So about a month ago I had a small engine shop that I worked for part time about 5 years ago call me up and ask me to come back to work for awhile until they can find someone on a permanent basis to start doing all the 2 stroke engine work. I have been doing a bunch of concrete cutoff saws as there seems to be a lot of construction going on right now. Husqvarna 760 and 770. Wacker Nuewsom and of course Stihl and some Partner. Then there is the usual chainsaws that come through this time of year that want their saws looked at. I am hoping to get someone trained in here real soon for this is really not something I want to do and is just a favor for this family owned business. At 70 years old I have to say after about 6 hours of pulling on ropes all day I start craping out. The one benefit from this is sometimes I do get some free saws. People will bring in old saws or even newer ones that have been straight gassed or a crank seal is bad and they do not want to pay the money for the repair. They will tell the shop to please dispose of the said item and that is where I ask for it if they are throwing it away. Same for weed eaters and leaf blowers. Crazy times for sure.
Good luck finding someone to train, we can't hire techs to save our lives in the auto repair business. Seems most youngsters wanna make the big bucks at a keyboard these days.
I was at our parts place Wed and there was one guy working. I wasnt in a hurry but asked the guy about working alone. He said no one wants to work when they can stay home and make more money.
That is good to hear. I was shocked when they called me in a bit of a panic. They had stuff that was taken in for repair that was out a month and no one had looked at it yet. I have everything caught up but my wood cutting season up in the mountains is coming real soon. I have not spotted any free saws yet but I have a husky weed eater someone straight gassed that I might get.
It is nice to be recognized for your ability and knowledge in the fact they called you back to work. Are you training the replacement? How many saws have you got for free this way?
When I was young and someone was willing to show me everything you wanted to know about chainsaws I would have jumped all over it.
Yes, I’d love to apprentice small engine repair, but I’m gen x. I hope you find someone willing to take it up and learn. It’s seems challenging to find somebody willing to listen let alone work.
In the past Brad I got about 5 saws for free a leaf blower and all the weed wackers you could want and a small 2 stroke Mantis tiller. They just end up throwing this stuff away. As far as replacing crank seals on a Stihl 036 I would have to look up their shop rate to find out for sure what it would cost. I would probably have one hour worth of work in it. Then lets us not forget the cost of the seals themselves that they mark up. I asked them one time where they made the majority of their money. Was it sales of new items or service. The answer is in service. No replacement yet but I know they are looking. It did inflate my ego for about 1 day and I went home with my hips hurting my back hurting and my shoulders hurting. My ego deflated real fast.
I don’t think I would have when I was younger I spend a lot of discretionary time and then some now though trying to catch up And a good part of that is from you chiming in Thank you!
Or expand their minds to include something that is practical and can use for the rest of their lives other than an iphone.
Well we all have a different approach and priority on how we spend our time when we were young and how we spend our time now that we are older. If there is one thing I like doing and that is saving money on things that I can do myself. But it does take time to learn.
That is what the labor rate is? Because they are not paying me anywhere near that. If they did I would consider training 2 guys to replace me instead of one.
