Where did the brains go in the parts counter guys?

I don't experience the problems many of you talk about.I don't expect the counterman to know everything and especially about older uncommon parts.
Even 40 years ago I ran into countermen that didn't know all that much and had a shitty attitude.

And just like today ,I quickly learned which stores had the best guys,and it's not necessarily old guys at a old store. I've gotten great service by young guys at Advance Auto.
I'm an electrical contractor and one thing I learned over the years is some customers bitch about everything...And those same customers are also cheap fucksticks....................

 

Unfortunately it is a sign of the times....sadly...
The above comments about knowing what you want first, as well as low pay for these jobs pretty much describe it all...
Kinda like us old geezers going to a wedding dance and requesting a POLKA......all you get is that blank stare in there eyes...
Cheers...
On Edit, I do have to say that the local NAPA store here in Brodhead has been very good to me. They are not afraid to spend time looking up parts, or going thru small parts in stock to see if they can match something...KUDOS to them!

 

yeah this has been beaten to death.. however if you have a 32 ford with a 78 chevy 350 mated to a 85 ford T-5 tell em that.. we can't guess what shit your stuff came out of. I have worked behind the counter for too many years, (which is why I get pissed off at some counter people) fact of the mater is, most get payed $8-10 per hour, and half of em do know what your talking about, but if your being a dick, its very easy to pretend like were idiots and shrug our shoulders cause we don't get payed enough to deal with it....

 

I've got an 83 4x4 Diesel Suburban, I needed a starter, NAPA(awesome) was closed, so I HAD to go to AutoZone, the guy asked if my diesel was fuel injected or carbureted. I decided to wait until morning and buy from NAPA. That crap happens all of the time.

 

How many threads are on here about the stupid parts people?

 

I only really ever had one excellent parts store I went to. One day brand X chain store opened across the street selling Items but no service. A lot of cheap mopes went there and bought all of the rebuilt stuff from Mr Goo's rebuilt parts factory / prison camp at a discount rate.
I looked at my poor buddy age from the stress of competing against all of the new corpy owned board room parts stores selling Goo quality product. He paid his guys well and they knew what they were doing, I witnessed a lot of guys walk back and forth across the street to buy a part for 3 bucks cheaper after occupying his guys time for 30 minutes describing how to fix something.

One day sadly I pulled up to my favorite store where you could buy anything soup to nuts and a Cat tractor was sitting there on a trailer.
I bought some parts from my shell shocked friend and said my goodbye as if I did not see it sitting there.
I knew right then that an era had ended and my life as a consumer was going to be rough. I sat there staring across the street watching all the clue less fools walk in and out of the X store across the street buying things that were made who knows where and how knows only a few. I thought deep and hard about this and I figured that this was going to be a massive problem.
Forced to go to the X corp store I went to the sterile parts counter to the 19 year old kid who was employed there for $7.90 an hour, I asked for my parts and got a lazy look from him and he said that they do not make parts for old junk, just late models. His comment was "dude you living in the 50's?"
I asked him where he had worked last, he begrudgingly admitted it was a burger chain.
When I asked him what his training was to be a counter man at a national chain he quipped," dude it's not hard to do" I agreed, especially if you don't stock anything and chase away any who may need a part that you do not have.
If you could replace any part with an air freshener and get optimal performance, these are a great time to be buying parts.

 

good reading here guys....
I run a parts store here in Australia, my wife and I own it and I have 2 fulltime and 2 part time guys.
I pay the guys above award rates as they know their stuff, one guy has been in parts for 20 years, the other an ex-mechanic. I used to be in parts years ago but have played with cars in general all my life.
My wife is a former McDonalds frachise consultant

We try real hard to help guys out, we have a lot of regular customers because between us we can work out most part requirements.

We carry a lot of stuff on our shelves that the chain stores have dropped years ago, parts for pre '85 cars etc
some of the wholesalers call us when they are clearing old stock.


We sell a full range of paint, quite a bit of hot rod gear too (So-Cal and Moon dealers plus many more)

Its getting harder for us though, the chain stores are getting better buying power with some stuff now, so we either make less money or have to be a little more expensive.

(Its not like my wife and I are out back having money fights Smithers and Burns style)


We have a chain store just around the corner from us, they have 3 staff and only one really knows anything about cars....so we get a few people drop in and tell us how they asked for something simple and couldnt get it. (HEI leads you say.......that would throw them unless you told them what car they were in)


Just figured you guys might like to know there are still a few old school style stores around

heck...we still have price stickers and a mechaincal till! (no fancy scanners here...which makes stock take a bitch)

 

I returned to the parts business last week- after 13 years as a consumer both professionally and privately...it's my third job so it's only two days. I started in 1983 and was part of the bridge generation from exclusively catalogs to computers. An example:
The computer tells me there is no such vehicle as a 07 Chevrolet 2500 pick up therefore there is no lower radiator hose available.
An inexperienced counterman would - for lack of training and unmotivated - would have no hope solely with the electronic catalogs.
A lack of auto shop classes and the computer being the hot rod for kids over the last 20 years has led us here.
So relax - plan ahead and forgive the kids, for they know not what they do.

 

more hot rods and customs less bitching. This topic has been beaten to death.

 

The WHOLE automotive parts industry is fucked... it really is... between the box stores slowly squeezing out the mom and pop stores and the internet/mailorder guys killing your speed shops...

soon we won't have anything left. It's sad how bad its gotten in the last 15 years

 

Most all manufacturers have webs sights, look up your own parts , then you just have to give the counterman the part number. If the parts are wrong you can blame the dumbshit who looked them up !!!!!!!!!!!

 

Very nice rides and yes appropriate - remember this site crashed? It was full of clutter like this thread!

 

I believe that this topic can be put to rest if we all did a couple of things, First when you build a car/custom take a notepad and document everything that goes on it. Year,make, and model of everything you do to it. From the suspension to the engine and everything in between. That way when you stop in to the parts store you can speak the language. The software that is used takes away any research or knowledge that you needed years ago. The kid behind the counter is just that a kid who is making next to nothing and is not going to make this his profession. So the more info you can give him solves the problem. Every store has one or two guys that could help you but most of the time you will get the kid.

 

There are a lot of smart parts guys out there, but the system isn't really centered on vast knowledge. Most of their business is replacement parts for stock cars, and having the computers set-up to find parts for certain models makes it easier for that to happen, and it makes it easier to train the employees. There wouldn't be many part stores at all if every guy at the counter was an expert on everything automotive.

It's all about efficiency. And I don't know why you expect the guy at the counter who's probably havin' a busy day to know every detail on your Frankenstein rod- hell, you probably stayed up at night thinking about what you need to get at the parts place, so why would you expect him to know right off the bat?

I'll agree that sometimes getting what you need is a struggle, but these guys are trying to get you what you need.

 

Let's not lose track of who are the freaks people. Regular Joe most probably drives a car designed so that only the dealership can fix it, and it's going to get worse. A lot of these guys have been hired by parts stores because they can press buttons on a computer, not because of their knowledge about old obsolete cars that have only minimal appeal to weirdo gearheads.
Paul

 

Autozone has got to be the worst, but it has become an epidemic latley as the twilight zone employees seek employment else where.

The Autozone on Marsh Rd and 59 in Stow has got to be the worst. I called for an oil filter for my flathead, I gave them the NAPA part number, they said they had one, so I ran up and the counter person handed me a small spin on filter for an import.... I brought my filter up, and showed them, and the response was. Well it looks like you might have to modify it a little but its close. I thought they where joking, but I paused and they said do you also need oil with the filter? How does one respond to that?
I try to stay out of there.

 

You have to be smarter than the minimum wage counter jockey, you could have asked for wires for a year of that engine you knew came with HEI, or ordered online and picked up at store, it's not like you needed a cover gasket for your dana 44 in your 1956 chevy with a 454, you both would be screwed.

 

The last bit about "do you want oil with the filter" Do you actually realise how many people we get in that buy a filter and come back a half hour later for oil ?? There's way more fuckwits on the customers side of the counter.

 

I know a guy here in my town, I won't name names, Micheal Kersey, but he was such a asshole he single handlely shut down a foriegn car parts store with his attitude , then went to a small NAPA store down the block to work there, and now its closed. You had to argue with him to get parts. Thank God for the internet. I havent bought parts in my town since I've had a computer. I worked at a Chevy dealership parts department when I was in highschool, I would bend over backwards for the customer, and treated them with respect even if they were dumbasses.

 

I do this too, but sometimes they still have to go through all the rigamaro of looking it all up just to figure out the price and be able to ring it up.
Year, Make, Model, Engine, VIN code, Hat size.
But, at least I know the correct part numbers, and sometimes the store's online price is cheaper and they will match it.

 

it's crazy how some people can manage to post on message boards, facebook, upload your pictures for your avatar, post links, do quotes, but can't look up the right part number for the part they want...

99.9% of the people walk in and ask for the part they want by the car it came out of, you fellas really can't figure out what year and car the part you need is from?

 

I did, problem was every one they brought was already terminated on both ends for that particular vehicle and were all WAY too long. That's why I wanted something very simple....universal cut to fit HEI spark plugs....not so hard. I need them for an inline and as we all know there's not much distance between the plugs and the dizzy. Don't want an extra foot and a half of wire hanging off each plug you know?

 

The brains went the same place the pay went. Right in the crapper. Just like harbour freight tools, you get what u pay for parts counter guys included

 

Im 26 years old, and have never had a really good parts counter guy. I learned to remember what I pulled the parts from. I was real big into OT 80s turbo cars for a while and was always mixing and matching parts. As long as I remember what year part I was using I have never had a problem.

Honestly anymore they way parts stores are setup I think its pretty ignorant to walk in wanting "HEI" wires when you know there are probably 10 different kinds and the counter guy cant figure it out. Big surprise! Its like going to a tire store, telling them you want black tires and bieng mad when they bring you the wrong size!

 

I'll tell you where the parts guys went, they went away along with decent wages. When the auto parts stores pay $8 an hour and flat out say that it doesn't matter if you have automotive knowledge when you are hired, no one with real experience will work there. I work in the business so I know this first hand. There certainly are exceptions to this, and some companies are worse than others. The price we all pay for cheap parts because that's what the broad market demands.

 

CO-rrect. When I needed a lower radiator hose for my current coupe my friend at NAPA let me browse the back room... found one I could use (if I cut the ends off). If I ever have to replace it the NAPA number is in the book.....

 

Exactly. They dont look up parts the same way they did 20 years ago. It is now OUR job to keep track of the parts we use, not theirs. The sad thing is with this is if a parts store popped up that had AWESOME counter guys that could find anything by looking at it but charged 150% more to pay for the counter guys. No one would use it unless that absolutely had to. They would still use the cheap parts house whenever possible.

 

Agreed... it seems to be more important that they can speak spanish and use a computer than that they actually know anything about cars. I got one parts guy I trust and have followed to whichever parts house he has worked over the years. Has always gotten me what I need.

 

I've been a GM partsman for 20 years and its never been so poor. We hire cheap newbies and stick them up front retail counter to learn! Experienced guys work on the counters serving technicians/bodymans where the general public never sees us. I admit there is definately some automotive challenged parts guys right now where I work!