There are only so many hours in the day, and the hours that most service industry shops are open tend to be fairly standard. However, every business and even every shop location must determine the hours that work best for both customers and employees. There is no one-size-fits-all answer for any particular operator, and even that solution might change throughout the year to adjust to demand.
The Challenge
Seasonal fluctuations—like before the year-end holidays or during the summer months—can dictate an increase or decrease in service hours. Seasonal changes, such as oppressive temperatures or busy holiday schedules, can create more demand or make it difficult to work. Factors including a switch to and from daylight saving time can also affect the number of cars driving into the bays.
For Watsonville, California-based Spee-Dee Oil Change – Midas, the end of daylight saving time and the holiday season is about when Robert Weissberg, owner of the franchise location for 18 years, starts to evaluate shop hours.
He explains that the license often dictates most SpeeDee and Midas location hours, though there is some leeway. Most shops under the franchise, Weissberg says, are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Once it starts getting darker earlier, the shop makes a shift from being open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to closing at 5:30.
"Daylight saving plays a big part of that," Weissberg tells National Oil and Lube News. "Winter means weather conditions."
Getting dark earlier plus busier holiday and year-end schedules signals a drop-off in customers at the end of the day. The hour change isn't automatic. Weissberg and his crew look at a number of factors to determine whether it makes sense to stay open the extra half hour to an hour, or pull the doors down earlier and get back to their own busy lives.
The Solutions
"We look at whatever time from 5 to closing, how many repairs we average, employee cost, average car count per time, and base it off that," Weissberg explains.
"In the beginning, it took some looking at the average employee cost," says Weissberg. "Since the rise in employee salary, it makes sense at cost and how much business is brought in that last hour of the day."
Shop hours at the Westonville business remain ample. In addition to the weekday schedule, the SpeeDee – Midas business is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Sundays, customers can get service between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
"Sunday is our shoulder day," says Weissberg. "On the weekends, we never change those hours. They're already a little shortened, so we’ve never had to adjust our weekend hours."
Weissberg finds it best to stay consistent with opening time, and finds more flexibility with adjusting closing time.
The change to shortening shop hours is "a pretty standard thing in the industry," he says. "There’s usually going to be a drop-off once daylight saving hits.
Of course, if volume stays high and a shop is not seeing a drop-off, Weissberg says it makes sense to continue with longer hours. In his experience, however, Weissberg says the shop starts making the transition to winter hours around the holidays.
The Aftermath
Even small tweaks to the schedule cause ripples, though most are easy to address. It is crucial to make sure that the customer is informed.
For Weissberg, that meant updating the website to note changes in the hours, as well as signage and marketing messages. That will enable customers to adjust their plans on when to visit the shop.
While getting the extra time for errands, family time, or other activities is generally welcome, some employees do notice the drop in their hours when they receive their paycheck.
"I think some [employees] are affected in a positive way, they get to leave early," Weissberg explains. "Some are losing an extra 30 minutes to an hour."
Weissberg says to address this issue with his 16 employees, he rotates who gets to go home early. "We don’t hear a lot of complaints," he says.
Even those customers who don't check the website or just can't get to the shop with time to spare will find they can still get into a bay for service within the last few minutes, despite the shorter hours.
"We have a rule here, if a customer is within 10 minutes of the time of closing, we will bring the customer in," explains Weissberg. "We never refuse a customer."
Closer to five minutes before closing, a customer might be turned away depending on the staff and workload leading up to the last-minute visit.
"We don't really shy away from cars that come in last minute," says Weissberg.
The Takeaway
Even with shorter winter hours, the SpeeDee – Midas location offers plenty of availability for customers. The shop finds that business is cyclical, and customers adapt.
"We do drop off a little," Weissberg says, in terms of car count. "It is a slight decrease in car count once we start closing for the earlier winter hours."
Still, "It's pretty standard that we open at a certain time and close at a certain time," he says. "We don't usually make accommodations.
"There is nothing that affects those hours more than daylight saving and the seasonal time of year for the holidays," says Weissberg. "I don't see anything else that affects that opening and closing time."
Certain regions will find it necessary to make adjustments based on climate, time of day, customer demand, and other factors. Advising shops to look at and calculate the cost of operation when considering earlier or later hours is sound. If employees are standing around on the chance of a last-minute customer rolling into the bay, it can become costly to operate the shop.
Scheduling extra hands during peak hours and paring down the staff toward the end of the day can help maximize employee time and reduce boredom that could ensue if technicians and service writers are waiting for customers who might not come that night. It can be better to bring those valuable employees back fresh to work another day and greet customers during those busy hours.
