There is actually but the reason is mostly a combination of 800k+ dead people and boomers retiring en masse.
Cars built during the Covid pandemic
- Thread starter Finklejag
- Start date
Don’t start nothin’, won’t be nothin’...
You don't hire much, do you?
I did have to hire one person about a year ago, I'm the only person who did my job at the time so they left me to handle finding new people. When you aren't focused necessarily on experience but the attitude and ability to learn it's not really that difficult. Younger people generally are more likely to meet that. When I interviewed people 15-20 years older than I am I found they often looked down on me and fully planned on coming in and doing things "the way I always did it" and that's a fast way to not get hired. And by the way, wanting the ability to take time off to do things and have work/life balance isn't a deal breaker, like it is for some places.
Anytime you see "we are like a family" or "people work late because they want to" run far, far away. That's code for "you are expected to work overtime regularly because we have too much work and not enough people"
I remember those days .
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You are a mind reader or a man of great insight !Well this thread went as expected
Yeah, I was there. Yeah, it was called the '80s...
Ford was President, Nixon was in the White House and FDR was running this country into the ground. I was bummin' in a hole-in-a-wall town in what is now called “Utah.” Some fella from Colorado shows up, starts making so called "improvements", right? Before we knew what hit us, the streets are running with latte...
It got so bad that a fella like me that liked to, you know... smoke a little stuff or drink a little... Crow like a rooster, maybe. Then Challenge the mayor's son to a gentlemen's duel, which was "uncouth.”
Don’t go near any hot tubs tonight
Well those people that don't want to work themselves to death shouldn't expect the rest of us to get taxed to death to support them . I never heard the OP ever mention 80 hours a week ? If you don't think Americans have become weak in the last 2 decades you don't get around much.
Standards are what you create for yourself.
Honesty and integrity are the reflection of those standards.
I don't believe in offering generalizations that are devoid of any real context. Painting millions of people with a paintbrush filled with 'holier than thous' means you miss what's important in life.
That is to do your best. Treat others with mutual respect. And don't go looking for fights.
What I just described are personal standards. Nothing more. If you think the world is full of overgrown mean children then be a mensch and lead by example.
Honesty and integrity are the reflection of those standards.
I don't believe in offering generalizations that are devoid of any real context. Painting millions of people with a paintbrush filled with 'holier than thous' means you miss what's important in life.
That is to do your best. Treat others with mutual respect. And don't go looking for fights.
What I just described are personal standards. Nothing more. If you think the world is full of overgrown mean children then be a mensch and lead by example.
There’s a difference between being weak and realizing that some jobs just ain’t worth the squeeze. Gen Z especially values their time far more than any other generation. GenX and older Millenials spent a good chunk of their working lives being told they’re replaceable… younger millennials and GenZ took that as a challenge. If you’re going to offer a poor work environment, poor/no benefits and poor pay, expect poor attitudes and bare minimum effort.
All I’ve noticed is a lot of hiring for entry level positions, go up the pay scale a bit and there is far far less of a problem finding workers.
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Well said friend.
I am a “it’s all about working hard and grinding” convert... I’m one of those X’er/older Mills, you mentioned. I spent my late teens and all of my twenties either deployed or working my tail off long hours away from my family. I wouldn’t take it back, but I also do not look at it through rose colored glasses either. I was utterly miserable and missed a lot of time with my family I can never get back. I’m still a hard work and a well known performer at work. But I’ll take time off in second and not lose a bit of sleep over it. Nor will begrudge someone for doing the same.
Call me weak, I don’t care. I know who I am and what I am capable of. More importantly I know what makes me happy now, it ain’t working.
There's a lot going on in this thread, and none of it is entirely correct.
There's a lot of bad employees, there's also plenty of bad employers. Employees often think they're worth more than they actually are, and employers are driven by a bottom line, not providing the best they can for their employees. Loyalty is dead, because employers have killed it. I've been at my current job for 5 years, and just by the numbers, I've cost myself money. I recently accepted another position starting next week, and my salary will jump 35%. My skills are the same, but employers have little desire to keep employees over the long haul.
There's lots of college graduates, but a scary amount of those college graduates took out loans to get degrees that are worth less than the money they were printed on. The government and private institutions have been largely reckless with the money they've lent students, and most students aren't financially smart enough to avoid the pitfalls that have been set up for them. For example, I work with a guy who graduated the year before me from the same school with the exact same degree. He graduated with $60k of student loans. I graduated with $15k. Why the difference? He was offered the money, and the school gives you the remaining balance of the loan once your tuition is paid for. Literally, he was getting thousands and thousands of dollars deposited into his account every semester. He's not alone.
We need fewer people going to some state school to get their B.A. in Public Speaking or Mass Communications or Gender Studies or *insert whatever is the most insane degree program you can think of that you can't imagine ever really exists but actually does*. These schools will take your money while knowing full well that your degree is going to be worthless. Instead, we need to normalize students going to trade schools. We need more electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters, etc.
The "wage stagnation" is largely a myth- people make more than they did decades ago. However, what economists call "real wages"- your purchasing power, has remained largely the same, if not dropped, over the past 60 years.
No, flipping burgers isn't worth $15/hr. No matter how much you wish it was, it's simply not. Yes, there's a shortage of workers. That's not solely because of the wages, but rather because our government has established new programs that provide enough incentive to remain unemployed rather than taking a low skill/low pay job.
The "great resignation" is real, but it's being misunderstood. Yes, people are leaving their jobs at higher rates than ever. The numbers show that the vast majority of those people aren't leaving for unemployment, but rather taking higher paying opportunities (*reference the purchasing power above). Yes, there's a lot of need for low skill/low paying jobs, but that's a result of the draconian policies put in place at the start of the pandemic- shutting down restaurants and retail stores. Those employees were laid off, but programs such as the CARES act made sure than they didn't lose any money. In a lot of instances, those people were actually making more money unemployed. No, that's not a good thing. That's how you end up in the situation we're currently facing regarding inflation. Yes, those people aren't coming back to work despite some of those federal programs ending. It's too early to tell why, but maybe we don't have to look too far. Who wants to go back to work and earn less than they were while unemployed? The gamble they're playing is that businesses will cave to their wage demands. Those same people are also being hurt by inflation, which will only get worse when they cost of their output goes up because they're being paid more for the same job.
Sorry to ramble, but none of this is as black and white as some seem to think it is. We've got a real crisis on our hands, and it's not the result of any one thing. Rather it's the result of decades of issues that have compounded upon each other, such as telling kids that unless they go to school, they'll be poor the rest of their lives, but then not helping them understand what's actually worth taking out loans to study and what's not worth the time or investment.
There's a lot of bad employees, there's also plenty of bad employers. Employees often think they're worth more than they actually are, and employers are driven by a bottom line, not providing the best they can for their employees. Loyalty is dead, because employers have killed it. I've been at my current job for 5 years, and just by the numbers, I've cost myself money. I recently accepted another position starting next week, and my salary will jump 35%. My skills are the same, but employers have little desire to keep employees over the long haul.
There's lots of college graduates, but a scary amount of those college graduates took out loans to get degrees that are worth less than the money they were printed on. The government and private institutions have been largely reckless with the money they've lent students, and most students aren't financially smart enough to avoid the pitfalls that have been set up for them. For example, I work with a guy who graduated the year before me from the same school with the exact same degree. He graduated with $60k of student loans. I graduated with $15k. Why the difference? He was offered the money, and the school gives you the remaining balance of the loan once your tuition is paid for. Literally, he was getting thousands and thousands of dollars deposited into his account every semester. He's not alone.
We need fewer people going to some state school to get their B.A. in Public Speaking or Mass Communications or Gender Studies or *insert whatever is the most insane degree program you can think of that you can't imagine ever really exists but actually does*. These schools will take your money while knowing full well that your degree is going to be worthless. Instead, we need to normalize students going to trade schools. We need more electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters, etc.
The "wage stagnation" is largely a myth- people make more than they did decades ago. However, what economists call "real wages"- your purchasing power, has remained largely the same, if not dropped, over the past 60 years.
No, flipping burgers isn't worth $15/hr. No matter how much you wish it was, it's simply not. Yes, there's a shortage of workers. That's not solely because of the wages, but rather because our government has established new programs that provide enough incentive to remain unemployed rather than taking a low skill/low pay job.
The "great resignation" is real, but it's being misunderstood. Yes, people are leaving their jobs at higher rates than ever. The numbers show that the vast majority of those people aren't leaving for unemployment, but rather taking higher paying opportunities (*reference the purchasing power above). Yes, there's a lot of need for low skill/low paying jobs, but that's a result of the draconian policies put in place at the start of the pandemic- shutting down restaurants and retail stores. Those employees were laid off, but programs such as the CARES act made sure than they didn't lose any money. In a lot of instances, those people were actually making more money unemployed. No, that's not a good thing. That's how you end up in the situation we're currently facing regarding inflation. Yes, those people aren't coming back to work despite some of those federal programs ending. It's too early to tell why, but maybe we don't have to look too far. Who wants to go back to work and earn less than they were while unemployed? The gamble they're playing is that businesses will cave to their wage demands. Those same people are also being hurt by inflation, which will only get worse when they cost of their output goes up because they're being paid more for the same job.
Sorry to ramble, but none of this is as black and white as some seem to think it is. We've got a real crisis on our hands, and it's not the result of any one thing. Rather it's the result of decades of issues that have compounded upon each other, such as telling kids that unless they go to school, they'll be poor the rest of their lives, but then not helping them understand what's actually worth taking out loans to study and what's not worth the time or investment.
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Which could be months depending on parts availability.
Back on topic to vehicles...........Speaking only with my own vehicles and experiance, build quality is always going down as the strive for better fuel economy and weight reduction increases. This is still continuing!. The newest challenge is paint is so thin it can hardly survive 5 yrs untreated. One buff / compound paint correction will all but eliminate the clear coat. Hoods are hardly painted on the bottom.
Also I like to repair electronics and have invested in equipment to do so, our new cars have even more cost cutting and proprietary chips that have no business being in there. It make it destined for planned obsolescence.
Lastly brand new vehicles built that sit around and age are already at a disadvantage. Batteries, paint, plastics, interiors, do wear out more with time, just as they would with miles.
I'd avoid any 2020, 2021, 2022 for now.
Also I like to repair electronics and have invested in equipment to do so, our new cars have even more cost cutting and proprietary chips that have no business being in there. It make it destined for planned obsolescence.
Lastly brand new vehicles built that sit around and age are already at a disadvantage. Batteries, paint, plastics, interiors, do wear out more with time, just as they would with miles.
I'd avoid any 2020, 2021, 2022 for now.
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