moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Hey if you want to F with em, tell em you need a water pump for a 69 volkswagen bug LOL
Advaned Auto parts GENIUSES!!
- Thread starter DartDude335
- Start date
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Hey if you want to F with em, tell em you need a water pump for a 69 volkswagen bug LOL
72ScampTramp
Scamp Tramp
The thing that irks me is when you go in looking for a specific part for these old cars. They check there computer nope don't have it. Thats it? No more digging? I called Advanced the the other day after a part that was on there website I gave the gal the part number she says we dont have that in our system? Really! I didnt even mention the website. Its almost like if it aint in the computer thats it. No digging or checking around or different sources. Almost a lazy answer so they can move on to the next one in line. Anymore I order online though advanced using there discount codes. Have met parts house yet that can beat them in price.
I guess I am lucky :glasses7: there is a retired mechanic that works/runs one of our O'Rilies one of three in town, and a Butlers engine builder running/working at the Bumper to Bumper out fit here in J town, but they do have a few workers that would not know what a /6 is 
Keep in mind I worked as a counterman for NAPA
I ask for a Alternator/water pump belt for my 66 valiant they ask what liter is the engine........ops: I say :toothy9: I have no idea it's a 170 c.i.
Jim spots me at the counter and, so I stand there and say it is the same as a 225/6 he looks and said is it a 3.7 liter I said I guess it is :joker:
Jim still grinning from his desk and gives me the thumbs up, so I asked is the 3.7 a v6 :joker: he stares at the screen and did not say anything so I asked him to look up a fan belt for a 71 Truck no a/c and no power steering he asked is it an automatic truck I said no it's a 66 Valiant standard shift setting right there and I laughed and pointed at it threw the glass I just said Jim made me do it :toothy10:, Then I said he is doing a fine job and walked out side and took the number of my belt I had :thumbup: he said that belt looks good why change it :blackeye: I reached in the clove box and popped my trunk and showed him my old one and said I carry new parts with me just in case :-\"
Jim walked out and fired a cig up and asked did he learn anything :evil4:
The young man said yes I did, the new cars have to much chit on them :toothy10::toothy10: Ok I made up the last part of Jim walking out :toothy9:
Keep in mind I worked as a counterman for NAPA
I ask for a Alternator/water pump belt for my 66 valiant
they ask what liter is the engine........ops: I say :toothy9: I have no idea it's a 170 c.i. Jim spots me at the counter and
, so I stand there and say it is the same as a 225/6 he looks and said is it a 3.7 liter I said I guess it is :joker:Jim still grinning from his desk and gives me the thumbs up, so I asked is the 3.7 a v6 :joker: he stares at the screen and did not say anything so I asked him to look up a fan belt for a 71 Truck no a/c and no power steering
he asked is it an automatic truck I said no it's a 66 Valiant standard shift setting right there and I laughed and pointed at it threw the glass I just said Jim made me do it :toothy10:, Then I said he is doing a fine job and walked out side and took the number of my belt I had :thumbup: he said that belt looks good why change it :blackeye: I reached in the clove box and popped my trunk and showed him my old one and said I carry new parts with me just in case :-\"Jim walked out and fired a cig up and asked did he learn anything :evil4:
The young man said yes I did, the new cars have to much chit on them :toothy10::toothy10: Ok I made up the last part of Jim walking out :toothy9:
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Fast food style auto parts houses, its a shame they.havent adoped burger kings old slogan from the seventies (have it your way at burger king)
I have a parts guy i work with at autozone. Sorry memike i needed to be more specific, when i go into auto zone looking for something,.i look for him and work with him to get what i need for my projects, if theres anybody else there i leave. is redoing a 72 cuda, and is an exellent parts guy. He knows my car is a hodge podge of different year parts, never asks,.just gets me what i ask for, the parts never come back lol.
Ya just gotta find a good one and stick with em.
Rocky_JS
'cuda
The problem isn't the necessarily willingness of these people to dig.
The store systems are pretty specific to their individual inventory so the systems work with some speed probably on avg 30-40k skus not the 800k skus to have all the information the web likely has access to.
It is all the hoops and paperwork it creates from a loss prevention standpoint. It is harder to sell you a part then it is to find it in many cases. People are afraid of loosing there jobs over stupid billing mistakes - perceived as theft.
I assume advanced is that was I know AZ is. Now Oreilly, CQ and NAPA use purchasing cards which makes it a lot easier.
Remember HR and LP run these corporations now a days.
The reason why is well internal theft, poor training, improper costing, shipping etc. I have seen boxes take 50k+ hits from this alone. Let alone the built in automatic 1-1.2% shrink for external internal/theft and paperwork errors.
It sucks, but it is what it is, when you're trying to save a dollar and trying to keep competitive with the jones'.
The store systems are pretty specific to their individual inventory so the systems work with some speed probably on avg 30-40k skus not the 800k skus to have all the information the web likely has access to.
It is all the hoops and paperwork it creates from a loss prevention standpoint. It is harder to sell you a part then it is to find it in many cases. People are afraid of loosing there jobs over stupid billing mistakes - perceived as theft.
I assume advanced is that was I know AZ is. Now Oreilly, CQ and NAPA use purchasing cards which makes it a lot easier.
Remember HR and LP run these corporations now a days.
The reason why is well internal theft, poor training, improper costing, shipping etc. I have seen boxes take 50k+ hits from this alone. Let alone the built in automatic 1-1.2% shrink for external internal/theft and paperwork errors.
It sucks, but it is what it is, when you're trying to save a dollar and trying to keep competitive with the jones'.
You work at autozone :cheers: I have a go to guy at the zone that was a big biker rider and helped in many fund raisers in his life, he know's me and Victoria and he built an electric/battery powered Motorcycle, Yes he is another good counterman :cheers:
ESP47
Well-Known Member
I used to work at Home Depot in the electrical department. I knew about all the products we had but if it was some random commercial piece we didn't carry or something about electrical codes (which we weren't supposed to talk about anyway) then I had no idea. I don't know how many times guys would come in and ask me how deep they were supposed to bury their conduit in the ground. I'd tell them that they needed to go look at the building codes because it changes for every city and county. They would always respond with "Look, do you have a REAL electrician that works here?". I'd say no, real electricians are out doing real electrical work and making lots of money. They aren't working at Home Depot for $9/hr. That would usually shut them up.
Remember real mechanics are out doing real mechanic work. Parts store employees are normally younger kids working part time and trying to make it through school. Go in educated and knowing what you want because we know more about these cars than 99% of the parts store employees out there.
Remember real mechanics are out doing real mechanic work. Parts store employees are normally younger kids working part time and trying to make it through school. Go in educated and knowing what you want because we know more about these cars than 99% of the parts store employees out there.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Aaaah No
I dont work at autozone, my friend Gavin does, he is the parts person with the 72 cuda. What i meant was when i go in there for parts he is the guy i work with to get what i need, anybody else i just ask when he will be back in, and then i leave.
I worked retail auto parts when i was in school getting my licence in aviation maintenance. Never again will i do retail sales, most people suck and give you a hard time..
I fix stuff much bigger, more complicated, faster, with way more horsepower than a car LOL. I keep em flying safely for American.
Its a means to an end, allows me to buy car parts for my projects, and enjoy my other expensive habit which is firearms, and target shooting.
72Dodge
Well-Known Member
I thought it was just a fluke, but that happened to me earlier this week. I told her I need Trico 43-150 wiper refills. She goes over to the rack, looks (I had already done this), says nope, don't have it. I said, ok, well it's on your website that you have it, maybe not in the store but can you order it? She goes and looks it up. Nope. Can't get those. What?! Really? Please look again. OOOOH there it is. Yep. Come on! To her credit, she was very nice and helpful after that, and I bought out their last 3 available since they were only 3 bucks a pair.
Were they for a blue car. You have to tell them what color the car is! lol
dkbug
Well-Known Member
Just saying. I work at the zone and if you go in there and talk to just anyone your begging for the wrong part or horrible service. Find that one person YOU like dealing with and stick with them. Obviously you want someone who knows how to pull open that "old school" catalog and find it that way. I know being behind that counter sucks but I know how to NOT use the inefficient computer.
norshorblufish
By the Big Water
Here's a reply to the parts guy. The op was talking about.
View attachment nic.jpg
View attachment nic.jpg
DartDude335
Well-Known Member
yup! lol
One thing, and one thing only has ruined the Auto Parts Business ...GREED....
Most of you guys don't know me as I am new to FABO , but I have been over at FBBO and they know me there. I spent the majority of my life in the Independant Auto Parts Business, that being from 1974 till 2001. Started as a delivery boy at $1.75 an hr and went all the way to buying out the owners and opening more stores on my own with no college education. Everything was hunky-dory through the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Plenty of profit for everyone. Thats when the GREED took over. Our business was primarily wholesale to the professional repair industry , about 80 % of or business. The rest, walk in business. The repair shops began demanding better and better prices and the parts manufacturers were looking to increase their market share of their specific products. Sooo .... The Manufacturers started demanding that the warehouse distributors sell to the repair/installers directly!!, Thus cutting a link ( the traditional jobber store) out of the loop of profit. Traditional jobber stores with huge inventories and fleets of delivery trucks like us, struggled to retain customers and were forced to reduce gross profits to retain market share. We even tried boycotting those distributors , but it was a futile effort. I was even on the board of directors for our Auto Parts Association and could not change the direction things were going. I tell you all this because as everyone knows when profit declines, the easiest place to cut costs is in personnel. This is how the inexperienced people ended up behind the parts counter today. It's all $$. Back in the 80's and 90's we paid our countermen 45k - 55k , and they knew their sh*t. I mean , you could walk into one of our stores and ask for rod bearing clearances on a 40 Dodge and get the answer!! Today, you will find very few true independant auto parts stores, unless they are waaay out in the sticks. They just cant survive. Today 99% of stores and chains are connected/affiliated with buying groups or manufacturers. As the gross profits declined, owners of independents either closed up , sold out or found affiliation with a group. All this time, the quality of expertise in the stores has declined. They cant afford the help they need. I sold 3 stores out to Carquest at the age of 44 back in 2001. I was smart enough to buy the commercial property back in the day though, and still lease them to Carquest. To this day ,I run into ex customers, and tell me they miss us, and need us back,and they cant get good service anymore. I tell them that they did it to themselves with GREED. Had to have price instead of service. The demise the Independant Owner, I tell you , I'm sure , has been played out with vitually any small Auto Parts Chain owner in America. I did keep all of the old catalogs for myself , even for stuff all the way back to the 30's. In the defense of the person behind the counter: I, myself have sold my share of ( fuse pumps),(stermistats),(caddilac convertors),(tail pies), (muffins), (hooginators) and (crutches)LOL
By the way. If you want the best help, ask for the person in the store that is in charge of commercial sales. They are usually the best qualified.
GREED i tell you GREED is what screwed up the Parts Business!!
Most of you guys don't know me as I am new to FABO , but I have been over at FBBO and they know me there. I spent the majority of my life in the Independant Auto Parts Business, that being from 1974 till 2001. Started as a delivery boy at $1.75 an hr and went all the way to buying out the owners and opening more stores on my own with no college education. Everything was hunky-dory through the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Plenty of profit for everyone. Thats when the GREED took over. Our business was primarily wholesale to the professional repair industry , about 80 % of or business. The rest, walk in business. The repair shops began demanding better and better prices and the parts manufacturers were looking to increase their market share of their specific products. Sooo .... The Manufacturers started demanding that the warehouse distributors sell to the repair/installers directly!!, Thus cutting a link ( the traditional jobber store) out of the loop of profit. Traditional jobber stores with huge inventories and fleets of delivery trucks like us, struggled to retain customers and were forced to reduce gross profits to retain market share. We even tried boycotting those distributors , but it was a futile effort. I was even on the board of directors for our Auto Parts Association and could not change the direction things were going. I tell you all this because as everyone knows when profit declines, the easiest place to cut costs is in personnel. This is how the inexperienced people ended up behind the parts counter today. It's all $$. Back in the 80's and 90's we paid our countermen 45k - 55k , and they knew their sh*t. I mean , you could walk into one of our stores and ask for rod bearing clearances on a 40 Dodge and get the answer!! Today, you will find very few true independant auto parts stores, unless they are waaay out in the sticks. They just cant survive. Today 99% of stores and chains are connected/affiliated with buying groups or manufacturers. As the gross profits declined, owners of independents either closed up , sold out or found affiliation with a group. All this time, the quality of expertise in the stores has declined. They cant afford the help they need. I sold 3 stores out to Carquest at the age of 44 back in 2001. I was smart enough to buy the commercial property back in the day though, and still lease them to Carquest. To this day ,I run into ex customers, and tell me they miss us, and need us back,and they cant get good service anymore. I tell them that they did it to themselves with GREED. Had to have price instead of service. The demise the Independant Owner, I tell you , I'm sure , has been played out with vitually any small Auto Parts Chain owner in America. I did keep all of the old catalogs for myself , even for stuff all the way back to the 30's. In the defense of the person behind the counter: I, myself have sold my share of ( fuse pumps),(stermistats),(caddilac convertors),(tail pies), (muffins), (hooginators) and (crutches)LOL
By the way. If you want the best help, ask for the person in the store that is in charge of commercial sales. They are usually the best qualified.
GREED i tell you GREED is what screwed up the Parts Business!!
Rocky_JS
'cuda
This ^! Ma and pop just couldn't compete.
Mopar Mitch,nailed it on the head! Seen this,still live this daily.
Oklacarcollecto
Life is an experiment
Rocky_JS
'cuda
The computer and automotive online industry (summit, jegs et al) didn't help either. But then again WE perpetuated it by buying from one and not from the other.
Funny thing is they, corp, believe that the relationship sells parts and not price. And to an effect yes, but in reality it is price and service driven.
Funny thing is they, corp, believe that the relationship sells parts and not price. And to an effect yes, but in reality it is price and service driven.
Business 101. It is easy to sell on price. Anyone can do it. If you can sell on service and keep profits up, you have done your job!!!
Well said Mitch. tmm
Rocky_JS
'cuda
Mitch what parts of Md are you from? I grew up in the College Park/ Adelphi area. Wonder if maybe we chewed some of the same dirt. Did a lot of racing in the 7-80's when there was a scene there.
Our auto zone has a young pretty girl named Desiree that is very knowledgeable of cars. She also knows most customers by name. And our advanced has one old guy Rick who is the only guy I will go to when there.
ramenth
Gratis persona
Guess I've been lucky in my dealings.
I've read the horror stories and heard even more.
The Advance I've been dealing with for the past 4+ years has been aces. Allison, my commercial parts pro has gotten me what I want, when I want it, at prices that make me money on the sales. She's called other stores, including NAPA and Carquest, if I've needed the part that day. She's called the dealerships getting me DOI's, saving me a lot of time having to make multiple calls.
If the system doesn't show a part or a number she digs for it until she gets me the part I'm after. That includes going to the paper catalogs or even calling the manufacturer to see if the number is still good. A lot of the time she's eaten the drop shipping price to get me the part in a reasonable amount of time.
I've advocated this many times on this board and on others. If your building your antique or multiple antiques, talk to the manager about setting up a commercial account because of the number of parts you're going to need. It gives you a direct number to the commercial desk and gives you a scaled discount (the more parts you buy, the more you save), bypassing the guys on the retail desk. It also allows you to build a better rapport with just one person, instead of having to worry having to deal with a different person every time you're in the store.
This helps. I've been dealing with the manager of the new store local to me for the past 20+ years. The radiator I bought in Horseheads for my F150 sprung a leak. Well, with pulling the trailer I've been thinking of upgrading to a bigger one anyway, for the extra cooling capacity. I call the Watkins store, to have them check a part number I've pulled up online. In stock.
Now, will they warranty the old one for the new one and I'll pay the price difference. Hank, the manager gets on the phone. Sure, but he needs the invoice to make things easier. Call Allison in Horseheads, she pulls up the invoice out of history and faxes it to Hank.
I get down there, Hank does the necessary paperwork on the warranty and drops the price on the new radiator to match. It's a $30 difference between the two, that I don't have to pay, to cover a mistake I made, for ordering the smaller radiator to begin with when I started putting the truck together, knowing I was going to be hauling **** all over the place.
Hank swings the computer screen to where I can see it and asks, "Who loves ya, Robert?" He wouldn't have done that for just anyone and chances are, if you've been a dick in his store before he'd rake you over the coals for even suggesting the idea of warrantying one part out for another, just paying the difference.
You can't get that kind of service when you're doing nothing but bitching out the person behind the counter.
So, the folks behind the counter don't know as much as you know. TEACH 'EM! It makes them better at their job, helps the next guy in line, and you don't come off looking like a know-it-all asshole just there to start a fight.
I've been wrenching on cars for 20+ friggin' years, professionally. I don't know every part that's available for every car and have to rely on the parts guys to help me out.
I've read the horror stories and heard even more.
The Advance I've been dealing with for the past 4+ years has been aces. Allison, my commercial parts pro has gotten me what I want, when I want it, at prices that make me money on the sales. She's called other stores, including NAPA and Carquest, if I've needed the part that day. She's called the dealerships getting me DOI's, saving me a lot of time having to make multiple calls.
If the system doesn't show a part or a number she digs for it until she gets me the part I'm after. That includes going to the paper catalogs or even calling the manufacturer to see if the number is still good. A lot of the time she's eaten the drop shipping price to get me the part in a reasonable amount of time.
I've advocated this many times on this board and on others. If your building your antique or multiple antiques, talk to the manager about setting up a commercial account because of the number of parts you're going to need. It gives you a direct number to the commercial desk and gives you a scaled discount (the more parts you buy, the more you save), bypassing the guys on the retail desk. It also allows you to build a better rapport with just one person, instead of having to worry having to deal with a different person every time you're in the store.
This helps. I've been dealing with the manager of the new store local to me for the past 20+ years. The radiator I bought in Horseheads for my F150 sprung a leak. Well, with pulling the trailer I've been thinking of upgrading to a bigger one anyway, for the extra cooling capacity. I call the Watkins store, to have them check a part number I've pulled up online. In stock.
Now, will they warranty the old one for the new one and I'll pay the price difference. Hank, the manager gets on the phone. Sure, but he needs the invoice to make things easier. Call Allison in Horseheads, she pulls up the invoice out of history and faxes it to Hank.
I get down there, Hank does the necessary paperwork on the warranty and drops the price on the new radiator to match. It's a $30 difference between the two, that I don't have to pay, to cover a mistake I made, for ordering the smaller radiator to begin with when I started putting the truck together, knowing I was going to be hauling **** all over the place.
Hank swings the computer screen to where I can see it and asks, "Who loves ya, Robert?" He wouldn't have done that for just anyone and chances are, if you've been a dick in his store before he'd rake you over the coals for even suggesting the idea of warrantying one part out for another, just paying the difference.
You can't get that kind of service when you're doing nothing but bitching out the person behind the counter.
So, the folks behind the counter don't know as much as you know. TEACH 'EM! It makes them better at their job, helps the next guy in line, and you don't come off looking like a know-it-all asshole just there to start a fight.
I've been wrenching on cars for 20+ friggin' years, professionally. I don't know every part that's available for every car and have to rely on the parts guys to help me out.
nitrojunkee
Well-Known Member
These discussions tend to be a sore spot for me. I worked in the auto parts industry at just about every level you can imagine, for thirteen years. I left after I was finished with both of my degrees. I can tell you, working with the general public is no fun. The people that come in off of the streets trying to fix their car, can be just as frustrating as some of the people behind the counter. It works both ways. And no, for the most part, the jobs don't pay very well, so there are a lack of quality people...But that's in any service industry almost. John Q Public almost always walks in with condescension and a typically horrible attitude. It's a crap job, and I'm very thankful I haven't had to do it in years.
To the OP...I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was jacking with you. But made it seem like he was serious. Maybe he doesn't like Mopars....Or you...Or you just caught him on a bad day. Not excusing him, just saying he's human too.
To the OP...I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was jacking with you. But made it seem like he was serious. Maybe he doesn't like Mopars....Or you...Or you just caught him on a bad day. Not excusing him, just saying he's human too.
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