WMU Broncos

Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
Why go to college, be a locksmith
Author Message
Chipdip2 Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 9,663
Joined: May 2007
Reputation: 64
I Root For: America
Location: Planet Earth
Post: #1
Why go to college, be a locksmith
I had a young kid out today to put in a deadbolt and a programable dead bolt as well as put new locks in a couple of doors that weren't working smoothly. I have concerns that if their was a fire my daughter would have a tough time getting the deadbolts unlocked, and I also want her to be able to get in the house if for some reason we couldnt make it home before she got off the bus.

Anyway, the kid is about 27, it's his business and he's working 7 days a week. He does mostly corporate jobs (lock changes, security doors and locks, and such). He has another guy who does most of the residential, but he did ours so the kid could have a day off.

My bill was around four hundred for about four hours work. He did lock changes at a friend of mines house (half dozen locks, $20 per lock) and it took about an hour and a half, mostly just labor, few materials required.

The guy who services my furnace and air is busy all the time. He's a word of mouth operation.

I have a nephew who was a BMW mechanic in Chicago. He grew up on a farm and wants to return to farming. He bought a house across from the lake where my inlaws live, put up a pole barn where he does car repairs. Works the family farm, and between farming and chores he does auto repairs (mostly Chicago people who summer on the lake). He has to turn customers away.

Point being, there are a lot of service occupations that go begging. Some are harder to get an appointment with than with my doctor.

Four year colleges need to tap in to this market. Combine entrepreneurship with training in the specific skill. Welding, auto mechanics, heating and air, body work, and various areas of the construction and home improvement industry. Community college and trade schools have done a good job, but I think a four year school could take some of the "blue collar" perception off these fields, and teach the business aspect that a lot of trade school kids are never taught.

Granted there are people out there, but a lot of them are shady operations, and the people running them don't have the people skills to market their product.
(This post was last modified: 08-02-2014 08:43 PM by Chipdip2.)
08-02-2014 08:38 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


bronco47 Offline
Bench Warmer
*

Posts: 142
Joined: Apr 2014
Reputation: 9
I Root For: wmu
Location:
Post: #2
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
Agree. Many of the hands on jobs a person can make a very decent living. Keep in mind, some of these jobs take more skill and brains than you might imagine. Car repair, HVAC work, electrical are skilled trades. You need some smarts, but also coordinated and physical strength, stamina, etc.

Many people just don't want to get their hands dirty and are afraid they won't get the level of respect they want.

Yup, some of this could be 4 year stuff, moving a carpenter more into the residential builder category for instance combining the building details with some design, marketing, accounting classes.
08-03-2014 06:35 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
MajorHoople Offline
Hall of Famer
*

Posts: 14,245
Joined: Apr 2007
Reputation: 176
I Root For: WMU Broncos
Location: Waldo, Read, Hyames
Post: #3
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
Naah, according to the politicians we have to get each kid ready with enough Math and Science classes to work at NASA, in U-M Hospital, or Silicon Valley, even if their brains don't work that way, have talents in other areas (such as above), or just plain don't want to.

And if we don't - schools have failed. Baaad teachers.
08-03-2014 03:53 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Chipdip2 Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 9,663
Joined: May 2007
Reputation: 64
I Root For: America
Location: Planet Earth
Post: #4
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
(08-03-2014 03:53 PM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Naah, according to the politicians we have to get each kid ready with enough Math and Science classes to work at NASA, in U-M Hospital, or Silicon Valley, even if their brains don't work that way, have talents in other areas (such as above), or just plain don't want to.

And if we don't - schools have failed. Baaad teachers.

That's pretty much the mantra of our superintendent. "We have the Kalamazoo Promise, therefore 75% of our HS students should be taking AP classes to prepare for university. " And he wonders why half the freshmen class has dropped out before their class graduates. Couldn't be his brainless policies, must be the bad teachers.

A lot of struggling students have done very well in the culinary arts, but let's steer kids to be English majors and get advanced degrees in Women's studies. Bobby Flay dropped out of school and went to culinary school. Apparently he followed his desires rather than designed road that the know it alls have created.
(This post was last modified: 08-03-2014 04:31 PM by Chipdip2.)
08-03-2014 04:24 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Charm City Bronco Offline
Fights for Justice
*

Posts: 5,201
Joined: Jun 2010
Reputation: 46
I Root For: WMU
Location: 20011
Post: #5
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
CD, not to detract from your original take, which I agree with, but couldn't change the locks yourself?
08-03-2014 06:06 PM
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Chipdip2 Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 9,663
Joined: May 2007
Reputation: 64
I Root For: America
Location: Planet Earth
Post: #6
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
(08-03-2014 06:06 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote:  CD, not to detract from your original take, which I agree with, but couldn't change the locks yourself?

I could. But this house is pretty new construction. The doors are steel and it's one of those deals that having the proper equipment for the job is the key. It's a one shot deal. You screw up the deadbolt hole and your talking a new door.

Furthermore I have no experience in rekeying doors. Labor was $90 and he was there for 4 hours. The programable lock alone cost $200. For 90 bucks labor I'll leave it to the professionals. If I'm replacing a door handle, that's another story.
08-03-2014 08:50 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Liam9903 Offline
Field Marshal
*

Posts: 4,722
Joined: Jul 2006
Reputation: 82
I Root For: WesternMichigan
Location: Lake Michigan
Post: #7
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
(08-03-2014 06:35 AM)bronco47 Wrote:  Agree. Many of the hands on jobs a person can make a very decent living. Keep in mind, some of these jobs take more skill and brains than you might imagine. Car repair, HVAC work, electrical are skilled trades. You need some smarts, but also coordinated and physical strength, stamina, etc.

Many people just don't want to get their hands dirty and are afraid they won't get the level of respect they want.

Yup, some of this could be 4 year stuff, moving a carpenter more into the residential builder category for instance combining the building details with some design, marketing, accounting classes.

Isn't this what community colleges do? Tech and trade skills plus gen ed and business classes.
08-04-2014 08:38 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Chipdip2 Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 9,663
Joined: May 2007
Reputation: 64
I Root For: America
Location: Planet Earth
Post: #8
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
(08-04-2014 08:38 AM)Liam9903 Wrote:  
(08-03-2014 06:35 AM)bronco47 Wrote:  Agree. Many of the hands on jobs a person can make a very decent living. Keep in mind, some of these jobs take more skill and brains than you might imagine. Car repair, HVAC work, electrical are skilled trades. You need some smarts, but also coordinated and physical strength, stamina, etc.

Many people just don't want to get their hands dirty and are afraid they won't get the level of respect they want.

Yup, some of this could be 4 year stuff, moving a carpenter more into the residential builder category for instance combining the building details with some design, marketing, accounting classes.

Isn't this what community colleges do? Tech and trade skills plus gen ed and business classes.

Yeah, they do the tech side, but not so much the marketing and biz side of it.

My son had one business class in dental school that dealt with the financial end of it. A lot of his classmates took lower paying jobs with counties and national chains (Aspen Dental) or associated, because they weren't comfortable with the financial side of the business.
08-04-2014 11:35 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
ghost bronco Offline
Banned

Posts: 510
Joined: Aug 2013
I Root For: WMU
Location: Portage, MI
Post: #9
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
Its an interesting idea. It probably wouldn't look that different than intro business classes though so it would be a tough fit for a 4 yr college since business as a major already exists. I would suggest offering an entrepreneurial track for professional graduate degrees and some alternative business oriented cirriculum that could be subbed for liberal arts gen eds while pursuing a technically oriented associates degree. Maybe I'm not seeing the fit but the locksmith, welder, mechanic, etc... doesn't need a bachelor's and the psychiatrist, dentist, architect, etc... needs to have a graduate degree.
08-04-2014 12:05 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Chipdip2 Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 9,663
Joined: May 2007
Reputation: 64
I Root For: America
Location: Planet Earth
Post: #10
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
(08-04-2014 12:05 PM)ghost bronco Wrote:  Its an interesting idea. It probably wouldn't look that different than intro business classes though so it would be a tough fit for a 4 yr college since business as a major already exists. I would suggest offering an entrepreneurial track for professional graduate degrees and some alternative business oriented cirriculum that could be subbed for liberal arts gen eds while pursuing a technically oriented associates degree. Maybe I'm not seeing the fit but the locksmith, welder, mechanic, etc... doesn't need a bachelor's and the psychiatrist, dentist, architect, etc... needs to have a graduate degree.

I used to mentor some students in the food distribution program. I think it's now a food distribution and marketing major. Being an auto mechanic seems way more difficult to learn, but that's just me I guess.

I would think a major in the skill with an entrepreneurship minor would be very marketable. I don't no if the aviation school teaches prop jet and jet engine maintainance, but with a huge private jet maintainance company right at the BC airport I would think it would be a natural.
08-04-2014 01:21 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Whinny1 Offline
All American
*

Posts: 4,973
Joined: Jan 2007
Reputation: 88
I Root For: WMU and Iowa
Location: Hell in a handbasket
Post: #11
RE: Why go to college, be a locksmith
I think you're right on, 'Dip. There's another skilled trade that is in high demand, and can pretty much charge whatever they want, because competent workers are so few and far between. I'm talking clock repair ... especially antique clocks. If you're lucky enough to find one, chances are he'll be older than Mr. Whinny. The last time I could afford to have my two old family clocks looked at, (probably about 20 years ago), the going rate was $150 just to examine a clock and clean the inner workings. The price for parts and repair went up from there. It was worth it, BTW. Not a bad job, if you ask me. Interesting work, not a whole lot of stress, and the chance to make sick old clocks as good as new again. The main problem is that so many of the clock experts have died without passing on the secrets of the trade. It's really a lost - and, unfortunately, dying art.
08-09-2014 06:37 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.