Take it to a different dealer. Oh wait, they probably have the same issues....
Frustration with continuing "staffing issues"
- Thread starter Wylie6G72
- Start date
The issues were with North Central Ford and Planet Ford Dallas. I made an appointment with Rockwall Ford but they were not forthcoming with any information about backlogs. They only asked for 4 to 6 hours for diagnostics. Once they determine the issue with the transmission, they will probably tell me it's 2+ weeks out. But I won't be leaving my car with them if that's the case.
Why not just leave it with them until it's fixed?
Yep. Specifically the boomers left and are leaving. Baby Boomers were the largest generation ever, and there now at peak retirement age. Many retired during or shortly into covid because they got tired of the abuse. They continue to retire, and there are not enough bodies entering the workforce to replace their numbers. No I am not a boomer, I am stuck working for another 20.
Labor force participation pre covid was like 63.5% and now its 62%. That 1.5% represents a couple million workers short.
Baby Boomers also were more likely to do jobs with their hands - mechanic, plumber, truck driver, dental hygienist, so were short a lot of those skills and it shows up in threads like this. Gen Z want to write code. I have two in college learning to code as I type this.
Also, before someone says - well no boomer would take XYZ job anyway, well whomever had XYZ job is now working the job the boomer retired from, so XYZ job is vacant. The Transmission mechanic from the OP is now working at the union shop up the street running a punch press rather than taking the abuse at the dealer. The punch press job was open because the boomer that ran it for the last 40 years retired.
Its not going to get better. Society will need to adjust, or import workers from elsewhere, or automate.
Please don't automate the dental hygienist job.
That might be way more pain than I really want to feel at the dentist's office.
The wait time doesn't sound all that bad, I fluctuate between a month & 2 months backlog. Scheduling service DOES NOT work.....90% won't show up with the vehicle. Then once you get knee deep in another vehicle.....Then the scheduled customer will show up wondering why being 4 hours late is such a big deal.
Good Mechanics are tough to find, Much less a transmission builder/mechanic. In a dealer environment......Transmission Mechanics usually need to be groomed in house. This takes years!!
A dealer environment also leads to customer pay work taking president over warranty work as customer pay is more profitable....Especially when Engines & Transmissions are involved. Not saying your dealer is doing this or not. If you didn't purchase the vehicle from that dealer recently....It's almost a guaranteed "back burner".
I've touched on this topic several times lately, People that would normally trade a vehicle away are no longer doing so. These vehicle would normally go straight to auction, Then either get rigged for used car lot duty or trucked/towed/shipped out of the country.
Now these folks need their vehicle repaired by a qualified mechanic. More people are competing for a already scarce commodity.
I don't know what Ford could possibly do about this, They don't hire mechanics.
We start kids out of high school with no training at $20/hr plus benefits and they can quickly make more for as they work towards their state certification.
We have had issues with the current generation employees being able to deal with the fact a large portion of our population are just plain entitled a-holes who apparently get off on making 20-year-old kids cry because they don't want to fill out a medical history form for each of their three kids. Of course as an employer we have their back but that doesn't stop these encounters from happening. We've had a few 18-22 year olds leave because dealing with the public was too much for them. These are situations that were very minor and the 30+ year olds shake their heads saying these "major conflicts" wouldn't even register in their heads as a thing.
We've had several new hires cry on the first day or during the first week because they have anxiety and it's all too overwhelming. The first few weeks they are paired up with a seasoned assistant who are all lovely and they are just being asked to watch - it is very hands off and there is basically no responsibility on the new hire other than to watch/listen. As time goes on we integrate them into doing more slowly and methodically. We've being doing it this way for multiple decades and it has worked beautifully - until now.
I think there are a lot of 18-26 year olds living in their parent's house unable to work due to their anxiety.
There probably won’t be any parts to fix it anyway.
While I sympathize if several dealers are telling you the same thing, it might be time to reach the acceptance phase.
While I sympathize if several dealers are telling you the same thing, it might be time to reach the acceptance phase.
14 years?
At that pay rate she will be there forever.
Ah, the beauty of the interweb - half the people are saying I can't hire because I'm cheap and pay too little and half the people here are saying I pay too much. Her pay is based on the following in their order of importance: 1. Performance; 2. Additional duties - she does much more than answer phones and schedule patients including mission-critical financials. We have newer receptionists who exclusively answer phones/schedule and they are paid less; 3. Time at the practice.
I take pride in our employee retention and that we pay a wage that allows people to live their lives.
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Most of them have probably never owned or had ownership in a small business. I think your wage is more than fair, fwiw. If I stayed at my job for another 14 years I probably wouldn't even be making that lol, and that's in the SF Bay Area, not MA.
Really?? Looked all over the internet? What planet are you on? Don't get out much, do you. My wife and I have had 3 dental practices, now down to 2 as staff is impossible to get/keep. The statement about people surviving on gov't handouts, and preferring to sit on their a$$es, is quite true. The wage in SoCal for qualified assistant is mid $20s, depending on a lot of things. They come in now asking for $38/hr. and have little to no experience. This is all true, folks.
The receptionist at my dentist is very knowledgeable on costs, billing, insurance etc. So, basically a bookkeeper/accountant that also handles the public and schedules appointments. And bills insurance.
That's skilled labor in my book, worth a healthy wage.
Please reference a government program where an able body person can collect money from the government and play video games in their parents basement. Not a loan program- a monthly stipend from the government. I will wait...I retired lived in So Cal all my life. $20.00 bucks is a joke there. That's your problem. Your attitude is very condescending - maybe that's your issue.
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I live in South Carolina, in a smallish town quickly becoming part of the suburbs of Charleston - its very low cost of living here comparatively. The gas stations pay $15.00 per hour. $17.00 per hour at the big one if you will work there little fast food service thing. $20.00 per hour might have been a great wage 5 years ago, but supply and demand - its not anymore.
Its quite possible you could double that wage and still not get anyone. Were short 2M workers since the pandemic.
Seriously awesome of you and you partner to actually like to retain employees and pay them a realistic wage !
We are scheduling for something like a trans concern to about 2-3 week of sept. We have 2. Parts a mostly a long back order even if you do get it looked at. I had a work truck sitting for 6 months literally waiting for a new/reman unit.
Most dealers here either don’t have “a guy” or have 1 guy. They usually are working on other stuff as well some of these big jobs bog the 1 “guy” down there’s only 8 warranty hours in a day here so that goes pretty quick if there are 5-7 cars ahead of you.
It’s extremely hard to find and or hire anyone in the industry. If you do find someone they want a mountain of money. Which might be ok but you don’t know them from Adam and might show up drunk/high everyday, not show up, steal from peoples cars or co workers toolboxes, charge our parts claim to do the job and not do it at all, or hell not know much of anything, tough position for the industry.
Doubt it gets better with as hard as the vehicles are becoming to diag and or repair and parts availability
Most dealers here either don’t have “a guy” or have 1 guy. They usually are working on other stuff as well some of these big jobs bog the 1 “guy” down there’s only 8 warranty hours in a day here so that goes pretty quick if there are 5-7 cars ahead of you.
It’s extremely hard to find and or hire anyone in the industry. If you do find someone they want a mountain of money. Which might be ok but you don’t know them from Adam and might show up drunk/high everyday, not show up, steal from peoples cars or co workers toolboxes, charge our parts claim to do the job and not do it at all, or hell not know much of anything, tough position for the industry.
Doubt it gets better with as hard as the vehicles are becoming to diag and or repair and parts availability
This may be the best summation of the problem I've heard yet.
My brother has been trying to hire diesel mechanics for two years. Good wage, nice tool box to start, paid for by the company, some current mechs can bring in $250.00/week in bonuses, paid for relocation, good benefits.
How many applicants you ask..........none!
Nobody wants to get their hands dirty today.
$20.00 bucks an hour in So Cal for semi professional help is not a " realistic wage". If you think it is we can agree to disagree.
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