Stopped by the old Mack yard in Allentown and it felt like a ghost town

I was there last week looking for a specific part for an old R model and the place was almost empty. They used to have a dozen guys in the bays and a parts counter you had to wait in line for. Now it's just two techs and everything is ordered online. The old foreman, Jerry, said they just don't get the young guys wanting to learn the mechanical stuff anymore. Anyone else seen their local shops shrink down like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica7072mo ago

Yeah that line about no young guys wanting to learn the mechanical stuff hits hard. My local place is the same, just a skeleton crew now. It's all about ordering parts online and swapping stuff out, nobody really fixes anything deep down anymore. Makes you wonder where all the old school knowledge goes when those guys retire.

craig.alex2mo ago

Seriously, it's like losing a whole library.

phoenix_lewis2mo ago

It just becomes a ghost story for the next generation. "Back in my day, we used to actually rebuild carburetors!" and the kids will stare like it's a fairy tale. The real bummer is when that last guy clocks out, it's not just him leaving, it's like a whole chapter of how things work getting deleted. All that knowledge turns into a pile of service manuals nobody can read anymore. We're basically watching a trade turn into a lost art, and all we can do is order the whole new assembly from a website.