Keith Browning Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Thought it would be interesting to share observations and experiences surrounding Coronavirus. I am in NJ where people are nuts, preparing for the end of civilization or maybe it's just the normal NJ me first and fuck you attitude on steroids. Actually, I am seeing most people are behaving and a lot of outreach to those in need of help. God help you if you need get some toilet paper, disinfectants or some chicken though. My daughters high school is closed for two weeks minimum with instruction and lessons being provided VIA Google Classroom. My oldest daughter in in college in Beverly Mass where they intend to remain open with remote instruction as feasible. Driving into work today, I was king of the road! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forddieseldoctor Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 It was pretty scarce on the roads around here this morning too. All the grocery stores are empty. As of wednesday all the schools are gonna shut down for 4 weeks. Church was about 1/3 of normal yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Things are the same here, Ohio closed all schools, bars, and restaurants, going to carry-out only and banned public gatherings. Most colleges closed and emptied dorms on no notice. I had several things scheduled called off- concerts and a trip to Florida this week. So far three classes have cancelled/postponed and we're anticipating more. Keeping my fingers crossed, probably best to be proactive and close everything rather than reactive and bury a lot of people like Italy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Schools are closed, rec centers are closed. Libraries are closed. All gatherings over 50 people are cancelled. Also our Ford training center is shut down for 4 weeks. People here are also preparing for the end of civilization. Hoarding toilet paper......WTF.... Worse thing is I can't get a freaking coffee at work. All kidding aside though. I think the majority of people are taking it pretty good though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forddieseldoctor Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 I spent a good part of my weekend troubleshooting internet at people’s houses trying to get the most speed out of it. Cause EVERYONE with a desk job is working from home and they all need a serious chunk of bandwidth to run their stuff. My brother is whining that his 5 mbps dsl can’t keep up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredsvt Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 As of tomorrow it should be very quiet on the roads, as NJ government is going mostly remote work, and Monmouth County is doing the same. I drive a route that's very busy for both county workers and state. This past weekend, no store within 10 miles of me had paper products, cleaning products, bread, meat and of all things ,pet food. Work has picked up from totally dead to just plain dead, a little work has come in the door as people not going to work are doing some basic stuff, nothing expensive though. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep working, as long as Mr Ed (the governor) doesn't flap his lips about a complete shut down. I'm sure when it's over, he'll figure out a way to get a bigger feed bag on his head at our expense (taxes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted March 18, 2020 Author Share Posted March 18, 2020 I think we found the cure for the virus! Have Ford assign a part number to it. It will immediately go on back order with no release date and no one can get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 On 3/18/2020 at 9:36 AM, Keith Browning said: I think we found the cure for the virus! Have Ford assign a part number to it. It will immediately go on back order with no release date and no one can get it. Interesting that you mention something to do with parts. I heard rumors that Ford may shut down our main parts distribution center temporarily. If that happens, our dealership and I'm sure others may also have to shut down temporarily. We have already reduced our business hours temporarily until further notice but that can also change very quickly depending on how things go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forddieseldoctor Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 We are busy in the shop for the moment. But I heard a rumor that not all the dealers in my area are so lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeR Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 I had a couple of large training classes scheduled at Colleges. The schools closed and we had to cancel. So I always have new or Beta products to test, so I hit the shops near me to look for broken cars. The independent shops are still busy. The public garages, like the DOT, County Shop, City Shop, etc, are all on lockdown. No outside vendors allowed. It's going to be an interesting few weeks if I can't go visit customers. It's also tough to travel when all the restaurants are closed. You can always do takeout, but I'm not a fan of eating in a hotel room. There's no higher concentration of human waste bacteria than a hotel room. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy57 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Be diligent about the vehicles you touch. You responsible for you. Full face shield keeps you from touching the most communicably rich parts of your body. At least with our vocation we are used to brake dust or grease covered hands or gloves and we may have a bit better hygiene as far as face touching goes. If you look like you are wearing war paint at the end of the day then you'd better mask up. Wiping steering wheels and keys with denatured alcohol is a good idea. Washing your hands or your gloves or frequent new gloves is advised. The precautions discussed so much about distancing are a bit different for us. The vehicles of persons not symptomatic could bring the virus to us. Just act like the baby sprayed vomit inside car and you are probably good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredsvt Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 The owner of the shop I work at decided to close up, at what looks like a minimum of weeks. No calls came in last week, other than vehicles, that thankfully were fairly big jobs that we could finish. Our local Ford store says parts availability is/was going to be difficult after Weds of last week. Every dealership we buy parts from was completely dead, both sales and service. Getting parts in barely a half hour from some was nice, but scary. I found myself some stuff to do at home, my home garage seems to have become somewhat infested with rodents, started the emptying, cleaning, culling of junk and putting things back today. Hopefully the talk of offering small businesses forgivable monthly grants/loans goes thru, or staying on unemployment may become more permanent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_Kelsoe Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 Still working normally at this time. Coworker and I have 6 front cover jobs to do ( some warranty, some CP) along with some other work. If we have parts for everything, we could work for 2 weeks with nothing else coming in. We've went from 4-5 a day dropped off to 1-2. Service manager is taking some precautions, porter is supposed to be wiping down vehicles down in the service lane. Parts told us our cutoff time for ordering went from 4 PM central time to 1pm. Our truck shop is separate from the main shop and service lane so I don't see customer's usually, and only deal with my service writer and parts. No confirmed cases within 30 miles of here as of now, but probably because not everyone is getting tested as needed. My biggest concern is taking this home to my daughters, oldest will be 5 next month and youngest will be a month old on Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted March 24, 2020 Author Share Posted March 24, 2020 We are still fairly busy with a lot of fleet work keeping us going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselD Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 We are in the middle of this crazy right now too. Same as most states with closures of public places, venues, schools, restaurants etc. Cant find TP, baby wipes, diapers, cleaning shit etc. Grocery stores running thin on everything including meats mostly due to jackasses buying up anything and everything they can. Gun stores having huge lines with people buying guns and ammo like the movie level zombies are coming! Wife and kids are going bonkers at home all day. I am still working and been deemed essential in case the governor decided to put a shelter in place order in effect in the future. We have slowed down a little but being in the commercial world this are still rolling. I cant move some of the fleet I need to in other states so that has put a damper on getting stuff done in the shop but we have no plans on closing anything. Just one more reason Im happy to be in the commercial industry vs retail! Hopefully all this blows over pretty quick and we get back to normal. The joke will be on us when we find out we have all been living with this thing since end of last year anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 We seem to be busier than most places mostly due to our fleet accounts. However, I have had more down time and find myself on YouTube more than normal. I am surprised at the idiotic things people will do just to get views and ratings. Everything from obviously breaking the law by street racing to driving obviously unsafe vehicles on the road. The last one I watched was about an older Mustang with a swapped in F-150 gen 1 coyote 5l. The thing has no heat or AC and he had to keep pulling over to wipe down all the windows. WTF. And they know their target audience is going to try this shit. I don't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 We are open as we are all deemed essential, however customers aren't venturing out and the ones that do make it to us, we can't get parts for. On the plus side, I have had the opportunity to take care of a slight back log that I was having trouble getting to. On the plus plus side, I am fortunate to have both my jobs through this ordeal, the dealer and the college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 My dining room is now a part time dance studio since my daughter's dance classes are now streaming online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw33 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 My dealership layed off 60% of the workers yesterday, all hourly and salary people, kept all the 13 flat rate guys , we had 14 appointments today with 6 schuelded for tomorrow , the sales department has been closed for 2 weeks with just internet sales now , went from 10 cars a day average to 1 one a day , sales manager said this afternoon it's not even worth turning the lights on. Now with the pdcs not delivering parts but 1 or 2 times a week just gonna get worse for the time being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbriggs Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 I'm working 3 days a week right now, splitting the week with another tech that has a family to provide for. Getting lots done at home though with 4 days off each week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 It's only been me and an apprentice for last week and this week, as well as God only knows how many more weeks at my dealership, out of a shop that normally has eleven more techs working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 Being a fleet dealer we have work and with a lot of dealerships closed down right now Roadside Service is towing to us. I currently have 5 repair orders in my rack for me. Okay so one of them is my car but hey, I am a customer too!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 I'm killin' it right now, never has so much work. Now they have released the Torqushift recall and I have 20 E-boxes lined up to boot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wewille Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 In our small part of Wisconsin things are pretty quiet. I'm no longer at the dealer, as a took a better opportunity a few years ago, but the biggest dealer around closed, and we've been getting hammered with Asplundh trucks. However in general things aren't as good as they were. No layoffs, and still getting ot so so far so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 We had one apprentice in school when they shut down the college here, he didn't return to work. One other straight time guy has been MIA for a week now. Not sure why. We are busy and running full staff other that those two. Some of the office staff are working from home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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