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NCTransmission, The original post was from 2012. The employee is still with us, we decided his loyalty was more important than a few extra dollars profit. Since then we have come up with a new role for him and although he is still overpaid by most standards I don’t regret keeping him. We’ve increased business by over $1.5 million per year since 2012 and his hard worked has helped us get to this position. I wouldn’t consider him someone that is “sucking at my teat”. I would consider him a loyal, lifetime employee that I’m proud to have on my team. Sometimes you just need to be creative and figure out how to switch things up with loyal, hard working people rather than cut them and move on to the next guy.

It's most likely one of these companies that charges the customer the fees instead of the business owner. I have been approached by a couple of salesman that do it this way. Basically each transaction would have a 3% fee added to the customer's charge. Good luck explaining that one.

The aftermarket fan assemblies are known to cause this issue. Replace with a Ford cooling fan assembly (assuming you haven't done this already) should fix it.

I looked into the CEMB today. They are promoting a new touchless machine that looked impressive. I'm not sure it's available for sale yet, but I'm going to contact them to get some more info. Thanks for the responses.

We are expanding to a new shop shortly and in the market for a new alignment machine. Any suggestions? We have always had Hunter machines, but the cost of a new top of the line machine is a little out of hand. Has anyone had any experience with the Atlas or John Bean machines? Any info would be helpful. Thanks.

I currently employ a mechanic and friend who has been with me for about 20 years. He was formerly a transmission rebuilder, but we have switched to mostly reman units and have no need for a rebuilder. His pay has remained the same despite his value declining. I am currently paying him roughly $100,000 a year. The problem i'm having is that his skill set is not near that pay level anymore. He does light diagnostic and basic managerial work, but I am not confident enough for him to run the shop for more than an hour. With the current state of the industry our numbers have gone down a bit over the last two years. While still being profitable, I can't help but think about the extra income that would be available by terminating this employee, I just dont know how to do it. Any advice on how to do this? I like him as a person and have known him a very long time, but I feel his is paid about twice as much as he is worth. Any help wouldbe greatly appreciated.