Ever since I landed in Upstate NY., 35 - some odd years ago, I have often wondered... every year that is...

What is so DAMN important about anything in human existance that needs to proceed in the face of inclement weather -- snow..

If you have advance notice of snow anything over 4" Stay the <snip> home, clear your driveway and sidewalks, and do that painting [ or whatever ] you've been putting off forever...

School will keep, Industry will not die for a 1/2 day lost production, due to stressed-out employees worrying about their significant others remaining safe, and untold thousands of cars will avoid the body shop... and just maybe a few people will not be injured or maimed in unnecessary collisions...

Bad enough that those the state pays have to go out in that crap to clear the roads for us... stay home !! give them a break, to be able to do their job without having to dodge a road full of <snip> - hell-bent on getting to their destination ahead of everyone else

I realize that this diatribe is idealistic wishful thinking, but I, like millions of others, endured this foul weather scenario for my 40+ years, and damn happy to be retired and thumbing my nose at the snow tho' I still have to clear the drive

 

You can't be serious! Let something as trivial as inclement weather choke the machine? Psh..

[/sarcasm]

Downtime is realized in $/hr. You would not believe the hourly rates of some manufacturing processes. When I show up to fix something, I am often informed of this hourly number. "Do whatever you have to do, we'll hot-shot replacement parts in on a private plane if need-be. I am losing $270,000/hr!"

People who consider people to be "Human Resources" and assign a price to every unit of everything, will do the math and conclude that it is more cost effective to lose one or two employees on the way to work than to shut down for a snow storm.

 

People who consider people to be "Human Resources" and assign a price to every unit of everything, will do the math and conclude that it is more cost effective to lose one or two employees on the way to work than to shut down for a snow storm.

Point taken... nonetheless, if the guy losing that kind of money, had no one he could lean on, he would be just plain S.O.L.

I hope when you get those calls, that you get paid what your accrued experience is worth

 

That's an interesting way to look at things. Fortunately, my time is not worth a quarter of a million dollars per hour...my health is. I'm staying home. The fool who thought he could make a situation that expensive and never have any down time can use today to go back to school.

 

"Downtime is realized in $/hr. You would not believe the hourly rates of some manufacturing processes. When I show up to fix something, I am often informed of this hourly number. "Do whatever you have to do, we'll hot-shot replacement parts in on a private plane if need-be. I am losing $270,000/hr!"



Yes, I have had calls like that, usually 1-3:00AM, when I was in bed.

But, it paid well being on call 24/7.

I rather enjoyed the pressure.

Back then, anyway.

The last call was from some 20 something, in a very expensive suit, frantic about a part around 2 inches long by 1" wide.
Forgot the alloy, but it took almost two hours to get it finished, mostly milling, and polishing...and he's on the phone, or staring over my shoulder all that time.
Funny to see a dude so young, so friggin frantic; over such a tiny part.
All the while, he is sweating bullets with his "superior officer".
Handed me $200.00 bonus, and got a fast plane out of there.

Some tiny addition, to a die; at GM.
Couldn't bother their own Tool and Die guys.
Of course, they were Union.

Maybe they just didn't trust them with it.

 

I worked in a Union shop...once. They can really be the sphincter of the production line.

 

I hope when you get those calls, that you get paid what your accrued experience is worth

Yeah, that would be nice.

I get about 20% of what my company charges for me to be there, and the rate is the same for that corporate megamachine with the .25M/Hr line as it is for the little guy. It makes me feel guilty when I go into a mom-&-pop operation and have to charge them 3-figures/hr to work on some 3rd-hand run-down equipment (the best they can afford) that takes a whole day or more. My visit will put them in the hole for months, meanwhile that midnight call to visit the corporate megamachine wasn't even a drop in the bucket.

If I ever go back to being self employed, I don't think I'll charge a flat rate.

 

Yeah, that would be nice.

My visit will put them in the hole for months, meanwhile that midnight call to visit the corporate megamachine wasn't even a drop in the bucket.

Wholeheartedly agreed !!

I have been summarily fired from a couple jobs for daring to comment to mange-ment for the need of a sliding rate scale... One I had the pleasure of seeing them go belly-up on account of crappy business practices...

 

Yeah, that would be nice.



If I ever go back to being self employed, I don't think I'll charge a flat rate.

And you'll love it.

Really takes the pressure off.

I charge for what I produce for the client. Within reason.

Worked on a drill line the other day that had the company at a standstill.
Way over my head as I had no access to sw side.

After an hour I would have done the company a favor and gone home.
Instead I made up my mind to hang out after hours and not charge, if I had no success.

Another 5 hours, with no pressure, things fell into place, no thanks to "support".

The bill is going out today. I just picked a number that should make us both happy.

 

I usually flat rate because I hate to work under a time pressure, but, for instance, if the customer is less than 4 miles away, I cut the "house call" fee in half. If I have to carry my tools around the Cadillac and the Corvette to go in the servants entrance, I don't.

 

Getting back on topic.
Cold and snow.

One of my first jobs was house and farm wiring in the mid-60s.

Boss was just starting out and worked with us at first.

He worked no matter what. Later he expected no less from us
Absolutely no weather delays.

We wired until the romex actually broke while pulling. Less than -20
Pre mid 60 romex was canvas. Pre plastic days that he remembered.

When we came back to the shop, had to show him. "See it breaks"

But wiring grain dryer bins was worse.
Nobody wanted a grain bin in the summer.

Bending conduit in the snow below zero. 25' in the air on a metal roof.

Now electricians won't do the rough in until there's heat.
We didn't even have the windows in yet.

ps.
First year was $1 per hour.......................cash................ 1964

 

Wow, inwo, I thought you were younger.

 

As most of you know, I was a marketing guy and spent most of my time indoors. As such, I didn't make many service calls.

However, one of the product lines that I managed was portable generators. We sold huge numbers of generators as a result of weather, mainly after hurricanes and ice storms. In order to support our larger customers, I usually went out in the wake of bad weather to help end-users get their generators running and keep them running. The weather following hurricanes was usually pretty good, but not so after ice storms.

I think the coldest I ever was during and after an ice storm in Stillwater, Oklahoma. And it was there that I saw the stupidest mistake I ever saw an end-user make: filling the crankcase with gasoline, and dumping four quarts of oil in a 5 gallon gas tank.

 

...
What is so DAMN important about anything in human existance that needs to proceed in the face of inclement weather -- snow..

If you have advance notice of snow anything over 4" Stay the <snip> home, clear your driveway and sidewalks, and do that painting [ or whatever ] you've been putting off forever...
...

Lucky for you, man is causing enormous amounts of global warming. So in a couple of years you won't have to worry about getting snow any more as it will be nice and warm there. (/sarcasm)

 

"First year was $1 per hour.......................cash................ 1964".



Yep, remember those days, plus, we could bring back several bags of groceries, and pay rent, and utilities, also.

Nowadays, we average $200.00, for 3-4 bags of food.

 

enormous amounts of global warming....

Actually, when I first got this house in '82, winter snows were averaging around 100 + " for a few years...

Several years running, there was maybe 40 inches per winter... we are swinging back into heavy snow.
I see some definite cycling here, that I cannot write off as global warming...which truly warms the oceans, and may make hurricanes worse, but our cold weather blows down from Canada... not up from hurricane country...

Now 65, with blessings ? leftover from 40 years of smoking, [ quit since 2008 ] I ain't looking forward to winters getting heavy again...

 

It is also why places like Texas and California do well. Once you ignore the occasional trembler or twister. We live in an imperfect world.