re: Mechanic Shortage? WSJ Shreds Ford CEO Complaints

Reminds me of the pilot shortage a few years ago.

Airlines bitched about it. However, when you dug into it, a different story emerged. See if this sounds familiar. From Yahoo News ten years ago.

quote:

---

Aviation industry insiders cite a number of factors for the drop-off in pilots: longer working hours, contentious relations with management, fewer job protections and industry turnover with the expected retirement of some 18,000 pilots through 2022.

But the biggest factor is compensation.

Regional carriers pay pilots an annual average of $27,350, according to Paul Ryder, ALPA Resource Coordinator. That compares with an annual salary of $103,390 at large airlines, according to US Labor Department data.

Aspiring pilots must pay between $150,000 to $200,00 to obtain their license, Ryder said.

Three years ago, US regulators stiffened the requirements on pilots following a 2009 Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, New York, that killed 49 people.

Commercial pilots must now have 1,500 hours of flight time before qualifying for their pilot's license, compared with just 250 prior to the rule shift.

Adding to that burden is a shift in the broader aviation industry as regional flying has grown. Up-and-coming pilots once viewed the regional carriers as a stepping-stone to a job with a bigger company, said Smith.

"Today, the regional sector accounts for half or more of all flying, and pilots are realizing that a job with a regional often means an entire... career with a regional," Smith said.

"Fewer pilots are willing to commit hundreds of thousands of dollars into their training and education for a career with such a limited return on investment, in what has historically been a very unstable industry."

Steps taken by some regional carriers include boosting compensation, such as offering a bonus to qualified pilots of $80,000 spread out over four years, said industry consultant Kit Darby.

Companies are also granting bonuses of $500, $1,000 or $1,500 for pilot referrals, Darby said.

"An airline that wants to be able to recruit new pilots and to retain its current pilots needs to offer reasonable compensation, fair worklife balance and some career path with stability," said pilot Ryder.

"An airline that does not offer that typically has seen challenges in attracting employees."

---

The majors were so short, they were raiding regionals.

that's the way it works youngster

quote:

---

Imagine if you were a chef at a restaurant and had to bring in your own gloves, cooking utensils, pots, pans, etc. just to do your job. Asinine.

---

You do supply your own knives.

quote:

---

Now do aircraft mechanics

---

Preach it brother!!

quote:

---

Seems to me like the dealership is trying to make up the shortfall on warranty billing by over billing for customer pay work.

---

I certainly don’t believe dealerships are blameless, but this just isn’t true regardless how it seems to you.

quote:

---

If you actually talked with a mechanic, you'd know they give new guys shite for borrwing tools, most have a pretty hard held rule that if you ask to borrow the same tool twice, the next time you'll be told to buy your own.

---

Not the point. Dealerships are shifting the cost/risk of doing business to the mechanics and yet wonder why they can’t find people that chose to go into the field. Mechanic has to buy expensive tool x, then it is replaced by tool y, the mechanic takes the hit as an employee, not the dealership. And the dealerships have become such a strong force they don’t have to change. They own local politicians and judges so they get away with crazy business practices that hurt the consumer and clearly their own mechanics!
Look at the number of states that block direct to consumer sales. That’s the dealership lobby at work. Just an outdated business model that is so entrenched that we all suffer from it

quote:

---

Dealerships are shifting the cost/risk of doing business to the mechanics and yet wonder why they can’t find people that chose to go into the field. Mechanic has to buy expensive tool x, then it is replaced by tool y, the mechanic takes the hit as an employee, not the dealership.

---

Yep. The auto manufacturers warranty pay is horrendous.

They do these time studies with an ace mechanic/tech that has every tool at their disposal usually in near perfect settings. And then the manufacturers will usually shave off time from the average time of their time studies.

And tools? A decent tech has to have at least $100K if not more, just to do basic mechanical work. And it is usually several times a year that they have to shell out $$ to buy necessary tools to work on the new designs that the manufactures produce.

Just these last few years, I have seen many competent young techs leave the industry because of crappy warranty reimbursement times along with the grueling work that usually leaves a tech physically worn out by the time they hot 40 years old.

With all the electronics, modules, sensors, wiring, computerized crap that is on vehicles, the stress on tech is bad and is getting worse.

A lot of the older techs are starting to retire and there is a huge shortage of qualified, young techs coming into the field.

That's one of the reasons there is 1-2 maybe even 3 weeks or more before the dealer can start to even look at a vehicle.

quote:

---

The having to buy your own tools thing sucks but going from $10/hour to $100,000/yr in 15 years doesn't seem that bad.

---

That never happens. He’s paying people by the job. $10 to change one screw after you separate the driveshaft from the chassis…

Good mechanics walk away and don’t look back. I can change the clutch in a 90’s Toyota 4 wheel drive in one hour. I get paid $10 and the shop gets $2k. How many times you gonna do that before you move on?

quote:

---

I know diesel mechanics making well over $200k a year right now

---

Well, they damn sure weren’t making that when I was a diesel mechanic. Maybe after you spend 35 years in the oilfield you can do that if you work 100 hours a week you could do it now….but you would have to have a damn good job and be very lucky as well.

Thankfully, I eventually got laid off and went back to LSU for a mechanical engineering degree. If I had stayed a mechanic, I would be a broken down, old man by this age.

It requires a great amount of professionalism to not tear up and break shite on modern automobiles. Over engineered crap with plastic pieces everywhere and enough wires and sensors to reach 3 times around the planet.

All the manufacturers make it truly not enjoyable to work on cars anymore. Even when being paid it’s simply not satisfying having to remove 9 bolts to get to and replace an oil filter. Then have it drain directly onto a control arm or whatever. How are you going to become an “engine whisperer” when half your day you are silently cursing some engineer for what is obviously over engineered back assward crap.

So many times over the years I’ve concluded they don’t want people to work on their own cars. They make so many things unnecessarily difficult and if you’re new to turning wrenches it very easy to break very expensive stuff.