Meanwhile, I'm sitting here looking at my friends at NJ dealers buying houses & dropping tens of thousands of dollars on their hobbies.
I get 100-hour week pictures a few times a year. Heck, I had one friend turn 36 hours in a single day last week. These are guys making $25-$35/hr base, before performance bonuses.
I'm not sure how difficult it is for techs to make a living at most dealers, but the aforementioned friends also have a minimum/guarantee of a certain number of weekly hours, in the event of low volume/traffic. The ability to produce is prevalent enough that these guys complain loudly the few times a year they turn 40 hours or less.