Parts to labor ratio is checked to prevent "parts changers" who use diagnostic dartboards to repair forklifts. Some guys replace everything before getting out the ohmmeter and finding that broken wire. These techs were great back in the day where the customer paid the bill, no questions asked. Management loved them as they were the top producers. With fixed maintenance, we have to pull up our socks and actually diagnose the trucks without just ordering expensive parts and changing everything.
Amazing how many bad connectors, crimps, loose terminals cause most problems. As for my American friends south of the border, they are going through rough times. Not Texas, but most states. I'm 5 mins from New york State, and see new shopping malls boarded up. Talking to many Americans reveals a people that know hard times. We cant imagine what it would be like, as Canadians, or people from the UK, to get very sick and lose everything we have.....just paying hospital bills. We have many Cousins from the USA that were unfortunate to suffer from Cancer. They lost their house, all their savings..just to pay hospital bills. There are more Americans without medical coverage than the whole population of Canada. As Canadians, we owe so much to the Americans. Without them, we might be speaking another language right now!