CA mechanics wages

I ran shops for 20 years. Some mechanics get that. Some also get a percentage of parts. The common way to pay these days is flat rate. My better guys got $30 / hr flat rate. If the job paid 1.0 by the book, they got $30. If they finish ahead of time, they move on to the next job and make money. My better mechanics would book 100 hours a week or more. The incentive to be fast is there, but you don't get paid on comebacks, so you had to repair the car for free, and while you were doing that you weren't taking in new work. That was incentive to do the job right the first time. Here in Minnesota we get $105 per hour labor rate. A top rate tech should make well into six figures. Oil changes pay .3 by the way. If you have a $30 an hour guy doing oil changes you are losing money and wasting a valuable resource. No offense, but if they are feeding your friend oil changes I would think he is still in the learning stage or is not very good. Remember that almost every tech started out doing oil changes. It sucks, but if you do them well and fast and inspect the cars well you usually get the chance to repair some of them. Then you start to show that you are more valuable and get more and more work. Gotta start somewhere, and unfortunately it is usually at the bottom!