Has the small engine line of work hit rock bottom?

the reason the classes aren't offered is that there is little financial incentive to learn trades like small engine repair. Then on the sales end, small shops have to compete with big box stores. This is happening at the same time the cost of living has gone ballistic in the last six years, so the small business owner often is squeezed from both sides.
 
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sgkent said:
the reason the classes aren't offered is that there is little financial incentive to learn trades like small engine repair. Then on the sales end, small shops have to compete with big box stores. This is happening at the same time the cost of living has gone ballistic in the last six years, so the small business owner often is squeezed from both sides.
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A few years ago my local Poulan Pro distributor offered complete chainsaw, trimmers, z turn mowers, and riders to their dealers for sales. And I picked a certain Z turn from the list and compared my dealer cost to what Rural King was selling them for to determine if it would be profitable. Rural KIng was selling them at $200 under my dealer cost.
 
Hello ILENGINE,

That is so the investors can swoop in and build housing complexes on land that was once used for crop production. Why teach students about farming when there will be very little land left to farm in the future?

If things keep going this way, we will have to visit a museum to see our productive past as a country.
 
Auto Doc's said:
Hello ILENGINE,

That is so the investors can swoop in and build housing complexes on land that was once used for crop production. Why teach students about farming when there will be very little land left to farm in the future?

If things keep going this way, we will have to visit a museum to see our productive past as a country.
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Or, solar farms.
 
Auto Doc's said:
Hello Forum,

Has our repair industry hit rock bottom?

Most of the good independent shops have closed up around my area and the dealers just want to install a new engine instead of repairing one with a blown head gasket. Even worse they often give a customer an insane repair estimate and then try to sell them the newest model in stock.

The dealer level techs are basically new equipment setup guys with no actual diagnostic or repair experience. At best they watch a couple of "training films" so the dealership can satisfy the manufacturers "certification program" requirements.

Most of my area schools have eliminated and minimized industrial arts and agronomic classes, so there is no formal introductory training anymore.

What is to become of any repair capabilities in the future?
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The push for young people to go to college instead of trades such as HVAC, plumbing, mechanics, etc. has been a huge factor in the decline. The younger people have been raised in a different environment with the internet. They often don’t want to get dirty, hot, cold, working in weird positions as opposed to sitting at a desk clicking a mouse and tapping on a keyboard. We are a throw away society. People want new, plastic, shiny, with a warm and fuzzy warranty. People have lost a sense of resourcefulness, independence, and frugality. Just put it on the credit card and buy a new machine instead of repairing it. Lack of training and common sense and hands on experience have also affected the quality of small engine repairs these days. These are some of the reasons.
 
What you mean raised, they are just had and turned a loose because even the parents are half wits and the kids know they can controls by going to cops and complaining about the deserved treatment. Example...Daddy took away my Game Boy because hit my sister. Then the cops haul the parents in and judges fines them.

I didn't raise any kids of my own because this attitude out the government. People without kids should not telling those with kids how to raise them.

There is huge difference between correcting bad behavior with a little punishment than beating a child just because you are mad at the world. Some kids deserve what they get. And amount of correction should base how severe of what they did wrong.

And we just lost a huge farm here because the kids did not want to farm it when their Daddy died. The fields were full of crops that are now being destroyed for houses. What a waste. My lord we can't eat houses yet though we might need to learn how.
 
StarTech said:
And we just lost a huge farm here because the kids did not want to farm it when their Daddy died. The fields were full of crops that are now being destroyed for houses. What a waste. My lord we can't eat houses yet though we might need to learn how.
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Around here it is solar farms going in. And my favorite is a $2.5M, 298 foot tall buzzard roost that was supposed to be a Verizon tower, erected in March of this year. 1/8 mile from my house The reason it is a buzzard roost is because there is no fiber optic cables within 12 miles of the tower, So no communications pipeline to make it work. The horse weeds aka giant ragweed is now taller than the fence inside and out. And a formal FCC violation has been filed against the company because the antennas are active, so local cell phones are trying to connect to it.
 
A huge forested area just South of Tullahoma, TN just got flatten for a solar farm. Plus there is now 750 acre solar farm just North of me that was prime farm land.

Many of the Cell towers here are actually Vulture roosts too. Oh they are operational just lots Vultures at times.
 
TN has hydro power and they are also taking land for solar is nuts. One thing I noticed this year is you can buy parts for small home appliances on eBay, stand mixers, vacuums, crock pots, who is looking for deals at rummage sales or thrift stores to part out that sort of thing. I did fix each of the things mentioned with parts off eBay.
 
I do my own repair on my X540 lawn tractor, purchased about 2015. I decided to order a service manual, but found that the price was $242. Next best thing was to buy a CD, but the price of the CD was also $242. Checked on Ebay and found a used CD for $20; ordered it and it works good. I now like the CD better than the printed book.
 
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