Feedback (November 01, 2002)

Dear SSGM:

I have sold tools to mechanics and garages for 22 years. I have also worked in factories and offices. For the most part, mechanics are the most honest and industrious people! I am sick of the media always dumping on auto repair! One of the reasons that they do this is because nobody shows them what an auto repair shop has to live with. Someone (possibly you) should show them that a mechanic in most shops does not get paid when (through no fault of his) he sits twiddling his thumbs. This happens in December when a young man with three kids needs good pay. This writer could enter the “Damned if you do, or Damned if you don’t” area of auto repair, i.e. don’t run up the bill by installing plugs, wires and filters when just replacing the O2 sensor will turn the “check engine” light out! A couple of weeks later, when trouble comes back, the customer will refuse to remember his “save money” request. If a job goes wrong a mechanic has to do it for no pay while paying jobs pass him by. In a factory, workers get paid overtime for rework. I’ve never had a doctor rebate me for pills that didn’t work! I think that you get the picture. Ordinary newspaper and media people would never write this because dumping is easier and most consumers like to read it.

Jim Rogers,

Jim Rogers Tools and Equipment

Dorchester, Ontario

Ed: Jim, you’re preaching to the choir. We need local technicians and shop owners to write as you have to local print and broadcast media outlets whenever our industry is blindsided. Letters get read more than you might imagine, and enough action can generate a follow up story that’s more balanced. It costs you a stamp and a few minutes of your time.