Where is service?

[mikenixon]

The life of a motorcycle mechanic has never been glamorous. Straight commission pay meant he got paid only when the shop did. At first this was half of what the customer paid. Fifty percent sounds great, doesn't it? But the IRS took most if it, and all the tech's benefits he paid himself. That's right, health insurance (what's that?), vacations (hah!), sick days, even his uniforms. And on rainy days, techs didn't make any money. They cleaned their area, repaired special tools, bled their hydraulic lifts (yep, hydraulic), or simply watched the rain pour off the roof. And on payday, it showed. And in the 1980s shops began reducing that number to 40% then 30% and even less.

Straight commission went away because it constituted a built-in raise for the tech when the shop raised its labor rate every five years. It was replaced with the "X amount per billed hour" scheme. For every billable hour he produces, the tech is paid say $35, regardless of what the customer actually pays. This is a sensible, modified form of the straight commission system. The key is now the built-in raise is gone, something shop owners never liked.

But incentive pay is hard on the mechanic. Technicians are near the very bottom of the shop's food chain; everyone above them affects their actual pay on a moment-by-moment basis. Whether the service writer who writes poorly communicating service orders, the indifferent parts counterperson, or managers who don't manage-- all these folks are reaching into the tech's pocket every minute of every day. Then there is human nature. When a little extra effort is required for a repair or service to be really effective, as it so often is on motorcycles, the tech is tempted to not make that effort, because it will cost him money. Lots of lines like this have to be crossed multiple times every day, on every job. Thus the quality often suffers. Worse, the tech may find that cutting corners is a lucrative tactic for all jobs. At that point nothing they do can be counted on to be quality. And incentive pay throws the tech under the bus when he does warranty work. Typically 30 percent of dealership service work is warranty related, a significant amount. Problem is, the manufacturer reimburses the dealer at a discounted rate, much like a medical insurance provider's. An incentive paid tech takes it in the shorts with every warranty job.

Poor shop efficiency, poor management, and the necessary evil of warranty make me want to never work for someone else again. These things produce a culture in the powersports service world that can only be described as toxic. It needs to change before bike shops will have better reputations with the public. Today's technician has incredible pressure on him to be superhuman; do quality work but do it quickly. Young techs start with boundless energy and immense emotional and philosophical resiliance. But they wear out before the ten-year mark; they just can't keep up with the demands of a system that is entirely against them from the beginning. As a former trade school administrator, I continue to be on the advisory board of the nation's best-known training school, so this is on my radar even today. The expectations on the mechanic is a stupid, tragic, hellish thing, and it will never allow our industry to get beyond even mediocre customer service, let alone overcome the stigma it suffers in the minds of the motorcycling public.

Most techs work in just 12 square feet of workspace and eat their lunches standing up. Very few earn more than $50k a year. When the shop won't buy the special tool, the mechanic has to. When the shop won't source the correct service parts, he has to somehow make do with what is laying around. He has to beg to be allowed to go to training, and then he has to foot the bill himself and not be paid while he's getting it. It's still not a given that he'll have medical insurance, or paid time off. You might say only very ignorant folks would stand for treatment such as this, but that's not accurate either. While the situation has improved in the last twenty years, the bike tech is still very much a maverick, still looking out for himself because no one else will. And sadly, still dissed and discounted by the industry and by the public.

Much of the riding public feels service has disappeared. And I think it has. I have seen so much change in this business it is breathtaking. The motorcycle industry is going down in flames because its "engine"--credible repair service-- has thrown a rod. So much has been lost, so little expertise remains, it seems irrepairable. It is doubtful whether the service of motorcycles will ever be what it once was. The aftermarket has swarmed over the industry's nearly dead body like opportunistic vermin, i.e. rats, astonishingly promoting bad practice and even worse products. Soon no one will remember what a healthy thriving service industry looked like. Too soon there won't even be a reason for excellence. Training schools are closing and the largest one in the country is in financial trouble. As someone whose working life has been dedicated to motorcycle service, the situation saddens me deeply.

[dontwantapickle]

You should print this out and give a copy to all of the prospective enrolees in your tech schools
motorcycle mechanics programs.
Let them know what they are really in for when the graduate. Honesty is always the best policy.

[rcmatt007]

for a moment I thought I was reading about how large physician groups hire doctors on "productivity". On the surface they are employed, but in reality they are simply "making widgets for the man" and the man always demands more widgets

[mikenixon]

You should print this out and give a copy to all of the prospective enrolees in your tech schools
motorcycle mechanics programs.
Let them know what they are really in for when the graduate. Honesty is always the best policy.

I agree completely.

[mikenixon]

for a moment I thought I was reading about how large physician groups hire doctors on "productivity". On the surface they are employed, but in reality they are simply "making widgets for the man" and the man always demands more widgets

Ha! I can imagine. Everywhere numbers are valued over people. Nickels over noses, as someone once said...

[Shadowjack]

The American dream seems to be sole owner of a fabulously successful enterprise which requires no employees...

[mikenixon]

[dontwantapickle]

You should print this out and give a copy to all of the prospective enrolees in your tech schools
motorcycle mechanics programs.
Let them know what they are really in for when the graduate. Honesty is always the best policy.

I agree completely.

For some reason....... I seriously doubt that a "for profit" school would ever intentionally dissuade students
from enrolling.
MMI charges a person up to 30K for a complete curriculum and electives. All for the chance to be hired by a dealership for minimum wage and exploited until they finally give up, quit and are replaced with a new graduate from the accredited school.
A vicious cycle from where I stand. The Tech schools get a constant supply of new students and the industry gets a continuous source of cheap labor.
A pretty smart scheme for everyone involved I guess......... except for the student just trying to better themselves.

[mikenixon]

No, you wouldn't think so. However, tech schools do tell the truth, mostly, about the employment picture. They have to, they are monitored by a phalanx of government agencies that require regular reports and not insignificantly, twice yearly meetings with advisory councils made up of members of the industry. So, as much as is true of any private school, their feet are held to the fire. And though it has gone away, recruitment used to include attempts at screening. One ingredient of that was the Bennett Aptitude Test. Remember that, any old time Army people? It was a very practical test of innate mechanical knowledge. You know, leverage, centrifugal force, pressures, friction, temperature, basic electricity and magnetism. Neat stuff. By the way, several years ago MMI restructured all their programs which enabled them to cut the average tuition nearly in half.

[pidjones]

Before I retired I spent 17 years teaching people how to work on cyclotrons. We advertised for engineers, but hired many, many non-degreed (since I don't have a degree that didn't bother me) of various abilities and work ethics. One of my very best students, who has done very well and seems very happy in the job was previously a motorcycle mechanic in a dealership. The pay jump, benefits, and hours (although really screwy hours, you only really worked 25% of the time if you were good) really agreed with him, and he was a sharp, quick learner on anything mechanical. Had to give him a bit of assistance on electronics, but that was just a minor part of the job.

The guy that put my GL1800 back together after a wreck in '16 had been with the local dealer a long, long time. I hope he is getting what he is worth.

[mikenixon]

Man. I could expand on that til y'all drooled down the front of your shirts in boredom. Early on in my career I discovered there were levels, people, in my field so far above me it amazed me. And rather than intimidating me, it inspired me, and still does. I have never been more than a very average mechanic and I am keenly aware of it. But there are bike mechanics who are just incredible, and I don't mean guys on race teams like Byron Hines or Nigel Patrick or Kel Carruthers or Mike Velasco. I mean unsung and often very humble masters who quietly did (and do) amazing things. Nor do I mean the media darlings such as Roland Sands or Jesse James or Arlen Ness. I mean the fella who rebuilt your 1800: quietly, masterfully, dedicatedly, busily competent. Good shops tend to land one of these, sometimes more, and work hard to keep them. I can remember thinking about a handful of students in my nine years at MMI, "this guy's going to be somebody, we'll probably teach him very little." I could also tell you stories from my decades in the trenches of people I worked alongside. Some people are simply extremely gifted. And yes, they're still out there. Yamaha has a Technician Grand Prix each year and the finalists compete in Japan. Mechanics I am talking about, not riders. VICA is a similar thing on a smaller scale. But the excellence pool is shrinking.