Yep. Part of the problem is also the fact that alot of the trade guys are approaching retirement age and can't find any of the younger generation that want to work so they are overloaded with jobs.
I have a small plumbing shop. It is a money making machine, but help has become impossible to find. I have a sideline to that biz that I have mainly used for the purpose of fun, but I am gearing up to make that my full time gig, as I don’t require employees to do it. I’ll be 60 in July, and I’ve had enough. Had my first construction job at 16, and the money has seriously improved since then, I’m am done with the hard labor. No one young or old seems to be interested in learning a good paying trade, and no one wants to work. Doesn’t matter what you offer in compensation either. Time to move on to something that doesn’t require me to depend on employees. Actually looking forward to it. My state is going to have a serious problem soon. The older guys are retiring, or keeping biz down to a one man show, and the younger guys are not interested in the trades. If you do find a young person that can show up on time, and has a good work ethic, they are smart enough to buckle down and studied for Journeyman- masters exams and are gone as soon as they are legal to open their own biz. 6 months later they are reentering the work force because they couldn’t find help either, only now they want twice what they are worth, or want to sub work. One day soon I’m going to sell off my equipment , tools, and customer list, fill up a few dumpsters with shit I won’t ever put my hands on again, and if my water heater goes out at the house, I’m calling someone to put a new one in, because I’m going to be busy riding one of my bikes or playing one of my guitars. Think it is rough on the customer needing service? It’s a lot rougher where I’m sitting, and there is nothing that can be done to improve it. Time to move on.
I wanted to switch to plumbing or electrical 10 years ago. Nobody would talk to me. No matter what I do, I work circles around everyone. I'm not trying to be egotistical, I do everything faster than anyone else and process information much quicker than your average mouth breathing ape. But nobody will trust anybody that has no real world experience. I've been doing plumbing since I was 16, not really boiler work or specialized stuff. But nope, nobody will give you a fucking chance, so here I am stuck in the IT world. Would rather be breaking my ass actually doing something physical. At least I have my part time Carpentry business. But I'm just sick of driving around, so I'm trying to outsource a lot of shit and nobody wants to work.
The reason there are no more union meat cutters is because your union started allowing part time meat clerks to cut meat way back in the 80s. That way they could continually fuck you over at contract time by enticing the clerks, who are part time and don't have the benefits you do, to vote against you. And that's a fucking fact. My old man raised his family as a meat cutter in local 88. All your shit comes in prepacked boxes now. The only places you can get good meat from union shops is at small grocery stores, most of whom can't afford to pay you a decent wage.
All the boomers are or gonna retire. And current generations just want to smoke weed & play video games.
Nobody wants to actually "work".
Try finding a Union meat cutter with 50 yrs experience like me.
I hear you brother, I’m in the same state you are, been running an appliance repair business for 41 years that has 5 star reviews across the board, retiring in another 3 and nobody wants to get their hands dirty anymore. All my work is word of mouth and I’m slammed every single day with more calls than I can run. My wife and I have had 3 vacations in 41 years and I’m tired..
Dan lies about stupid shit, we’ve listened to it for decades. Call him out on it and he will try to make you the problem instead of his lying.
My fridge went down a couple years ago. I got a guy to come look at it, $75. Said he would order the part but that everything is back ordered and it would be three weeks. I followed up a couple times and he never showed back up so I bought a new fridge after living out of a cooler for a month.
*Union meat beater with 50 years experience
All the boomers are or gonna retire. And current generations just want to smoke weed & play video games.
Nobody wants to actually "work".
Try finding a Union meat cutter with 50 yrs experience like me.
There was a time during Covid that the supply chain issues were indeed a problem,
I will take you up on that invite. You have an interesting amp collection I would like to check out! Once this rainy weather is behind us, I head south most weekends. Riding buddy of mine just retired and bought a place in Perdido, and I’m thinking I may park my RV in Orange Beach for the summer.