This booming economy is killing us.

We are in the same boat as everyone else in McDowell county, struggling finding employees. Our business is up 35%( great headache by the way) and trying to hire people is a constant revolving door. It is absolutely incredible that 80% of the folks we hire miss a day (or two) of work in the first week. Forget about them showing up up time. We have had to "relax" our probationary period just to try to retain a few in hopes they come around. There is no drive, no sense of urgency, no pride, no commitment, no caring if they work or not. More money does not help either, still same issues. I could rant on this for hours, but what good is it, can't change anything. Next issue is the suppliers who all say the same thing, we cannot get enough materials. Longer lead times, not making ship dates, ect. forget about just in time inventory. Trying to put inventory on the floor to compensate. I just hope once things do get leveled out and back to some kind of normalcy, that all the work keeps coming in.
 
going to seriously start investigating the possibilities.


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I expect before the end of the year, USA will hit the Slow down. The first round of Tariffs hit China today, to which they immediately, matched against us. And the Administration lost another Head man, EPA director, today. Guess the Administration has bout run out of folks to Resign, or "Your Fired". Gone from 1 a week down to 1 a month now. I'm Amazed, Sara Sanders is still holding up!
 
rodney eppes said:
I expect before the end of the year, USA will hit the Slow down. The first round of Tariffs hit China today, to which they immediately, matched against us. And the Administration lost another Head man, EPA director, today. Guess the Administration has bout run out of folks to Resign, or "Your Fired". Gone from 1 a week down to 1 a month now. I'm Amazed, Sara Sanders is still holding up!
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Definitely not this year, but I will revise my earlier prediction of 2020. Looks like first quarter of 2020, or possibly fourth quarter of 2019 things will go boom.......
 
89wrangler said:
We are in the same boat as everyone else in McDowell county, struggling finding employees. Our business is up 35%( great headache by the way) and trying to hire people is a constant revolving door. It is absolutely incredible that 80% of the folks we hire miss a day (or two) of work in the first week. Forget about them showing up up time. We have had to "relax" our probationary period just to try to retain a few in hopes they come around. There is no drive, no sense of urgency, no pride, no commitment, no caring if they work or not. More money does not help either, still same issues. I could rant on this for hours, but what good is it, can't change anything. Next issue is the suppliers who all say the same thing, we cannot get enough materials. Longer lead times, not making ship dates, ect. forget about just in time inventory. Trying to put inventory on the floor to compensate. I just hope once things do get leveled out and back to some kind of normalcy, that all the work keeps coming in.
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My wife recently left JD after 15 years.Their peak time is from about Oct til Jun and they hire temps to cover during that time.They have 3-4 temps services filling positions for them and they cant keep enuf people.Tonya said that after they went back from Christmas break(jan 2nd ish) until she left on Feb 14th she trained somebody new every day.Some wouldn't stay till 1st break.Its been soo bad they have rehired folks that have been fired for absenteeism,one guy missed 17 days out of his first month before they fired him.In 2016 they had a 80% turn over rate on temps.They are either too damn lazy to work.cant pass a back ground check,or drug test or have no drivers license and cant make it to work.This is the new norm and I cant see how its gonna get any better.Folks wanna bitch about the Mesicans getting our jobs,when they are letting them have em.
 
Keith Odom said:
Biggest thing ive seen with where i work durring the summers doing precast concrete. Is that so many people arent willing to learn. Also their coworkers arent willing to show them how to do things instead just make them do very basic tasks like sweep and tie steal. There for we cant keep people. Another thing is the new guys arent willing to put the effort in and work through the first two weeks and get use to the hours.

I try anytime im having to help out in the production areas to show and teach the new guys how to do things. Ive notice it upsets the older guys when i do that but it helps them get done faster and more efficient in the long run.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
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See my above post.Per my wife,the old hands are tired of constantly training folks they know wont hang around.
 
Jobs report out today. Unemployment has actually risen, but it's assumed this is b/c more people are looking now than in the past. And new jobs created was down a little.
The biggest thing is, just like everybody has said here, that it seems we're at the choking point of the labor force. Not enough qualified workers to do all the work needed. We basically hit the maximum throttle.
And with the tariff's kicking in right now... a lot of folks expecting it to further the slowdown. I can see how the pressure to move more work here, vs elsewhere, will create more opportunity, but if we're already at the bottom of the barrel and choking out, then I just don't see how that will work.
 
rodney eppes said:
I expect before the end of the year, USA will hit the Slow down. The first round of Tariffs hit China today, to which they immediately, matched against us. And the Administration lost another Head man, EPA director, today. Guess the Administration has bout run out of folks to Resign, or "Your Fired". Gone from 1 a week down to 1 a month now. I'm Amazed, Sara Sanders is still holding up!
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"Draining the swamp", just like he said. We are actually getting somewhere.



Just as an update/reference: We have hit our summer lull that happens every year. However, this year instead of cutting back to "whatever hours you want to work", we cut down from 60hrs/week to 45hrs/week. Still booming right on along. We have also hired an extra detailer to solely check drawings so that we can free up another guy to draw, as well as hiring another PM and more shop labor.
 
JSJJ388 said:
"Draining the swamp", just like he said. We are actually getting somewhere.
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I'm not sure it counts when it's muck he put in the swamp to begin with lol
 
RatLabGuy said:
I'm not sure it counts when it's muck he put in the swamp to begin with lol
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He didn't put them there.... he just got rich off of using them to get the stuff he wanted until it was time to expose them for what they were doing. Don't get me wrong, what he did is unethical as all get out, but he played by the rules that THEY created and just played a better game.

It's the same game that allowed Bill and Hillary to leave the White House "penniless" by their own admission and then a couple of years later be the heads of a multi-billion dollar international foundation.
 
rodney eppes said:
And the Administration lost another Head man, EPA director, today. Guess the Administration has bout run out of folks to Resign, or "Your Fired". Gone from 1 a week down to 1 a month now. I'm Amazed, Sara Sanders is still holding up!
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ManglerYJ said:
He didn't put them there.... he just got rich off of using them to get the stuff he wanted until it was time to expose them for what they were doing. Don't get me wrong, what he did is unethical as all get out, but he played by the rules that THEY created and just played a better game.
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Ummm... what? Trump put a bunch of bozos into positions they weren't qualified for and in Pruitt's case, only used the position to make a perfect example of Washington Swampiness and ethics violations actually could be. EPA chief was a Trump appointee. He finally had to quit after acquiring a record of scandals that is epic by any standard and eclipsing just about anyone in recent history.
The best part is, Trump now gets to say, Look, I fired him! Draining the Swamp! when he just made it extra-swampy first, so the "drain" only brings it back to where it was.
I guess it's a brilliant ploy, really. Make a problem even worse, then kind off fix it to make yourself a hero.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Ummm... what? Trump put a bunch of bozos into positions they weren't qualified for and in Pruitt's case, only used the position to make a perfect example of Washington Swampiness and ethics violations actually could be. EPA chief was a Trump appointee. He finally had to quit after acquiring a record of scandals that is epic by any standard and eclipsing just about anyone in recent history.
The best part is, Trump now gets to say, Look, I fired him! Draining the Swamp! when he just made it extra-swampy first, so the "drain" only brings it back to where it was.
I guess it's a brilliant ploy, really. Make a problem even worse, then kind off fix it to make yourself a hero.
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OK, I can't exactly argue that. I was referring to Congress. EPA Director, cabinet appointees, and all the other bozos he appointed can't write laws. They can only do their job (or not do their job) according to the laws that are generated by Congress. They can create "policy" which is not law. It still has to withstand the rigors of the law. I agree that Scott Pruitt was the last person in the world that should have been in charge of the EPA, but the nit-picky scandals that have arisen really have nothing to do with why he shouldn't be at the EPA, but instead they were enough ammunition to cause enough commotion to get him to resign. Your job should be based on your merits, the expenses surrounding your job should be based on real world expenses in relation to the job you are doing and the travel you do as a result of your job should directly relate to the job you are doing.
 
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But who,at this point,can be elected/appointed that doesn't have some kind of skeletons or questionable past??
 
ManglerYJ said:
I agree that Scott Pruitt was the last person in the world that should have been in charge of the EPA, but the nit-picky scandals that have arisen really have nothing to do with why he shouldn't be at the EPA, but instead they were enough ammunition to cause enough commotion to get him to resign. Your job should be based on your merits, the expenses surrounding your job should be based on real world expenses in relation to the job you are doing and the travel you do as a result of your job should directly relate to the job you are doing.
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Maybe I'm misinterpreting your intent, but I'd say flatly that the various Pruitt scandals have everything to do with why he shouldn't be there, or in any Federal position at all. No, not unique to EPA, per se... but just things you flat don't do. Especially when you're the lead voice/representative of an agency.
And I don't think I'd call it nit-picky. Unless the claims are all flat lies, which is difficult to believe based on the sum, size and sources, they include literal violations of both law AND policy which anyone who has been in Federal service knows are hammered in as absolute ethical no-no's and legal violation from Day One. Like, literally, the annual training we have to do says, "You may not use Federal employee or contractors for personal business" and "You can not use Federal resources fo personal or family travel" and (a REALLY BIG ONE) "It is a Federal Law that any official documents must be preserved, you cannot destroy records without approval from the Fed Archives, punishable by jail time."
 
1-tonmudder said:
But who,at this point,can be elected/appointed that doesn't have some kind of skeletons or questionable past??
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Nobody.
Butt here's a difference between having skeletons in the closet from the past, and continuing to make new piles of bones on the taxpayers' dime.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Maybe I'm misinterpreting your intent, but I'd say flatly that the various Pruitt scandals have everything to do with why he shouldn't be there, or in any Federal position at all. No, not unique to EPA, per se... but just things you flat don't do. Especially when you're the lead voice/representative of an agency.
And I don't think I'd call it nit-picky. Unless the claims are all flat lies, which is difficult to believe based on the sum, size and sources, they include literal violations of both law AND policy which anyone who has been in Federal service knows are hammered in as absolute ethical no-no's and legal violation from Day One. Like, literally, the annual training we have to do says, "You may not use Federal employee or contractors for personal business" and "You can not use Federal resources fo personal or family travel" and (a REALLY BIG ONE) "It is a Federal Law that any official documents must be preserved, you cannot destroy records without approval from the Fed Archives, punishable by jail time."
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He was an Attorney General from Oklahoma, so he's obviously aware of the rules on personal/ taxpayer paid travel. In and of itself, that's an accounting issue more than anything. Simply reimbursing back for the personal travel would have taken care of that. The fact that he as an Attorney General had several lawsuits against the EPA that were thrown out of court implies to me that he is less than scrupulous when it comes to his approach of environmental issues. Not knowing the nuts and bolts of those lawsuits, the fact that he was the instigator of the lawsuits against the EPA speaks volumes. I guess the issue I see is that it seems that the "watchdogs" really only started looking once Trump took office. Seems to be a lot of looking the other way prior. Just saying. There was a WHOLe LOT of "pay-to-play" going on in the Clinton household that has been ignored as a result of the finger pointing to Pruitt. He deserves the scrutiny, but so does everyone.

Again, I felt he was a bad choice based on his previous track record, not just because he wanted to vacation on the Government's ticket.
 
didn't realize this thread was going on and I view things probably different than most but this phrase really stood out to me
mbalbritton said:
Finding good help for the same price is getting harder.
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this right here is the BIGGEST problem I've "personally" had/seen in the work force. Not to brag, but in most jobs I work twice the speed of others. It's just me and how I'm built. High energy levels, love working, dedicated and driven, honest and dependable!! Problem I've always had is when companies or private owned business like current job find someone that DOES work, is good at it, is there everyday, fast, can even at times do the work of 2 people,.... those companies/people don't want to pay that person what they are worth. Greed is problem in america in my opinion. Companies and Business owners "say" they want good workers and skilled people and dependable blah blah blah...when they get one that's not the norm and they realize it, they don't offer anything more...maybe a $1 more!!
A lot of you know yes I have switched jobs a lot but that's because I refuse to work the way I work (I'm doing twice the work of last 3 employees at my current job, bosses words!) and get paid the same as the next lazy ass..NOPE so yeah, when I don't get payed what I deserve, I start looking. It's a shame how many times in my life I've encountered this...pretty much every job LOL. It sucks!! I wish and still hope someday to find a job/company who will appreciate my work ethic and give me what I deserve....SAD part is though, good money for me is like $19/$20 p/h when the "norm" in America consider that low income still and at that pay scale, that person/company is still getting the better deal than me but I'd be ok with that at least knowing I'm happy with that income.

My new job of 6weeks, guy couldn't give me $17 hr cause didn't know and never had anyone worth that...fair enough! I accepted $15 hr and said once you see how I work, I will want my 17 i'm currently making...he said ok.
Yesterday was my 6th week and I asked for it and he agreed. Sad part is, I HAD TO SAY IT and that's not cool in my book. There's more to it than this but fine. What come Sept I'm asking for 18.50hr by XMas will be at 20hr or I hit the road. Long story short, I'm his only employee and from what HE has told many customers and family of his that have met me (out of their way to interrupt me welding to tell me this stuff) that I'm doing twice the work or more sometimes of 2 guys and he leaves me most all days all alone with shop and everyday he returns with crazy amount of work done...I'm actually 4weeks ahead right now. So yeah sooner than later he will be paying me my income of 20hr and that will be a day to celebrate! well my too cents about all this
 
marty79 said:
My new job of 6weeks, guy couldn't give me $17 hr cause didn't know and never had anyone worth that...fair enough! I accepted $15 hr and said once you see how I work, I will want my 17 i'm currently making...he said ok.
Yesterday was my 6th week and I asked for it and he agreed. Sad part is, I HAD TO SAY IT and that's not cool in my book. There's more to it than this but fine. What come Sept I'm asking for 18.50hr by XMas will be at 20hr or I hit the road. Long story short, I'm his only employee and from what HE has told many customers and family of his that have met me (out of their way to interrupt me welding to tell me this stuff) that I'm doing twice the work or more sometimes of 2 guys and he leaves me most all days all alone with shop and everyday he returns with crazy amount of work done...I'm actually 4weeks ahead right now. So yeah sooner than later he will be paying me my income of 20hr and that will be a day to celebrate! well my too cents about all this
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Just out of curiosity: If he doesn't agree to your pay raise demands, and you leave, do you perceive the loss of the job as being his fault or your fault?
 
^^^ or get so far ahead he can lay you off. I’m not sure what the shop does you work at but ask the boss since you are so far ahead on your projects see what else he can give you and excel on that also and the money will come. I’m not doubting your work ethics at all but most employers take what you do for granite and accept the ones that are slow at their job.
 
Fabrik8 said:
Just out of curiosity: If he doesn't agree to your pay raise demands, and you leave, do you perceive the loss of the job as being his fault or your fault?
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oh this would be my fault absolutely.
obullfish said:
^^^ or get so far ahead he can lay you off. I’m not sure what the shop does you work at but ask the boss since you are so far ahead on your projects see what else he can give you and excel on that also and the money will come. I’m not doubting your work ethics at all but most employers take what you do for granite and accept the ones that are slow at their job.
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I did/do. This past week I built a trailer for him, done head gasket/timing belt on forklift. have 4 more trailers to work on next week and start building new design of trusses for a 40ft wide buildings ....i gotta work on his diesel trucks soon too so there's PLENTY he has me do. I'm thankful for the fact that he does brag about me a lot to people (too much actually) but I just know for what I'm doing, able to do, potential to do and speed and dependability with it, I'm worth 20hr EASILY...and have been told this by several already including the contractor who works for him.
I'm "pretty" sure he won't argue with my pay raises that I ask for. His secretary told me, in 20yrs he's never trusted someone with keys to his business and ever been able to leave someone everyday by themselves and know peace of mind the business is in good hands and work is getting done. They offer to take me to lunch everyday but I just work on through ....I'm glad he doesn't hang around as he's a talker and slows me down like crazy wanting to "talk" lol. I'm just weird like that, put me to work and let me be in my station doing what I do!
 
I do all the yard maintenance, building maintenance, I've fixed 2 compressors that been sitting forever, fixed a old generator, fixed a drill press that he thought was scrap....I do all kinds of things. Funny thing is most people tell me I'm too fast and I should slow down but it's hard for me to "slow down"...I usually don't even try to haul butt I just work a steady pace that yeah it's usually faster than your average person...production work that's another story...game on!! lol
 
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