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It seems like a never ending battle to me getting shops to supply stuff like brake lube and gasket silicone… even though I figure this is what shops are charging the $3-5 misc shop supplies fee on people’s tickets. Usually my argument goes something like this:
me: we’re getting low on RTV/brake lube
manager: buy some more
me: the shop should supply things like this to the techs
manager: It’s up to you to have the tools to do your job the right way. Am I supposed to buy your tools for you too?
It’s a back and forth thing and generally I end up buying my own stuff simply because the shop won’t supply it and I need it.
On the flip side I understand why my shop manager is hesitant to buy these things. Generally when he does it gets snatched up pretty fast by everyone and we’re out again by the end of the week because everyone scoops it up.
I’ve tried to set it up a rationing system for the stuff so that we can regulate individuals from hoarding but my manager just doesn’t want to deal with it. Does anyone else deal with this? What do you do about it?
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This is the kind of mentality that some shop owners, foremen and service managers have today. It pisses me off just to read your post. It seems like shops today try to make your life as miserable as possible. These items are necessary to complete your job and are not tools. The only thing I can suggest it to have them buy small tubes so that way you can keep it locked in your tool box.
Ideally the parts counter would have it in small quantities where you could draw it and charge it to the appropriate work order.
[quote=”Pat61″ post=101612]Ideally the parts counter would have it in small quantities where you could draw it and charge it to the appropriate work order.[/quote]
It’s a complicated process but basically the way our paperwork and system work is that I can’t get those small quantities of supplies without charging it to the shop account and I can’t charge it to the shop account unless I charge it to the ticket or unless the shop owner verifies it personally. I could probably work something out… but that would be too close to stealing for me to go behind the shop owner’s back with his money like that.
I’d rather just convince him that these supplies are a necessity of the shop and that if he wants to run a successful shop that does good work that he needs to supply them. However I can’t bring myself to stop using this stuff to do a good job on the work that I do. Should I just do half-assed work without these materials until my manager decides to supply them? I’m not really on good terms with that so I’m stuck in between a rock and a hard place.
So the manager won’t order things because people use it? I think it’s a sign he’s a wingnut.
On the other hand you could buy your own and bill the shop for it. Or just tell him you need a raise to buy shop supplies for yourself.
At some point the shop supplies charge turned into part of the profit margin. For some reason customers would rather be taxed on the work we just did rather than just pay the actual price.
I’ve never worked in a place where the mechanics are expected to buy shop supplies. That is either sheer idiocy or yet more intentional screwing of the mechanics.
What’s next? Mechanics furnishing their own air compressors to run air tools with, shop rags, welcome mats at the front door, uniforms, and fluids such as engine oil and ATF used in normal maintenance services? 🙁
If they want mechanics to furnish shop supplies then they better add .2 to every labor operation to help cover it.
I had to read this post because I couldn’t believe that this is even a topic! I own a small independent repair shop. We do both body and mechanical repairs. I supply all materials and heavy tools. I would never ask one of my techs to bring their own brake cleaner, silicone, sand paper, body filler, etc… I do, however, require them to bring from home a handful of toilet paper that they would anticipate needing for the day and their own hand soap (optional, of course). Ridiculous! Just thought I would give you a shop owner’s opinion.
I pretty much ended up just hauling off the scrap bin and used the money to buy a bunch of materials. Boss still complained. He’ll get over it. We have plenty of supplies to last awhile and I’m keeping them locked up and keeping a log whenever I give some out.
The boss is actually pretty good at supplying and maintaining the equipment in the shop. Great about changing out bad quick-connects, maintaining the lifts, and keeping up with new equipment. I think the main reason he’s been being so stingy lately is because he just dropped 8k on a new scan tool. Though he doesn’t have a smoker and has no plans on getting one soon so I ended up making one.
It’s just some give and take that you gotta go through at an independent shop. We’ll make it work. We always do.
If the shop owner or manager is tacking on a fixed or percentage based shop supplies or shop fee charge then that should cover anything used in the line of performing that job.
Forcing mechanics to buy supplies and then billing the customer is nothing more than a way of increasing profit at the mechanic’s expense. Pretty low.
Some of the local dealers around here tack on 25 bucks to every repair order for “shop supplies” and I would think that more than takes care of any chemicals, wire ends, and whatnot being used on any job.
If a shop suspects that someone is simply hoarding and hauling off supplies then the answer to that problem is easy. Tracking from the parts department on everything billed out will clear that up.
A few weeks ago, the manager came around all pissed off because a roll of masking tape he got for some specific thing was missing from the shop supplies stash. After I told him that even though I have a few rolls just like it in my box that have nothing to do with shop supplies, I didn’t know about his roll, he vents to me and the other guy nearby about how these things “just disappear” and that they are being “Stolen”. He knows I will go buy 3M tapes and such instead of the cheap stuff parts gets.
So I says “Look, if you want to solve the problem, the answer is to just provide enough supplies that everybody who is going to steal them just takes what they need and has enough and then these things will stop ‘just disappearing’. The problem is that you make these things too scarce, so the demand for them is abnormally high.” I can’t help but visibly chuckle after hearing myself say this.
He freaks out and screams “Fuck you! I spend $700 a month on supplies!” Then he pauses and looks back and forth at me and the other guys and yells “You are all dishonest!”
I say “Whatta ya mean? I just was honest with you and now your mad about it!”
That got him to storm off somewhere else and gave us a laugh.
When It comes to supplies in the 5 lift Mitsubishi and used car shop I work in, cans of brake cleaner need to be billed out but everything else like tapes, glues, lubricants, crimp terminals, razor blades, etc are ‘free’. The other 3 dealerships I’ve been in have been similar to that, but with a very big difference between what is considered acceptable expense and acceptable quality between them.
I’ve always been kind of anal about low quality supplies or using the wrong thing for the job, so I keep my own personally funded supply cabinet. Whenever they will supply something good enough, I will restock myself with what they give me and I just eat it if they will only give me junk or nothing at all. The inventory of the supplies is worth a couple hundred bucks but it only costs me $20-$30 a month to maintain. The amount of time I don’t waste/lose waiting for parts to get something they don’t see the point in stocking even though it is occasionally/suddenly needed is worth the cost alone to me.
There is also still more possible loss if they can’t/won’t get what you should be using. I’m sure anyone here has been handed the wrong glue for the job or something cheap that takes too long to set up, and then takes too long to get something done because the inferior product needs to be coddled way more/longer that the correct 3M or equivalent product.
The guy says he spends 700 a month on supplies. Do they have a percentage or set shop supplies charge on every repair order billed out to a customer? If so, what’s he whining about; unless he has a clause in his pay plan based on a 0 supplies expense and the full supplies charge on every ticket.
The Ford dealer here tacks on 25 dollar supplies charge to every repair order. Most of the dealers I’ve worked for just had a 2.5% fee tacked on.
When I worked at a dealership with 20+ techs the message at the parts counter was usually, “We gave out the ONE tube/bottle/roll of that, see who has it.” Obviously, this resulted in problems. When certain products were so demanded it came up in weekly meetings and the shop foreman would convince management to buy what we were asking for. They also claimed to provide gloves, but you could only get 1 box a month. 50 pairs of gloves lasts 2 weeks max in my experience.
My current dealership, only having 6 techs and a higher reputation to maintain, runs things a bit differently. There is a fully stocked self-service supply aisle in the parts department. Multiple brand options for some applications. Unlimited gloves along with safety glasses and ear plugs. Special orders accepted without resistance if need for a product is shown.
Supplying your own tools is one thing, but supplying consumables for shop use should be on the shop tab.
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