urbanSTL

This is from my anecdotal experience from when I worked for an agency that had GM as a client.
Someone may know more about the details but this is the gist:

To maintain your status as a (i.e.) Chevy dealer, the dealership is required to purchase a guaranteed amount of vehicles from GM every month. So GM sales and production are based on guaranteed dealer purchases. It was then up to the dealer to sell those cars. Thus "Inventory Liquidation Sales," "Overstock Blowout Days," "All Vehicles Must Go Sell-a-Thons" and so on because new cars coming on the lot regardless. I believe that's why when there was the government bailout, GM was forced to close so many dealerships across the country because their model created an artificially-inflated demand (not based on consumer demand.)

Not sure if this applies to non-GM dealerships, but that's a really, really, really delusional and messed-up model.
And just because it's been that way forever, doesn't mean it should stay that way forever.

I applaud Tesla for changing the selling landscape.

Teslas are cool cars, and if the business model supports adult wages in our town, then awesome. If not, then they should get lost. It really is that simple. If Glassdoor's $12 to $13 wage estimates are accurate, that's only a dollar or two above the $10 or $11 an hour that's equivalent to the '60s min wage. Think about that - you pay people just a shade above minimum wage for selling a high tech $70k luxury ride? Really? That is a joke. Does anyone know what the people in the Tesla stores actually make?

^ Do you understand that policy-wise, our country has done virtually nothing to address the labor problems resulting from the very rapid technological change of the past fifteen years, nor the displacement of industry caused by our participation in free trade agreements with countries that have poor worker safety, compensation, and human rights. For those of us with jobs, the results of these changes have been lower prices, faster service, and a greater selection of goods. For middle and bottom earners, the results have been lower prices, faster service, greater selection, but paired with a lot fewer jobs, less skilled and lower paying jobs replacing the lost jobs, and significantly less economic stability. They call it "hollowing out." This is the result of more or less letting market forces do their thing - the most efficient market is the one in which goods are available at cost to the buyer and all the middlemen are either cut out or get virtually nothing for their efforts. That results in a sh*tty society of a few haves and a bunch of have-nots. If you want to kill innovation, see how a couple generations of near-poverty wages for the masses works out. Teslas are cool cars, but who cares if in fact Musk isn't paying his sales people enough to afford the product they sell? Henry Ford had the right idea, even if he was a terrible person otherwise: You have to pay people enough to ensure that there is a healthy market for goods and services. On the flip side, if you don't there has to be an excellent safety net in place. We do very little on either end. Is Tesla the villain? No, they are responding to the conditions of the market they exist in. Those conditions can be changed through legislative effort, though, for the enrichment of everyone. We don't need another thirty years of laissez faire trickle down bullsh*t to prove it doesn't work.

I don't get the debate? My understanding is that they did employ salesmen and mechanics. They were just corporate employees instead of franchise employees. Seems to me the law would have been protecting the Lou Fusz and Bommaritos of the world, not those employees. If thats the case (tell me if I'm wrong) why should such a law exist?

Philosophical consistency is overrated.

^ where is it located?

edit: and what does it take to get a test drive?

I have been to the Tesla service center and their employees have come from Plaza Motors and other high-end dealers. They did so because of higher wages.

Excellent. Then glassdoor is wrong and Tesla pays people like adults. Good for them.