If we have learned anything from Christmastime, it is that guilt is a huge motivator. Kind of like your kids telling you that if they don’t get a GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip for Christmas, well, you don’t love them. Marketing has exploited this premise for years. But another holiday guilt trip is much newer — Small Business Saturday. Put on by American Express, the Saturday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday marks a campaign to encourage consumers to show their support for small businesses and the communities they help by shopping and spending with independent merchants. The event tugs at the heartstrings of Americans who need to feel like they support small business, while at the same time providing American Express a huge boost in sales. If American Express really cared about small business, they would reduce their service charge fees levied on we small business owners. As the credit card company that takes the biggest slice of my profit pie, it is anything but selfless for them to encourage spending at small businesses.

I shop with local small businesses because I choose to do so, not because some corporate executive marketing force tells me if I don’t “shop small” at least one day per year while using my American Express Card then I must be unpatriotic. I readily grasp the idea that my local hardware store needs me for more than just a quick sale.

It’s OK to feel a little guilty at this point, because being truly loyal to anything requires unwavering conviction and regular inconvenience or pain — just ask any Red Sox, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Cubs or West Virginia University fan. It seems that one of the key ingredients of this type of loyalty is that bittersweet pain that diehard fans willingly endure year after year. If we supported small business like we support our favorite sports team, I would never lose a sale because my local people and community would take great pride in my business accomplishments. In other words, they feel part of what is happening, and as any good Notre Dame fan will tell you, fans cheering loudly during a home game gives the Fighting Irish at least a one-touchdown advantage.

In the world of automotive distribution, there simply is no loyalty. Lack of loyalty starts at the top and therefor flourishes at the bottom. Some manufacturers once relied on traditional distribution to build the name of their brand, then once built, marketed it to everyone else. Warehouses provided jobbers exclusive program rights for supporting buying programs to compete with retailers, and now these same warehouses will sell to your competition right down the road, regardless of group affiliation. Your dealer and installer customers that jobbers have shamelessly promoted for years now buy anything from anyone with no disdain for how it might affect you, the local auto parts jobber. Retail customers just want you to price match, provide endless warranties and expert advice, and really don’t care what you must endure to give them what they want. An insurmountable summit to reach the pinnacle of promised loyalty, and here comes American Express claiming they are the Sherpa of choice with a caravan of helpers at their disposal whom are eager to see us succeed. However, they charge three times more than the other guides, and need to be paid an advance (yearly card fee) whether we make a summit attempt or not.

Small business is the majority, but we operate like the silent minority. This industry demands unity of its small business foundation. This unity requires a different kind of loyalty. At first, this new loyalty might be confused as a type of hubris, because in order for the independent jobber market to not only survive, but thrive, we must begin to think shamelessly of ourselves, exploit every marketing opportunity and hold suppliers and manufacturers accountable for their mistakes. 

Most of us got into this business years ago because we were genuinely good at what we do, and we really enjoyed the work. Loyal customers made life pleasant, and people were genuine. People appreciated each other, it seems, a lot more. Not to mention, making money was a lot easier. I’m not melancholy over years gone by; it’s just my perception of what it was like back then. Until now.

If someone tells you that you are dumb for long enough, well, you’ll begin to believe it. Small business, including the majority of independent jobbers, have been told they are small for so long that we feel our relevance is insignificant. Therefore, we begin to rely on big business to help us. How can we all be duped this easily? I have seen warehouses convince jobbers to join a program group when it is not necessary. I’ve seen manufacturers provide trusted brands — the brands we as independents help build — to retail giants for 20 percent less. I’ve seen dealer and service centers purchase product based solely on price and availability with no regard for service and brand.

Greed is destroying our automotive aftermarket from top to bottom. If you think of your business how I think of mine — a premiere opportunity to get a great product at a great value with service that is unparalleled — toot your own horn! You don’t need American Express to make potential clients feel guilty in order to get them to shop with you, all the while they get a huge piece of our humble small pie.

Next year, during Small Business Saturday, I suggest that we — small independent auto parts businesses, that is — simply close. Yep. Stay home and get some much-needed rest. Stand up for your “small” business and don’t be fooled into thinking you need a bigger business to survive. If we don’t start acting like this, we will always be sitting at the “small” table during any holiday gathering. Be loyal to your own needs first. Everyone else’s needs have come before ours for too long now.