Perhaps. I don't frequent those place. Do people take expensive cars there? There are some horror stories about some of those places. My son detected a leaking oil drain plug just before driving across the country. Lucky him. Could have cost him an engine. I have had some scary stuff done at tire stores, too. There seem to be very few quality workers at any of them. Impact wrenches on alloy wheels are my crank.
Ya got me there. All my stuff is OBD-1 or earlier.
Not necessarily, but the market does speak. All things being equal, most people rise to the highest pay they are worth. In so many instances, the better can charge more. Surgeons to gardeners. I pay my painter more, and his work is better and lasts longer than the Splat and Scat illegals. For example, the hired help in WalMart is of lower quality than in Nordstrom's. The mechs at AA are generally better than at the chop shops. People who stay in a low wage job usually have a reason. Very often it is the inability to get hired at a higher wage. Many of the chop shop mechs have a rather checkered past, and cannot get a better paying job. Or hold it.
When I do break down and have somebody else fix my stuff, I pay dearly for high quality work. It is worth it to me. It turns out that I have ended up at independent shops, too. but they are not cheap. Just good and honest. Dentist, too. I don't know about your community, but in El Lay, cheap dental work is more expensive in the long run.
You should not pay a master mechanic to change your oil. But it would be better if the oil changer were under the supervision of a master mechanic at his shop. I suspect you are not getting the best oil or filter at Walmart, but that is really a different subject. If you are interested, I have a good link on filters. Many good shops sell top grade oil and filters for owners who care a lot about their vehicles. As an example, my BMW bike gets the oil my indie shop tells me to use. Keeps the starter sprag clean. Only master mechanics know about that. But, there is an example of an oil change that benefitted from the input of a master mechanic.