RV Quality - Dealers Weigh In

[fudge_brownie]

This article is an interesting take from a dealers roundtable. The gist is that what is currently being produced in the Indiana factories is of terrible quality.

https://www.rvtravel.com/pathetic-qu...oducing-1017b/

Weigh in. Act surprised.

[cpaharley2008]

Another reason to go to Escape in Canada........

[Bobbie54]

Yet they are completely willing to sell it.. and make money, and don't tell the buyers about likely problems with getting service.

[Chotch]

🤔A sad commentary on our times is a lack of accountability. It seems that our world today is fighting tooth and nail for your “right” to spew whatever lie you wish to spread. It’s up to each of us to do our own research into what ever you intend to buy. If what the salesman told you is the limit of your research, you will probably be very sorry..

[Chotch]

Anyone interested in the quality of many new RVs, go on the Forest River forum. It seems that many on the forum think that things like the fresh water tanks falling out is not a serious issue, just travel with tank empty. 😆
If the consumer continues to accept junk, then that’s what they’ll get.

[rubicon327]

How can any company expect to build something decent when their labor force behaves like this? I say fire them all and hire people that actually want to work and take pride in what they do.

...He cited one manufacturer who admitted that he usually has no idea what his workforce will look like from week to week. “He said on Mondays, he never knows who is going to show up.”

[yangstyle]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

How can any company expect to build something decent when their labor force behaves like this? I say fire them all and hire people that actually want to work and take pride in what they do.

...He cited one manufacturer who admitted that he usually has no idea what his workforce will look like from week to week. “He said on Mondays, he never knows who is going to show up.”

From what I understand a lot of the workers on assembly lines for stick builds get paid piece work. They get paid the same $ if the job takes them 20 minutes or 1 hour which is part of the problem IMO. The faster they go the more $ they make.

[cpaharley2008]

I remember the saying, "Never buy an automobile made on a Monday" as the substitute person is more apt to make a mistake.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by yangstyle

They get paid the same $ if the job takes them 20 minutes or 1 hour which is part of the problem IMO. The faster they go the more $ they make.

How are they paid? What you wrote seems contradictory.

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

How are they paid? What you wrote seems contradictory.

What is stated is the more product you push out the door the more money you make. This can easily cause a $$ motivated individual to cut a few corners. Not sure that’s how they’re paid but maybe. Obviously the QC would also have to be sorely lacking or non existent to allow all the substandard stuff to leave the shop. A lot of years ago I worked flat rate, if you could beat the times you definitely increase your pay check. The thing that made this work was if the job bounced you basically did it again on your own time. Personally it worked great for me, not only made a decent living, it kept me on my toes as working for free never made much sense.

[ATHiker]

It seems that the RV manufacturers in their pursuit of profit have failed to provide a suitable environment or well trained employees to produce a quality product.............

[Steven M]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

How are they paid? What you wrote seems contradictory.

It's called piece work. Tailors and seamstresses in clothing industry used to get paid by how many pieces of clothing they could sew.


I had a friend who owned a body shop, if a job was "booked at 5 hours and the body man did it in 4, he got paid for 5 hours. The reverse held true if it took him longer he only got paid for 5 hours.

[Craiger]

This quality problem goes throughout American manufacturing. When we changed over from either sales or manufacturing lead company, to the MBA model of finances first. The cheaper you make it, the cheaper and the lower quality of workers you get the more profitable the Corporation and the stockholders return on investment is. What the Corporation cares about is definitely not the customer, you see this model throughout the RV industry. When you take a look at the mobile home industry or manufactured home industry its profitability first customers are at the bottom.

[WillyB]

How many times have you seen a team of great players (College/Pro/Basketball/Football/Hockey) not perform to the "expectation" because of a bad coach?

[UncleTim]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

How are they paid?

Well I can give you an idea that might help. This is what happened in the 80's, when I was working in Elkhart to get thru school.

Mind you, most of these workers are blue collar, most are not skilled labor. Some are. Most punch a time clock.

They quit paying workers in the morning on Friday's because about 15% didn't come back after lunch. Turn over was constant and you could walk down to Holiday Rambler (or from) and get a job any time you wanted. Until the whole bunch caught on to you, then nothing. Most people drank beer at lunch on Fridays. Our favorite bar was called Hinies. Right next to the saw mill I worked in.

I ate many a Hinie Burger with a couple of longnecks for lunch.

Being brought up on the wrong side of the tracks, I have seen this play out over lifetimes. Maybe it's better now, I kind of doubt it from the stories I keep hearing.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by UncleTim

Well I can give you an idea that might help. This is what happened in the 80's, when I was working in Elkhart to get thru school.

Mind you, most of these workers are blue collar, most are not skilled labor. Some are. Most punch a time clock.

They quit paying workers in the morning on Friday's because about 15% didn't come back after lunch. Turn over was constant and you could walk down to Holiday Rambler (or from) and get a job any time you wanted. Until the whole bunch caught on to you, then nothing. Most people drank beer at lunch on Fridays. Our favorite bar was called Hinies. Right next to the saw mill I worked in.

I ate many a Hinie Burger with a couple of longnecks for lunch.

Being brought up on the wrong side of the tracks, I have seen this play out over lifetimes. Maybe it's better now, I kind of doubt it from the stories I keep hearing.

And it's not just Elkhart. From what I heard when growing up, your story bears some similarities to the auto industry in Michigan during the '60s and '70s (but their union-negotiated pay and benefits kept them coming back, even if they did come back hung over on Mondays).


Heck, my dad was a low-end supervisor in the Chrysler tank plant during WWII. So many of those employees would disappear in the middle of the day and go take a nap, or a nip, or both. His eventual stomach ulcer may have partially come from the stress of trying to motivate the lazy bums. And during wartime, no less.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by UncleTim

Well I can give you an idea that might help. This is what happened in the 80's, when I was working in Elkhart to get thru school.

Mind you, most of these workers are blue collar, most are not skilled labor. Some are. Most punch a time clock.

They quit paying workers in the morning on Friday's because about 15% didn't come back after lunch. Turn over was constant and you could walk down to Holiday Rambler (or from) and get a job any time you wanted. Until the whole bunch caught on to you, then nothing. Most people drank beer at lunch on Fridays. Our favorite bar was called Hinies. Right next to the saw mill I worked in.

I ate many a Hinie Burger with a couple of longnecks for lunch.

Being brought up on the wrong side of the tracks, I have seen this play out over lifetimes. Maybe it's better now, I kind of doubt it from the stories I keep hearing.

Wow. Sounds like the supervisors have their hands full!

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by Mike G

And it's not just Elkhart. From what I heard when growing up, your story bears some similarities to the auto industry in Michigan during the '60s and '70s (but their union-negotiated pay and benefits kept them coming back, even if they did come back hung over on Mondays).


Heck, my dad was a low-end supervisor in the Chrysler tank plant during WWII. So many of those employees would disappear in the middle of the day and go take a nap, or a nip, or both. His eventual stomach ulcer may have partially come from the stress of trying to motivate the lazy bums. And during wartime, no less.

The behavior is not perfectly defensible, but there is at least some mitigation. Assembly line work, especially in the 60's and 70's, was mind-deadeningly boring. I think a lot of people have not really thought about what it's like for a person to stand there and repeat a simple task over and over for 8 hours a day for 30 years.


To get a little perspective from a guy with all kinds of problems, try reading Ben Hamper's book Rivethead.

[cpaharley2008]

I had a relative that worked in a brewery years ago. It was almost required that you drink their product during your lunchtime......

[MyronL]

I had a summer job working in the Pabst Brewery (supply room, 4th floor, Newark) and our two breaks a day were beer breaks. The electricians rode the freight elevator up, bringing the beer, and the lunchroom had nothing but free beer, on tap, or in bottles, all freshly made, and it was like nectar. I absolutely never saw anyone drunk.