Thor Forums

[Judge]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

Claiming that workers building the units take no pride in their work is disingenuous, don't you think? Have you actually talked to these workers? Are you implying ALL, or just a few "bad apples"... just like you might find in ANY manufacturing facility?

A more accurate assessment would be that THOR OWNERS/MANAGEMENT take no pride in the products with their name displayed. No one is forcing them to push crappy product out the door.

Apparently you didn't read my entire post....

My concern with any new coach built since late 2020 is that quality and workmanship could be worse than what I have typically come to expect. All of the RV manufacturers have experienced unprecedented demand. They have had trouble hiring enough workers to meet that demand and they are taking what they can get in terms of warm bodies. Most of these workers are somewhat unskilled and lack pride in the quality of their work.... and the RV manufacturers are also to blame because they are trying to just push out as many units as they can as quickly as they can.


I did put some of the blame on the manufacturers and while I usually live by the 80 / 20 Rule and would say 80% of the workers do care and 20% don't.... I think that would be far too generous.

So maybe instead of "most" I should have used the word "many" and some of the issues are from another reason I stated.... unskilled and inexperienced workers. I will apologize to any worker that I offended out there if they truly care about their job and give their best each and every day.

But just like the "Rust" movie set where they hired a 24 year old girl to be the Armor Expert.... very few 20-somethings are going to have enough time under their belts to be experts. You can put some of the blame on the manufacturers for not hiring better people but that is hard to do when many people don't want to work.

And I'm getting a little tired of hearing the excuse all the time of "if companies paid people better, they would get more workers and higher quality work." Horse hockey!!!

When I was a teenager and worked for my dad, he was harder on me than any other employee. He gave me the crappiest and hardest jobs over any other employee. I didn't understand at the time what I did wrong or why he was "picking" on me.... but eventually as I got older I understood what he was teaching me. The job also wasn't done until everything was cleaned up and put away because "if you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

When I graduated college in 1986 with a BS in Chemistry the best job I could find started out at $5/hr and no benefits..... hell people working at McDonalds were making more than I was and a college degree was supposed to lead you to the promised land.

Did I do a crappy job because I was only making $5/hr? Did I let the situation and poor management define me? Hell no.... I did not!

I worked harder than anyone else and did my job better so I stood out over everyone else so I could rise above them (thanks to my dad's lesson years earlier). I used it as motivation to make myself better and make myself more valuable.

What did that approach get me?

Promotions..... more money..... better jobs with other companies.... and the financial independence and ability to retire in my 50's. And guess what.... I reinvented myself 20+ years ago to go even further in my career and never even used my Chemistry education again.


My neighbor back at our place in PA is a farmer and can't get people to work in the fields. When he tries to hire teenagers, they last a day or two. Then the parents show up asking for their final pay. When he asks where they have been, the parents say "the work is just too hard for Johnny or Jill."

There in lies the problem......

When it comes to the quality and workmanship of some of the people that do work..... When it comes to people not wanting to work...... When it comes to people complaining they don't get paid enough money to work....... It all comes down to one thing.... how they were raised.

Something happened over the years where parents stopped teaching their kids that you have to work hard and do the best job you can.... regardless of how crappy or hard the job may be..... or how much you are paid for the job.

Kids aren't being taught that you take your job seriously and do it with pride and eventually you will be recognized for it and it will pay off in the end. Kids aren't being taught to apply themselves and find ways to always improve to make themselves better so they can eventually find better jobs and earn more money.

And parents stopped teaching the kids that have becomes today's 20's and 30's workforce that you can't have everything you want... and you can't have everything right now..... and that you have to work hard and earn the right to get where you want to be. The 20's and 30's and even some of the 40's workforce of today want the 6-figure salary first.... then they will feel like getting around to do some work.

End of rant.....