Service Tech $40/hr

[Essvar]

Drove past our local RV dealer in Junction City Oregon... they are advertising for service techs at $40/hr



I'm not sure about elsewhere in the country, but in the local economy of Junction City that's an astounding hourly wage! Too bad $40 can't even buy you a Dutch Bros coffee anymore

[German Shepherd Guy]

And as Dustin Hoffman said in the movie "Little Big Man" when asked if he could drive the wagon. "You Bet!" Even though he had grown up with the Cheyenne and had never driven a wagon.


"Yes sir, I am a hell of a service tech!"

[Javi]

$40 and hour won't buy much of a tech nowadays.... that's more like journeyman level pay

$65... gets you experienced folks

[Essvar]

Originally Posted by Javi

$40 and hour won't buy much of a tech nowadays.... that's more like journeyman level pay

$65... gets you experienced folks

I just don't see how the dealers can be making any money when they are only charging $120/hr for service.

[Lindyn]

Very hard to find a Good Tech, Camping is over whelmed, there is no way Camping World can repair the RV's they are selling. We have returned 3 times on the 4 door fridge, still beeps. NOT worth the time to keep retuning. We now have to use a truck bed brace to hold pressure. Sad to say but a RV they list for over a $100,000 dollars never have had these many issues, on a 5th wheel.

[gearhead]

Do RV Mechanics work off a "book" job time? Like.....the time to do a brake job is 3 hours in the book; but if the mechanic can do it in 2 hours he gets paid for 3 and can go on to another job.
40 an hour ain't bad money if it's paid punch to punch.. start time to leave for home time.
Around here pay at the refineries and chem plants is approaching $50. That's top money for craftsmen. That includes a substantial amount of time sitting on your rear. I'll bet much better benefits too. Most hired in the last 10 years were required to have a 2 year degree or at least a certificate or a union apprenticeship.

[jasin1]

It could be $40 an hour for 20 hours a week ….or. $40 an hour until they catch up with work that is stacking up

If you look up zip recruiter the average pay is around $20 an hour with Hawaii having the highest at $23

And the advertised $40 may include benefits to add up to $40 an hour

[chuckster57]

Pay rate and shop rates vary ALOT, depending on what area of the country your in.

If you can get $120.00/hr shop rate, your lucky. $150.00- $175.00 is the range in my area…I’m not here to disclose my pay rate, and last time I checked flat rate was no longer legal here.

There is a sign on the highway in Lodi for $50.00/hr.

[jasin1]

A good employee is worth his or her weight in gold…to have someone show up everyday..on time .. with a good attitude and is teachable is worth $20 an hour for me….with little to no experience…someone with experience and able to work independently is worth a whole lot more.

I’m sure qualified rv service techs can make a very good living as well..didn’t mean to try and dissect salary’s…hope no offense

[chuckster57]

None taken here.

[Essvar]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Pay rate and shop rates vary ALOT, depending on what area of the country your in.

If you can get $120.00/hr shop rate, your lucky. $150.00- $175.00 is the range in my area…I’m not here to disclose my pay rate, and last time I checked flat rate was no longer legal here.

There is a sign on the highway in Lodi for $50.00/hr.

It’s very relative to the local market, sadly I’m sure at this point they will settle for anyone who shows up mostly sober and not too high.

Sadly wages in Oregon (not Portland) are typically well under where they should be based on our cost of living.

[gearhead]

Here is something that I don't quite understand...why don't repair shops work overtime, or maybe they do and I just don't know? Of course my opinions are based on my experiences. It was common in my past work life that if a job was needed to be finished, someone stayed and worked it. It was common for a job to be worked 24 hours for several days. No way I could count the number of times I was forced to work 12 hour shifts for several weeks. Some guys would volunteer for it and some wouldn't. Didn't matter if you were "on your tools" or a supervisor. I worked more hours as a supervisor than I did on my tools. Wasn't uncommon for a manger to show up on a Sunday afternoon.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by gearhead

Here is something that I don't quite understand...why don't repair shops work overtime, or maybe they do and I just don't know? Of course my opinions are based on my experiences. It was common in my past work life that if a job was needed to be finished, someone stayed and worked it. It was common for a job to be worked 24 hours for several days. No way I could count the number of times I was forced to work 12 hour shifts for several weeks. Some guys would volunteer for it and some wouldn't. Didn't matter if you were "on your tools" or a supervisor. I worked more hours as a supervisor than I did on my tools. Wasn't uncommon for a manger to show up on a Sunday afternoon.

Overtime has been a part of my working life since even when I started in Law enforcement. Biggest problem right now is finding ANYBODY that even wants to work, And getting parts hasent gotten any better either.

[JRTJH]

The local RV dealership here has two techs. I have no idea what they're paid, but they are kept busy 8 hours every day, 5 days a week. There are 4 service bays at the dealership, so I'd suspect that if you add in a PDI, cleaning crew, "make ready team" to the mix, their actual "needs" exceed 7 or 8 people. So they are, in my guess, 25% manned and only half the facility is being used.

Work is "stacked up with a huge backlog". That's the dealership that quoted me $4500 plus parts to change out two axles, a 6 hour job for an experienced tech with a helper for the heavy parts.

So, half the facilities manned, one fourth of the crew needed, nobody looking for work, it doesn't look like any improvement is on the horizon.....

It's the same at Lowe's, WalMart, the Ford dealer, every restaurant in town, McD's and the rest of the fast food places, where they are "drive through only" because they don't have manpower to keep the dining room open. Even the local hospital is "understaffed" due to people refusing to get vaccinated and the looming mandates. So, hospital management is closing beds, looking for vaccinated staff and claiming "critical occupancy" while staff is available but can't/won't work....

It's a mess, and "luring a burger flipper" with $21/hour offers or a RV tech with $40 or $50/hour offers is, IMO, just the beginning. As long as people don't have a "need to work" I don't see things getting better.....

[travelin texans]

My daughter & grown grandkids recently relocated to Tucson. Yes everywhere you look are ""Help Wanted" signs offering $XX per hour, the issue is it's for 2-3 days per week &/or 3-4 hours per day, no full-time positions with all the $$ & benefits they lure you in with.

[gearhead]

Obviously the issue is people that "don't WANT to work" and have other means of support. Take away that other means and a lot of the problem would go away.
I'm used to seeing 1,000 applicants for 12 refinery jobs. Granted half of them were rejects from the get go.
Things have changed since I was on the hiring team.

[flybouy]

I've said for decades that I couldn't fault any single mother to go on welfare and stay home. The cost for childcare, transportation, clothing, etc. would typically put them in the hole financially. I had a single mother work for me years ago (am admin position) that I was lenient with time off for child care issue, etc. At the time the company was expanding at a ridiculous rate so in her first 6 months I trainer her for a better job and promoted her because I felt that she had the right attitude and she WANTED to work. She was one of the best people on the team for several years.

Unfortunately today that work ethic is rare. When you pay people more to stay home than to work AND tell them it's a right (no shame in not working) then we have what we have. The remedy? I don't know but getting into a bidding war $$ wise to fill vacancies will constantly contribute to inflation. It's a vicious cycle where the $$ to get help drives up the cost to the consumer which devalues the dollar which requires even higher wages to stay even with the dollars purchasing power. JMHO

[gearhead]

^ yes 100% agree.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by gearhead

Here is something that I don't quite understand...why don't repair shops work overtime, or maybe they do and I just don't know? Of course my opinions are based on my experiences. It was common in my past work life that if a job was needed to be finished, someone stayed and worked it. It was common for a job to be worked 24 hours for several days. No way I could count the number of times I was forced to work 12 hour shifts for several weeks. Some guys would volunteer for it and some wouldn't. Didn't matter if you were "on your tools" or a supervisor. I worked more hours as a supervisor than I did on my tools. Wasn't uncommon for a manger to show up on a Sunday afternoon.

I guess with large corporations, overtime is factored into the budget because keeping up with deadlines is the most important thing.
For smaller company’s with 25 or less employees, making payroll every week becomes one of the most important things you do.
Commercial insurance is tied into your payroll ..they do an audit every year and you pay based on annual employees payroll…a couple of months of steady overtime will drive up insurance costs for the entire next year…
And all your weekly employer contributions go up also, workmans comp taxes etc
And I guess the dealer can really still only charge the same amount for the repair or close to it

I’ve offered to pay a company’s employee overtime to come in on a Saturday for different things in the past I’ve wanted worked on with boats and vehicles I’ve owned

[gearhead]

I don't know about factored in. For example, I had a budget for rotating equipment support in my business area. Say 2.5 million per year. I was responsible for deciding if we did repairs in our little area shop, our central maintenance shop, or sending the job out to a vendor. I frequently advocated for working jobs on overtime rather than adding personel that would permanently add costs. It was cheaper to work a couple jobs a week on overtime for 8 hours at time and a half.
We tracked our in-plant overtime costs and reacted to those numbers. Jobs that were sent to outside vendors would have overtime approved, or not, by me. There were usually few questions about repair costs by vendors. The cost would just bring tears to your eyes and folks were reluctant to open that can of worms, or dig deep into the repair reports.
Bottom line, yes overtime was a necessary evil when compared to the costs of loss of production. So is overtime a necessary evil compared to the ultimate costs of loosing customers because their RV sat in the shop for 2 months instead of 2 weeks?