Why is it so hard to give Jeep folks money?

You probably already know about these guys, but I've had good luck dealing with J&W. It's a Jeep salvage yard in Sacramento. They've even let me wander through the yard to pull my own parts, which seems to be getting rare these days.

http://www.jwjeep.com/
Good yard....I've been there several times. Love walking around their yard looking at all the Jeeps....some good parts there.
 
@mrblaine It's not just jeep parts yards.

Wasn't like this in the early '90's. Has the work ethic changed? Or are we just as a society dumbed down to the point of just accepting mediocrity?

When I'm not farming we do carpentry and building. Just trying to get someone out here to "take my money" to do anything is a major feet.

I'd say if a high school kid with a little ambition wanted to start a concrete business around here he could write his own ticket. Answer the phone and don't overbook.
 
@mrblaine It's not just jeep parts yards.

Wasn't like this in the early '90's. Has the work ethic changed? Or are we just as a society dumbed down to the point of just accepting mediocrity?

When I'm not farming we do carpentry and building. Just trying to get someone out here to "take my money" to do anything is a major feet.

I'd say if a high school kid with a little ambition wanted to start a concrete business around here he could write his own ticket. Answer the phone and don't overbook.
I find that your lamentations are fairly universal and prevalent in this area as well. I have need of several odds and ends done around here that I either don't have time for or despise doing. I despise yard work with a passion. I put up requests on the local pages often for someone to just come and rake up leaves, bag them, deposit the bags in one location so I can haul them off. It pays 15 bucks an hour. I just fired the last guy. He was referred by a guy I know who has a multiple renter family home. Worker is very behind on rent and needed a way to make some money. I told my friend to send him over so I could put him to work.

I laid out the job, stand in one spot, reach all the leaves you can and rake them into a pile. When you have a pile, fill a bag. When the bag is full, stack it out front. Here are two rakes, the narrow one is for reaching under and around stuff, the larger is for open areas. He worked from 10am to 2pm and managed to fill 1 bag. At one point after several moments of casual observation noting him raking the same area for 30 minutes with 1 hand and the small rake, I walked out and in a fairly nice tone explained that I was paying for both hands, either use them or tell me what the hourly rate for a one handed worker is because it is not the same as a two handed worker.

I also need some bits of concrete work done, lots of exterior paint work, yard work continually, and the biggie is I desperately need someone to do waterproof deck covering all the way around the house. I've asked 10-15 places who supposedly do it to come out and they won't even show up for a quote.

I feel your pain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris and Bird
Sounds like he should have read this....
View attachment 71091

And not "Over Promise and completely forget about delivering"
It is getting better. Someone asked about where to get an engine. SG was mentioned. I replied that as long as you understand it isn't his day job and he'll ship parts when he gets around to it, go ahead and do business with him. Took about 2 minutes for SG to jump in and say I was over exaggerating and running my mouth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kiwi TJ
I find that your lamentations are fairly universal and prevalent in this area as well. I have need of several odds and ends done around here that I either don't have time for or despise doing. I despise yard work with a passion. I put up requests on the local pages often for someone to just come and rake up leaves, bag them, deposit the bags in one location so I can haul them off. It pays 15 bucks an hour. I just fired the last guy. He was referred by a guy I know who has a multiple renter family home. Worker is very behind on rent and needed a way to make some money. I told my friend to send him over so I could put him to work.

I laid out the job, stand in one spot, reach all the leaves you can and rake them into a pile. When you have a pile, fill a bag. When the bag is full, stack it out front. Here are two rakes, the narrow one is for reaching under and around stuff, the larger is for open areas. He worked from 10am to 2pm and managed to fill 1 bag. At one point after several moments of casual observation noting him raking the same area for 30 minutes with 1 hand and the small rake, I walked out and in a fairly nice tone explained that I was paying for both hands, either use them or tell me what the hourly rate for a one handed worker is because it is not the same as a two handed worker.

I also need some bits of concrete work done, lots of exterior paint work, yard work continually, and the biggie is I desperately need someone to do waterproof deck covering all the way around the house. I've asked 10-15 places who supposedly do it to come out and they won't even show up for a quote.

I feel your pain.

You can literally spend more time: calling / finding / explaining then it would take just do the damn job yourself.

We have a very good pole barn builder here. They came and built this summer when they said they would. I hauled 75 semi loads of fill in as it was in the flood fringe. Not pouring any floors this year but I needed footings at the doorways and called the cement guy I've given $$$$$ of dollars to in the past. He called me back several weeks later, ironically while I was on my knees finishing the pour!
 
I find that your lamentations are fairly universal and prevalent in this area as well. I have need of several odds and ends done around here that I either don't have time for or despise doing. I despise yard work with a passion. I put up requests on the local pages often for someone to just come and rake up leaves, bag them, deposit the bags in one location so I can haul them off. It pays 15 bucks an hour. I just fired the last guy. He was referred by a guy I know who has a multiple renter family home. Worker is very behind on rent and needed a way to make some money. I told my friend to send him over so I could put him to work.

I laid out the job, stand in one spot, reach all the leaves you can and rake them into a pile. When you have a pile, fill a bag. When the bag is full, stack it out front. Here are two rakes, the narrow one is for reaching under and around stuff, the larger is for open areas. He worked from 10am to 2pm and managed to fill 1 bag. At one point after several moments of casual observation noting him raking the same area for 30 minutes with 1 hand and the small rake, I walked out and in a fairly nice tone explained that I was paying for both hands, either use them or tell me what the hourly rate for a one handed worker is because it is not the same as a two handed worker.

I also need some bits of concrete work done, lots of exterior paint work, yard work continually, and the biggie is I desperately need someone to do waterproof deck covering all the way around the house. I've asked 10-15 places who supposedly do it to come out and they won't even show up for a quote.

I feel your pain.
Sounds like my 21 year old step son. I can do more in 5 minutes than he can do in an hour for yard work. if he did yard work as hard as he does video games, i wold have the nicest place on the block.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Red Dog
I feel like venting!

We remodeled a barn into a house. Poured cement floors stained and polished.

Countertop folks come in to put in quartz (not cheap) in their arsenal is a 99¢ harbor freight caulking gun with clear silicone that the left hanging off the edge and dripping silicone onto the polished concrete. I told them the contain the caulking gun and LEAVE the silicone along. At that point he literally dropped to the ground and smeared the silicone around in a circle. Now we have an 18" circle of shit. Only way to correct is to get the polisher back.

Between me calling two concrete polishers including the original firm and the countertop folks calling several nobody cared to come out.

I charged them $1000 for their 99¢ mistake. And bought a used machine and 3M diamond pads and fixed it myself.

Another story of being a cheap azz:
Guy comes an does a $28,000 drivet/stucco job. Goes to DOLLAR GENERAL and buys duct tape to hold visqueen up along the aluminum fascia. Goes to remove the cheap tape, it leaves glue behind. He buys "goof off" and proceeds to remove the paint from the fascia. Now he buys some paint and attempts to match the original and failed. ALL BECAUSE HE SAVED $1.00 ON TAPE.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
Sounds like my 21 year old step son. I can do more in 5 minutes than he can do in an hour for yard work. if he did yard work as hard as he does video games, i wold have the nicest place on the block.
I actually know of many like that, step and actual20-26ish in age. They have the work ethic of a toad. One in particular just moved back in with his parents since they decided to quit paying for his apartment, car, insurance, food, and gas. "Oddly", they appear to be baffled as to why he won't get a real job and strike out on his own. Uh, how about because he doesn't have to as long as you do it for him?
 
I feel like venting!

We remodeled a barn into a house. Poured cement floors stained and polished.

Countertop folks come in to put in quartz (not cheap) in their arsenal is a 99¢ harbor freight caulking gun with clear silicone that the left hanging off the edge and dripping silicone onto the polished concrete. I told them the contain the caulking gun and LEAVE the silicone along. At that point he literally dropped to the ground and smeared the silicone around in a circle. Now we have an 18" circle of shit. Only way to correct is to get the polisher back.

Between me calling two concrete polishers including the original firm and the countertop folks calling several nobody cared to come out.

I charged them $1000 for their 99¢ mistake. And bought a used machine and 3M diamond pads and fixed it myself.

Another story of being a cheap azz:
Guy comes an does a $28,000 drivet/stucco job. Goes to DOLLAR GENERAL and buys duct tape to hold visqueen up along the aluminum fascia. Goes to remove the cheap tape, it leaves glue behind. He buys "goof off" and proceeds to remove the paint from the fascia. Now he buys some paint and attempts to match the original and failed. ALL BECAUSE HE SAVED $1.00 ON TAPE.
Contractors are busy enough that they dont have to take small jobs right now...and all contractors suck to work with on small jobs anyways.
 
I feel like venting!

We remodeled a barn into a house. Poured cement floors stained and polished.

Countertop folks come in to put in quartz (not cheap) in their arsenal is a 99¢ harbor freight caulking gun with clear silicone that the left hanging off the edge and dripping silicone onto the polished concrete. I told them the contain the caulking gun and LEAVE the silicone along. At that point he literally dropped to the ground and smeared the silicone around in a circle. Now we have an 18" circle of shit. Only way to correct is to get the polisher back.

Between me calling two concrete polishers including the original firm and the countertop folks calling several nobody cared to come out.

I charged them $1000 for their 99¢ mistake. And bought a used machine and 3M diamond pads and fixed it myself.

Another story of being a cheap azz:
Guy comes an does a $28,000 drivet/stucco job. Goes to DOLLAR GENERAL and buys duct tape to hold visqueen up along the aluminum fascia. Goes to remove the cheap tape, it leaves glue behind. He buys "goof off" and proceeds to remove the paint from the fascia. Now he buys some paint and attempts to match the original and failed. ALL BECAUSE HE SAVED $1.00 ON TAPE.
Vent away, sometimes it helps. I had a painter come out and do the side yard patio cover. Just the posts and fascia so could put the translucent roof panels on. I didn't beat him up on price, asked him to protect the new concrete. I go check on him and he is using a skinny roller on a roller frame that has never been cleaned and the roller doesn't roll so basically it is a round paint brush that doesn't hold much paint. He is slinging that crap around like his brother in law sells it for a living. I stop him and ask him again to keep the drips off the fresh concrete since scrubbing it or wiping it off will leave a smudge in the finish since it is still green and not fully cured. He makes all the right noises about understanding, moves some tarps around and I walk away. I come back in a little while and he is doing it again. This time I tell him that if he drops one more bit of paint on my fresh concrete, he is fired and I'm not going to pay him. That is the only thing that got his attention.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
I wanted a 6' high 310' long chain link fence with the privacy slats in it on one side of our property. Nothing difficult for a fence builder, the property is flat with lots of room to work and I just needed it in a straight line with no corners.
I called 7 fence builders. One wanted me to draw a diagram on how I wanted the fence and E-mail it to him before he would come out for an estimate. I told him "draw a straight line on a piece of paper... that's the diagram". Long story short..... one guy showed up. He got the job.
Unbelievable!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
i keep telling my wife the same thing!
It would be very rare for you to win that battle. Not that I know enough about your situation but the several I'm very aware of around here have devolved into the "you" in that situation having to put their foot down to force the significant other to make a choice between "you" and the child because that is what it has boiled down to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
I wanted a 6' high 310' long chain link fence with the privacy slats in it on one side of our property. Nothing difficult for a fence builder, the property is flat with lots of room to work and I just needed it in a straight line with no corners.
I called 7 fence builders. One wanted me to draw a diagram on how I wanted the fence and E-mail it to him before he would come out for an estimate. I told him "draw a straight line on a piece of paper... that's the diagram". Long story short..... one guy showed up. He got the job.
Unbelievable!
I called at least 7 for 6' high chain link. One area is at the bottom of the upper property where it meets mine and is on a funny slope. I had it figured out. They said, take a picture and send it over and we'll quote it. No, you have to see this because pictures aren't going to do it. When they came out, they quoted 3000 bucks for a 100' run. I hired a local who didn't mind working when he can get here, laid out the holes, he dug and I fetched up all the materials and he and I did it in 2 days. One for setting posts, one for the fencing.
I needed all new fencing when we moved here. There is a neighbor who does landscape, fencing, and yardwork as well as sell firewood to get by. I've helped him with various welding things in the past and gave him a shot at the fencing after he brought me his broken wood splitter to fix which was beyond repair. Not having a working splitter is the difference between him and his wife going hungry. I arranged to have a splitter delivered to him with his permission with the agreement that he would work it off around here building fence etc.

Apparently the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" rule escapes him. He built 200 feet of back fence knowing how I like things done, gave me a bill as our final settlement on the splitter and left. In the fence are two 12 foot gates that meet so we have access to the back yard. The next day I went to put a lock on them and the drop cane that fits into a hole to hold one side stationary so you can lock the other one to it was unable to be raised. He had put the gates too close together and the top of the cane hit the lock bands that hold the chain link to the gates. In other words, there was no way to open the gates because you couldn't lift the cane out of the hole. I simply adjusted the hinges and moved the gates a few inches apart and moved the lock band up higher. That was 2 years ago and I've been waiting for him to stop by so I can tell him about it. It's been 2 years, and he hasn't stopped by yet, wonder what that means?
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
Well unfortunately as the old school blue collar workers are slowly being replaced by mellinials , we are seeing a major decline in work ethic.

An old friend of mine who's been a Job foreman for over 30yrs recently told me he's taking early retirement simply because he cannot except the halfass mentality of today's young workers......showing up late, falling asleep on the job , abusing FMLA and just downright lazy.

My brother owns a very successful roofing business and said he's been forced to hire illegal immigrants from Mexico to get the job done.
Said they never complain about the heat and show up every day.

It's a new age.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JMT
I called at least 7 for 6' high chain link. One area is at the bottom of the upper property where it meets mine and is on a funny slope. I had it figured out. They said, take a picture and send it over and we'll quote it. No, you have to see this because pictures aren't going to do it. When they came out, they quoted 3000 bucks for a 100' run. I hired a local who didn't mind working when he can get here, laid out the holes, he dug and I fetched up all the materials and he and I did it in 2 days. One for setting posts, one for the fencing.
I needed all new fencing when we moved here. There is a neighbor who does landscape, fencing, and yardwork as well as sell firewood to get by. I've helped him with various welding things in the past and gave him a shot at the fencing after he brought me his broken wood splitter to fix which was beyond repair. Not having a working splitter is the difference between him and his wife going hungry. I arranged to have a splitter delivered to him with his permission with the agreement that he would work it off around here building fence etc.

Apparently the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" rule escapes him. He built 200 feet of back fence knowing how I like things done, gave me a bill as our final settlement on the splitter and left. In the fence are two 12 foot gates that meet so we have access to the back yard. The next day I went to put a lock on them and the drop cane that fits into a hole to hold one side stationary so you can lock the other one to it was unable to be raised. He had put the gates too close together and the top of the cane hit the lock bands that hold the chain link to the gates. In other words, there was no way to open the gates because you couldn't lift the cane out of the hole. I simply adjusted the hinges and moved the gates a few inches apart and moved the lock band up higher. That was 2 years ago and I've been waiting for him to stop by so I can tell him about it. It's been 2 years, and he hasn't stopped by yet, wonder what that means?
Hummmmmm....that he's done with you?
 
Reminds me of this.
Screenshot_20190107-101328_Messenger Lite.jpg

Screenshot_20190107-101344_Messenger Lite.jpg

I've contacted this guy before about Jeep parts. Most of his parts are shit and he always says they're in good condition. My friend drive 2 hours to look at a "great" condition frame that was rotting....

As for the fender picture. It was offset from the side and the entire fender wasn't even in view....
 
Last edited:
Well unfortunately as the old school blue collar workers are slowly being replaced by mellinials , we are seeing a major decline in work ethic.

An old friend of mine who's been a Job foreman for over 30yrs recently told me he's taking early retirement simply because he cannot except the halfass mentality of today's young workers......showing up late, falling asleep on the job , abusing FMLA and just downright lazy.

My brother owns a very successful roofing business and said he's been forced to hire illegal immigrants from Mexico to get the job done.
Said they never complain about the heat and show up every day.

It's a new age.

Oh man, that's such a hasty, assinine generalization. Go work in any stamping plant, or any car manufacturung plant for that matter, with Baby Boomers that are in a Union. Talk about work ethic lol...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kathy
I have two neon clocks I am trying to buy transformers for and one bulb recreated. I've called three people so far who offer to look up parts on a correct era, coil on coil transformer. A day passed, then two, I am now on day 3 and these three people have stopped answering my calls.