Auto Parts Stores

Why even bother.....

It's like asking for help at walmart of bestbuy. Some salesmen might have a clue, most don't.

Pennzoil has a $10 or $20 rebate right now, so you might save more $$.

Lack of listening skill and comprehension is not unknown on sales floors. People hear what they want to hear. I'm no better at this than the guy in the auto parts store, so pot/kettle; I know I'd make a terrible restaurant server.

I chuckled at the sales guy first saying you had to buy the filter too to get the sale price on the oil, a filter you neither needed or wanted, though later he backtracked on that.

I went to the hardware store recently to buy a replacement lid for a plastic garbage can. They had them. I took it up to the register. The cashier said I had to buy the can too to get the lid. (They were stacked separately, and it wasn't clear on the display that you had to buy both to get either one.) But I don't need a can, I said. My can is fine. It's my trash can lid that's leaking. Well if you don't buy the can, she said, I can't scan the barcode. Can I buy the can too and just leave it at the register, I asked; I really don't need a can and don't want to put more plastic into the waste stream unnecessarily. No you have to take it, was her answer; we don't want an extra one either (LOL).

I just put the lid back, left, went home, and did the best I could to patch my old lid. I see lids-only available online. If it comes to that, I'll get it there. And retailers wonder why many prefer to shop online. The service and clarity can be lacking in stores.

Most of salesman are kids that are worthless.

See https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/promotions for a bunch of Mobil 1 rebates listed by retailer. I just recently got a 5-qt of M1 at Walmart with a $15 gift card rebate. That deal ran out end of July however.

I have a Jeep Cherokee 2000. It is not a Grand Cherokee. My vehicle has Auto Stop/Start. Annoying, but pushing the off button every time I start the motor is even more annoying. Grand Cherokee's have a second motorcycle type battery to keep functions working engine off. Cherokee doesn't.

Went to Advance Store to get a load test done because Stop/Start is failing due to the "Battery Charging". Had a smart ass in his 30' give a 15 minute lecture on why he couldn't check it because of the second battery. I told him it wasn't a GC but a plain Cherokee. I got another 10 minute lecture on how they were both the same. Even walked him out to show the model name on the door. He still insisted that I had a second battery.

So, asked him to show me the battery. He said oh it was hidden under floor board in the back. No, on Grand Cherokee it's under the passenger seat. He started to get this confused look on his face. I repeated this was a Cherokee and to show me the battery. He futzed around for 10 minute or so saying he couldn't find it so I told him to look it up on the parts finder.

So, we go inside and he looks and searches for about 10 minutes, the manager finally came over and asked him what, and he said 2nd battery on a Cherokee. ( I had to redirect him several times as he drifted back to Grand Cherokee.) Manager asked him where he got that idea, he said all Cherokees have it. He told him, "Boy, I don't know were you ever go that idea, Cherokees have never had 2 batteries, only the Grand Cherokee and only in the last 2 years!"

Smart assed kids!

^^G'z.. What auto parts store is this?

I too have that lame start stop crap. It's right next to the back up camera button. My routine is to always back into the garage. I only pull in if there's something large to unload from the hatch.

Anyways, start the car, hit the disable auto start stop, then enable the back up camera. Drive forward enough to clear the garage door then press the remote close button. Observe camera until door is fully closed. Drive away. Once car's speed exceed 4 or 5 mph, the reverse camera disables on its own.

If you don't pay a living wage you shouldn't expect a "whole employee". It isn't he kids,,, it's management.

is often lacking these days.

I love to tell this story....I went to the Three Stooges many years ago (I now have a friend who was a director there and boy does he have stories including being treated same way even as an employee!).

I wanted to buy some car wash, had a coupon. An entire counter of about 5 people avoided eye contact.

One guy was eating, leaving a choice of 4. I picked a woman and said, "Hi, can you help me check out?"

She goes, "No, I cannot." and the other 4 laughed.

This made me angry. So I chose another man and he was not friendly but checked me out.

I slammed them on Yelp and one year later corporate asks what happened exactly we would like to know lol

For oil I would do amazon or Walmart, best prices, and usually wait for the rebate say for Pennzoil. Mobil 1 has one now but I think they reduced the amount....

Is when there are high potential employees who are not recognized because of the system in place.

I got a warranty replacement on tires at Costco, and somehow the amount was now $110 more than I thought (I changed from Bridgestone to Michelin on the replacement so they redid the order--new order about $110 more, yet each tire $9 more).

Come to find you don't get the $110 to $150 off sale when it's warranty they said--I saw the computer remove it.

A supervisor took me from the tire center to the returns counter. Waited in line with me. Told the lady give this gentleman a credit of $110--she said why? He jokingly said just do it! She laughed ok. Gave me $110 credit.

I told him I want to come back in a year and see you managing this store. You have a customer service mentality.

He told me thank you, words do matter.

got new tires this year, and he's still a tech 2 years later. Really. I noticed in the tire center, people come in and ask for him by name. C'mon Costco management, recognize his potential, you will make more money.

If any of these people had mechanical skills or apptitude they would be make $25-$50 an hour or more. Most local shops in my area are charging $100 an hour for labor. Many of these auto parts employees are part time, low pay with little to no benefits or training. With a tight labor market if you can fog a mirror you're probably a candidate at the parts counter or many other entry level customer service jobs. Most know little about car repairs or have training in the field they're in and rely on the company software to tell them what you need or what to do. Not like the old days. Today in most cases the customer knows more than the person behind the counter.

I was taught that no matter what you were paid if you worked for someone you done the best you could and tried to learn the job.

It's a competitive business. In my home town for example, NAPA and AutoZone are building new stores right next to each other! They can't possibly pay their employees much.

It's difficult to get good help anywhere when McDonalds pays $11 to $17 per hour for less demanding work.

A willingness to work hard and grasping a body of knowledge are not the same.

There's a move afoot to keep private citizens from owning private automobiles!

So who knows.

But when y'go to an eatery n' ask for a glass of water with no ice n' they bring y'coffee insead..instead...

So wadaya say eh?

I overheard a young lady HS age say this is BS I'm only getting $16.

I don't think it's BS.

When I was her age, I could not buy a Wendy's meal with 60 minutes of work. It took about 90+.

With 60 minutes work she can buy 3 Wendy's meals.

But I get it, it's relative

John, good book worth reading is "iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us".

I'll add to the content below by saying that much of the youth today have smartphones (bill paid by their parents), cars (maintenance and gas paid by parents), live at home for many years (room & board by parents), etc. So they do not understand the value of money! When I was in high school I had three jobs; delivered newspapers, worked at the library and on Saturday worked at a local Ford dealer. At about $15 to $17 a week total, I was the rich kid on the block!

Quoting from the books' description on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy...) "A highly readable and entertaining first look at how today’s members of iGen—the children, teens, and young adults born in the mid-1990s and later—are vastly different from their Millennial predecessors, and from any other generation, from the renowned psychologist and author of Generation Me.

With generational divides wider than ever, parents, educators, and employers have an urgent need to understand today’s rising generation of teens and young adults. Born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s and later, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps why they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. iGen is also growing up more slowly than previous generations: eighteen-year-olds look and act like fifteen-year-olds used to.

As this new group of young people grows into adulthood, we all need to understand them: Friends and family need to look out for them; businesses must figure out how to recruit them and sell to them; colleges and universities must know how to educate and guide them. And members of iGen also need to understand themselves as they communicate with their elders and explain their views to their older peers. Because where iGen goes, so goes our nation—and the world.

the original topic, I am very glad brake fluid is still relatively cheap.

It happens to be another place where Walmart is hard to touch.

2/3 of our cars use DOT3. I get the Walmart brand in the large size, it's almost $7 and almost doubled, but $7 is cheap relative to labor.

Now I have bled at all 4 calipers on these two cars, but I decided to switch to the syringe method for in-between exchanges. It does waste fluid this way, but my syringe can pretty much empty from max to min the entire reservoirs.

With the BMW, it uses DOT 4, and for whatever reason I use BMW OE. With that car, I bleed all 4 calipers.

I have a Motive bleeder and the adapters for German, Toyota, and GM...but I don't like doing the GM nor the Toyota....

$25 on 10 qts or 2x 5qt.