Thank you for the kind words.
I agree with Easy M that this is not the exception to the rule. Many companies do it right and probably even better. We can never stop learning and this is the main reason I read the posts completely. I have learned from all of you.
For the ones who don't seem to understand the fact that mechanics need to be treated with respect I challenge you to listen to them. You will gain insight into your customers and have better understanding of the challenges they face in today's world.

When I was a mechanic the two most important things to me were trust and training. I knew that i had to earn the right to get both.
Trust is something that you need to be successful on the road, if you feel like your boss is constantly looking over your shoulder then you should ask yourself if you have earned his trust. If you feel that you should have earned it and don't get it then you may have a bad manager and need to move on. Life is too short to work under the watchful eye of an incompetent manager. Trust me when I say that the best way to weed these guys out is when mechanics leave and it comes down to who they won't work for.

Training is very expensive for a dealership. It cuts into productivity and comes with high costs. BUT IT MUST BE DONE!!!
The worst feeling for any mechanic is to go out on a call that they have no idea what to do to fix the customers problem.
Lets take the cost and look at it from the dealerships perspective.
Mechanics wage Lets use 20.00 an hour for the exercise.
Benefits are 22% of the wage.
Not billing during training, so lets use the recovery rate of 75.00 per hour.
So every hour of training cost the dealership 99.40 per hour
We have 100 mechanics and budget for 40 hours a year for each.
Our budget for 08 is over 400,000.00.
Is it worth it- Yes and yes
I think that dealers that dont commit or offer training are afraid of losing people right after they spend all the money training them. To this I say you need to take a hard look at why they are leaving. A mechanic comes to work for a company looking to find a home; if he leaves then you need to ask why. They dont come to work for you just to get training and leave so look deeper into your service departments and you will find there is some other underlying reason that they are not happy.
Sorry I rambled but to me right now in our trade the training seems to be a hot topic, When you receive it from your dealership let them know that you appreciate it and will do everything in your power to return the investment to the dealer. Remember that any training you receive is yours to keep for the rest of your career. I think online training is great but the hands on practical training I got back in the 70's and 80's is still with me today and I use it all the time to help others.
Dealers need to provide the tools, training and fair wages for the mechanic but without respect and trust they wont stay long.
Mechanics need to provide 8 hours of work for 8 hours of pay and give respect back to the dealership managers who spend all the time making sure that you have a place to work.
Proshadetree:
To answer your question about using GPS as a monitoring tool. No I would never allow it to be used for this. I agree with you that a manager should know if there is a problem and act on it according to many factors and not what GPS says. It is a part of the process but should never be used as big brother or it will not gain you the things from my previous post.
We measure our mechanics on productivity, creativity, customer satisfaction and professionalism. If I have these traits in a mechanic then all the rest falls in line.
Gross profit and dollar contribution should not be a part of any measurement with mechanics. No one is a number and I have never met anyone who liked being one.
Roadrat:
You are right that being a road mechanic takes a special person. Not only do they have to be high caliper mechanics but they have to be good<