I need to work in the automotive industry for my degree. I was thinking of a part and tool store, so I can get an employee discount. Yes a part/tool store counts for my degree for some reason. Anyone know what the various brick and mortar part/tool stores have for employee discounts?
The manager of the parts store can answer that . Why can’t you find out things for yourself ? If you have to work something like this for your degree what does a discount mean anyway .
Is this really a requirement ?
Edit : I just did a web search and Autozone has an employee discount program and it took less than 2 minutes to find that out.
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Lol Yea it is a requirement.
I thought maybe there was a database with this stuff or other people who have worked at one can let me know what store franchise they work at and what discount they get. I want to work at the one with the largest discount so I can maximize savings on parts or tools.
Seriously ? Why would there be such a thing ? Besides the discount could change overnight.
You plan to work there forever ?
That’s true. I don’t know just an idea I had.
I don’t plan on working there forever, only for as long as needed to get the credits, to graduate. I thought maybe it would be a good time to buy like a small tool cabinet or cart or shock and strut assembly. Some more expensive tools or parts, using the discount.
Look at where you might want to work and google it. The following benefits only apply to AutoZoners in the United States. AutoZoners may purchase AutoZone merchandise at a 20% discount . Working at AutoZone provides you access to a number of discount programs from a variety of retailers.
Oreilly’s,Autozone, and Avance Auto all offer a 20% employee discount, Napa doesn’t give an exact percentage, apparently it used to be better before 2019. Site called Glassdoor keeps showing up when i search for this in google. Reviews of how good/bad the programs are. Depending on the chain it might not apply to things like Motor oil as an example.
A friend worked at a local Autozone as the closing manager and really liked having his employee discount to help fix up his Jeep Cherokee daily driver. He left the job once his own business got off the ground some time later.
I worked for a parts chain called Al’s Auto Supply which was absorbed into what is now o’reillys in the late 90’s. Paccar sold the division at the end of 1999. Fairly sure we got at least 15% off, if you worked for another division of Paccar, such as the Kenworth plant across Renton you got 10% off.
I am missing something . What kind of school / training program would want a person to take an entry level job to qualify for a degree ? It seems backwards . What if the student already has a job that pays more while taking this mystery course .
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A local branch of a chain in the NW offers employees 15%.
That may be the case, but if I were working towards a degree and needed to show employment in that field, I would be looking for the job that provided me with the greatest opportunity for learning and growth. I really wouldn’t care about any discount, free lunch, or the like.
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Seems like the 20 percent discount is pretty common then. Good to know.
I can’t disagree with you there on that. I also thought the same thing, very backwards. Both schools in my state that have an automotive associates have the same requirement. 3 credits is 150 hours worked. Need at least 3 credits, but you can use up to 9 credits as an internship for elective credit or some other classes. I don’t think they check time cards or anything though but the program director goes there and asks how your doing working there. It’s very lenient to anything in the automotive industry. Like I know someone that was a Chauffeur at a dealership for credit.
I’m getting the degree to learn more about cars and how they work, and how to make various repairs. Working at a parts store, being a Chauffer, or a lube tech isn’t really going to help further that goal for me. I’ll be in my mid 30s by the time I have taken all the classes except for the internship “classes”. I already work full time and will make a good amount more than the near minimum wage I would be making as a cashier. So I might have to work on the weekends at a part store. The program director said they might be able to give me “some hours” but “not all” towards the internship requirements. I used to work as a cashier in my late teens. Nothing wrong with being one. I actually found it fun playing with money all day. I just don’t think I’ll be learning much.
I get that you “learn by doing”, which I agree with. But so far the classes have been great, they all have hands on labs, were you disassemble, reassemble, learn about different diagnostic testing and so forth. Basically I think the “learning by doing” is already satisfied by the labs.
I understand that there’s a big difference between a lab and real life. Likely learn a lot more and gain a lot more knowledge that is very valuable, and the two aren’t comparable. I just feel that I won’t be learning much working as a cashier at a part store or being an entry level technician being a lube tech, or being a Chauffeur.
It’s the only complaint I have about the program.
I’m a huge fan of paid internships to gain practical experience but working a register at a retail parts supplier to gain experience in auto repair just sounds silly.
At this point experience is the most valuable so forget the discounts and find something at a local dealership or garage that will give you what your need.
Beg, plead, even offer to work for nothing (they’ll probably have to pay you something) and you’ll probably get the “scut work” but the experience and a good recommendation will be much more valuable.
It’s actually not that unusual. For instance, one of the requirements for admission to The Culinary Institute of America is for the applicant to have work experience in some aspect of the restaurant industry. I had a couple of students who worked in diners as busboys, and that satisfied the requirement. To me, that seemed like a stretch, but it worked for the applicants.
A lot of these are franchise owned so the discount could be different within the same brand from one store to the next.
Do you expect to be buying a lot of parts to fix your vehicle while in college? I’d get a more reliable car.
Yoshi says he wants the discount so he can buy tools and cabinets . It seems he is not going to actually work as a mechanic so what is going to be gained by having tools that he may never use .
He has a thread about if it is legal to do vehicle work on a public street because he can’t do it at his condo . Sorry , but there is not a lot of serious thinking going on here .
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I suspect that a store with higher prices would be more likely to have a higher employee discount!
Rather than focusing on the discount, why not focus on a venue where you will learn the most?
Heh heh. I talked to one guy I knew that was working part time at Menards lumber yard. He said his discount was 10%. The problem was though that it came out of his check so never got paid much and couldn’t spend more than he earned.
Back in the days when I had to work a second job in order to survive on my paltry salary as a teacher, I worked for a large department store (Abraham & Strauss, now long gone…), and their discount policy was 15% off on everything except electrical/electronic goods. For that category, the discount was 10%.
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I’m having a hard time remembering now but my mom worked part time at the local department store (for the guy that was going to make sure the blue laws didn’t end), in her later years. Seems to me the employee discount was around 40-50% which was still above cost. It was a fairly exclusive store though like daytons.
That’s entirely possible. I knew an elderly woman who had worked for the very-upscale B. Altman & Co for her entire adult life, and apparently the discount increased as one accumulated years of service. IIRC, she got a 40% discount on an extremely expensive set of dining room furniture just before she retired. She waited until they had a big furniture sale, and then she applied her hefty discount to the already-reduced price.
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