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Ok, so its icy and slick here, typically crappy weather for this time of year, so I don’t have the ability of go across town to the race shop I usually go to, so I thought I would stop by the local autoparts chain to get, are you ready for this super complex part. A distributor recurve kit for a Gm distributor…like an 8 dollar common part. Mr Gasket makes it, probably others too. same part fits any chevy from 1957 to 1974. Anyway, not one, but two different stores gave me the deer in the headlights look when asking for this. They were clueless, plain and simple. One of them even tried to google on his phone, still couldn’t find it. I looked up the part number a few minutes ago and its a Mr Gasket 926G. Ok not rocket science here. and so one of these stores (one with 3 guys on the sign) actually pitched me their performance line about a week ago and said we can price match. The have chrome plastic skulls, Hello Kitty seat covers,fart cans for Slowyotas and all sorts of other garbage, but no springs and weights for a Chevy distributor. WTF moment there. I have to ask this question, does that seem like such and obscure part ? Its not like its a crankshaft for a 1933 Rolls Royce or something. Next time I might just ask for a distributor cap for a 1960 Facel Vega if they want obscure. Even that crosses over to something really common, but they wouldn’t know it. Has anybody else had this experience with older parts ?
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NAPA is usually good to me as long as I am there to supervise the parts being ordered(they have no parts in stock usually for my truck). At my NAPA there are older guys working there so they know what I am talking about. An Advance Auto Parts or Autozone…forget it, they look at me as if they’ve seen a ghost and I haven’t gone to either in quite a while because they are near useless for what I need. I usually just order my parts from Summit Racing or Jegs because I know what I’m getting and cutting out the middleman. I mainly go to NAPA for rubber hoses, lines/fittings, and fluids nowdays which they always carry. I figure since NAPA has to order everything from carb kits to distributor caps to intake gaskets anyways, I might as well do it myself. NAPA has NOTHING for a first gen 454 in stock nevermind anything else for a 1974 truck. I do like to give them my business anyways whenever I can though.
Chain stores are used to backyard mechanics, mexicans (They can fix anything), and people trying to save money. They are not used to someone who has a clue. You also need to figure out which one to ask. Most of them are just kids and have no clue what anything is and just type in whatever you say after asking make, model, engine size, etc.
Also distributors are not used nearly as often as they used to be and even fewer people rebuild/repair them. Most just buy a new one. It is a throw away country any more. (I know I hate it also but, the truth hurts) So your best bet would be see if you can find another actual parts place closer or in a route that is able to be taken in icy conditions. Either that or go to the stores and find out who has a clue out of the lot and what days they work. Don’t always assume it is the old timer too, look for the one that is actually doing his job and paying attention to whats going on around him. If he looks bored out of his mind and is just standing there I would avoid them like the plague. I only say this because I worked at pepboys and been in and used enough chain stores while i was in school to know.
Go to a chain store parts house and get a new kid who doesn’t know how to run the cash register. Order something and when you go back to pick up the part he will be manager. Next time you are in the store, ask for him by name and get blank looks.
I’ve run into that myself a number of times. One time in AutoZone I must have spent 10 minutes trying to educate the guy about what 1/8″ ID vacuum hose is and which I needed about a foot and half of. Five minutes go by and he brings me a foot and half of 1/4″ gas line. Back to the well for another 5 minutes and he brings me windshield washer hose. Never mind, I’ve got things to do………..
One thing that is crossed up and this is true of most parts houses is the nomenclature for tie rods and tie rod ends. They’re not one and the same of course but parts sites call them the same thing and the counter clerks always want to know when I ask for tie rods if I want the inners or outers and they do the same when I ask for tie rod ends.
Everything now is chain it seems. I remember back in the old days there were a dozen independent long established parts houses around here with older guys who could often just walk back and get the right part off the shelf without even looking it up. They’ve all been done in by the corporate chain business model and the only thing here now is AutoZone, NAPA, and O’Reillys.
Just like the very good independent burger places here were killed off by Sonic, McDs, Arby’s, and so on. Sad, sad, sad…..[quote=”Bluesnut” post=126235]I’ve run into that myself a number of times. One time in AutoZone I must have spent 10 minutes trying to educate the guy about what 1/8″ ID vacuum hose is and which I needed about a foot and half of. Five minutes go by and he brings me a foot and half of 1/4″ gas line. Back to the well for another 5 minutes and he brings me windshield washer hose. Never mind, I’ve got things to do………..
One thing that is crossed up and this is true of most parts houses is the nomenclature for tie rods and tie rod ends. They’re not one and the same of course but parts sites call them the same thing and the counter clerks always want to know when I ask for tie rods if I want the inners or outers and they do the same when I ask for tie rod ends.
Everything now is chain it seems. I remember back in the old days there were a dozen independent long established parts houses around here with older guys who could often just walk back and get the right part off the shelf without even looking it up. They’ve all been done in by the corporate chain business model and the only thing here now is AutoZone, NAPA, and O’Reillys.
Just like the very good independent burger places here were killed off by Sonic, McDs, Arby’s, and so on. Sad, sad, sad…..[/quote] That is the sad truth when it comes to any industry nowdays. The very knowledgeable independent mom and pop shops are being run out of business or bought out by the bigger chains and corps. I’m a big supporter of the mom and pop shops, but in todays competitive global economy, it gets harder and harder to survive.There was an old line independent parts house here that I used enough to get on their Christmas card list. They were located on the corner by a busy street. Well, the city came along and said you can’t have parking on the busy street and the parking must be x number of feet from the busy street. This left them with two parking stalls. One of these, of course, had to be for the disabled. Needless to say, they went out of business.
[quote=”barneyb” post=126271]There was an old line independent parts house here that I used enough to get on their Christmas card list. They were located on the corner by a busy street. Well, the city came along and said you can’t have parking on the busy street and the parking must be x number of feet from the busy street. This left them with two parking stalls. One of these, of course, had to be for the disabled. Needless to say, they went out of business.[/quote] I don’t think that’s right. I would call that grandfathered zoning hence…untouchable by the state/city. If the place had a parking lot near a busy street for that long it should be considered grandfathered correct? Or were people actually parking on the public road?
What’s a distributor? 😛
If the store has a performance line of parts, half the counter jockeys probably have no clue about its existence. It’s probably one of those situations where customers aren’t aware so the horrible training the minimum wage counter jockey got probably didn’t include it. Customers never ask, so no one gets taught about it so customers never learn about it and so on. I would highly doubt most of them could properly cross a part number, manually, to save their life, or actually interpret one of the physical catalogs.
I work at a dealership and long story short I was trying to describe to one of our older parts guys what a redi-sensor (TPMS) was and that there should be an application for the model. After a few minutes I went around the counter and physically found the number for him online.
Anyway, sometimes you just have to lead the horse to the water.
[quote=”DaFirnz” post=126298]What’s a distributor? 😛
If the store has a performance line of parts, half the counter jockeys probably have no clue about its existence. It’s probably one of those situations where customers aren’t aware so the horrible training the minimum wage counter jockey got probably didn’t include it. Customers never ask, so no one gets taught about it so customers never learn about it and so on. I would highly doubt most of them could properly cross a part number, manually, to save their life, or actually interpret one of the physical catalogs.
I work at a dealership and long story short I was trying to describe to one of our older parts guys what a redi-sensor (TPMS) was and that there should be an application for the model. After a few minutes I went around the counter and physically found the number for him online.
Anyway, sometimes you just have to lead the horse to the water.[/quote] I had to teach some parts guys the difference between hydroboost brakes and regular vacuum powered brakes. What a sad sad world this is becoming.
[quote=”Chevyman21″ post=126274][quote=”barneyb” post=126271]There was an old line independent parts house here that I used enough to get on their Christmas card list. They were located on the corner by a busy street. Well, the city came along and said you can’t have parking on the busy street and the parking must be x number of feet from the busy street. This left them with two parking stalls. One of these, of course, had to be for the disabled. Needless to say, they went out of business.[/quote] I don’t think that’s right. I would call that grandfathered zoning hence…untouchable by the state/city. If the place had a parking lot near a busy street for that long it should be considered grandfathered correct? Or were people actually parking on the public road?[/quote]
I don’t know the whole story. I asked what happened to their parking and whoever I talked to said the city had made them take it out. Then I asked if they ever had disabled customers. They said they did have one once, a man in a wheel chair.
[quote=”barneyb” post=126375][quote=”Chevyman21″ post=126274][quote=”barneyb” post=126271]There was an old line independent parts house here that I used enough to get on their Christmas card list. They were located on the corner by a busy street. Well, the city came along and said you can’t have parking on the busy street and the parking must be x number of feet from the busy street. This left them with two parking stalls. One of these, of course, had to be for the disabled. Needless to say, they went out of business.[/quote] I don’t think that’s right. I would call that grandfathered zoning hence…untouchable by the state/city. If the place had a parking lot near a busy street for that long it should be considered grandfathered correct? Or were people actually parking on the public road?[/quote]
I don’t know the whole story. I asked what happened to their parking and whoever I talked to said the city had made them take it out. Then I asked if they ever had disabled customers. They said they did have one once, a man in a wheel chair.[/quote] What a shame, I woulda fought that at town hall if I were the owners. If the regulations came into place after the business and lot was already established..they should have no effect. Oh well, we can only hope that small business will not be further choked by the “global economy”, big chains and government regulation.
I know from experience that for the past 15 years now the chain retail store employed commercial asset guys who went to any and all shops that work on cars and offered “discounts” and “deals” on sourcing parts through them effectively killing other distributors, and even taking over “in house” parts/replacement procurement.
On top of that I worked a year in one of these stores in the late 90’s when this was starting, and in these stores, the pay, benefits, and part training was top notch. Two years ago I went back to work at the same chain (left on good terms in the past) for part time work, and it’s a whole different atmosphere in there. Minimum wage only to start, always have to push lucas, bulb grease, etc.. and saw guys LIE to customers to push these over priced packets because store metrics require they meet a minimum sold of each type in order for the store to be considered “performing” well. No more parts training, NO benefits to working at all. Revolving door of kids who only know how to work on their one type of (beater) car they drive with no experience in anything else, and it was a revolving door of “sales associates”. I lasted 3 months before I called BS and walked.
Now I cannot stand to walk into these places, they’re clueless from floor guys to managers and if you receive the wrong thing it’s like pulling teeth to get it returned and get the correct item. Makes my blood pressure go up considerably when I resort to walking into these places.
I’d like to chime in here, if I may. I’m a manager at a big name store, and I can tell you that when it comes to customers who really know their stuff looking for something that wouldn’t be a stock replacement part, yes, we would be pretty clueless. Because the overwhelmingly large portion of our business as a parts provider is fix it parts. And granted, we don’t always (actually quite rarely) hire competent mechanics that really know good tricks and unconventional repairs. The job has been dumbed down so to speak from the killer parts guys of years past, from a mile long row of books to a point and click, Google-esque search catalog.
That’s a scenario of which you’d be ahead of the game to personally find a part number and provide that instead, because it just won’t be part of a stock parts lookup. Plus, descriptions of parts don’t always reflect to how it’s labeled in the parts database, too.
Food for thought 🙂
I do understand the other side of the equation so I don’t necessarily vilify every parts store and certainly not every employee in them.
Like mechanics, they often perform a tiring and generally thankless job when dealing with the general public.There’s a few times when I’ve been in the parts stores (as a mechanic) and just wanted to slap some customers right through the plate glass after overhearing some of the BS and carping they’re laying on a guy who is trying to help them.
In AutoZone once some older (60 maybe) was complaining about a MAF sensor price on his late model Ford F-250 after being given a DTC code for a MAF issue. He kept insisting that the counter guy tell him that it was going to fix the problem even though the counter guy kept telling him that diagnosis was up to the customer or mechanic; not him. He could only provide the codes.
They were busy that day and at one point I glanced up and saw the entire front of the store enveloped in thick white smoke. This guy has purchased 2 cans of SeaFoam and had dumped them both into the intake. There was not a breath of wind that day and anyone who has used SF knows that it smokes like a prairie fire for a while after use.
This clown did this stunt almost in front of the door with no consideration for employees or other customers who were having to cough their way in and out of the store.
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