I am plumb worn out as I write this, had a very long day on Saturday. I am the type of person who actually likes doing things with my hands, and the weekend is about the only chance I get in the fall and winter. With rain in the forecast for today, Sunday, I needed to get as much done outside as I could on Saturday.
I’ve got some car projects that I need to finish and Saturday I decided to dedicate time to those projects. When you work on old cars it can be a challenge when it comes to locating parts. I guess that I am and school when it comes to how the auto parts supply business works. Back in the day, auto parts stores employed people who actually had some knowledge of the mechanics of how a car worked and what was necessary in order to repair them.
Those days are so long gone, now if you need advice on something automotive relating to repairs the last place you need to go is an auto parts store. The people working the sales counters at these establishments do not have a clue about what they are selling. You can take a part in to them and hand it to them and say, “I need a new one of these”, more often than not the response will be, “and what is it?”
The auto parts business owes a debt of gratitude to the computer, internet and You Tube. These three things have allowed the owners of auto parts stores to reduce their overhead tremendously. I’ve had more than one counter sales person tell me, “just google it, I’m sure You Tube will have a video on it.” No longer is it necessary for someone working at a auto parts store to have any knowledge of how things work, they just need to repeat the phrase, “just google it.” Those three words are all that a counter sales person needs to know now a day. If an employee can run a barcode reader and ask if this transaction is “cash or credit” the warm body possessing those minimal skills is qualified to work the parts counter.
It use to be that people with such little skills were only found working in fast food establishments but I see that changing and the auto parts business is well on its way to looking more and more like McDonalds and Burger King. Not only by the employees they are hiring either, it seems like there is an increasing amount of auto parts store popping up everywhere. Three auto parts store chains has two stores located within 3 miles of each other right near me, plus I can think of five other auto parts store in that same 3 mile radius. My math skills tell me that there are at least 11 auto parts stores within 3 miles of me, I’m not sure but that may exceed the number of fast food establishments now that I started thinking about it.
The computer has also aided in the problem with inventory, and the term “just in time inventory”, while these auto parts stores have plenty of locations none of the locations are very well stocked with actual parts. I needed to replace some fuel injectors on Saturday, between getting the injectors, some gaskets, and a power steering reservoir I had to go to three separate locations, and two different chains. A person would think that they build the locations for customer convenience so you don’t have to drive as far, but if I have to drive all over the area to get a few parts because one location didn’t have them all under one roof, that is inconvenience not convenience. Oh, the counter people also are trained to say, “We can have it for you tomorrow “, if I wanted it tomorrow I would have come in tomorrow.
The more I think about it I believe that the auto parts supply business model is more ridiculous than the fast food people. I don’t have to go to three drive through locations of McDonald’s or Burger King to get a hamburger, fries and a drink. I can even order cheese on that burger and it won’t cause me to have go to a separate location for the cheese.
Maybe the auto parts people need to revisit their business plan, how about one location in that three mile radius that would be fully stocked with parts. That would be convenient in my opinion, driving around from location to location is not; repeat not convenient.
On a positive note, I did win the Steem Poker League free roll Texas Hold ‘Em tourney Friday night, I think there were forty some odd players in that tourney. The tourney on Saturday afternoon I didn’t quite do as well, finishing in twelfth place out of about the same number of players. The best thing about the Saturday tourney was that I didn’t even play; I had my youngest boy play for me because I was busy. I told you before he is becoming a decent online poker player and the proof shows in the results. He didn’t know any of the players and managed to finish in the money. That is quite an accomplishment because knowing a person’s tendencies in certain situations can pay big dividends and he had never played with any of these people, he actually was at a disadvantage. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so he plays his cards very similarly to the way I play them, so the advantage was with his competition. Well done Aman, well done son.
Until next time,
