Dealer labor rate or is it stealer labor rate
01-04-2010, 03:05 PM
#21
That secretary does have some value, but what gets to me is that the secretary ends up making as much or even more than the highly skilled tech, yet has zero safety risks, works fewer hours, and still demands extra perks. Of course, I'm not as pretty and I smell much worse at the end of the day. 
Food for thought.. sometimes a company's profit drivers are not as straightforward as one might think. Take Dell for example.. they don't make their primary profit on computers, they make profits by investing and earning interest on the money you give them when placing the order, then waiting as long as possible before paying their suppliers using a just-in-time inventory system. Essentially it's a finance business that just happens to make PCs. This nearly zero markup model is what gave them the ability to outprice Compaq, HP and the rest of the traditional manufacturers to become successful. Like most though, I'm pretty sure that the folks in the Dell plant think that they're the ones carrying the paper pushers.
Similar story with McDonald's corporate.. they're not in the hamburger business, they're in the commercial real estate business. Burger franchises are just a way to get the real estate to pay for itself.
I'm not sure how much of this applies to the auto biz, but I'd bet the paper pushers in finance are generating as much or more profit for the dealership via warranty sales and finance/lease interest as the shop is on parts/labor.
01-04-2010, 09:43 PM
#23
That secretary does have some value, but what gets to me is that the secretary ends up making as much or even more than the highly skilled tech, yet has zero safety risks, works fewer hours, and still demands extra perks. Of course, I'm not as pretty and I smell much worse at the end of the day.
Our last "secretary" made all the old guys here at the plant happy, she was good looking chick. She in fact had value to her
