Support your dealer

Wrong. Toyota owners are.

Ever think it might be the dealerships policy to pre-pay for parts before ordering? However, having them actually make you come in to pay, and not over the phone doesn't make sense.

 

$8/h is a stepping stone when you are 16 years old and working part time during the summer IMHO.

The cheapest hourly rate at a shop around here is upward of $75,
most commonly around $85-90/h.
A dyno tune this time of the year is $250 and I have to take my bikes to NH
for that.

 

Maybe. I treat work as a learning experience. I guess I'm older than I realize.

 

My neighbors wife tells me the same stories about her father. Damn shame the way things change.

But hey, some guys saved 4 dollars this week.

 

If you are 30, have a family and are still at $8, are not married to someone that is independently wealthy and are not the victim of current economic conditions you need to reexamine your career choices, IMHO.

 

I wouldn't want to work the hours he worked for the pay he received, but he was respected by the entire community. We didn't learn of a lotof the things he did for folks until people told us stories at his funeral. IMHO, he was a special man. A great example, but a hard target to emulate.

 

Well, my point is that nobody actually does get compensated $8/h at a shop,
nor they should or would.

Not sure what everybody else here spends but can't be less than me I guess.
I bought some new gear for the upcoming season- new RS Taichi suit, two new x-12 lids, two pairs of Held Titans, new Supertech R boots etc.
I would have spent at least $500-600 more if I had bought my new gear at the store with all mark-ups and sales tax.

And let's not sell each other used oem and aftermarket parts on the forums,
let's all just buy new at the shop.

 

There isn't even an OEM dealer within 45 minutes of me now, and I live in a 100K pop city surrounded by other cities of similar size in the somewhat metro Milwaukee area. Even when there were 2 dealerships in my town, the parts department was a nightmare, for the reasons others have described. I did buy chemicals, oil, fluids etc. from them though, and a couple bikes in my street riding squid days. Now I order OEM parts from Captain Squid here on the beeb, and even if there was a new OEM dealer in town I would still go to Cap Squid because the prices are fantastic, the service is great and he ships quickly.

There is a small indy shop like 3 miles from my house that I try to buy from whenever possible, but their main biz is service and I do my own, so that place is mainly limited to the odd jet I don't have, grips, etc. Even their oil/chem rack is so old and outdated half of the jugs have dust on them. Shame really, but I do use them whenever possible and they have great customer service.

I appreciate that the huge 'big box store' kinda dealreship model may be necessary in some environments, but for me if there was a dealership that supported racers (and I don't mean just with sponsorship) or even a dealership staffed with people knowledgeble or even halfway into bikes they would be getting some of my cash. But, there isn't.

 

Did you know that by law you are required to report your out of state purchase on your income taxes? So no the online retailer is not charging you, but you are supposed to pay taxes on it.

Are your really so dumb that you don't understand how a dealer that sells 100-200 bikes a month can afford to sell them cheaper than a dealer that sell 20-30?

Stealership? Really. Did you think of that all by yourself? I bet its just some family trying to pay their mortgage and provide jobs for a few people in your town. Nah. Most likely they are just trying to rob you.

My point was many of the young kids working at a mega store have no idea what items cost, if the store is making money, or any of the costs of running the place. And could care less if the store is making or losing money. All they care about is getting off in time to go hang out with their friends and having the $400 paycheck be good.

Do you think the tech in the back makes $75/hr? Do you have any idea what a mc mechanic makes?

Sales tax again? We get it. You choose to break the law and not report it.

 

And you've paid sales tax on every single online item you purchased out of state?

I don't think the poster you quoted wasn't saying that he only ordered online vs dealership was because of sales tax.

 

I keep reading my posts trying to find the part where I said I shop online. Maybe you can help me find where I said I buy stuff online.

 

I didn't introduce the $8 an hour person into the discussion. My point is that no one owes you a job. If you accept an$8 an hour job, you need to approach it with the same level of dedication as you would one paying many times that. If you do, you won't stay at $8 long. Either the current employer will recognize the value or you should look elsewhere. BTW, part of the job seeking process should involve the employee researching the employer.

 

And this is why they will continue to work for peanuts unless, as Mongo mentioned, they love working at the megastore.

 

You're very wrong about a few things, including reporting sales tax on purchases made out of MA for MA residence.

I won't call you stupid (like you did :up, but get off your high horse
or maybe wake up- you're not the only one that has ever purchased a bike
or parts from the shop.

I don't know about you but I work hard for my $$$,
and on that note choose to spend it wisely i.e. not overpay at a shop
that has let me down every single time I've had to use them in the past.

And I do know how much a tech in the shop makes,
and no it is not $90/h the shop hammers you with.
But hold on, wtf is your point here since that is exactly how much
it will cost ME?

 

I would have sworn that I was asked by Turbotax if I had any items to declare that I bought out-of-state and didn't pay sales tax on.

I know for a fact that if a customer from North Carolina (with 7% sales tax) comes to Viginia (5% sales tax) and buys a dirt bike or ATV, they will get a bill from the state of North Carolina on the 2% sales tax they saved by buying in Virgina.

Credit card fees on punched-in numbers are easy - don't punch them in until the customer comes in (where you can then ask for his card).

I need to go check the dungeon for a sales tax discussion.

 

On a bike or a car yes, but on a pair of gloves or a helmet? Haven't looked at the tax code yet, but I'm still not convinced.

 

We live in a free market. I don't think anyone should feel guilty about where they choose to shop.

Seems like the market is saturated with bike shops if they can't keep prices up at all. Going into a business with almost no barriers to entry and lots of competition and then complaining about it seems pretty ignorant.

 

You may want to recheck that.

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dorterm...erminalcontent&f=dor_publ_sales_use&csid=Ador

 

I'd love to support my local shop but when the kid at the counter tries to sell me 6 spark plugs for an R6, he probably shouldn't be working there.

The service department is great and when I can't figure out a carb the guy worked on it all day and scrounged some carb parts to get it working, then only charged me $95.

It's somewhat ironic that the shop that is in an old building with great visibilty and no frills that discounts bikes as low as they possibly can is thriving and the owners are doing well for themselves but the other dealer that has fancy displays, fancy store and big attitudes can barely stay in business. Coincidence?