Firestone Complete Auto Care review: Will sell you services you do not need 1

Another thing I think people should know:

A corporate Firestone works like this: a mechanic recommends replacing x fluid. Then the person upfront will type that into the software, and the software will give them a bunch of other recommended services related to replacing fluid x, to add to your ticket. So now your mechanic only recommended "replacing x," but the person upfront (who earns commission) will also tell you, "You need a flush of x as well." So now, you think you need this done in conjunction. Now let's add another layer: mechanics and technicians work on a set estimated time per service; a.k.a., billed labor time. So, for this fluid replacement, the mechanic only gets paid for their labor time. If a service takes longer than the set standard, the person doing the labor doesn't get paid for the extra time. So there is this value system that has been cultivated in corporate Firestone that ends up being mutually beneficial between the person upfront and the person in the back. This also drives up how much the store itself makes. All of which screws over the customer for the benefit of a billion-dollar company. You may want to say, "But at least the employees are also benefiting." Let's do a thought experiment on that:

Remember how I said my dad ran a non-corporate Firestone, and it was the highest-grossing location in North America for 20 years? Well, they didn't do things the corporate way. They paid their technicians, mechanics, and service members fairly, and it cultivated a team of awesome professionals who wanted to do right by the customer. They were not incentivized to screw over the patron. Thus creating trust and community, and that is EXACTLY the reason that this store was as successful as it was.

Corporate Firestone ended up purchasing that Firestone, and they implemented the "corporate way" of doing business, and within the year, it was no longer the Firestone it was. My dad ended up leaving because he hated screwing people over. He opened up a shop and took all of his loyal customers with him, and he is now the proud owner of an amazing shop with loyal customers across state lines.