Hot Rods Went to the auto supply store today OH MY!

Probably talked about numerous times here but frustrating non the less. Tried to buy a radiator petcock today for my AV8. What a challenge! Went to three big national chain stores today and no one knew what the hell I was asking for. In one case I had to spell petcock twice and explain it was a valve for draining the radiator. All of them wanted to know what vehicle it was for. When I told them all they did was scratch their heads. Had that deer in the headlight look in their eyes.
One sales guy took me back to the silicone sealer aisle then to the radiator caps...da ? Funny in a twisted way but are we screwed. Man do I miss the traditional family owned and operated auto supply store.
Reluctantly bought one on Ama..n

 

A pet rooster?

 

Hardware store

 

I always tell then it's a 1933 ford with a Olds engine and a S 10 transmission and a ford 9 in, and it's green. Then I come home and find in on ebay and it's here in two days

 

I look up part numbers before I go.
I can check stock on my phone.
Super easy these days.


If it’s in stock or available

 

Again if the computer doesn't tell them they have no idea....

It's what I call computer illiterate age, if the computer doesn't tell them how much change to hand back, the part number for the part, the alignment reading etc they have absolutely no idea...

This is progress....

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x2
Quick in quick out. Everyone's happy.

 

Still doesn’t remove confusion.

 

Sure does. Or helps anyway.
I just looked up a number for a radiator petcock. Took a couple minutes.

Picked up lots of vintage parts from my chain store.

they dont list a clutch for a 51 merc.
But after a little cross referencing I found a part number my chain store had in the system.
I’ve done the same with bearings and seals.
I don’t expect the parts store to know every part for the thousands of cars made.

The parts counter people that speak our language are gone. So I learned to speak theirs.

works out well

attitude has a lot to do with having a positive outcome.

 

It's been a couple decades since there was a drain plug on the radiator in a new Chevy, so what do you expect? And another decade or two since it was a metal petcock.

 

Walk into your favorite mom and pops AP store, tell them you want a water pump for an ‘88 Hyundai. My guess is they won’t walk into the back room and just pull one off the shelf
It’s not the “computer age” it’s more what the mainstream vehicle population is now vs 40 years ago.
The Big 3 is probably the minority of vehicles in your area these days, it sure is in mine.

 

Disappointing? Perhaps.

Surprising? Not in the least.

Try taking a serious reduction in your earnings and sign on for a 6 month stint as a parts counterman at one of the chain stores. Work a schedule that's likely to change every week at a job that probably has few, if any, full-time benefits. Then try to impress your manager with your sales volume of parts that less than 1% of your typical customers buy.

Frustrating? Yes. But it's going to stay that way as long as so many of us keep squeezing nickels at W*lm*rt and keep expecting everyone behind the parts counter to be as smart as we think we are. And I'd like to think that most of us are at least smart enough to realize you can't make much of a living selling petcocks or distributor caps for vehicles that haven't been built for the last 60 years.

 

Yep, they aren't going to be familiar with a part one guy in 10 years comes in looking for.

 

Yup. I even order it online. Seeing as it pretty much always has to come from the warehouse the store calls me when it's ready to be picked up.

 

First world problems...

 

You said Petcock...

 

I suppose if you said 1/4" NPT, brass radiator, it wouldn't help either.

 

Co-op parts

now that’s trad

 

When I first started working in auto parts we didn’t know what the heck a computer was, all we had were catalogs. Heck most of the time I never looked because I had the numbers memorized for all the popular stuff. Later on in life all the street rodders would find me and send their wives to pick up what they needed. Ujoints were always fun but thankfully we had a good book to work from and I could get them the right one the first time. I really miss working there but in the last few years before I retired they were pushing an internet type of system that was geared towards the new generation of kids that had no knowledge about a car and was completely useless if you didn’t have a factory automobile.

When I retired from the big blue store I made sure I had a complete set of catalogs and rack just for this reason.

Billy

 

Last night I needed 3/8” oil cooler hose for a Harley project I’m working on. We have Auto Zone and O’ Really? Auto parts in town. I’m like Anthony, I alway go part number in hand, and still the guy at AZ had a hard time finding it. I’m not blaming him, I called it Power Steering return hose (that’s how it’s listed in their computer). He asked if I needed power steering fluid, and then looked totally confused when I explained (very politely) what I was using it for. We have to explain and teach these guys what we need, I have to do the same thing with the apprentices and younger guys at work. Remember, we weren’t alway Automotive Geniuses, someone took the time to teach us. When I got back in the truck, Truckdoctor Wife asked what took so long, after explaining it, I told her that I really need her to go back to work at O’Really’s? where she was the assistant manager. Naturally I received one of those “wife” looks.

 

I have a buddy that stopped by the shop wensday and was laughing, he just left the parts store (O'Reilly). Said he just walked up to the counter and told the guy "I need a pumpkin third member gasket for a ford 9" he said the guy asked application he said " I think it's a 1965 galaxie" the kid told him his computer didn't show one, my buddy goes Really? You can't find a third member pumpkin gasket for a ford 9"? The kid told him without a picture of it or a part number he didn't know where else to look, my buddy told him it's a ford rear end that's been used probably more than any other rear end.

He said the kid looked at him and goes "oh its a rearend!" My buddy goes "um yeah" at which point the kid yells at another guy who walks up and throws the gasket on the counter and shows it to the kid and tells him they have 6 of them hanging on the back wall.

The kid has worked there for about 2 yrs now and surely he has sold more than that 1 gasket before.

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I went to Oreillys and asked for a heater hose shutoff valve. The stupid employee said, "What is that?" I do believe I had just told her what it is and explained what it is. And she was the manager!
I bought a master cylinder and 1/2 wouldnt build pressure so I returned it and got another. It wouldnt build pressure either so I took it back and said, "This is defective. I want a refund." The employee pecked on his computer a long time and said, "We dont have any at any of our stores in town." I was not happy after the frustration of succesive defective parts and I suppose I was rude after he said that.I told him that I speak plain simple easy-to-understand English

 

You guys need to shop at parts stores owned by the person sitting behind the counter.

 

I doubt if he’s ever sold one. The 9” Ford rear end has been out of production since the early eighties. In fact, it was introduced in 1957, and gone by sometime before 1985, when it was replaced by the 8.8, I think it’s been gone for more years than it was in production. Probably more 8.8s have been produced than 9 inches ever were.

 

Some of you guys crack me up. I recall a post, in it was a GM counter person. The customer wanted a side view mirror for his later model PU. The counter person asked him if he had the vin for the truck, “no why”. Well to shorten a long story, seems there were 13/14 different options for mirrors that could only be identified via the VIN.
I guess that buffoon behind the counter should know that about the customers truck, and the other 50 makes or so that GM sells. Oh wait, maybe he can make everyone’s life easier and pop some info into a computer and get the right thing for his customer.
Naw. Eff the computer age, ain’t worth a dang.

 

I was a parts guy back in the 80's before computers. I end up schooling the help on how to use the back of the books to actually find parts that aren't in the computer. They usually have no idea that they even had books.

 

I did not realize it was time for the bi-annual parts counter guy sniveling thread...

 

Aahhhh, the joys of days gone by. We used to have shirts printed that said " I'd rather be ficheing ".....