As someone working in sales and service through the worst of it (or best of it depending on your perspective), I got to see firsthand what brands did or did not do when it came to supporting staff internally and in their dealer network. Some brands kept business as usual on the staff dealswhere they could (albiet with limited supply), some reduced their staff programs, and some cut staff programs entirely - despite staff industry-wide working harder than ever with longer hours, inefficient sourcing quests, miserable people, etc., and the loss of many of the good things that came as the 'tradeoff' for the comparatively poor in-industry wages. Some brands went above and beyond to find product for staff wherever possible, and others basically said fuck off. A lot saw dollar signs in their eyes and allowed short-term greed to trump long term relationship building and sustainability.
Now things are going to get harder for a lot of in-industry companies out there. I know how I'll be spending my dollars (and encouraging others to spend their dollars) going forward. Let's just say it probably won't be with companies that cut staff programs and industry associations when they were having their best years ever.
And people wonder why the shop I was at has close to zero of the same full-time staff it did at the start of the pandemic.
Jan. 12, 2023, 10:51 a.m. - Lu Kz
As someone working in sales and service through the worst of it (or best of it depending on your perspective), I got to see firsthand what brands did or did not do when it came to supporting staff internally and in their dealer network. Some brands kept business as usual on the staff dealswhere they could (albiet with limited supply), some reduced their staff programs, and some cut staff programs entirely - despite staff industry-wide working harder than ever with longer hours, inefficient sourcing quests, miserable people, etc., and the loss of many of the good things that came as the 'tradeoff' for the comparatively poor in-industry wages. Some brands went above and beyond to find product for staff wherever possible, and others basically said fuck off. A lot saw dollar signs in their eyes and allowed short-term greed to trump long term relationship building and sustainability. Now things are going to get harder for a lot of in-industry companies out there. I know how I'll be spending my dollars (and encouraging others to spend their dollars) going forward. Let's just say it probably won't be with companies that cut staff programs and industry associations when they were having their best years ever. And people wonder why the shop I was at has close to zero of the same full-time staff it did at the start of the pandemic.