John Brush wrote:  "I have suffered many years as a mechanic.......... there
is absolutely no reason to take a vanagon to a quickie lube shop. Those
folks are butchers, period. I wouldn't even take my miserable Ford Taurus to
them."

A few years ago, a car-nut acquaintance was considering a lubrication
franchise.  I introduced him to an old friend of mine who was/is a Wharton
MBA -- this was a real eye-opener!

When you look at franchising fees, building rent/lease costs, employee
benefits, insurance costs, professional services {payroll, accounting,
legal...} and more, it becomes clear the profit objectives have to be
insane.  The people who do really well in the franchising world are those
who develop a concept, sell it to a bunch of poor devils who just got
downsized and don't have experience running a business...... then collect
the franchising fees, advertising management fees, etc, for a time until
they can sell the franchisor-company to someone with deep pockets.

The franchisee is just not going to make ends meet doing $12.99 oil changes.
Maybe the List moderators have to put an end to this thread?  What do you
think?