What's going on everyone this is Dustin Stelzer with Electrician U and today
we're going to talk about whether or not you should be using bags or belts out in
the field
Alright, so this is something that's like the stupidest argument I think on
the planet for electricians to be having. But you see them Facebook groups it's
always Facebook groups to like some of those stupidest conversations and
arguments and like the most ignorance I think I see is a lot of Facebook groups. Seems
like instagrams not that way, LinkedIn's not that way actually most of
the world's not that way. There's just something about Facebook groups... hmm. So
there's this argument that says if you wear tools you're gonna hurt your back
so you don't know what you're doing and you're an idiot for wearing tool pouches
and tool belts, and then there's this whole thing where people are like if you
use bags and you just set up bag in the center of the room you got to keep
walking back every five minutes to go get a tool and you don't have your tools
on you, so you don't know what you're doing and you're not an electrician
you're a hack. It doesn't matter like for real do you just get off of
each other's fucking cases like let people live. Holy shit it's such a stupid
thing because there's justifiable good reasons for both, and there's like
idiocracy in both as well so I get it my back hurts
like all the time. I've been wearing tools since I first started this. I used
suspenders and I hate every... every tool belt. Everything I've ever tried I just
don't like how they work most of them don't have the right pouches that I need
you know like this one in the damn belt these things like pop out all the time
so I'll just be sitting there with like tight tools on and boots all of a sudden
they just come loose but what I like is that they have suspenders so like keeps
all the weight off my lower back but I have lower back problems because I
didn't use suspenders for a really long time. But I get what people are saying if
you use this you're gonna hurt your body you're gonna tear yourself up over a
really long time. People been doing it for decades, dude. Decades! There's probably
more people in the construction industry that wear tools everyday than that don't.
So to say that it is an ignorant or stupid thing to do to wear tools,
especially if you're on construction jobs, so like when you're out the field
swinging hammers and cutting stuff and climbing ladders and actually building
all day long, wearing tools makes way more sense than anything else because
you're constantly moving and doing different things, so having your tools on
you makes sense. Now if you're in service I don't recommend wearing tools, or maybe
like some kinds of industrial maintenance maybe where you don't have
to have all of these different things to do multiple different kinds of tasks and
where you don't need material constantly because you're building and doing things.
If you're walking around with a multimeter and you're just checking
things out, of course carry a bag with you. Or even better yet get a cart! Get
some kind of cool cart that you can put your bag on and just tote that thing
around. When I do service calls for like big-box stores and stuff like that I
will take my entire bag. Actually I usually use a backpack like a tool
backpack but whatever. I'll take a couple of bags and I'll stick in the shopping
cart and I'll just wheel that thing in i'm freewheeling like i don't have any
weight on my body. I don't need thirty two tools on me I
need the shopping cart with my bag of everything so when I walk up I know like
I've got as many options as I need to and I'm probably going to be in one
place doing one very very specific thing for quite a long time or I'm
troubleshooting so there's I'm taking something apart, I'm checking the voltage,
checking the current, seeing if there's a fault to something, and putting screwing
something back together I might need a drill so like all of that
can fit in a bag but that's it. That's like the people on both sides of the
aisle are failing to realize that there's two completely different jobs
two completely different environments and so you have to have tools on and I
know most companies that are construction based that get pissed if
they get on a job site if the master electrician shows up or the
superintendent shows up and their guys are not all wearing tools because that's
production and the more efficient you are the more you have stuff close to you
so you can keep working the faster you are and the better that you do over a
long period of time the more you're profitable. Typically these kinds of jobs
there's a less profit margin so these guys aren't
making as much as a company they have way more people that they're hiring way
more material cost and it's a huge amount of time over a really long time
so the overhead everything so any little bit that you can squeeze out of people
for efficiency helps you as a construction electrical contractor
margin wise for service you have a lot more margin usually double the margin
just kind of depends how you charge for things and what kind of insurance you
keep and what kind of jobs you do and things like that and how tight you are
with everything but generally you're gonna be making more margin maybe not as
high of revenue because you're not building like 7 million dollar jobs you
might do like a million in revenue for a year if you're a small company but the
margin the profit essentially is higher so you're making more of a percentage on
each job and you're doing the multiple jobs a day so it's a different reason
completely and with service you're driving like three or four different
jobs a day so maybe even more than that like five six I've done sometimes so
having tools on like doesn't make sense you're taking your tools off and then
getting a truck and trying to drive and then get back out like strapping your
tools back up and walking you know 500 yards across the parking lot it doesn't
make any damn sense it makes way more sense to work out of a bag so it's just
knowing your environment I do know construction cats out there that work
with a bag and they don't wear tools they just don't want to tear themselves up I know some guys that are completely
banged up like head to toe missing toes, like fucked-up backs all kinds of stuff. Still where tools every day you
know it's like it's just a preference it's what you want to do I say have both
I really do I say have a good set of leathers just in case
every nylon thing that you get is gonna rip and tear. This is not nylon, this is
canvas. And its Klein, so like it's just good quality these bags are pretty dope
this is more just for looks than anything but canvas tool pouches that
go on belts rip every year you're gonna be buying a new bag maybe you can get
away with two years but everything you're sticking in these are sharp you know
so like you end up ripping stuff leather I've had this
Husky it's I guess husky and CLC got together and made a bag together
everybody asks me like what is the brand or the model or whatever of this pouch
that I wear and I have no idea I got this thing when I was like 21 years old
I'm 34, so I have no clue but that's to illustrate the point that leather lasts
there's no holes there's nothing broken there's nothing wrong with this and it
has been rained on it's been treated like shit
written on I mean I've bled on this like there's actually blood marks you know
like this thing has lasted me forever and it will probably continue to last me
forever and I only ever needed to buy one so
that's why I'm a big fan of leather pouches and, you know, bags to begin with this
is not a huge you know great bag in my opinion I don't like these canvas bags
that Klein makes as much as I like other like kind of hard lid boxes and like you
know Klein has a pill box it's like pill shape the whole thing is hard and it's
got a flat bottom I love that but I change all the time I'm always buying
new bags and trying to get a hold of new pouches to try them out but I always
seem to settle back on these you know the Klien 11 pocket and whatever
the hell this thing is one two three it's got four pockets on it but it's
like an old framing material bag and I like it because that's where I put my
tape I don't put my tape behind me I don't like stick my tape down one of
these pouches I actually like having a clip that I put it on but I also like
having a bag that has an external clip so I can put my tape on it but I'm real
picky like I think I just need to design some bags if any of y'all like
know anybody that's in the manufacturing biz and want to like perfect an
electrical bag dude I will spend as much time on that consulting with you as
possible because nobody does nobody makes the
best one Vito has some pretty good ones if you ever check out Vito Pro Pack
they're like 75% awesome. Again, it's like electricians
we need an electrician bag company that's a great idea maybe I'll start that company
I just need somebody out there with like a lot of dough and some some like hooks
into the manufacturing field that knows how to get shit made but I got crazy
good ideas for both pouches and bags so anyways I digress there is no answer so
this whole video this all this time of your life you're never gonna get back
because I'm just sitting here rambling about dumb shit like bags
it's just, seriously it doesn't matter so I just want you to understand why you
might hear this argument that bags are stupid because you're gonna hurt
yourself or I'm sorry pouches are stupid because you're gonna hurt yourself don't
wear tool belts or bags are stupid because you have to keep constantly
going back to the center of a room and grabbing tools and like sticking them in
your pocket and they're falling out all the time and I get both of them just
know the environment that you work in I say work out of both have one for
construction one for service and you're good to go let everybody else fuck off
you know everybody's gonna have an opinion about how you work and the work
you do the quality you do and whether or not that was a code violation or not and
just like stop giving shit so much about what other people think and just
figure out what works for you. Do you, and then go home and like enjoy your life
and both ways are okay they both have thumbs up they both have thumbs down get
over ourselves love you crazy people just figure out what you fucking like
and stop making so many stupid comments on Facebook and being pricks to each
other see you in the next one