This will be an interesting thread moving forward......

You guys are giving us all reasons why companies don't pay anything for wrenches. How about putting together some numbers of the amount an owner isn't spending by paying top wages to the wrenches working for them. I've heard plenty of management types complain about incompetent mechanics, operators, office staff, parts people. Then I had reached a higher level in the companies I've worked for and heard the yes but, for what we are paying they are good enough.

There's only so far management will go, then it starts cutting into green fees, a new set of clubs and lets
not forget that $120,000 Range Rover to get them there to meet up with the rest of the dog kennel buddies.

who on here knows what the top rate for a line mechanic should be based on the billed shop rate for that area?

my area $35, should be $40 to $45.

JD955SC said:

Or how about when management bows down to a crappy “mechanic” and willfully ignores the thousands of dollars of damage he causes through malicious carelessness because he slaps together crap quickly and therefore speed = good.

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And they refer to that guy as a top notch mechanic

JD955SC said:

Or how about when management bows down to a crappy “mechanic” and willfully ignores the thousands of dollars of damage he causes through malicious carelessness because he slaps together crap quickly and therefore speed = good.

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Speed comes with experience. But like I tell anyone in the interview process. I rather take twice as long to get it right than be fast and not fix a damn thing. There were days that I felt like I got more accomplished and not being there. Than the sorry mechanic that worked all week.
I've said it elsewhere in this forum. Companies don't really want a good Wrench. They just need to fill the position. Good wrenches are a pain in the ass. They know how good they are. They don't need the job that you provide them. Because if you **** them off they will have another job before the tools are unloaded from the truck.( done that more times than I can count)And because they know that they are good they don't take much crap from anyone. They tend to do what they feel is best rather than what the boss thinks is best. I speak from experience and I doubt that I am the only pain in the ass mechanic on this forum. In my 25 years of turning wrenches I have only recently become more humble in my attitude. But I still have one foot out the door. I don't so much raise hell like I used to. But as soon as I feel like I'm not being appreciated. And as soon as you start treating me like you can find another Wrench as good as me for less. Then I am updating the resume and I will be gone. I'm getting that old familiar itch right now as I am typing this out. I honestly don't think that I am cut out for working for being a company man. I don't really need anything any company has to offer. Hell I mainly take employment because I am to lazy to do all the rest. I really don't want to chase work or payment. I just want to turn wrenches and be left to my own devices. But I am ever increasingly becoming jaded for working for a company that treats you like a liability rather then a asset.

I let every employer know walking in. "My box has wheels, it rolled in, it can roll out just as easily " Then I became a field monkey. Last job p!$$ed me off, i emptied the truck overnight, dropped off all their $h!t the next morning and was working a new shop by the afternoon.
We put up with a lot in regards to the job, the elements, wear and tear on our bodies. We shouldn't have to put up with some pencil neck poindexter telling us we don't know what we're doing or not the way they would like it. Too bad, it's the right way!

I thought I was going to be able to get to sleep early tonight but my back hurts so bad my legs feel numb. IDE go ahead and post the 700k stuff but those pics are on my desktop computer in my bedroom and the wife is snoring so those will have to wait until morning.

Again, all of your thoughts and opinions are correct. It’s been so long since I actually was employed by a company that I have almost forgot what it was like. I remember right before I made the decision to go self employed I was working for a Fiat-Allis/JCB/American/Manitowoc dealer here in Tulsa. The owner of the company was 80 yrs old + and was in my service managers office chewing his ass over expenses he deemed excessive. Me and another field tech were outside the office and we overheard the old man say “ If I could operate this business without a service dept IDE do it right now”. It’s something I never forgot and this was in 1989.
I’ve never understood why service has always seen as a liability to managements. Equipment doesn’t repair itself and it’s not feasible to think everyone can just buy a new machine everytime their old one gives up. The liability mindset has been around as long as I can remember and the attitudes about it hasn’t changed much over the years.

Let’s not even get into pay for the work. It really has never been real good working for someone else. I don’t know what the top rate here is but I would think it’s somewhere around $38 an hour. $38 paid out of a $150 billable hour…….seems really low to me.

I only had one company I didn't want to move on from but had to. Gave me a $2.50/hr raise in 6 months and let me drive a company truck home, not a service truck wasn't allowed where I lived. Other than that everyone just sees mechanics as an expense, but strangely not the self employed guy charging 3 times what the company is offering to pay their employees. Never understood that.

petepilot said:

who on here knows what the top rate for a line mechanic should be based on the billed shop rate for that area?

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My buddy is a foreman at Freightliner dealership and makes $50/hr. Which I think is really good. Their shop rate is $190/hr. There's other HD shops as low as $120 though.

I don't blame you guys for having a hard time working while you're unappreciated. I never lasted more then a few months at a job other then working for my family, just couldn't do it. The useless pricks make the same, or more money and you aren't valued. I make way way more working for myself and I don't have to put up with chit from anyone which is worth a lot to me.

Paul Council said:

I rather take twice as long to get it right than be fast and not fix a damn thing.

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As I like to say, "I would rather be yelled at for taking too long than be yelled at for doing it twice!"

funwithfuel said:

And they refer to that guy as a top notch mechanic

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Yep. our “top notch mechanic” recently barely hit sprocket segment bolts with his impact gun, sent machine out all “look at me I did sprockets in an hour!” And machine came back too weeks later with every bolt loose and a couple segments missing so a couple hundred bucks worth of hardware ruined and needing to replace the missing segments plus all the time to do the job right by somebody else but the little jack wagon didn’t get a word said to him about it. But he’s a great mechanic.

Had to do it. We needed to lighten the mood.

Paul Council said:

Maybe this forum needs a resume section.
Or maybe a soldier of fortune type section.
Have wrench will travel.

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All very good replies to this thread. I've had 28 jobs, one lasted less than thirty minutes, the current job 18 years.

Funny story about a biscuit and gravy boy.
We had a rig that lost the 13spd so Gayle loaded up the 18spd I rebuilt and headed to the dealer shop where
it was being changed out. He also threw in a new clutch and related parts for the repair. At the time I was already
out on a tow retrieving a rig that had de-rated three times in two weeks, under warranty. I got back late to the
yard with it {11 pm} so decided to take it to same dealer next morning. I arrive at dealer drop the rig inside
their shop. The B&G boy was just getting the trans out of the other truck a 2003 Pete. I found out he spent
seven hours removing it. I made the comment maybe I should hook up to it and take it back to our shop.
He got pretty pi$$ed off called the service mgr over. I know the mgr well-his reply. {You are how old 26? Mike
is over 60-if had three 60 year old's like him I could send the rest of you home. And by the way you asked
how to hook the air lines to the shifter-ask Mike he can tell you off the top of his head.}

Well, its that time!

So, I made a comment somewhere about talking to NFG about the overheating on the 700K. I had asked if he had checked the radiator core for blockage and whether he checked the fan speed. His answer was HNC is calling the JD dealer and they are telling him what to change out. They had already changed (they meaning the dealer) out the EGR cooler and the coolant, and now he was going to change the thermostat. OK whatever, he isn't going to listen to me.......by the way, NFG is a 24 year old that has the attitude that he knows it all which I could tell immediately. Flash forward to yesterday, I'm working on the Bomag when HNC walks up and tells me he is going to send the 700 to the dealer for a head gasket job. I tell him I am going to look at it when I am done with the Bomag and he says be my guest. I finish the Bomag up then pull my truck over where the dozer is. It takes me about 45 seconds to open my tool bed door, grab my flashlight, and find the problem. Here it is....in full pic mode.



This is a PERFECT example of why you absolutely HAVE to do your own dam troubleshooting regardless of what's been said. At least 2 employees of the company told me this had been checked, and a dealer tech installs an EGR cooler and doesn't have the sense or thought to even check other options My GOD, the incompetency is just mind-boggling. So how does this happen!?

You can only hope that NFG went to work for another customer of yours.

So I call HNC and tell him I have found a big problem. I ask him about checking the radiator core.........he replies that NFG did that ...so he evidently thinks I am stupid and doesn't recall telling me he had checked it also.
I asked where they got the idea that changing the EGR cooler may be the problem. He replied that the dealer (whoever he is talking to there trying to troubleshoot this over the phone) had told him these exact words........."Whenever we get an overheating problem on a machine, we always start with the CHEAPEST things first". OMG.....are you kidding me? YOUR A DEALER AND YOU ARE PARTS CHANGING!!!!


This is why this industry of ours has suffered. You have bodies/drones that just do what they are told.......with no troubleshooting skills at all. There are so many things that cause overheating problems, yet a dealer field tech (supposedly one of their best) doesn't have the thought process to try and figure out what the actual problem might be? Does he really give a **** about the customer that feeds his family? People, this is just going to get worse...........so hang on to your wallets!.

In closing this morning's episode of "WTF!!!" LOL.............I decided to capture my thoughts in a pic. I used 2 of my grand daughters toys here to simulate what is happening with this customer and many others in this industry.
.......this seems to be what happens most of the time. That FWF guy always gets me in trouble when he starts gif'n

Are you Ken? or are you the Giraffe?