financial responsibility for parts

[beachtech]

The company I work for is on the verge of having the techs be financially responsible for parts on their trucks. Have not heard of this before. Tools that you check out yes but xrfms?

Does anyone have experience with this? How many companies do this. Do they make you pay the marked-up price or cost?

I'd be ROTFLMAO on the way out the door while all they see is an empty service truck and my middle finger

[grasshopper]

I don't think it is so much side work or stealing. The general attitude towards having parts is "there is to much inventory". Should say what we do commerical hvac & restaurant hot & cold. Had to fight to carry a defrost timer, only have one iginition board, a xrfm & contactor. There is no standard truck stock list except 2 thermostats and they don't even stock in the shop 2 stage. Stock shop is basically parts that were not used or no one knows what they are. Once it is depleted there is no restocking.


What I would like to know:

does any one work or know of a company that has the techs financially responsible for parts that were not charged out and not found at inventory. Probably by deducting the amount from the paycheck



For a similar work approximately how many parts to you carry

And how much does the shop stock

You guys do service and have no standard truck stock!?!? I think you should. I can't imagine not having an assortment of basic parts. T-stats, ignitors, flame sensors, capacitors, fuses, transformers, various relays, contactors and at least one or two basic boards to get you by until..... I can not imagine the time and money wasted waiting for or hunting down these basic things. That said, it really is not that hard to inventory a truck and keep track of what you use. I have worked at companies where this issue of yours came up. Normally because to many rookie techs wasted a bunch of parts and just threw them away and grabbed new ones from the warehouse. Some was sidework theft for sure. But I can remember one guy who "used" 4 transformers in a day that could not be billed for, if you know what I mean. That little jerk off never checked wires or installed fuses. He used 3 t-formers on one house once. The boss sure wanted to charge him for "spoilage."

[mustardman]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a while. Just the fact it came up would be a sign to start looking elsewhere

[Bubbleheadski]

we have a truck stock checklist...... when you get your truck. They may even have you recheck in a yr... but I dont think they keep inventory. We do use part slips (I tend to forget to fill one out. LOL) Some times I dont get parts for a week or more... then I put in another slip and get double what I wanted! have not been threatened with deductions. We also are not suppose to go to parts house unless we need a part THEN!

[Bubbleheadski]

Hey Rich , i've been around the trades a long time & know a lot of techs . Never heard of that policy . Only if u lose an expensive vac pump or so by carelesness would there be issues . On my last job we got surprise truck inventories when some rep from the shop shows up on the job & demands your keys and spends 2 hrs in the back of your truck inventorying EVERYTHING including nuts , bolts , & all misc.. stuff . Their truck & inventory what can u do ??

Just 2 hrs? Heck going through my truck when i started it took me 4-6 hrs and it was rushed!

[yellowirenut]

doing commercial work my stock is a few different transformers..contactors and capacitors, no boards, no motors, nothing specific. Some of those have been riding around with me seance day one and moved into 3 different vans. I believe the office keeps track of tools and the above mentioned stock, but i have never been challenged on what i have except in the case of refrigerant and that is checked monthly. I would challenge the legality of taking money out of your pay check. Has the owner ever been in the field or only?

[coolestacman]

Inventory is always a big issue due to the fact that many guys forget to bill the parts out or the stuff gets damaged from bouncing around in the truck.
We had a guy retire and I had to pick up his van and clean it out. Over his time with the company he had stashed over 30,000 in controls in his van. He purchased them and wrote the po numbers on the parts so for kicks the boss checked what the po numbers and they went back about 5 years and all issued for truck stock.
Making a long story short this guy was buying truck stock and not using it and half the parts were unusable due to damage.

After that we are not allowed any truck stock

[TerraPropHVAC]

My boss didn't want me to carry any inventory because there are parts in the storage at each complex. But that inventory was no very well stocked, then they realized that stocking my van was cheaper than 24 storage units, Most of our complexes was built by the same contractor so they use the same parts. Now I never get questioned about inventory.

[Mr Chesapeake]

I have been called the RE Michels of the company I work for. I hate having to run to the supply house to get a basic part, but sometimes it can't be avoided. As for making you pay for lost inventory, I don't think they can do that either. However, I try to avoid this by manually writing down every part that is logged on my truck immediately after use. Sometimes I forget, but 9 times out of 10 I don't. And I own all of my tools and equipment, including vacuum pumps and recovery machines, combustion test kits and other big things. So they can't get me there either.

[yellowirenut]

i am constantly getting told/asked by the installers...U have and 3/4 PVC 90's? u have some copper elbows..or this or that. They only want to use what they are given for installs instead of just getting two dozen 90's at once..its odd

[grasshopper]

Inventory is always a big issue due to the fact that many guys forget to bill the parts out or the stuff gets damaged from bouncing around in the truck.
We had a guy retire and I had to pick up his van and clean it out. Over his time with the company he had stashed over 30,000 in controls in his van. He purchased them and wrote the po numbers on the parts so for kicks the boss checked what the po numbers and they went back about 5 years and all issued for truck stock.
Making a long story short this guy was buying truck stock and not using it and half the parts were unusable due to damage.

After that we are not allowed any truck stock

That is ridiculous! Not only that he would do that, but that it went unchecked for 5 or more years. Between truck inventories and a manager or accountant going over PO's or account statements from suppliers..... someone should have had some idea that he was "stocking up." I have worked for companies that stocked their trucks really well. But $30,000 in controls!?!? Now the boss punishes his other employees and his buisness for his own mistakes.... typical.