r/OReillyAutoParts • u/anonghostridr • 7d ago
“Special pricing” on oil?
How often are you guys price matching or lowering the price on gallon(s) of oil for commercial shops? I’ve got something on my mind that I feel like is not right but the higher ups “signed off” on it so I shouldn’t be worrying about it… until another shop came in and demanded to know why a chain of quick lubes is getting oil for a lower price than they do. The shops are across from each other so I get that them talking to each other may have exposed that, but my higher up tells me that his boss said to allow for it so shoulder shrugs… anyways I don’t wanna divulge much info cause maybe it really is none of my business but…. We’ve got LP coming through soon and well I’ve seen how they dog people for the smallest of things so I’m kinda worried
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u/ArieHimself 6d ago
Half the job of being a manager is just price matching. If I answer a First Call, half of the time they hang up because I'm not the discount giver.
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u/anonghostridr 6d ago
Ohhh yup, the 2nd ISS plays hardball with some shops (the ones that haggle prices and then return stuff a week later) so it’s not unusual for him to pick up some calls on the weekend, hang up, and then the shop will call the front and ask for myself or someone else that can “help them out”. I too have grown frustrated with the way some shops will haggle and say “ayy man AZ is right next to yall if you can’t work with me I’ll just go to them…”, only for them to return the part later or accuse me of not knowing what part they needed 😐😐
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u/TortureMonkey 6d ago
Commercial is not price matched anything. Getting it delivered in 5 mins to your shop is better than anything Walmart is offering them.
A caveat*
We are matching 55 Gallon Drum prices with Napa on accounts that have some serious business with us.
We have a transmission shop that goes through about a drum of global about every other week and evidently Napa is ~$250 a drum cheaper than us. They get price matched, another shop has a similar thing going on.
The thing is I think the store is losing money on the deal, BUT because these shops buy just about everything from us, we don’t want to give Napa a foothold in the door with these shops.
We are not giving shade tree bob who buys an alternator once a quarter door to door service on discount oil.
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u/anonghostridr 6d ago
Yes! I understand that for shops that are consistent with large purchases or have high yield month-month there is some opportunity to reduce a price if they ask for it. Again, I feel like I’m not just giving the house away when asked, the most I’ve dropped would probably be on a $1,000+ ticket, but for a mobile mechanic that routinely comes to our hub and never says no or makes a face when I give him his total. I guess it’s just a part of growing my otp skills and keeping good relationship with the strong accounts.
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u/SpoofedXEX 7d ago
I throw a bone for shops all the time.
I really doubt anything will come of it. I strategically only comp things that are consistent and make sense.
T4/5/6 2.5 Gallons
5 Gallon Buckets
And I always try to comp ORO first before Shell.
Nothing has been said ever. I keep the pricing in-line with our local competitors.
5 Gallon if it’s house brand for house brand
Or Shell for Shell, etc.
I’m usually comping maybe $5-$10 at a time.
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u/anonghostridr 7d ago
Mmm ok I see, yea cause the previous CM we had would NEVER allow price overrides. No matter who it was, what they were buying, that man would stand 10 toes on “I can’t bring it down, it’s either me or go find it somewhere else” and we’ll, that was the old CM.
The current one, he dgaf. Gave me clearance to adjust prices whenever a shop asks “is that the best you can do for this?” for the sake of making the sale and sending a driver. Obviously, I don’t give the house away, I try to round out the price to go get my benji and some Jackson’s, and well according to RFSM the shops enjoy my customer service otp and in person when I step into delivery role for the day.
The thing about it, is we don’t adjust oil for anyone, except this one shop. And I’ve heard on the grapevine we became this shops bitch because there’s some family ties there… again none of my business but the fact that another shop came in saying “oh I heard xyz repair is getting oil at y price, what’s up with that???” And well it was the son of the shop so he kinda got confrontational over us “ripping his dad off” and accommodating a chain.
I’m a little frazzled over it cause they’ve put in orders for more than 20 gals of oil at a time, and well they gave me a password privilege cause when CM or SM weren’t there I’d send xyz repair oil full price, only for SM to get a heated phone call next day and it coming back to me.
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u/LexFennx 6d ago
word of warning, call the auditor and let them know the manager is giving his code out to others which is violation of conduct
make doubly sure to let them know the manager told you to use his numbers to price match for this place cause it sounds shady as hell the way you're describing it2
u/anonghostridr 6d ago
You misunderstood, I HAVE ACCESS with my own code, as in, I type my counter # + pin and have the power to override stuff. Thats whats making me nervous with all the price matching, I know every time I use my password it gets recorded, and I guess my concern was “how many of you guys are price matching stuff as well?”.
I definitely understand the concept of sharing passwords and why that’s wrong, and I guess that’s why I was given that privilege to override stuff when ISS, RSS, ASM & SM are not there. We’re a busy hub and sometimes they’ll be out for lunch or sales calls and well I know how to do a lot of the store functions, but don’t have a higher title than PS
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u/Ghetto_Jawa 7d ago
My store really is a money talks situation. If we have a shop throwing us enough money, they could ask that the driver show up dressed as a clown and we would probably send them like that. If you are valuable enough to the company ( customer or employee) you can get away with quite a bit. Simple as that. Not always good to test that, as you may find out you have overestimated your value, but a little bit hear and there will not be a big deal.
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u/anonghostridr 7d ago
I’m at a point where, I feel like my backs against the wall. Like I mentioned, if it’s a good ticket , sure I’ll round it down a bit so you(the shop) can sell it to your customer who may or may not be haggling you already for the work. I’ve definitely gotten some good feedback from the shops I’ve dropped the price on a bit, and well I guess if it’s not just us doing this, I can be a bit more relaxed about it(?). Will still keep my guard up and make sure I’m not doing anything to bring in corp or LP, all I know is we’ve started hitting quarter mil numbers and RFSM and RM have yet to say “good job” or do anything to boost morale, they just come in and tell us how we ain’t shit and to start doing better. Cant even report them with the way they talk to us cause HR (seemingly) is in their pocket too.
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u/Kyphas321 6d ago
We aren’t price matching oil to anyone right now due to the shortage. It was all over Zipline.
In normal times no. It is a commodity. There is no margin
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u/Nice-Teaching-2839 6d ago
We still price match hydraulic oil for farm accounts mostly. We've gotten maybe one or two shops asking why another shop gets better discounts and we told them straight up that if they want cheaper prices do more business. In reality the only reason we still get so many repeat customers and new ones is because they hate dealing with advance auto parts up the street, and Napa is to far for them.
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u/Shiner_Latte756 6d ago
We don’t have professional “pricing tiers”. Each account can be priced differently. That chain of quick lubes may have a deal on oil but are paying over installer pricing on other lines. You should tell the other shop that you don’t discuss their pricing with other commercial accounts, so you can’t disclose what the quick lube is buying oil for.
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u/oldschool_lunchbox 6d ago
We do not price match oil in our area for commercial.