Are Parts Stores Getting Worse?

[truckster]

I'm helping my nephew fix the truck his dad left him when he died two years ago. He had a frozen parking brake cable, so Saturday I walked into O'Reilly's and asked for a left rear parking brake cable for a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup. The guy comes back with a cable that's 7 feet long. I told him it's the wrong one. His reply was, "This is the part for the passenger side."

Yeah, I asked for the left side - that's the driver's side. Now, I know you're thinking, "Give the guy a break. He's probably new to cars and doesn't know that everything on a vehicle is described from the driver's perspective."

Except that he was the store manager.

[DeadheadNM]

Larry gets credit for this one

[kwmech]

Are Parts Stores Getting Worse?


Yes they are. Every time I need parts I have to call them first, wait for them to answer the phone, repeat myself 3-4 times b'cuz the newbie answering the phone doesn't listen to what I'm saying. Then wait for them to check inventory, because they don't keep anything in stock. It's a 7 mile round trip to the store that I don't care to make because they don't keep simple things other than oil filters and air fresheners on the shelf. Small block chevy intake gasket set? yep gotta call first. 8 spark plugs..yep gotta call because they only have 6 and have to order the other 2............crap like that. It's that or drive to the other store for a 35 mile round trip and maybe go through the same thing. BTW, these are NAPA stores. The gal that manages the store has a good sense of humor when I call to find out if they actually have 6 quarts of 10/30 on the shelf before I drive up there. She gets it, but she is also caught in the middle between the customers and 'corporate' and being short staffed.

[Shifty One]

I've been a counterman since 1983, and there a huge number of reasons for what the customer experiences when visiting. Numero uno is pay...since almost all parts stores don't pay great, you'll get what you pay for. (think burger-flipping that pays about the same), and staff is a revolving door now. Number two: Almost all stores are corporate now, and there is a disconnect between front-line sales staff and out-of-store management, so things that need fixing don't get handled. Number 3: HR and LP run corporate companies, not auto-parts people. Number 4: China.

I could go on and on, but the problem is here forever, since brick-and-mortar has been deemed obsolete.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by kwmech

Are Parts Stores Getting Worse?


Yes they are. Every time I need parts I have to call them first, wait for them to answer the phone, repeat myself 3-4 times b'cuz the newbie answering the phone doesn't listen to what I'm saying. Then wait for them to check inventory, because they don't keep anything in stock. It's a 7 mile round trip to the store that I don't care to make because they don't keep simple things other than oil filters and air fresheners on the shelf. Small block chevy intake gasket set? yep gotta call first. 8 spark plugs..yep gotta call because they only have 6 and have to order the other 2............crap like that. It's that or drive to the other store for a 35 mile round trip and maybe go through the same thing. BTW, these are NAPA stores. The gal that manages the store has a good sense of humor when I call to find out if they actually have 6 quarts of 10/30 on the shelf before I drive up there. She gets it, but she is also caught in the middle between the customers and 'corporate' and being short staffed.

You just nailed it "corporate " is the problem. Our Napa just went to corporate owned. Knowledgeable staff gone and everything has to be ordered. It's pretty bad when O Reilly's has better stock and service....

[weq92f]

.

I'm fortunate to have a Summit Racing store fairly close, which means I can order Online and often receive the parts the next day or very shortly thereafter and for occasions when I need it NOW, I can drive over there ( 1 hour ) and get it NOW.

My local parts houses are O-O-O Oreilly's and a smaller, no-corporate, parts house ran by a guy named Butch. If Butch doesn't have it, can't find a solution then I will check the other place Online for the same and grudgingly go in there if necessary. I avoid this whenever possible though.

I can walk in tell Butch I need a master cylinder for a 1/2 ton square body, a long water pump for a Mark IV BBC and bypass hose and he will look on his screen or in a book, turn around and walk into the back without saying a word. He comes out with the part or tells me he doesn't have it.

That type of service is no longer available at the big chain stores unfortunately.

-Kevin

[RustyPile]

weq92f, I have to agree with everything you posted, because I experience the same situation here..

I live in a very small East Texas town, population ~ 1300 people. We have a "Butch" here, his name is Matt, owner of Reliable Auto Supply.. I've lived here for over 12 years and have relied on his establishment for every minute of those years.. It's a small place, crammed full of just about everything automotive a person could need.. It's very seldom I go in there and he doesn't have what I need.. And 95% of the time when he doesn't have it in stock, he can get it the next day -- 2 days at the most.. He must pay good and be a good boss because he has very little employee turnover.. They, every one, know their stuff..

O'Reillys, Autozone, Napa, Car Quest are all located in a town about 10 - 12 miles away.. I very seldom have the need to go there.

[yuccales]

Our NAPA has really fallen on its face the past couple of years. I'm not going back. We have an O'Reilly that has a pretty knowledgeable staff. Can get parts not in stock pretty fast. Changing times I guess.

[LS short box]

Our local NAPA was good for many years. Then three of the top folks were hired away to the local chev dealership. The "new" NAPA folks are OK but if it's not in the computer they are going to struggle. Not bad folks but not much knowledge. I hope they grow into the job.
Our local Oreilly's is good but again a lot of turn over people wise.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

I went to O’Reilly yesterday and asked for MKD brake pads. Their part number.

The guy looked at me and went for the computer with “what’s the vehicle?”

I paused and said “1968 C10. With 1980 ElDorado calipers. And 1990 K1500 rotors. I just need MKD154 please. You have them in stock.”


I have 2 guys who I trust at stores, the rest all don’t know enough to pound sand down a rat hole.

My first real job was NAPA in 1994 where I learned from parts guys who were ASE mechanics, and the computer was only for printing invoices. Learned the Balkamp, Echlin, Walker, Napa Chassis Parts etc catalogs all page by page and it was AWESOME. SO fulfilling to do something dumb like look up a bearing by measuring it and turning pages. To special order, you called on the actual landline telephone, spoke to NAPA corporate and gave your jobber #.

I was lucky to be on the tail end of old-school before it all went corporate. There are still some good parts guys out there. When you find one, let them know how much you appreciate their craft.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by truckster

I'm helping my nephew fix the truck his dad left him when he died two years ago. He had a frozen parking brake cable, so Saturday I walked into O'Reilly's and asked for a left rear parking brake cable for a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup. The guy comes back with a cable that's 7 feet long. I told him it's the wrong one. His reply was, "This is the part for the passenger side."

Yeah, I asked for the left side - that's the driver's side. Now, I know you're thinking, "Give the guy a break. He's probably new to cars and doesn't know that everything on a vehicle is described from the driver's perspective."

Except that he was the store manager.

I am in a Similar situation with getting parts for my nephew truck.

He Inherited this .
His Great Grandpa purchased this truck new.

I went to get the Slinky hose for the breather on this Square body.

I even brought the breather housing and slinky hose in with me.

2 guys were looking///Clueless for this Preheater hose.

Then another guy showed up.

He said don't y'all know anything about truck and car parts.

I got my Slinky hose and left with a smile.

[weq92f]

Originally Posted by RustyPile

weq92f, I have to agree with everything you posted, because I experience the same situation here..

I live in a very small East Texas town, population ~ 1300 people. We have a "Butch" here, his name is Matt, owner of Reliable Auto Supply.. I've lived here for over 12 years and have relied on his establishment for every minute of those years.. It's a small place, crammed full of just about everything automotive a person could need.. It's very seldom I go in there and he doesn't have what I need.. And 95% of the time when he doesn't have it in stock, he can get it the next day -- 2 days at the most.. He must pay good and be a good boss because he has very little employee turnover.. They, every one, know their stuff..

O'Reillys, Autozone, Napa, Car Quest are all located in a town about 10 - 12 miles away.. I very seldom have the need to go there.

.

Old school is alive! Butch is the main guy. The other folk are his kids, their spouses and offspring. All of them know their way around the parts counter. I suspect they will continue on, carry what Butch built into the future. I enjoy interacting with them way more than the "year, make, model" type.

-Kevin

[biketopia]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

You just nailed it "corporate " is the problem. Our Napa just went to corporate owned. Knowledgeable staff gone and everything has to be ordered. It's pretty bad when O Reilly's has better stock and service....

This has been our struggle with our fleet getting parts. 18 years ago when I started there were 2 or 3 local parts houses, that had multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the staff was awesome, the head counter guys/store managers could get you anything and were super helpful. The stores were aware of their location and stocked what was needed for their area, our side of the county was heavy with county fleet, site work companies, and a quarry close by. Then NAPA came in, they stayed independent, but were supplied by NAPA, bit of a learning curve but it all worked out good. That lasted about 4 years then they went full corporate, ran out every last staff member, even the so so ones were better than what they currently have. We went from spending $50k a year with them to less than $10k. It's been about 3 years now and they are finally seeing how bad they screwed the pooch. Our local store worked really hard to bring back one of the "dinosaurs" they initially ran off, he's doing a really good job of bringing our store back to being able to serve fleet type customers. They're in a dingy industrial complex, there's plenty of chain stores around for the weekend DIY guy to get his soap, wiper blades, & air freshener from.

[Sheepdip]

Can't speak for the actual quality of the Chinese parts but... I lookup the part I need on the stores website, print it off and present it to them. Works every time!

[Shifty One]

Originally Posted by LS short box

Our local NAPA was good for many years. Then three of the top folks were hired away to the local chev dealership. The "new" NAPA folks are OK but if it's not in the computer they are going to struggle. Not bad folks but not much knowledge. I hope they grow into the job.
Our local Oreilly's is good but again a lot of turn over people wise.

Interestingly, the first thing the new corporate company wanted to do was to throw away all of my years of catalogs. I threatened mayhem if they touched them. Amazing how often the younger crew ask to borrow my "outdated" catalogs.

[Steeveedee]

Our local NAPA has a couple guys running it that have been there forever. They recently bought a few more trucks for their new delivery people to drive. I've looked in their old paper catalogs for parts for my old vehicles that don't show up on the computer.

[1970 CST Short Wide]

My LS is out of an 02 Firebird. When I asked the kid at O’Reilly for a part for and 02 Firebird he asked “What Is the Make of the Car”. I asked “ You don’t know who makes Firebird??”
His answer was Right On he said “Sorry Sir, I’m not a Mechanic, I just sell Parts”

[kwmech]

Adendum to post #3

As much as I loathe 700r4s I had to work on one yesterday. I got the pan off of it and found that the previous 'gear head' had stripped 6 bolts and made some type of attempt to heli-coil the holes--had no idea what he was doing-- My go to is to use Time-Serts. Cannot convert them to a Time-Sert without stepping up to the Big-Sert. Can't do the Big-Sert. Not enough material in the flange of the case. Anyways, I call, 'cuz yeah post 3. Hey do you have any 8x1.25 heli-coil kits with inserts. "I'll have to look that up in the book". DUDE!! turn around, they're hanging on the wall behind you. Oh, yeah.....I'm waiting...waiting... waiting..."well do you see them?". Yeah, we got them. I go down there, they are not Heli-coils, but some other brand out of Australia called coiled something or other. I sigh. Ok I'll try them, are they the same specs? Um, I think so. I take em home and screw one of them in and the friggn' install tab won't break off without stretching the last 1 or 2 threads of the coil further in the hole. Tried this 3 times before I gave up. Took it back, got my money back, told them to start stocking quality stuff like NAPA used to do. Called O'Reillys yep we got 'em. Drove to O'Reillys got the parts and installed them. Total time almost 4 hours, 3 trips between 2 stores including driving between the 2 towns and 35 miles to finally get the oil pan back on the transmission. And everybody in the industry is wondering why there are not enough mechanics to go around

[HO455]

Timely thread. Yesterday I needed some AGU 30 amp fuses. They're a popular car stereo fuse but otherwise not common. I know where to get them locally but due to the never-ending traffic congestion I didn't want to go there in the afternoon and I didn't want to wait until the next day. So I did an interweb search and found them at an AutoZone about 8 miles away. I called and talked to some one who confirmed they had them and they would set a package of 5 aside for me.

I get to the store and ask for the fuses, the guy says "They're in the fuse section". Which of course they weren't. Returning to the counter I explained that I had previously called. The guy asked the other guy if he took the call and he said yeah, "The fuses are in the fuse section." I asked "Can you show me?". He reluctantly waddled to the fuse section where he was unable to find them. After waddling back he asked the usual "What car is this for?". I explained that wasn't going to work and to look up in his computer AGU fuses. After he did that and found them he asked the first guy "Do you know where these are?" To make this short these two dorks stolled around the back of the store for 20 minutes and were unable to find any fuses. They finally came back and said "Sorry we can't find them". Fortunately there were no other customers to interrupt their diligent searching. I left without a word as there was no point in pointing out to these two how worthless they are.

[richard2717]

Our local Napa's just got bought back by the corporation. The other day was the last trip I will make in there. 2 Spray cans of 3M undercoating and a tube of seam sealer was $125. I wanted to get the job done so bought them. Came home and did a quick search, I could have had it all delivered for about half the cost for same exact stuff. It used to be the silver line parts were made to compete with the other chain stores and the gold stuff was supposed to be the high quality stuff. The only difference I can tell anymore is the price. I like buying local and all that but comes a point when that don't fly anymore. I get the bulk of my stuff from Rock Auto but even they have their issues. Seems anymore I can order 5 things and all 5 items have to be shipped from 5 different warehouses but it's still cheaper than Napa now.

[RustyPile]

Originally Posted by weq92f

.

Old school is alive! Butch is the main guy. The other folk are his kids, their spouses and offspring. All of them know their way around the parts counter. I suspect they will continue on, carry what Butch built into the future. I enjoy interacting with them way more than the "year, make, model" type.

-Kevin

You know it... When you walk into a place and say, "I need the brake light switch for a 1960 Cushman Super Eagle.." The guy looks at you, walks to the back and 2 minutes later comes back with 2 switches and says, " One has a left side arm and the other is right side, will either of these work??" you know you've come to the right place..

[weq92f]

Originally Posted by RustyPile

You know it... When you walk into a place and say, "I need the brake light switch for a 1960 Cushman Super Eagle.." The guy looks at you, walks to the back and 2 minutes later comes back with 2 switches and says, " One has a left side arm and the other is right side, will either of these work??" you know you've come to the right place..

.



Last time I went to see Butch, I was replacing the brake light switch on my '67 as it got destroyed while trying to remove the clevis from the brake pedal and adjusting the length of the rod.

Handed him the broke switch and told him it also worked as the torque converter lock up release and that my '67 original was probably the wrong part. He walked back and came out with exactly what was required.

I have a hard time interacting with the chain store counter guys and avoid it when possible. Just pisses me off when customer service goes in the toilet!

-Kevin

[kwmech]

The last "Old Guy" at my local Napa store is gone at the end of this month. Gonna miss Bill he didn't have to look up almost half of the stuff. Just walked around the corner and grabbed it off the shelf. Now when I ask for some 1157 bulbs I'll have to give the year make and model. Maybe I should retire completely and fire up my metal detector and go have some fun

[jerry moss]

many years back i called our local NAPA and ordered a cap and rotor for 318 dodge van-i don't recall the exact year anymore- anyway a few minutes later their delivery driver walks in with my distributor cap and a BRAKE ROTOR !!!!!!! i called the owner whom i know well and ask him what the f&*k, oh he's a new kid was the answer i got.

[Steeveedee]

One would like to think that if a cap and rotor were ordered, that they'd both be for the ignition.