If you are stuck in LaPine go to NAPA ask for Doug, and tell him I sent ya. He'll go the extra mile for you.
Yup, it boils down to the person you talk to. I was a Ford parts mgr in a small northern Michigan town that had all "big 3" dealerships. I learned after 1 or 2 calls if I needed Chevy parts, NOT to call the local dealer. They only stocked what seemed like tuneups & sheet metal, & couldn't be bothered with anything they had to look up. 4x4 parts were big due to snow plowing & I had a pretty good Ford stock. After finding out nobody had Chevy 4x4 stuff in town, I did it myself, went to the suppliers and started stocking for Chevy & MOPARs too. And tranny stuff - had a mech that could crank out TH350s & 400s so I obliged. After awhile I think the chevy guys caught on, they started calling ME for that stuff they didn't want to stock. Oh and we had a great NAPA store in town too, I used 'em a lot and they returned the favor when they or a customer needed dealer-only parts.
i do hafta agree on the "mouthy smartass" counter guys... one of the crew at my last retail store was one of them. now, picture this; he drives a FWD GM econo-crapbox day in and day out, talks smack all day long about how great his Mopar is, and how shitty Fords are. he might be able to change his spark plugs. maybe. but he will and does offer soapbox philosophy on any given subject, drop of a hat, usually derogatory and always filled with "when i used it, it screwed THIS up" statements. it might have been funny, but his habit was to palm off any question on "old cars" to ME..... and then be amazed that i knew what the customer was talking about. there's a cure for ignorance; EDUCATION. there is NO cure for STUPID.
Okay,as a manager of a NAPA store I understand your frustrations with stupid countermen I see it every day.Good employees are hard to find!!! I do my best to keep my guys well trained and customer freindly,not all stores are like this and it gives the good ones a bad wrap. I will say that you need to stay away from corporate owned Napa owned stores they tend hire the bottom of the barrel to keep payroll low and make their quotas. You need to find a store (regardless of brand) with a knowledgable counterperson that you like to deal with and build a freindship with them. Trust me on this one, I go out of my way all the time to help my good customers. Sorry you had a bad experience,it sucks when i hear shit like that about the other stores when I take such pride in mine.
Counter geek or not the guy there that aint saying nothing till you ask him usually knows the answer, I have always said the empty wagon rattles the most.
I always had good luck with NAPA. Here is my story, I needed a speedo cable for my t-bucket and I brought the cable in to 3 different auto parts stores to see if they could match it up for me and they asked what kind of car I got, I had to explain to them what I have and they looked like this at me dddaaaaa. So I went over to NAPA, and asked the the guy if he could match this speedo cable up for me. And once again I was asked what kind of car I had. And I just gave him one of those looks. and he replied oh! you got one of those. He ask to see the cable and walk into the back room. Less than 1 minute later he came back with one in hand and said will this work it is 6 inches longer. And I said that will work fine. he never even asked what kinda car I have
I figured out that the biggest retards work Saturdays at the local parts chains. So if I want anything even half serious, it doesn't pay to go there on Saturday.
I have a rod shop and we do reg repairs to ive been here 19 years we had a good auto parts store by us that i did bizz with for 15 years. Thay sold out to investers and got rid of all the older counter men you know the ones with brains and hired a manager from petboys what a ass hole he was i use to buy $9000.00 to $12000.00 a mounth from them now every time id call for a part this ass is trying to tell me what i need. Well after 2 weeks of this shit and waiting a hour to 2 hours for my stuff to get there i call for motor mounts and a trans mount to put a small block in a street rod im doing i give him the part numbers i want and he starts with the what kind of car and year ect i lose it and tell the dumb ass i gave you the part numbers just send me wtf i asked for he tells me no. Thats it i drive down there and blow a head gasket tell his stupid ass i forgot more about cars then he'll ever know and he better call his boss and tell him he just lost a act that spends a 100 k a year becuse his dumb ass a'nt selling my shop a frikin spark plug ever!!!! Well that was 4 years ago and the only thing thay ever got from me was a old rad hose and a parking lot full af antifreez from when i blew a hose on my old vette and made my wife drive down with a hose and antifreez so i could fix it in there parkin lot.
If you find a good parts guy chances are he's a real car guy. Probably from a car guy family. I've followed the same parts guy through 3 stores and will drive past 3 or 4 box stores to get to where he works. I can call him on the phone and he can tell me what will work and if not what can be substituted, plus I get the goodguy price to boot!
My local Napa is great. Have had most parts in stock for my old car projects and very helpful with my many non oem instulations!
I ran a NAPA store for eighteen years . It was eleven hours a day six days a week. We bent over back wards for the customer if it was for hot rods which I preferred our tractors our daily driver. The store is a joke now sounds like horror stories that you are telling us about. I enjoyed helping friends find hotrod parts. Most auto parts stores think that anyone can use a computer can sell auto part. I still have friends in parts thank god. Sorry to say but I do not miss it a bit. Now I work with thirty six teenagers every day and what a change.
Couldn't have said this any better, I've followed a good parts guy from one store to the next. His knowledge got me thru a few hassles more than once and store loyalties be damned. Knowledge and service will always win out.
A part store is only as good as its counterman (OK person) I was one for 8 years and loved the job. We used paper books and just began using computers a couple of years before I moved on to other work. I went to my local auto zone the other day and couldn't get anything until one of the old guys showed up because he knew the books as the computer was down. But they did find it for me. I miss the dorman(sp?) cabinet and the o ring cabinet. you could browse for what you needed rather than those bubble wrapped nuts and bolts.
Been dealin' with NAPA forever.When I lived in 'Vegas it was real close,open 7 days a week. I worked for an airline and the company had an account with them for all our vehicle parts and fluids. Moved up here and have 3 NAPA stores close by with a 4th in the making. I HAVE NEVER had a problem with their parts or people, if it's not in stock, it will be in the store tommorrow.
Can I ask which Olympia NAPA you were in - west side or Fones Rd? That way I know which one to stay out of more than I stay out of them now.
sorry about your luck. Napa is about the only place i will go in town. call them, tell them what i want and it at the shop in 30min. you have to understand that your expecting some one to know cars. but not just old ones, but new ones, import, and the big 3. thats a lot of info. the guys at my local Napa go outa there way to make me happy. for me or my job. theres a lot of parts houses in town. only reason i have to go to shucks. ( autozone ) is car care or cheap chrome for some one eles.
We had a Napa store here in Joplin for quite a few years. It closed, and another one opened two or three years ago. I don't go in real often, but at least one of the guys is an older car person. Very helpful. I was in a locally owned Napa in a small town about 25 miles from here a few months ago. Went in and asked for a small item....they did not have it, but called the store here in Joplin---gave them the part number so they could order it for me. Picked the item up here the next day . That's good service. I also have good luck getting things from O'Reilly Automotive. They have some knowledgable guys who know when to look in the books.
if i need a part i always go online first wether it's napa,autozone,schucks.... and i will call, write down the time and who i'm talking to and if they say they have it my reply is "can you do a physical check? i'll wait. i'm never shocked when they come back on the phone and say "the computer says i have..... but!, well lets run one of these down on the computer. needless to say i would rather waste my time at home.
There is a local store named Masco that I go to. It is a family owned business and they know what they are talking about. Oriellys is a pretty good store, they usually know what they are talking about. Advance is a joke unless you want some tire shine. I have a friend who works at Autozone, he says he has figured out how to make a welder out of a battery charger. Knowing some of the shit he does I believe him. I think in a chain store it is who the employee is. You can't expect much for $6.50 an hour
When I walk in to a parts store and ask a question, they look at me like my dog does. Happy to see me, but clueless as to what I am saying. I have to be fair, it was either parts store clerk or Mcd's for their first job.
NAPA U-BOLT SIZE LIST ROUND U-Bolts for round axle tubes NAPA PART NUMBER THREAD Ø / AXLE TUBE Ø / LEG LENGTH (* SEE NOTE BELOW) 650-4082 3/8*2.0*4.0 650-4079 7/16*2.0*6.0 650-4012 7/16*2.50*6.5 650-4023 7/16*2.75*6.75 650-4026 7/16*2.81*8.0 650-4075 7/16*3.0*7.5 650-4022 7/16*3.12*6.75 650-4076 1/2*2.5*8.25 650-4003 1/2*2.88*7.0 650-4077 1/2*3.0*11.75 650-4028 1/2*3.0*8.0 650-4001 1/2*3.13*6.50 650-4014 1/2*3.25*9.0 650-4002 1/2*3.50*7.50 650-4025 1/2*3.5*8.0 650-4053 9/16*3.0*7.25 650-4078 9/16*3.25*8.0 650-4036 9/16*3.37*7.0 650-4041 9/16*3.37*8.0 650-4034 9/16*3.37*10.0 650-4080 9/16*3.75*8.0 650-4081 9/16*3.75*12.75 650-4044 5/8*3.0*7.5 650-4050 5/8*3.01*8.63 650-4051 5/8*3.0*9.63 650-4052 5/8*3.0*11.63 650-4045 5/8*3.25*8.50 650-4042 5/8*3.25*9.0 650-4038 5/8*3.25*13.0 650-4049 5/8*3.25*8.50 650-4053 5/8*3.50*9.50 650-4054 5/8*3.50*10.50 650-4055 5/8*3.50*11.50 650-4056 5/8*3.63*7.50 650-4057 5/8*3.63*8.50 650-4058 5/8*3.63*9.50 650-4059 5/8*3.63*10.50 650-4060 5/8*3.63*11.50 650-4037 5/8*3.75*8.50 650-4035 5/8*3.75*10.0 650-1050 3/4*3.0*18.0 650-1052 7/8*3.0*14.0 650-1054 7/8*3.5*14.0 650-1055 7/8*5*14.0 650-1056 7/8*3*18.0 650-1057 7/8*3.5*18.0 *NOTE on Leg Length: Leg length is measured from the end of the threaded leg to the INSIDE bottom of the U
You can add me to the list of folks who believe it's all about the people IN the store not the store itself. The NAPA by us is the first place I got o gete stuff for our stock '47 Ford along with our other "new" cars. They have always come through. We do have a local store here called Mars, pretty much everyone on Long Island has heard of it. While they can sometimes be a bit pricey I can attest to the fact that they usually have all kinds of stuff in stock. I walk in one day and ask for a water pump for a flathead. The counterman asks "do you want a rebuilt one or a new one?" They were both in stock and less than the catalog price by a couple of bucks.
i worked the parts counter from 1975 till 1999 for a few different parts stores. most private owned two corporate owned.private stores buy from and are members of a specific warehouse like napa ,parts plus, carquest. stores like autozone, advance carport sre own and operated buy the corparation.the older private stores seem to have the oldermore experenced people. like the guy that sold parts before the computer. even then its more to it than reading a book. you have to be able to get info from that book thats not even printed in the book and it can be done. the older guys where there when alot of these car were common to see on the street, atleast in hotrod form.corp, stores tend to hire young people fresh from mcdonalds or wendys and its hard to get someone who has no experence with books or rear wheel drive cars for that matter to know the parts we need.and the comuter programs they use are from the company the deal with. they have no control on what is in it or what can be added. i have many times went to our local autozone and advance and told their parts person what part number to sell to a customer standing at the counter, then had to look up my own parts while i was there.
I work on a lot of old cars (and Harleys). If you really want the parts folks to get you your parts, look up the PN yourself and then go to the store. A lot of the stuff they have on the shelf fits older stuff, but that's kind of hard for them to know if it's not in their data base. They have crossovers and if you have a PN they can usually change it to their number. And you need to remember that probably 1 customer in a 1000 needs a part for a 40 or 50 year old car. It's more trouble than it's worth for them to mess with it. You'll also notice that the parts guys are more than happy to wait on you if have the parts number. Less work for them, they won't run for the back when you come in the door. Larry T
I will have to agree with most and say many times it's not just the store, but the person you deal with on the other side of the counter. My brother was an assistant manager of a Western Auto. He's seen it from both sides. One funny thing he told me was when some would come in for a common replacement part- starter for a SB Chevy, etc. They would tell him what they want & he would just turn around & grab it off the shelf. Some customers would then nervously ask, "Aren't you gonna look it up first?" Being from Springfield, Mo. the home of O'Rielly's, i've met some of the nicest knowledgeable people to the clueless toeheads. We have so many auto parts stores around here I can go anywhere if I don't find what I need.
There is a guy here in town that used to be a pretty good parts guy, but the independent store he worked for closed up. Now he works at A__Z__ and doesn't have many catalogs because corporate says "You've got Z-net, you don't need catalogs". Needless to say he is very frustrated because the people he sells to can't understand why he can't find parts like he used to.
Poor guy, like a fish outa water. I haven't found a place that doesn't use some sort of computer to look up parts. Face it, it's cheaper to employ part look up people than a real parts counter man. It boils down to money. I have a hard time paying more at the CarQuest and NAPA when they sell the same chinese junk as the AZ, Oreilly and advanceautos of the world and they employ the same low paid look up people. I too like to show up with the part number in hand. I went down to the local O'Reilly I like to frequent and told him the number I wanted and what it was for. They went through the standard color, door number engine size 20 questions. Then he sez this is for an intake not an oil pan. Good job sherlock that's what I want. He sez, "oh I see the part number begins with MS that;s a manifold set." I'm thinkin' just get the part. We looked up and got prices for some other things but I bought them online and paid the shipping to get the better price. Sorry but this is a global economy and if you can't compete you lose. At least I ordered from a small specialty seller that specializes in my car. I like these people at my local place as they are friendly and try hard but I don't think they are car people or work on their own stuff. For the hard stuff I go to a AC Delco warehouse distributor. They charge quite a bit more but I have some one local to complain to and return to if it's the wrong stuff. Plus they are real parts counter men. Only open during the week during business hours so I would think their main business is supplying the shops around town.
My uncle owns a NAPA store. Remember this, there are very few independently owned NAPA stores. Most are corporately owned. The Indy's usually know their stuff as they have too! to stay in business. The corporately owned ones hire 'Joe Pecker Wrecker' to work there, so there is no personalism involved in owning and running the store and satisfying a customer is not job one.....even though it should be....... Mott
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