How to Deal with Walk-In Customers? | Machine Shop Talk Ep. 2
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Do you accept walk-in customers? In episode two of #MachineShop Talk, Ian Sandusky from Lakewood Machine explains how to deal with different types of walk-in customers.
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I had a guy sent to me by a friend, he had a printing business and he came in with a broken shaft from a press... he needed a replacement FAST as the ink was gonna dry up in the machine if he didnt get it running again in a hurry...
This was a saturday morning, I told him to stop panicking and go down the road to a local coffee shop, buy a newspaper and come back in an hour....
I broke down the existing setup I had been running on the lathe and turned the part, cut a couple of woodruff keyways and drilled and tapped each end... job done...
He arrived back and I handed it to him and said €40... he looked at me and actually said "for an hours work ?... I'll give you €20.... " 🤨
I snatched the part from his hand and told him to get da fuq outta my shop and never come back... where else would he have gotten the equivilant of a "machining drive-thru" ??
He backed down and offered me the full price but I told him to get out, the cheek of this guy !! 😂
I rang my friend and told him to not send any more "customers" ... he thought it was hilarious... 🙄😑
Amazing how people in such positions think they can haggle... I bet he didn't try to haggle in the coffee shop... 😒
My shop doesn’t deal with walk ins, however personally I get a lot of friends and family always wanting me to make something for them. I’ve been in school for a little over a year so I’m still very green, I do however look forward to the challenges, and can’t wait to have the confidence and skills to tell someone yeah I can make that !
Walk in are easy NO lol
Great advice. We don't see a lot of walk ins. We're kinda off the beaten path. Not a lot of traffic. When it happens, we like to direct them to a smaller mom and pop shop that may be more apt to accommodate them. Thanks for the video.
Giving a couple minutes just to hear what they need can be very good because even if you don't end up doing their job you will create a good word for yourself that may make other people more likely to come to your shop
I've been the walk-in customer before. Often when working remote industrial jobs and needing something immediately. Those shops that helped out earned the plant's future work for years to come.
I am still a student in machining, but we often get some people from our school that request some parts to be fixed or made. These parts are usually very small and not hard to reproduce but i get that if some people walk into a real machine shop they expect things to be cheap and produced very quickly. This gave me a good example of what to expect when i go to work and maybe deal with these people!! Keep it up with the videos i like them a lot. Moreno Habets!!
I used to be nice to all customers, big or small or self important. Recently, I’ve been following my gut and I’m way happier. Sometimes refusing to work with someone is better for your mental health.
Amen !
I think for a shop that just does production runs walk in customers are a big hassle, on the other hand for a job shop it might generate more work and good word of mouth.
Machine shops perform a critical part in many long-term builds/projects and it seems shortsighted to just walk in. That said, they can still be directed to the right way to go about the process going in. Your take is enlightening, Ian.
For walk in customers with small, yet interesting projects, we sometimes charge them a couple dozen donuts to be delivered the next day...
A treat for everyone. Everyone has a smile at the end of the day!
Dude nice, stoked to see this guy making videos again
My response to walk-in customers is simple: point them towards my boss 😂
Me too😂
I will “take” a walk in but by the time they hear the shop rate and have to get in line I rarely hear back from them
Walk ins are definitely a rarity in our shop but, we do get those customers from time to time. Great advice 👍🏼
I have a few of them but not many. I got a minimum fee and I always tell them that if you can buy it IT WILL be cheaper than if I make it.
I have always worked in an aerospace shop so I didn’t even know walk-in customers were a thing
I would start with your basic shop rate. Say $75/hr for a VF2. Then do a quick ball park estimate of the time to get an idea of what to charge. And then ask what a replacement from the manufacturer would cost. Ever been asked what you would charge to make an internally splined shaft with an integral helical gear? Hardened and ground of course. And then explain why $400 for that part is a bargain from the OEM.
Working at a job shop myself I know how difficult some customers especially local walk in ones can be.
If you don't load your shop fully, you can handle walk in custgomers without upsetting everything.
Tired of dealing with most machine shops in my area as a walk in customer... I've used plenty of blueprints over the years and can engineer parts if necessary. Last time really got me ticked off when all I needed was 10 round washers made 3" od 1/2" Id 3/8" thick tolerance of +/- .125" in any of the three dimensions in 6061. Cost was not important and time was anything less than 7 days. Kept getting told that it would be too costly to make without even being able to get costs. After way too much screwing around calling, emailing finally found a guy who was willing to make these for my project for 800 bucks...way cheaper than I could produce them for. And in return I was able to set him up with the next project worth 10 grand... in my line of work I speak to everyone, because even if that one person which may not generate much revenue, it generates much more by the word of mouth. And who knows, maybe the old dude that needed a part made for his lawn mower may have a son who owns a fortune 500 company that may require services that could set ya up for life... never can tell
$800 for ten plain ol' one-hole-in-the-middle, aluminum washers?? Shop time must be REALLY expensive in your area.
It’s great for me when the big shops turn away the walk-ins, those jobs are all gravy for my little shop 😁😁
Why is getting a machine shop to call you back such a pain. They all must have more business than they can handle
Good question! It really depends what you’re looking for - I’d say the biggest issue I often see is guys off the street looking to get one part made trying to get a quote from a huge production shop - they just don’t have the time unfortunately! I’d recommend checking out small local shops, they tend to have the best availability and shouldn’t jerk you around - best of luck!
You need to sit in my shop and say no all day for me.
Not too much large quantity production at the shop we take a few walk ins. Always some guy trying to get an engine bored out tho haha.
Normally with the walkins the job shop i work in recieves the boss offests between time and money, one against the other, typically the walk-ins we deal with want the part yesterday, and we tell them it just isn't possible and give ourselves a big time barrier, the part may take only and hour to make, but I don't know when I'll find that hour, so that results in one of 3 results, :
1.They walk away say thanks for looking at it, and that's that.
2. They are happy to agree to the time agreed to get it done by and a reasonable price is agreed, and everything is hunky dory.
3. They suggest silly money to make their Job a priority and we stop the first machine to become free and crack on with it.
For us all 3 results are a win. With compromise in each
No time, no Job
Plenty time ,respectable price.
No time, Job done, good money.
We are yet to receive a Unicorn walk-in, but I look forward to the day!
Walk-in customers often bring the simplest parts and are the quickest to deal with. Thus making their parts the most rewarding. However, I work in a small shop with low production runs. I do it if i can, or I try to at least tell them where they can go to find what they need.
Living in a small town, plenty of stuff is walk in. Might be more nature of the beast for my location than it is for a lot of you guys. I have a posted sign, "Half hour minimum charge on walk in jobs." If it's for a senior, or someone in need, I'll do it for free or beer ;) The reality is, I still make a lot of money and I really value helping people out when they need it.
Pointing people in the right direction is best. Joe six pack doesn't know what kind of machine shop you are
Being someone in the maintenance trade, I think you hit the nail on the head with our type of needs. I actually found a shop I deal with for one off jobs or repair work from a referral from a production shop such as yours. Networking is critical among trades. Shops being honest and polite can definitely bring work around at a later date if they can’t fix what you have now but that company may need to outsource something later. Good video!
Been a machinist for 9 years, and my dream to open up a shop so this video is great reference for the future!
Having worked in both production and educational shops, walk-ins can be annoying. Best thing to do is be patient and offer them the best you can do at the time.
I work in a large shop and don’t have to worry about this. Interesting topic thanks for the info. Helps me understand my trade better.
I have a job shop, small to medium production not maintenance shop. I can relate to No 1 and No 2 weekly basis. I can add No 4 to the list. It's the person who has an Idea only. They think can skip over design, engineering, prints, cad drawings and go to machining a part because they watched a RUclips video. Then you tell them the cost to engineer there ( ' Idea " ) they get rude and nasty and walk out.
I run into these people all the time. Sometimes it's fun when you get the right person and project, but most of the time it's the absolute worst.
Most of the walk ins I just try to convince them to buy an off the shelf part. That and i just have a minimum charge. For me it's an hr of shop time Which is enough to get rid of most of them.
Great topic. I agree with your approach to dealing with the customer, it doesn't hurt to hear them out and if you can't help them you may be able to point them in the right direction, you never know when you may be in the same boat and need help.
Do a video on how you started and on advice how to open a machineshop with maybe one small machine or a hobby machine
I am generally on the walk in side of things. I also generally know what I'm asking for. My biggest thing is treat me like a human, and if you can't do the work then let me know. If you can suggest someone else who is more geared to small jobs then great.
For us little guys (more like your neighbor than a production shop) I love walk ins for 2 reasons. 1) it helps me get out of my comfort zone and use/learn some skills or fixturing techniques I don't normally use. 2) Usually the job ends up resulting in some extra tooling or fixturing at the expense of the customer that I can save/use later. There is a machinist for every job!
Just subscribed,nice channel.I have been in the trade for forty three yrs.
At the shop I used to work at, one off jobs were usually done on just a Bridgeport Manual mill just to prevent it from pulling contracted jobs off one of our cnc tables. I thought it worked out pretty well!
Its hard to find time to "have a chat" but as you say its a good idea just to listen to some walk in and be courteous.
"Common courtesy costs nothing but may gain you the world"
Think it would be interesting to work in a shop that would allow for such things. Just about to start my first machinist job, too bad it won't be filled with customers who don't know what they're talking about.
Good advice. It's easy to understand why this is potentially a difficult problem. I like to help people but walk-ins can be a lot of trouble.
We begrudgingly accept SOME walk-ins, probably becuase of the mind set of not wanting to turn away business. But in the end you aren't doing yourself or the walk in guy any favors. Great points.
Im in school for machining right now and I also work at a shop as just an extra set of hands for the time being. But i love walk in customers because Im able to show off our capabilities and how amazing the other guys are.
Being mostly contract work we don’t really deal with walk in customers. I guess we should be grateful.
I find walk in customers are less concerned about price, and are a little more willing to just get the job started. Not that I would take advantage of someones situation, but my fees can be less competitive than an online quote. That's why I like walk in customers at least
Great advice. There’s nothing to gain by being rude or condescending to someone looking for help.
I’m just a hobby machinist so every customer is a walk in. If they don’t pay are they still considered customers? 😄
Walk in customers are generally not accepted in our shop. Years ago, I would try to be sympathetic and accommodate local farmers that had breakdowns . But I found that most tended to be impatient , expecting me to drop everything and take care of them while they waited and then complain about the cost. I ended up politely saying that all our machines are tied up with production work and they'd be better off going somewhere else.
Had someone ask me to quote a bracket with no print. Right there, red flag, no way. It was a bracket to hold a seat belt in a racecar. Heck NO!! Liability thru the roof. Ran from that one. But did help him find a supplier.
As a very part time machinist, so far I have exclusively dealt with “walk in” customers. Really they tend to be people that know that I have a shop and ask me to run a few parts or fix something. Once I’m ready to go full time it will be production jobs only.
Hi my names colton I'm 17, I've been a machinist for 2 years now, going to my career center for machining was the best decision I ever made. And I JUST GOT MY FIRST MACHINING JOB BECAUSE OF IT.😁
cool man, I started at 17 as well, took machine shop in long term vocational when they were offering it in the seventies early eighties
Good advice but any customer is a good customer as long as respect what you do and the prices you charge.
Seems logical. Interesting hearing about this for the other end, being a 1st year apprentice, can't wait to tackle it first hand... Might not be any time soon though🤔
No walk ins here, big company, machinist shop floor ✌
If they flash cash up front, yeah.
I always tell them to give me their card and I'll pass it along. Then toss it in the trash when they leave.
Savage
Walk in customers are both good and bad in my opinion. Usually the cost of time to tool up a custom job isn’t worth it. But it also poses real world challenges. And the more oddball challenges a machinist can solve, the easier future problems become.
If I ran a machine shop I would only accept walk in jobs that were prepared to show me what has to be done and how they need to done.
I work as a maintenance machinist at a large aerospace company. Everyone of my customers is a walk in customer. Some far more knowledgeable about machining than others. I handle each person differently most people come in with a polite attitude and I explain if I can or can not reverse engineer and remake or repair a broken part off a machine in a faster or more timely manner than waiting for a machine manufacturer to reproduce one, my biggest piece of advice is to seriously just be polite. If something is just not realistic or possible in the time frame they are asking for it in, just be polite about it and if they don’t understand and want to throw a fit, then there is no skin off of your back. And they’ll end up looking ignorant in the end and hopefully regret and apologize for their actions.
I've been machining for 9 years now I see and have dealt with all 3 guys but its typically the first 2 my boss normally has them talk to me so depending on how busy I already am and the complexity of what they want is if we will take it on if I don't want to mess with it we will send them to a place that will now if we do take on the job depending on if it's your average joe walking in with minimum machine time then we dont usually charge them much we try to help the little guy out not many places will do that now say someone comes in with some serious machine time we will quote and charge them accordingly with normal rates
Interesting to hear the shop perspective. As a hobbyist I appreciate shops who atleast give me a genuine response, even if it's a "no".
With the corona virus stuff we've stopped having any customers walk in...
Being an engine machinist/builder the customers can be the worst, I'm glad I'm not in the front line of customer service in the shop
I don’t really deal with Walk in customers at the shop I work at. We have medical and government contracts so general public can’t just walk into the shop. However I use to work at a little job shop and more times then not it would be a waste of time but every once in a while we’d get a interesting part that was fun to work on.
I work in an aerospace/defense shop, and it’s hilarious what people think we will take on for jobs. We had a guy come in and ask us to make a yo-yo!
I worked in a "job shop" for a period of time and there were plenty of walk ins. It made the job interesting based on some of the jobs that came in. But, I also believe it depends on the type of shop. In my current shop, I have 0 contact with customers.
Always a challenge
I would agree with you in “walk in customers is a hard, NO”
This guy nailed it. Take 5 minutes out of your day and help someone out. Even if it’s just educating them. It will always come back to you in a good way. Whether it’s sending him into another shop that likes that kind of work, informing a new part will be cheaper, or maybe it will turn out to be a good job. And never judge a book by its cover.
Right on. It's part of the cost of doing business. I run a commercial print shop, not too big, not too small. I talk to all of them but I'm clear about my labor rate and I'm clear about when the clock will start ticking. I also have a good relationship with my competitors, larger and smaller, so I can make referrals when appropriate. Not afraid to say "I can't help you" , but clear communication though signage and whatnot keeps the tire-kicking to a minimum. I need to get paid for my labor as well as my time, but knowing how to turn away work that doesn't fit in a way that keeps the door open yet doesn't bog you down is not the waste of time it sometimes feels like when you're getting interrupted.
I dont get walk-in customers, the closest i get to its when i am asked to make a special rework or modification, and in my experience, delivering a new solution to an inusual application is the most rewarding of all the technical support i give.
Talk about the reputation aspect, absolutely, small town, my mistake was only when I was an apprentice or shortly there after. owed a house in a small town that I cannot work in, I literally have to drive an hour each way because of the reputation even of which I was an apprentice in. Slowly changing now, doing work for the farmers finally in this area. Love your videos Ian.
I have a few type 1s good people but think CNCs are magical devices
Never had a walk-in customer.... but now I know what to look out for😁
The way i deal with walk in customers is by directing them to the shop foreman
I've owned a custom cabinet shop for 25 years and the walk-in customers were always a waste of my time.
We always try to be nice, but make them realize the time and money associated with that part.
you are the best . followed here and instagram too
Easiest way to deal with them is to not deal with em
I’m too far in the woods for walk ins!
Good business plan, none of your time will be wasted so you can spend it on you're good repeating customers
Great discussion. I especially like like the end part about shop security.
So far I've had no luck with those "customers" or jobs, I've only been asked for quotes, and people don't get back to me, maybe I'm over quoting them? It would be a good topic for the next video, on how to give fair prices, and still make a buck on it. I'm starting my workshop and it's been hard for me to get advise on that topic.
Walk in customers also have selective listening especially for time and quoted price.
Except one customer who keeps asking us to make him a perpetual motion generator Walk in customers have been great for us we have small production runs we can fit them in between jobs and the all ways come back with more work, as a new business they have been invaluable. Sentinel cnc uk
Imagine how bad you’ll feel he whent somewhere else and it worked 😂 lol
Working in a larger production shop makes me thankful for not having to deal with "walk-in" customers like you would at job shops or even smaller production shops.
Love walk-ins wanting just a bore or od turned. Easy money.
Accept the challenge and make some $$
For a production shop, a 'hard no' response makes a lot of sense. Refer walk-in 'civilian' customers to the hobbyist machinists who are happy to do the little one-off jobs.
Just finished my degree for precision machining would love any advice that could be given thanks !
If the fit is good we'll do them for bills ( COD ) otherwise we refer them to a neighbourhood shop that can
Always got a good laugh out of walk-ins
When a customer walks in and they know nothing about machining it's just too hard not to laugh I think everyone has experienced this a some point.
I agree with the "hard no" policy for the majority of walk ins haha there is exceptions every so often
I guess I'm a day late and a dollar short, the story of my life. I was working in a shop 25 years ago, myself and another guy at night, and some guy came in and needed some holes drilled in some angle iron, and a couple of welds, a 20 minute job, at most. I did it, quick and dirty, he asked how much he owed me, i said, "Just take it, send us some real work." Turns out he outfitted the fixtures of a nationwide chain of hardware stores, he came back and got a quote on some garden fixturing and that turned into a 5 year plus job for the shop. I didn't get a fuckin' nickel from that cheap bastard, he should have given me a bonus. He sent his kids to college on that job.
Do you ever get an odd one off that’s too interesting or challenging to pass up?
I’ve been on both sides of this and was treated like garbage for asking someone to face mill an obsolete manifold. He said he was scared that he might screw it up. Knowing what I know now, he was either lying to avoid my business or not a very talented machinist.
A manifold is usually very difficult to hang on to and get dialed in without proper fixtures.
I did originally set up my shop as partly for walk in customers.
But as time has gone on i start to think about the time i both spend with the customer and the time it takes to do the job.
I have a bad habit of doing things right ??
Even if that means taking a hit on hourly rate.
The thing is most walk in work is usually very time consuming.
One off jobs i enjoy doing.
But the time as most of us know is quickly eaten up to make or repair a single part.
If this happens to many times in one week you start to see your income drop to almost as much as working for someone else.
Then you start to ask yourself is it worth running a shop at all ??
Taking on walk ins depends on shop size. Bigger shops will probably lose money if they do a one off part for a walk in. Smaller shops that are trying to get their feet on the ground rely on walk-ins, but I’m sure it’s different for everyone.