Deem Mechanical

[mikmike4]

Anyone ever worked for Deem Mechanical? Saw an ad for them and just wondering how they are to work for, pay, etc...

[reset ron]

Stay away from them they will use you for the summer then get rid of you.

[wannameltice]

I have been with them for a few months and so far have enjoyed it. In my part of the country we do a lot of rack refrigeration work. This can be a downer if you don't like night,weekend and unscheduled work. They charge you 15 bucks a week truck fee and have gps on the vans. I'm not sure that is legal but in this economy seems you have to take the good with the bad.

[Tech Rob]

Truck fee?!



Sounds like a bottom feeder to me.

[Trublshter]

I've never heard of a truck fee either. Ive heard of charging a customer for a trip charge, but never the tech having to pay to use the truck. Sorry to hear that.

[hvacpope]

I worked for an outfit that charges techs $35/month truck fee, I question it and was told that it has something to do with NYS law or some sort of tax and it was not a profit. there are a few companies doing it but most dont.

[Retread]

truck fee and GPS don't seem to go together. If the IRS thinks the truck is for your benefit they want you to pay tax on that benefit. Charging the truck fee keeps you from being taxed. Outside of the HVAC world this is common with a company car.

Now if the GPS is to keep you for using it for running around town how is it a benefit?

[Special Ed]

If I'm being charged $35 for the privilege of driving a co truck then I'm also driving it to the store or maybe even run some errands from time to time.

IRS can think what they want but the only reason I have a co vehicle is so that I can run calls for them. I would cover that fee for the employee if I owned the co.

[Retread]

If I'm being charged $35 for the privilege of driving a co truck then I'm also driving it to the store or maybe even run some errands from time to time.

IRS can think what they want but the only reason I have a co vehicle is so that I can run calls for them. I would cover that fee for the employee if I owned the co.

I agree.

[wisconsinapp]

If I'm being charged $35 for the privilege of driving a co truck then I'm also driving it to the store or maybe even run some errands from time to time.

IRS can think what they want but the only reason I have a co vehicle is so that I can run calls for them. I would cover that fee for the employee if I owned the co.

Think of it this way... The company doesnt NEED to let you take the company vehicle to your house. They could make you park it at the office, then if you get called out, you drive your personal vehicle to the office pick up your van and go, and drive your personal vehicle to the office every day. Pretty sure you would tally up more than 15 dollars a week in gas doing that. And before you say you would cover the cost if you run the co. Maybe if you only had 5-10 trucks on the road, but when you are talking about a company that has 300+ trucks on the road, it seems a little foolish to foot the bill for 250,000 bucks doesnt it?
As far as GPS goes, its not really that big of a deal to me. I dont do anything wrong iwth my van whether I do or dont have GPS so it doesn't bother me. Its more or less a tool for the company to be more efficient, and make the job easier on the dispatchers. Because I doubt someone from Indianapolis is going to know where any town in Wisconsin is except maybe Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay. Oh, and on a side note, I work at DEEM, and love it. I go to work in the morning, do my work for the day, dont create any waves and I never hear from the office, nobody complains and my paycheck is always in my account Friday mornings.

[Special Ed]

I'm just saying that I don't understand why a co would essentially charge an employee to work for them. Doesn't sound right, & I've never heard of that type of thing happening before.

And, you're right an employer doesn't have to allow an employee the privilege of driving a co vehicle home, I know of some co's that don't.

What I'm struggling with is a co charging me to drive their vehicle for the sole purpose of making them money.... And they put a GPS on the vehicle I'm partially pay for? Doesn't sound right.

Now, if it was either/or that would be a different matter entirely.

[Tech Rob]

I don't care about GPS, but here's the thing. I won't be forced to subsidize the company with the money I earn when company vehicles are just a part of being in the business we are in. It's not a benefit. It's a liability. It is a necessary evil. I would rather not have that rolling billboard parked at my house, when it says to everyone who passes by "Break into me! I am filled with thousands of dollars worth of tools and materials!" Is the company going to assist me in any way when I have to defend my family with deadly force because some miscreant was tempted by the van marked “____ Heating and Air Conditioning”?

The company knows that by me being able to go straight to the job immediately from my house, without having to go to the office and load/unload saves them tremendous amounts of cash! I work for a company with about 75 service and controls techs. Can you imagine what it would cost them to provide parking for 75 personal vehicles at their office, in addition to the 100+ engineers, sales, managment, and administrative personnel who already park there? Can you imagine the astronomical costs of those 75 people having to load and unload their stuff from the vans every day? They're not doing it for free. Maybe I should charge the company I work for an additional $15 a week for allowing them to use my driver's license? Or maybe I should hit them for hazard pay every time I go out on the road, seeing as how I am risking my life and safety for their bottom line! We are exposed to more danger on the roads than anywhere else in our jobs. Especially those of us who live and work in high-traffic heavily populated areas.

The employers can choose to run their business any way they see fit. The only option I have, being a skilled and experienced technician who is in demand, is to go to work for a company that does not treat me as a liability and offers a working environment that is consistent with industry standards. This is an issue of principle, not money.

Just my

[jpsmith1cm]

Think of it this way... The company doesnt NEED to let you take the company vehicle to your house. They could make you park it at the office, then if you get called out, you drive your personal vehicle to the office pick up your van and go, and drive your personal vehicle to the office every day.

That would not fly doing commercial refrigeration service.

Most of my customers demand a 2 hour maximum response time on emergency calls.

My home office is one hour, one way. Now, I get the call, drive an hour (depending on traffic, of course) pick up my van, drive another hour to get back home, THEN start driving to the customer.

Not a good way to keep customers.

[John Markl]

truck fee and GPS don't seem to go together. If the IRS thinks the truck is for your benefit they want you to pay tax on that benefit. Charging the truck fee keeps you from being taxed. Outside of the HVAC world this is common with a company car.

Now if the GPS is to keep you for using it for running around town how is it a benefit?

A free ride, to and from work?

As a sidebar, I was on the city council here from '96 to '07. More than once, we had to deal with the issue of employees taking vehicles home. Many of them lived outside the city limits. Some of them a good 15-20 miles away.

What you as a technician see, doesn't always gee-haw with what the IRS or management sees. When you have a hundred people taking vehicles home every night, there are issues.

Most likely, the "truck charge" is to keep you from being taxed for your ride to and from work, which the IRS does consider (in most cases) to be "income".

[madhat]

Charge them for off hours parking and security, nothing is free

[JWB]

Local co. here charges $10 a week. Most of the guys say they look for a way to get that money back, like letting the truck run all day etc.

[Tech Rob]

Since Deem is sharing the cost of their business with their employees, I wonder if they are also sharing the profits? I wonder if the owner of the company has an opinion on socialism? My bet is that he or she votes Republican.

[wisconsinapp]

Since Deem is sharing the cost of their business with their employees, I wonder if they are also sharing the profits? I wonder if the owner of the company has an opinion on socialism? My bet is that he or she votes Republican.

I hope he does vote republican!!! Then I will like my job even more yet. But in all seriousness, they are very upfront with it during the interview process its one of the first things they tell you about. So if you are a smart person (not claiming I am BUT this is what I did) when they ask you what you need, just tack an extra dollar an hour or 50 cents an hour on there to cover it up. I did that plus got more, so I guess thats why it doesn't bother me at all.

[John Markl]

Charge them for off hours parking and security, nothing is free

NO problem....then you'll also get a 1099 for your non-wage income.

You're missing the point. It's a legal issue, not a monetary one. Taking a truck home is considered income by the IRS. If there's an audit, you'll find that out for yourself.

[Chuck]

NO problem....then you'll also get a 1099 for your non-wage income.

You're missing the point. It's a legal issue, not a monetary one. Taking a truck home is considered income by the IRS. If there's an audit, you'll find that out for yourself.

What if I am dispatched from home and only get to the office once or twice a week?

I see what you're saying but in my case it saves the co. money. So should they report more income since my first call every morning takes less drive time than if I started from the office?