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The Labor Shortage Isn’t Just Closing Small Businesses, But Shattering Entire Retirement Plans
The Federalist ^ | September 23, 2021 | Kylee Zemple

Posted on 09/23/2021 11:52:08 AM PDT by Kaslin

It's time to sell the business and retire — but that's easier said than done.


Gary and Judi Eubanks are one of a kind. Both in their 60s, Judi is a skilled pianist and Gary can often be found playing pick-up basketball with the young people he used to coach. They have two sons and a handful of grandkids, and they’re heavily involved in their local church, where Judi is one of the piano players and Gary is almost always either leading worship or fixing the heating or air conditioning.

That’s because the duo also owns All Temperature Systems, a heating, cooling, and refrigeration business situated about halfway between the Chain O’Lakes and Parfreyville in the 6,000-resident town of Waupaca, Wisconsin. Though this couple is unique, a big part of their story is all too commonplace: They’re victims of the debilitating worker shortage.

The Eubankses have been running the business since 1985, but back then it was called Omits Refrigeration Service. Just after their first son Joe was born, Gary and Judi were living in Houston and realized they didn’t want to raise kids in a city. So they moved up to Waupaca, the small town where Judi was born and raised, and took over Omits Refrigeration on April 1 that year so that its owner could retire. They acquired another heating and cooling business 15 years later in 2000 and became All Temperature Systems.

Though Gary was the only worker during those early years, the company now has eight employees aside from Gary and Judi, who are now about ready to sell the business and retire. But that’s easier said than done.

The Eubankses have been running the business since 1985, but back then it was called Omits Refrigeration Service. Just after their first son Joe was born, Gary and Judi were living in Houston and realized they didn’t want to raise kids in a city. So they moved up to Waupaca, the small town where Judi was born and raised, and took over Omits Refrigeration on April 1 that year so that its owner could retire. They acquired another heating and cooling business 15 years later in 2000 and became All Temperature Systems.

Though Gary was the only worker during those early years, the company now has eight employees aside from Gary and Judi, who are now about ready to sell the business and retire. But that’s easier said than done.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: college; coronavirus; covid19; economics; employment; insurance; labor; lockdown; minimumwage; pandemic; remotework; retirement; trades; workershortage; workfromhome; wuhanvirus
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To: T.B. Yoits

Our Community just shut down their bus system today because drivers are ill........schools can’t find school bus drivers either. A local dollar store couldn’t open because not enough employees.


21 posted on 09/23/2021 12:57:25 PM PDT by caww ( )
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To: setter
The issue is young folks only want to work 9-5. They do not want the hassles of meeting payroll, long hours, employee issues, paying bills etc. They want their 9-5, no nights or weekends and their $140k per year.

$140k per year for a 9-5 job?

Where? Doing what?

22 posted on 09/23/2021 12:57:41 PM PDT by grey_whiskers ((The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change with out notice.))
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To: caww
Our Community just shut down their bus system today because drivers are ill........schools can’t find school bus drivers either. A local dollar store couldn’t open because not enough employees.

Simple. Pay more.

23 posted on 09/23/2021 1:00:25 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: caww
Our Community just shut down their bus system today because drivers are ill........schools can’t find school bus drivers either. A local dollar store couldn’t open because not enough employees.

That's a separate issue from a current business owner not being able to find a buyer for their business.

The bus driver situation and local retail store staffing shortages are a combination of retirements of the baby boomers that was greatly accelerated due to COVID since many could have retired already, workers pulling back from second jobs, and two-income families deciding that they prefer to spend time with their children and live off of one income.

24 posted on 09/23/2021 1:01:55 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Kaslin

This is not a new phenomenon. It’s been worsened by the pandemic but this problem has been around a very long time.

It’s how we ended up business owners 30 years ago. My husband is a very skilled and knowledgeable auto mechanic. Worked for a dealership, did a little sidework in our garage and a hobby race car.

Then one day, a guy that wanted to retire offered to sell him his auto repair business, building and equipment and carry the contract and provide 6 months grace to see if we could make a go of it and come up with a modest 3k down payment.

He had been trying to sell for a decade but nobody interested could get a business loan. He’d tried out a couple of other mechanics, but they couldn’t make it work or didn’t work hard enough.

And therein, is the real problem... People with the desire, skills and work ethic to become self employed and operate a business were scarce 30 years ago and getting scarcer every day.

Public education and entertainment culture has hollowed the workforce into mostly useless eaters.


25 posted on 09/23/2021 1:02:52 PM PDT by Valpal1
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To: grey_whiskers

“$140k per year for a 9-5 job? Where? Doing what?”

Veterinarians


26 posted on 09/23/2021 1:08:28 PM PDT by setter
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To: T.B. Yoits

“Now, a new buyer would have to pay off the note to the seller on top of all their operating costs. Too often, it’s just not possible.”

Both practices offered a land contract style arrangement that was near dirt cheap. No takers. Both retiring doctors did not need the money but wanted the business they started to continue. Their legacy.

A girl worked for my wife for 5-6 years while,in HS and college. She graduated from vet school. My wife tried to get her on board as a owner or part owner. She said she did not want the hassles of being an owner and was satisfied with being an employee.


27 posted on 09/23/2021 1:14:09 PM PDT by setter
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To: Kaslin
“I’m in restaurants working all the time,” said Gary, who often services commercial refrigerators. “I’ll be talking with young guys that are in there, chopping up onions in the kitchen, whatever. And I’ll ask them, ‘Have you thought about something else different? Trades?’ ‘Oh, no, I like my schedule here. I get to work kind of when I want to.’ And they’re not interested in a full-time job.”

Amazing. The guy is begging fast food workers to come learn his trade so he can practically give them his business and he's getting turned down. There's got to be something else.

FWIW, many of the fast food places (including Chik-Fil-A) are cutting their operating hours because they don't have enough employees to stay open.

28 posted on 09/23/2021 1:25:28 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: Drew68

“The guy is begging fast food workers to come learn his trade so he can practically give them his business and he’s getting turned down. There’s got to be something else.”

See my post and others above above. No one wants the hassle of being an owner anymore.
Also millennials and below go from job and local to job and local. They do not want to be tied down permanetly.

My nieces and nephews more around from job to job an city to city every few years like gypsies.


29 posted on 09/23/2021 1:44:12 PM PDT by setter
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To: setter

The wages of “family doctors” have fallen quite a bit; one explained it was due to low amounts they were allowed to charge. Why put in the time and money, and deal with the debt, to end up in the same place as someone who doesn’t have to go through that?


30 posted on 09/23/2021 1:50:11 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: kearnyirish2

Yep, my wifes doctor quit his practice and went to work as an employee of a large local hospital. Said he wished he did it 10 years ago. No more hassles.


31 posted on 09/23/2021 1:54:50 PM PDT by setter
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To: Drew68

Owning/managing a business is difficult and stressful, and the government’s recent flexing of its muscles to show how it can control them might make it unappealing. For many young people the American Dream is dead, so they’ll make enough to get by, forego homes and families, and die unencumbered.

I also believe (at least in my area) a lot less people are eating out (at least beyond dollar menus); a mall that opened in the NJ meadowlands sat vacant for years (never even opened) until recently - and now it is a shopping/ENTERTAINMENT center. That discretionary income is gone for many people with families, and NJ had to raise its minimum wage to $12/hour to give some to younger workers.


32 posted on 09/23/2021 2:06:12 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: setter

Same here (with a twist); mine sold his practice to a large hospital system and works in the same office with just a different sign out front!


33 posted on 09/23/2021 2:07:12 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: setter

Large hospitals are swallowing local practices at an incredible pace. Doctors are faced with all the recordkeeping for standard insurance as well as Medicare, malpractice insurance, payrolls, taxes, equipment expenses, building leases, etc. They give up some control of their practice when selling to the hospital but much of their other headaches are reduced or disappear.

The hospital can afford to buy insurance “cheaply” with large deductibles, provide a staff for helping with records and taxes and payrolls and HR services.

I admire my own doctor who has held out and not sold her practice, but I suspect that she may not be able to hold out much longer.


34 posted on 09/23/2021 2:26:15 PM PDT by DeFault User
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To: setter
I'm self-employed and I'm in the process of making some major changes in my operations. It has nothing to do with a lack of employees and everything to do with the hassle of running the business.

I have no problem with the "normal" hassles of running a business. I thrive on them, in fact, and deal with them in a meticulous and efficient manner. However, I find the administrative nonsense of dealing with employees to be totally unproductive and exhausting.

I'm dropping my last employees from the payroll and using only contractors from this point forward. No more payroll records, no more payroll taxes, no more payroll service fees, no more worker's compensation insurance, no more tracking mandatory time off under state law (even for part time employees), etc. I'm done with all that sh!t.

35 posted on 09/23/2021 3:10:06 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest, ‘til a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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To: grey_whiskers
"They want their 9-5, no nights or weekends and their $140k per year."

"$140k per year for a 9-5 job? Where? Doing what?"

#LERN2CODE LOL

36 posted on 09/23/2021 4:47:26 PM PDT by StAnDeliver (Each of you have at least ONE of these in your 401k: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson)
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To: Kaslin

Why not just hire someone to run the company for a few years, give them a reasonable salary plus a profit share over a certain % and sell it in a few years?


37 posted on 09/23/2021 4:55:52 PM PDT by rb22982 ( )
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To: Drew68
The 2020 lock-down turned flippant cynicism into an applied demand to not to work "for the man" anymore. This would be the production/wages ratio that is has not been balanced since Bretton Woods ended/influx of females into the workforce/A.I. advancement. Add the Covid response plus the fact that countries have declared war on the petrodollar (Including Saudi who is one of the primary drivers for this asinine currency the US bought into for short-sighted reasons) and you are near of perfect storms condition on how to murder a civilization (Don't get me started on the "humanitarian" invaders both major Parties love to import, along with the Utopian idea of Globalism.

Ricardo is much a Utopian as Marx and Engels, all were full of BS.
38 posted on 09/23/2021 5:11:48 PM PDT by rollo tomasi
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To: StAnDeliver

Most coders in most areas of the country don’t get that much.
Full-stack web developers, maybe.


39 posted on 09/23/2021 6:00:42 PM PDT by grey_whiskers ((The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change with out notice.))
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To: glorgau

HeHeheHe. GARY!


40 posted on 09/23/2021 6:01:41 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (I had my emotional DNA done. Turns out I am a reincarnation of Subadar Prag Tewarri.)
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