Posted by NCWayne on June 06, 2010 at 14:37:24 from (166.82.79.195):
I just read Gun Gurus post below about having some stumps burried and saw all of the comments about the price. That got me to thinking about the way things are nowdays and I'm curious as to what ya'll think. Ok, first many of you know I am a self employeed heavy equipment mechanic and I tend to work on anything from lawnmowers to cranes and everything in beteen. With times as tight as they are all of my core customers have slowed way down and some have even downsized or are no longer in business. For many of them, although they have equipment needing major work and I'll get it when the time comes, they simply don't have enough work to bring in the extra money to do anything. All of this has left me high and nearly dry for the past 9 months or so. As such I have been posting on CL, etc just to drum up enough work to keep my bills somewhat up to date. I have always tried to be fair with people on my rates and tend to charge not so much by the hour on small stuff as just by the job. That said I had a guy brought me his pickup the other morning needing a muffler hanger welded on. He had the part and it took me maybe 10 minutes ((and material wise maybe .25 in gas and MIG wire for the two 3/4 welds)) with him standing there watching. No more than I did I only charged the guy $10. He about flipped that it wasn't MORE. Now to me $10 was more than fair for what I had done (approx $1 a minute or $60 per hour) and it really made me wonder what he had paid the last guy that did any work for him. In the end he actually gave me the $10 and another $5 tip for getting it done right away and I was definately more than happy with that but I still wondered what someone else would have charged him.
On the other hand with times being so slow I had applied at Home Depot looking for something steady to make sure things got paid. They were looking for someone in the rental department to repair all of the equipment as, from what I was told, the guys they curently had weren't even capable of changing parts, to make one machine out of two, to keep a machine in service until replacement parts could be ordered. The job, I was told was from 5AM to 2PM and would usually be 5 to 6 days a week. Basically they wanted someone with the experience to repair anything from the electrical equipment to the engines and hydraulics on the other equipment (they had trenchers, chippers, pluggers, etc)and were only looking to pay $11.30 an hour for the position. Granted I was told they have good benefits when you go full time but nothing for the first three months, and no uniforms beyond the orange apron. Benefits aside, to me the wage they were offering is a slap in the face to anyone with the experience they were looking for. When I asked why so little pay the reply was that, " someone would do it for that" to which I repied that in the end they would 'get what they paid for'. To be honest I almost became that someone and had done the drug test, etc and was supposed to start training last week but couldn't bring myself to do it and had to quit before I started. Heck to start with I would have had to buy a wardrobe of collared 'polo' shirts and good jeans just to wear to work as that is their dress code and I might have had to work on the floor at some point in time. Even though my main job would have been as a mechanic I would have to have 'good' cloths to work in and figure out hiw to keep them clean enough for their policies without having to constantly replace them with new stuff. Then by the time taxes were taken out and I covered gas back and forth every week my check would have been been less than I am getting by on right now. Basically though the more I thought about it the madder I got about the way these big companies treat their employees when it comes to what they pay. If they had to take their equipment to a typical repair shop they would be paying at least three times what they were offering to get the work done, and most of the guys in those shops would be making closer to $16 to $18 an hour (based on what I have been able to find out by asking around. Heck if they offered me $16 an hour I might have taken the job for awhile just to have a 'steady' income but your looking at a difference of something like $600 plus a month which is a huge difference. Granted the benefits add to their overhead cost when it comes to what they are able to pay for the wage but when you need skilled labor the pay should reflect that fact. Heck I was making more than that doing nothing but MIG welding nearly 20 years ago. I guess the main thing is that fortunately I didn't take the job as I ran up on one opportunity that I wouldn't have otherwise had and made out on it pretty good and then got several calls last week that will work out to several weeks work at my usual rate, or more than I would have made at HD in several months of busting my a-- for next to nothing. Hopefully given what I am seeing and hearing things will have picked up for at least one of my customers that needs alot of work and I'll be back to working at least 'full time' for myself by the end of the summer..... OK, sorry, I got log winded there and maybe the question isn't all that obvious, but what I am trying to ask is what do ya'll all think is a fair wage and how do you determine it? I mean I know I'll never get rich because I can't sleep at night knowing I cheated someone by giving them a huge bill for little to no work. At the same time these big corporations can pay little to nothing for any position they want, skilled or not, and then more than double prices on items overnight yet people flock through their doors to looking for jobs and wanting to buy their overpriced goods. What do ya'll think????
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Magic Moments - by Tyler J. Woods. Magic moments don’t just happen. You have to help them along. This morning, I got up early. It is my day off from my regular workweek and I had a lot of things to do. It’s fall, and with winter coming on, there is a lot of work to do before weather closes in.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Oliver 550 Diesel runs like a watch three point hitch pto engine gone threw about two hundred hours ago nice clean tractor
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
