the soupmenu

Well it’s 6 days before I leave……insane…..this is one of those times in life where there are so many emotions going on that I almost tend to become null to all of them.  I’m excited, anxious, sad, cautious, and just overwhelmed.  I guess I should be thankful that how I respond to this is….’eh’ feeling.  Am I done packing ?…nope….Do I have my visa?…HA…..have I learned a decent amount of Italian?…che?…..Do I even have an apartment lined up?….pshhh.  Sure I’m working towards fixing all of these issues.  But somehow my personality allows me to be extremely calm about it.

Planning aside, I am starting to freak out about leaving.  It is finally starting to hit me that I will not be in Orlando for a year at least.  There’s also a good chance it will be even longer until I’m back.  I know I complain about it a lot, but Orlando has shown me so many things.  Just thinking back to all of the experiences I’ve had here and the people I’ve met, makes me realize that Orlando is a decent place.  My friends and family are a huge part of my life and I really will miss them while I’m gone.  Whether it be a random dinner with my brother pointing out the weird actions of a server, long afternoons debating politics and slang terms with ben, or laughing as loud as possible whenever around bob, marcela, or kristen, I always have a blast with the people I’ve met here.  I’ll stop being sappy now, but I know that this all won’t completely hit me until I’m on the plane.  It’ll be an interesting flight.

i drove to across town to take my bro’s car in for an oil change at the dealer.

they are booked until Friday

does that say something about vw’s ? (jk)

Furthermore, this is a case in horrible resource management.  There has always been competition between dealer service centers and normal mechanics.  Car manufacturers are constantly developing ways to make it impossible for outside companies to work on cars.  Yet, with the horrible service efficiency at the dealers, new markets have been created.  The entire ‘jiffy lube’ market was developed because very few dealers run their service departments correctly.  I believe that if the dealers concentrated on providing a better service experience they would not even have to worry about making the vehicles hard to service by outside companies.

Dealers currently take all appointments and just group them into the same service basket.  When they do this, basically everyone receives the same service experience whether or not they are getting a door handle fixed or they are getting their engine rebuilt.  This is flawed.  Most customers rarely have to deal with major repairs, so why do they have to put up with the same experience ?  Minimal repairs should have their own unique service experience. (this is what jiffylube provides…yet the dealers have the resources to do it).

Say a dealer dedicates one bay to only oil changes and other minimal tasks that can be completed in under 30 mins.  They can pay a basic tech $7 an hour to just perform oil changes and nothing else.  When one bay is dedicated to this, all of the customers who just require simple services will receive faster service and an overall better experience.  Appointments won’t be pushed back and walk-ins would be accepted.  This bay would be an extreme money-maker for the dealer with being able to service at least 2 cars an hour with minimal tech costs.  People normally wish to take their new cars to the dealer, and it is only when they have a horrible experience will they find a new place to go.

Currently customers will take their car in to the dealer and will have to deal with the same headaches of a major repair.  If you provide them with a different experience for their most frequent services, then they will have a better perception of the dealer, the service department, and the vehicle itself.

I am a generalist.  I never wish to be specialized.  There’s nothing wrong with it, but I know my personality and I will always want to know a fair amount about a wide variety of topics.

This is a great article from wired that talks about this dying bread.  It also touches on trying to staying away from computers periodically…another pete rant.  Enjoy.