I knew I was in trouble when I drove up in our 57 Chevy at Autozone recently and one of the guys behind the counter said "what year is that old car you are driving?" Silly me, I always thought the 57 was instantly recognized as an American Icon......guess not anymore.
Well I'm in Washington too, and my nearest NAPA is not a corporate store. I'd give them a B on the counter people. Some are good others are a waste of time. Since the Shucks' is closer by ten minutes I often go there first. I'm another of those who prefers to go online and function as my own parts man when possible. I do not like NAPA's online catalog at all. The Rock Auto catalog gets my vote as the one most likely to get me to a usable part number. Since I'm 20 minutes from the nearest parts store I try to plan ahead, and often that means ordering parts online for my project rather than visiting the store. I've had better luck getting the right parts that way. I remember when the guy at NAPA was the one who could quote part numbers and options and tell me what other part might be better for what I was doing. One guy even kept track of what I was working on and ordered parts to make sure he had everything I might need on hand--he would have the oddest stuff under the counter when I walked in, and I was the one surprised at what I needed, not him. That was another state and long before my adult children were born. Times have changed.
The NAPA in my town is the best there is... they have parts ign. parts in stock for all the old inlines and many early V-8's, too. What they don't have they can get in a few hours. I got some of my early Hemi stuff from them. Good people.
I love these threads pissing and moaning about parts stores and the counter guys lack of interest. How many of you are posting on here from work while you should be doing something else?
Not me, I'm on days off. Probably should get back to wrenchin' tho, but I'm takin' the squids to the picture show and didn't want to get dirty.
chain store shmane shmore... ed's auto parts, or dicks auto parts, or whatever the equivelent is in your neck of the woods is the place to go. i feel bad for the people who dont have any ma pa stores close enough to go to
My local NAPA has two guys who really know their shit. The AutoZone and Advanced auto guys are dildo's.
As a employee of a ma pa napa store, I see a lot of people that come in here form surrounding towns upset with the walmarts of the part world. These people want someone who can get a water pump gasket for a sbc with out the what year, make, model, and color. We see everything form a valve cover gasket for a ford 8n to shoe for a 99 peterbuilt. Like Gup said it has to do with the corporate stores and there lack of time in training and over all care for the customer happiness. Its more about the numbers. Dont lose faith in a napa just because one bad seed.
Mmmm...the "Zone" here is a good one. By that...well listen to the conversation my brother experienced between a guy in front of him and the Zone Employee: Zone Employee: What do you need? Guy In Line: A brake line for a (insert Domestic 90s make and model cause I forget) Zone Employee: D'you need single flared or double flared? Guy In Line: What is the difference? Zone Employee: I don't know, that's just what the computer says. Priceless
one of the main reasons i don't stay in retail parts is that there are arrogant assholes out there with more attitude than ability. i've been selling parts for over twenty years, and from agricultural equipment to speed shops, police garages and high school auto shops i have encountered enough of them to last a lifetime. treat people with some basic respect and you can usually get good results. walk in customers sometimes ask if the counterguys know of good repair shops; when i was working retail i could either shine the light on a good shop or throw them under the bus. i don't often feel the need to throw a shop under the bus, but i have shined a light on a couple when i felt they were doing good work at a good price. just a thought.
One thing to remember is if you go in with an attitude you probably will leave with one!!! Maybe instead of being pissed the guy doesnt know everything about your 1927 Studebaker try taking a few minutes to explain what you need. I have been doing parts a long time ,I enjoy the hard stuff.I live in a small town, When my customer comes in I usually already know what hes working on. But I learn somthing new everyday.If your parts guy doesnt know what your dealing with he still wont be any closer to knowing if you walk out mad! The old guys are getting out of it faster and faster so who will teach the young guys if we dont????
A girl I went to college with was with a guy for a while who ended up like an assistant manager at an independently owned Napa store. He worked his way up from a driver because he could tell before he left when they gave him the wrong parts. Thank God I didn't live close enough to ever need to use that Napa... Anyways, he was the only one in the store with a brain. The truck would deliver parts, guys would be too lazy to put them away or put them away right, then when someone needed a left wingnut for their Toyota, the same guys would find none in the slot and be too lazy to find where they'd been left and the customer was out of luck. Meanwhile he has guys who harass the female customers, swear at the counter, a gay guy who sexually harasses the other counter guys, and they all get away with screwing off and acting like idiots all day. It was so bad he quit the place for a while, and when big accounts started leaving for elsewhere, they begged him to come back. Even if half the stuff I was told was an exaggeration, I still wouldn't shop there. I had some fun once when I was passing through town, I asked for the guy when he wasn't there... when they said he was off I thanked them and left.. I guess they bitched about it for like a week. Since then he's moved to North Carolina, and I half expect to see this Napa and the other one they own in the next town, closed and boarded up the next time I drive by. Now here close to me, we have a big Napa warehouse store. When I did the brakes on my '50 Chevy, I lost some of the push rods that go between the master and the brake shoe. Brought one in, guy got out a catalog with a diagram, came up with a part number, I had them in about 5 minutes. I don't hesitate to go over there if I need something I can't get elsewhere. Meanwhile, I've applied at these stores a few times. They don't seem to want to hire anyone with a brain, I could never get an interview at the one, and while my one friend says the Autozones by him are crying for intelligent help, you have to apply online and fill out some goofy survey and then they call you. Apparently you need to have a three year old fill it out to get a call back. Advance, I know their computer as well as they do, I even know some of the holes in the system. And so it goes. But that's part of the problem, too, working retail is usually about playing the game and kissing the manager's ass more than it is about the job. If you don't fit into the clique in the store, they look for ways to get rid of you. That's pretty much universal. I don't fit into that because I don't go for that shit - I go to work to do the job, do it right, and earn my pay, not for the social hour and bullshit around.
I go to NAPA as my late brother Bruce worked there for 30+ years. My brother was their buyer for western Canada so I didn't bother him for the small stuff, I had a local counterman who could find anything. When I couldn't talk to either of them I would avoid talking to anyone that looks like they were born after my car was ('64) Last year I needed a pitman arm for my Acadian and couldn't even get a part number from NAPA or the 5 other suppliers I tried (and I HAVE connections). A friend suggested Gary's Auto (780-433-1425) in Edmonton. I told him what I was looking for and I could hear him walking as he asks "power steering?" I say -no , he tells me "got it" and I hear a *CLUNK* and he says "It's on the counter, come and get it" I damm near crapped!! I had spent the previous 2 hours on the phone trying to get a part number and he has it here in town!! Gary is the only counterman and there are no computers in his shop
I was looking for part-time work a while back, and jeez, man... I KNOW. WTF is up with these guys? ~Jason
Some are good some suck..I think it depends on your area, and who the owner of that store is.. Ive got 2 good ones near me, one a bit closer than the other, and I use a Mom and Pop auto store that recently went with Carquest as a provider, Ive known the original owner (passed away) His son Took over the store, They have known me since i was 16 so they just let me go behind the counter and get what ever I need if they have it, and if they dont I can usually get it in 1 day And its a real mans man store..no prissy creams and smell good crap..
This one hits home, after a series of unfortunate events, im stuck working at..... AUTOZONE hahahah... anyways, they hire me on as some counter person, baisicly a shmuck. and NOBODY know CRAP about ANY CAR!!! even the suposed ASE certified parts specialists didnt comprehend how to compare different sized belts, because everything is in the computer HA!. anyways..... yeah.... F kragen, autozone, and napa.
Sometimes it works in your favor, I've gotten the $30 brake pads and paid for the $20 ones, once I got the $8 each plugs for the price of Champions. But it's like they're afraid to not hire girls or whoever walks in on the basis they might get sued or something. Which is all fine, but the girls they hire are just as clueless too - one store I stopped in quick I had to wait for the counter girl to get done with some kind of personal thing on her cell phone before I could get help. And I've noticed at least in Advance Auto, they never have girls much older than college age in there. Like if I went to Home Depot, there's women of all ages working in them, but not in Advance stores. Then again I guess if I was hiring and knew from all my applications the odds were high anyone I hired was going to be lousy, I may as well hire the most attractive to look at, lousy help. Maybe they can at least flirt their way out of pissing off the customers.
I deal with the Napa in my end of town and they have been pretty good. Its really tough now to get good people and keep them at all auto parts stores now days. There is another Napa about 20 min away from me with a young girl that works the front desk, she has to be the best parts person around. When I needed stuff for my 1970 buick brakes she was the only person around that new where to source the parts or who to put me in touch with, she new what she was talking about and was the best at her job. That is rare alright.
here in australia we have supercheap autos, i think they only employ under 18's, no one in any store seems to know anything about cars, they have a counter down the back, i call it the "we dont have one in stock counter" thats becuase that is all they say. here in australia we have holdens, many holdens parts are interchangable and its widely known here infact many parts are even interchangable with other gm cars like chevs so i will go in and ask for a engine mount from a 72 model that i am going to bolt to a 67 crossmember to support a 63 motor in a 59 holden, and i try to explain it all, at first the guy says my car must be a 72, i explain i built it all myself knowing well what i used the parts from but then he says i wont be able to fit them becuase my car is made in 1959 and the engine mounts are to suit a 1972 model so i gave up, wasnt going to explain it all again so i went somewere else. another time i went to get shocks i said i want front shocks for a HR (67 holden)about 1 1/2" shorter he asks what year model my car is, i say its 59 (FC) but the front end is 67 (HR) and he said there must be something wrong with my car, i waited till he was with another customer and then opened all the boxes of shocks till i found spot on what i was after. but anyway, ive spent the week running around trying to get a peice of orange wire, i cant believe how rare orange wire is here.
We are the minority. NAPA, Autozone, and all like store exisit to service garages or DYI guys working on late model stuff. They'd rather sell high margin wiper blades, oil filters, etc. than waste time trying to help a hot rodder. Like anything else, it's all about making money, and there is a lot more to be made if you can supply wiper blades for a 1998 Corolla or something like that.
And you know, it wasn't like this a few years ago, with the glory days of Western Auto... at least here in Kansas City. The one by me employed knowledgable, hot women, everybody knew their shit, they were owned bt Sears and were a Craftsman/Die Hard outlet, and got the majority of their parts from that badass NAPA warehouse... and they didn't even care if you picked it up at said warehouse! They had great tire selection, free "brake checks" that were really an excuse for local guys to be able to get their car onto a lift to check things out - and they didn't care if you went back into their 6-bay garage. I miss 'em. ~Jason
As soon as I hit the door at my local NAPA they get a panicked look and send someone to get the owner. When he rounds the corner and sees me he walks right past the computer and steps up to the old paper catalogs with a grin on his face.
Same story here, just a little farther south. Unclebuck here on the Hamb is a close friend and the single most knowledgable parts guy I've ever seen. He runs the local NAPA. He has the store inventory geared for us hot rodders and muscle car fans. He works hard at trying to keep his counter guts up to speed. His biggest challenge seems to be getting good help.
My family owns the local NAPA store and we work very hard to help the hot rods and old cars. We are a small town and I think it is expected. I grew up building hot rods so we are very knowledable. I think it just depends on the location.In the big city stores its not as common to build cars it seems.
The NAPA by me is great.. for the rest, I guess its just luck if somebody working there knows more that how to look up parts. Any of you guys in Michagan know if there are any Ramchargers stores still around? The guys in the one I went to really knew thier shit. If they didnt have what you were looking for, they knew where to get it and seemed to be very knowledgeable.
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