Rising prices/labour

MacDoc

MacDoc

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I remember when tires were $89 each..
Not any more. ..now $200 and up for 140/70-17
Labour at my motorcycle shop is now $120 an hour.
So to get to the spark plugs it is 1/2 hour removing the plastics.
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5 minutes to remove old plugs and replace them....the plugs are $8.50 each.
Then another 1/2 hour to replace plastics.,,,,and for the MT they want them replaced every 20k km which seems frequent to me.

I see why Noraly opted for a 1980s ride.
 
According to my friend who lives in Sydney and was here this summer, the Aus. dollar is way down vis-a-vis the USD and even CAD. So your imports have become more expensive, and of course there's wider effects throughout the economy.
 
MacDoc said:
I remember when tires were $89 each..
Not any more. ..now $200 and up for 140/70-17
Labour at my motorcycle shop is now $120 an hour.
So to get to the spark plugs it is 1/2 hour removing the plastics.
Image
5 minutes to remove old plugs and replace them....the plugs are $8.50 each.
Then another 1/2 hour to replace plastics.,,,,and for the MT they want them replaced every 20k km which seems frequent to me.

I see why Noraly opted for a 1980s ride.
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I think Yamaha asks for R3 and MT3 plug changes every 11,000km. That's a pretty short interval for an Iridium plug -- Ive had them go 250K in cars and still performing like new.

Anyone know why? Feeding stealerships? Galvanic corrosion? Carbonizing?
 
Can't comment on Mac's situation, but, if I were trying to operate a bricks and mortar motorcycle business here in Chrawno, the biggest reason I would have raised my shop labour rates aggressively in the past 5 years isn't because of salary or parts costs going up, it's because of how much $/sq. ft. and interest rates have gone up in that time.

The price per sq. ft. on retail space, ESPECIALLY the dwindling space in the city that's still zoned automotive, has skyrocketed.
The motorcycle businesses paying rent are being choked out because of how much landlords could get from car repair businesses in their place.
The motorcycle businesses paying mortgages are facing high interest rates.

As much as I wanna shake my fist and yell "you bastards!" when I see the $120/hr labour rates... as soon as I think about how much their overhead has gone up the last little while, in large part due to just being close to me, I'm like, yeah, this sucks, but I understand.
 
Rent, taxes, insurance, salaries, special tools, diagnostic equipment - have all gone up. You want to play you've got to pay. The competition on parts prices from Fortnine, Amazon and the like is brutal - so no money there. Even the price of safety certificates is going up (thanks Doug), sadly Mr. Consumer you'll have to get used to it.
 
Mad Mike said:
I think Yamaha asks for R3 and MT3 plug changes every 11,000km. That's a pretty short interval for an Iridium plug -- Ive had them go 250K in cars and still performing like new.

Anyone know why? Feeding stealerships? Galvanic corrosion? Carbonizing?
Click to expand...
The 11k interval is for copper plugs (CR8E) and the the 22k interval is also for copper plugs (LMAR8A-9) on later bikes. It looks like nobody makes an iridium plug yet for the later bikes
 
TK4 said:
. Even the price of safety certificates is going up (thanks Doug),
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Why is this dougs problem? Nothing has changed on personal vehicles (yet). On the commercial vehicle side, those that were doing it properly before say the tablet situation isn't a huge deal. Those that were pencil whipping inspections have to do things properly now so a lot of dangerous trucks are facing huge maintenance bills. I call that a win.
 
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GreyGhost said:
Why is this dougs problem? Nothing has changed on personal vehicles (yet). On the commercial vehicle side, those that were doing it properly before say the tablet situation isn't a huge deal. Those that were pencil whipping inspections have to do things properly now so a lot of dangerous trucks are facing huge maintenance bills. I call that a win.
Click to expand...

Yes, in theory doing it right means measuring every single brake pad, but let's be honest... I'm sure you can eye ball your own brake pads and know which will beyond-a-doubt pass safety, and which are worth taking out and measuring.

Making it so that all pads need to be taken out and measured, even those that will beyond-a-doubt pass, is going to mean more time spent on each safety = more cost to the consumer that isn't needed.

But the offset is better consumer protection, so... Pick your poison.
 
adri said:
Yes, in theory doing it right means measuring every single brake pad, but let's be honest... I'm sure you can eye ball your own brake pads and know which will beyond-a-doubt pass safety, and which are worth taking out and measuring.

Making it so that all pads need to be taken out and measured, even those that will beyond-a-doubt pass, is going to mean more time spent on each safety = more cost to the consumer that isn't needed.

But the offset is better consumer protection, so... Pick your poison.
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I haven't looked at the details but I'm ok with a middle ground between those positions. If mechanic believes that pad thickness is far above limit, a picture through the caliper should be sufficient for others to agree with the assessment. If it is close to the line, maybe it should be measured and documented more thoroughly. I agree that forcing everything into a remove and measure situation isn't ideal nor that helpful.
 
From my understanding all pads need to be photographed in a measuring device which would imply off the bike...
and that begs the question, do the shops also have to purchase the specific tools from this company as well, rather than use their own? And then the next question is who got to choose this company that gets this monopoly and power to sell these products and set these prices? (And now we start to understand why TK4 brought up the political part of it)

... but my information is all third party so, maybe someone else can confirm/deny.
 
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adri said:
From my understanding all pads need to be photographed in a measuring device which would imply off the bike...
and that begs the question, do the shops also have to purchase the specific tools from this company as well, rather than use their own? And then the next question is who got to choose this company that gets this monopoly and power to sell these products and set these prices? (And now we start to understand why TK4 brought up the political part of it)

... but my information is all third party so, maybe someone else can confirm/deny.
Click to expand...
The "party" has no mechanic tools. They are Parsons. They control the tablets and databases but not the mechanic tools. Not sure how Parsons got selected. Tablets are $1000 each IIRC. That's not insane. Most shops can get away with a tablet or two, they don't need one for every bay or mechanic.

www.parsons.com

Home

Parsons is a digitally enabled solutions provider and a leader in many diversified markets with a focus on national security, defense, and global infrastructure.
www.parsons.com www.parsons.com

As for the measuring device, if that is the requirement, I would be working on a measuring device I could use in-situ. Something like an L shaped ruler or gauge blocks that I can get in the picture. Audits apparently may happen but do not happen for every safety. Wait for them to tell me that my method is not acceptable and why.

Also, the digital safeties, pictures and parsons involvement are limited to CMV inspection at this time. No bikes, no personal vehicles yet. Some shops say it is coming, government is somewhere between silent and denial on that front.
 
TwistedKestrel said:
The 11k interval is for copper plugs (CR8E) and the the 22k interval is also for copper plugs (LMAR8A-9) on later bikes. It looks like nobody makes an iridium plug yet for the later bikes
Click to expand...
That still seems short, CR8E should still go 30k mi/ 50k km.

I'm still not sure why Yamaha, or for than matter all MC makers, list such short intervals for spark plugs. I recently changed OE plugs on a bike with 150,000 KMs (book says every 26K)
adri said:
Can't comment on Mac's situation, but, if I were trying to operate a bricks and mortar motorcycle business here in Chrawno, the biggest reason I would have raised my shop labour rates aggressively in the past 5 years isn't because of salary or parts costs going up, it's because of how much $/sq. ft. and interest rates have gone up in that time.

The price per sq. ft. on retail space, ESPECIALLY the dwindling space in the city that's still zoned automotive, has skyrocketed.
The motorcycle businesses paying rent are being choked out because of how much landlords could get from car repair businesses in their place.
The motorcycle businesses paying mortgages are facing high interest rates.

As much as I wanna shake my fist and yell "you bastards!" when I see the $120/hr labour rates... as soon as I think about how much their overhead has gone up the last little while, in large part due to just being close to me, I'm like, yeah, this sucks, but I understand.
Click to expand...
Auto rents have doubled since 2012 around here, labor rates have soared from $50 to 120/hr.

Techs make f-all, $35 for a top mechanic, $20 for an apprentice.

My point of reference is a local shop (now closed) Speedworks. They moved into a unit I grew out of 1100sq’. Rent was $1100mo, today it’s $2200. They allocated 500sq’ to each tech, do the $50/ hour went $25 to wages and $25 to cover operations and profit. $550/mo to cover rent would take 27 billed hours, the remaining hours contribute $3325/mo per tech as margin for the business.

Today those techs make an avg of $30, and rent for their 550sq is about 1100/mo. so labor at $120 covers their space in 12.25 hours. The remaining margin is $13300, or about 4x what it was 12 years ago.

Rent is a tiny part of what’s that’s driving labor rates.

If I were younger, I’d open a shop in Vaughan or Markham, find the best 10 techs in the GTA, pay them double the industry standard, $100/hr and get rich doing it.
 
Was thinking that (y) though per another thread I'm not sure it is spot on. Be interested to hear Brians thoughts on plug changes since he has MT 330 variant.

Part of my rant is the shop rate tho I support paying people a living wage which is done reasonable well in Australia. I can see paying them well for more technical stuff but mindless plastics removal to get to spark plugs.....nah.
My biggest ***** on this is with Yamaha burying the plugs and then wanting short interval changes.
1968. Easily accessible, no key on the steering column to get corroded and waterlogged, an actual reserve fuel tap
Screen Shot 2024-10-22 at Oct, 22 2024 8.49.40 AM.jpg
little wonder Noraly opted for accessible 1980s bike. It even has a kickstart.
Screen Shot 2024-10-22 at Oct, 22 2024 8.55.16 AM.jpg
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