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NOLN @  twenty-five yeas ~ secial coeoatie eate

 T he nature o our world is that thingschange over the course o time,sometimes dramatically. Te ast lube

industry, like any other, is not immune tochange, and during the past quarter-cen-tury we at National Oil & Lube News havecharted quite a ew changes in the industry (besides just hairstyles!).

Tere are, however, certain things that havechanged little, i at all. Tat’s why when welook back over the course the industry hastaken these past 25 years, certain things

 jump out as having changed a lot, and oth-ers strike us or having changed very little.Join us as we take a look at the six thingsthat have changed the most during NOLN’stime covering the industry, and those that

have changed the least.

BIGGEST CHANGES

1  SHOp AppEArANCE/CLEANLINESSWe’re not saying the typical lube shop circa1986 was dingy and dirty, but let’sace it: shops havecome a long way intheir appearancein the last 25 years.oday, operatorsand managersknow that con-sumers demandmore than justgreat service, they also want a pleas-ant atmosphere, and by and large to-day’s lube shops provide that in spades.From a clean restroom (especially im-portant to the ladies) to tidy employee

uniorms to bays that are scrubbed cleanregularly, lube shops have improved mark-edly in their appearance.

2 WAITING rOOmSTis might go hand-in-hand with appear-ance i it weren’t so important in its ownright. ime was when many lube shop

waiting rooms consisted o no more thana rock-hard vinyl couch and a ew ancientmagazines. But today? Many shops oerwaiting rooms that are utterly luxurious,with so leather chairs, ree Wi-Fi Internet,complementary coee, tile oors and evenplay areas or the kiddos.

3COmpuTErS

A quarter-century ago, most lube shopsdidn’t even have computer systems. oday,most operators can’t imagine running ashop without one. Point-o-sale and back-ofce computer systems have revolution-ized the way shops do business, and the vast

inormation they’reable to store has di-

rectly lead to our next biggest change…

4 SErvICES OffErEdWith the assis-tance o the vastlibrary o tech-nical inorma-tion available on

modern comput-er systems, astlubes have vastly expanded theirservice menus inthe past 25 years.Tis has lead toincreased ticketa v e r a g e s a n d

higher sales, evenas car counts havedeclined in morerecent years.

5 SErvICE EquIpmENT Remember having to perorm a coolantush the old-ashioned way? Drain. Rinse.Fill. Tese days,machines existor just about any automotive uidservice, allowinglube techniciansto tend to oth-er duties whilethese mechanicalmarvels do mucho the work orthem.

 A Hal-dozen Things That HaeChange in the Lbe Biz in the past25 Yeas — an Six That Haen’t

 A pai o Sixes:

(let) The Oil Xchange

in 1985.

(below) A “brand new”

three-bay Jify Lube in

1976.

A Texaco Xpress Lube runs aspecial or a $9.95 oil change

during its grand opening in

1986.

 Technicians service

a trio o vehicles in a

lube shop in 1991.

by Gaett mcKinnon ~ NOLN Sta Wite ~ gaett.ckinnon@noln.net

8/6/2019 NOLN 25th Anniversary: Industry Changes

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NOLN @  twenty-five years ~ pal ooa fa

6  AutOmOtive techNOLOgy 

I doubt ew operators around 25 years ago

would have ever dreamed that they’d see(and service) cars that plug in to electricaloutlets, much less cars that use motor oilas thin as 0W-20. Fortunately or lube op-erators, advances in automotive technology have not been able to eliminate one very important act: all vehicles need routinemaintenance. And the lube industry is stilla very important part o the market that

provides automotive maintenance to mil-lions o drivers.

 thiNgs thAt hAveN’t chANged

1 FAst Lube cONstructiON

Te advent o the “pit” or servicing beneatha vehicle dates back to at least the 1930s (it’sbeen used or trains since the 1800s), but itwas only in the 1970s that what we think o as the “traditional” ast lube concept cameto ruition. Basically, that is a three-bay,roll-in/roll-out building (typically cinder-block construction) with a ull basementand catwalk/lube pit system or checkingthe undercar systems on a vehicle. Whilethere have been some advances in design(namely the use o brick, stone and othermore expensivematerials), thetypical brand-newast lube still looksremarkably simi-lar to what it dida quarter-century ago.

2  Lube bAys

Step inside a modern lube bay and chances

are very good you’re entering an area thathas changed little in the past 25 years. Withthe exception o bay computer workstationsand the small minority o shops that useshallow modular pit systems developed inrecent years, you’re still likely to nd a lubepit (covered, we hope); oil, lter and otherparts storage racks along one wall; and sun-

dry other tools needed or oil change ser- vice arranged within easy reach o the lubetechnician.

3the LOF PrOcess

While there have been great advances inother types o automotive fuid service,little about the basic oil change service haschanged in the past 25 years. It’s still essen-tially a “drain and rell” process that very much resembles what it did a quarter- oreven a hal-century ago!

4   the FAst Lube busiNess mOdeL 

Service as many vehicles as possible asquickly as possible. ry and perorm asmany OEM-recommended maintenance

services as pos-sible by educating

customers about what those services areand why they’re important. Keep labor-costs as low as possible. Simplistic, we

know, but that pretty much sums up theast lube business model as it exists today — and as it existed in 1986.

5  Lube techs

Just like they did 25 years ago, most lubeoperators rely to a great extent on gener-ally unskilled or

entry-level work-ers to perorm thet a s k s a s s o c i a t -ed with automo-tive maintenanceon customers’ ve-hicles. For many lube techs, it’s theirrst job, which is

why training isas much a key to-day (perhaps evenmore so) than itwas when NOLNrst began keepingtabs on the indus-try.

6 custOmers

I we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it ahundred times: ast lube customers wantconvenience, value and the peace o mindthat comes rom knowing their vehicle wasserviced by maintenance proessionals. Weonce heard someone (the source eludesus) say the ast lube industry as it existsin America couldn’t exist anywhere elsein the world, because Americans are theonly people in the world who value theirtime more than money. We’re a nation ina hurry, just as we were back in 1986. Andast lubes exist to provide Americans witha much-needed service perormed quickly,conveniently and in a proessional man-ner. Looking ahead, we’re betting that sameneed will still exist in 2036 when we cel-ebrate our 50th anniversary! S

A Lube Center 10 Minute Oil Change in 1978.

 The company eventually became known as Lube

Pro’s.

Customers line

up outside a new

Valvoline Instant OilChange in this 1992

photo.

Oil Can Henry’s lube

technicians model their

uniforms in this 1997

photo.

Lube shop bays have largely remained un-

changed, as attested by this 1990 photo.