stuff just with a different label on it. I don't care if the other brands are just as good, maybe they are, but spending the extra $2 of MY money that gives me butterflies in my stomach and I sleep well at night when I use it (not literally) is my choice.

At AutoZone getting my battery and alternator checked. They couldn't clamp their machine tester on my battery (Negative is kind of squished in there) and after like 5 minutes of them struggling I do it for them I n 5 seconds. Voila, it worked.

I often have to show them how to ring up the O'Reilly's coupons when they have their sales.



Is it just me?
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Experience and knowledge aren't free, for most folks working at these places is a part time job. You will never get and retain intelliget, knowledgeable people paying 10-15 bucks an hour with no benefits. These big chain parts stores don't care about the people. If they did they would encourage and pay for training, but why train somebody if they leave after they get real training and get a better job. I had a customer that took her car to AZ because the steering wheel was really hard to turn at low speed.The rocket scientist at AZ told her her P/S fluid was low and added p/s to her brake resivour. Turn out that a rat cralled into her engine compartment while it was at the airport and got wrapped up in the serpentine belt and broke it. It would have been an easy fix but now she had to have the entire brake system flushed because AZ dude contaminated the brakes with p/s fluid. How do you not see a missing S belt? And not know where to put the correct fluids? That moron turned a $200 repair in to a $1500 dollar repair.
 
Thax said:
Here the deal with this. The industry is moving to a low pay model, you are just not going to find the same experience you did 20 years ago. You will never see a counterman who "knows" all the part numbers by memory anymore. Reasons for this are simple A.) except for a few of us , the vast majority are low payed employees B.) cars now have far more parts now with the switch to fuel injection. Honestly do you really expect the average counterperson to know about specific parts on a 70's beetle? Or know that your VW requires 502 oil? This industry especially with the big 3 , are rapidly becoming just another massive retailer. They just happen to sell stuff for cars. The problem is that A.) Mary doesnt know anything about her car , so she falsely believes someone behind the counter knows EVERYTHING about her individual car B.) Ted who gets a real hard on showing off how much he knows about this motor, part etc. So what does he do , treat the person who is probably trying to help him like a common idiot. With the move to lower wages and increasingly becoming extremely retail , the days of finding skilled and knowledgeable counterman is fast disappearing. I still do it because I love it and love to help people. And the skilled counterperson , with the correct certifications can still make a honest wage. On a side note to this rant , I have seen far more just plain stupid customers than just plain stupid counterman. So in short be nice to your parts guy , we are people too. We cant read your mind , we dont have a crystal ball . Most of us just want to do a good job and help our customer out.
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The parts guys at the dealer I go to are very knowledgeable and very easy going. I've gone to pick up several OE only parts and never had any issues. If I go to AZ or any other similar places its very aggravating, so I just order what I need online, unless it's something like fluids or dropping off used oil.
 
bunnspecial said:
Every NAPA I've been in was definitely geared toward accounts and had almost nothing on the floor. Carquest is the same way, but maybe even less out than NAPA.

AZs here tend to at least have a decent walkable area, but nothing like O'Reilly's.

I think Pep Boys, the few times I was in one, seemed to have the most on the floor and the least in the back.
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Federated Auto parts is like the Napa you describe here.

At Fisher Auto parts aka Federated Auto parts they don't have much out on the floor. They definitely are geared towards commercial accounts. The people there at the counter are pretty good I must say. Prices there are rather good too most of the time
 
Gimpy1 said:
Yup, what do you expect from a guy making 10 bucks an hour a certified master tech?
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Exactly. In addition, I’m seeing Autozone carries 12,931 different brake pad, rotor, drum and shoe SKUs. The notion that anyone could ever “know” that catalog is completely bonkers. Looking at the catalog on the computer is the only way it could ever be done.
 
AutoMechanic said:
Some parts store employees are very knowledgeable. Some aren’t. I went to get a tone ring for my Escape and he looked at me like I was from Mars. He asked what is a tone ring? I said it’s for the ABS and he is like oh, did cars from 2008 have ABS? And I’m like yeah they have had that way before 2008 and he was like oh ok. So he looks it up and gives it too me and told me thanks for teaching him something. That was at Auto Zone. At Advance there are only two people I will deal with because I know them and they are very knowledgeable one is a retired mechanic. They offered me a job saying all I had to know how to do was wipers, light bulbs and batteries. I said no thanks.
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My 96 300ZX has abs.
 
E365 said:
Exactly. In addition, I’m seeing Autozone carries 12,931 different brake pad, rotor, drum and shoe SKUs. The notion that anyone could ever “know” that catalog is completely bonkers. Looking at the catalog on the computer is the only way it could ever be done.
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To be honest I wouldn't trust anything to my own memory unless I own that car myself. For others I will always double check with a catalog online. The chances of selling someone a wrong unit, the customer installed it with some creativity, then get into an accident and sue the company, is too big of a liability. Even if I know the catalog is wrong I would still not sell the "right" unit I remember to the customer off my head. I would rather they go somewhere else and I lose the sales. I might report this to HQ or double confirm it, but I wouldn't make the sales.
 
aquariuscsm said:
My 96 300ZX has abs.
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Yep so does our 1994 Ford Econoline. I was kinda surprised the parts guy didn’t know that. I definitely don’t expect them to know everything because I’m sure no one does but that kinda threw up a red flag. Here Napa and Advance seem to have the most knowledgeable employees. Napa struggles with old stuff though because they ordered the wrong pulley for my truck 3 times because it kept showing different numbers in the computer. I completely avoid O’Reilly because they are mean but the staff there is pretty knowledgeable at least at mine.
 
We have 3 O'Reilly's here and multiple AZ and AAP stores an one Napa. When I need a very specific part , I go to NAPA. When I just need something that works, thens its my closest O'Reilly. They have a very good stock and the same employees since they opened about a year ago. I look my parts up on-line before I go and sometimes I just go ahead and purchase it on-line and then just pick it up. You must remember too that most of us buy at RA and compare prices and quality. Standard brand parts are usually a good value so that is the brand I choose and not the store brand. Lifetime warranties mean nothing when you are on the side of the road. Napa only sells quality parts that I can trust.
 
Gimpy1 said:
Zdx, '4t

1993 ford explorer had abs so yeah its been around for a long time. Same with airbags.
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Our '90 MPV had rear ABS - the '89s did not.

Our '97 MPV had 4-wheel ABS, but our '01 Protege had no ABS at all. (The Protege was a very basic model with crank widows, no AC, 5-speed MT, and rear drum brakes. Still one of my favourite cars ever.)

I guess it varies between models and trim levels.
 
Yes , more rude , crude with attitude . Days of respect for customers and elders are long gone . A few are considerate .
 
So I try and not be the kind of counter person that people complain about here. Are some things out of my control, absolutely. Do I have the whole catalog memorized, no way. But i am that parts person who will almost always ask for a VIN because I have been burned way too many times. Just yesterday I had someone on the phone wanting parts for their 06 Escape. Nothing was making sense with what the catalog showed versus what they were asking for. I finally got them to give me the VIN and it was actually a 2008 which made a world of difference.

The past month or so people have been unbelievably rude to us. I think they have been inside for the past year and are finally dealing with people face to face again. A few days ago I was by myself in parts and someone came to the retail counter while I was on the phone. I smiled and said "I will be right with you as soon as I am done with this call." I was calling for a backordered part on a truck that was stuck on a lift in the shop. This person started slamming their hand on the counter yelling for someone to help them. Asking if there was anyone else and if someone who knew what they were doing could help them. I finished the call and they asked me where service was.... Like they walked through a door with an awning over it that says "PARTS" and into a room full of parts to ask if this was where they bring their car for service.
 
We have one guy at an AAP that is very good at his job, because of that, it is darn near impossible to get him on the phone. Other than that, it is impossible to get good help around here.
The one guy that is really knowledgeable and runs his own parts store in town has health issues and hopefully he gets back at it soon. That store has limited items in the front because there's not much room, but it is all in the back. When you walk in, you see a dimly lit showroom and the walls are loaded with pictures of the local circle track and drag strip cars that are built using parts from his shop. It is truly a parts store from days past.
 
We are getting worse. The general public and corporate during the pandemic has made us all acquire the worst attitudes. Corporate does not want to pay anything that would attract better help. The people who worked there ass off last year got a 10 cent raise. The pandemic brought bored people with free government money into the store to treat us like **** far too many times. Several of us have given our notices with a few more to follow. And none of us are moving to another auto parts store or retail for that matter. This past year has not been good mentally. I’m looking forward to working out of sight and alone.
 
82c10 said:
We are getting worse. The general public and corporate during the pandemic has made us all acquire the worst attitudes. Corporate does not want to pay anything that would attract better help. The people who worked there ass off last year got a 10 cent raise. The pandemic brought bored people with free government money into the store to treat us like **** far too many times. Several of us have given our notices with a few more to follow. And none of us are moving to another auto parts store or retail for that matter. This past year has not been good mentally. I’m looking forward to working out of sight and alone.
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This is the true cause of the "labor shortage". Lots of people who've become out of work over the last year have realized how miserable working a low paying retail/food service job where you have no benefits, make peanuts, and get treated like crap by customers, and have realized that they are worth more than that. It's not that people don't want to work, it's that people don't want to work for the pay/benefits you're offering them to put up with the bs that you do as a retail/food service employee... People have wised up. I know a few people that have used this as a chance to change careers, go back to school, learn a new skill to take a new, higher paying job.
 
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