That's what happens when unemployment is low and wages are up. Many industries lose most of their most promising people to higher paying jobs, and the bike industry is no exception. A survey in the latest Bicycle Retailer and Industry News compared the pay structure of bicycle shop employees to McDonalds employees, and found that the scale is almost identical. How do we let such a wonderful, healthly, technically advanced industry not pay their employees any better than McDonalds. Well, Because there not vey many properly trained people out there that justify any higher pay.
Most shops are lucky to have one good mechanic, if any at all.
Our industry has become saturated with minimal skill workers that are buying their time to move on to the next better paying job. We in the industry are all to blame. We have been so concerned about all the other business details, we forgot to spend the time to properly train and motivated the next work force in our field. When you get a good employee, give them more frequent pay reviews, give them more responsiblity, let them use their leadership to train new employees, and pay them what they are worth. If you think it's hard to find a good mechanic and shop employee now.