Re: Politics & Economy
I normally do not comment in threads such as these because they are inflammatory by nature and quite honestly, bad for business. My politics I keep to myself, but I am patriotic and believe in the American Way hence my dogged reluctance to carry imports in my store. But let me tell you a true story about my favorite company (long time forum members can probably guess who it is, but I'm not going to name it)...
The men that own this company - its private and not publicly held - have made enough money for themselves to be comfortable a long time ago. They could easily retire or sell their companies and never have to worry about a dollar again. But they keep working - and they do work hard. I hear two recurring themes from these gentlemen in our conversations, and they are:
# 1: They want to keep their people employed. Their workers are like family to them and that's not just window-dressing, they really mean it. They feel they have a duty to their community to keep pushing and keep working because their industry have been savaged the past dozen years as more and more companies give up domestic production and go offshore. I have never once heard the owner's say "We're here to make money", rather they say "I will do what I can to keep our people busy and working, we will prosper for their benefit, they count on us." They even keep a full-time professional nurse with a medical office in the factory so every employee gets free medical care immediately if they get injured, or just need an allergy or flu shot, etc. They don't charge the workers a dime for that. I never saw so much pain there as in 2008 when they had to lay off some workers during the height of the recession. They took that as failure on their part, but during that time the orders just stopped coming in (I was very close to having to close my business as well) and they had to do it.
# 2 is a love of the job. They are proud of being the best in the industry - USA made - and want that to be their legacy. They build using only the finest products, and the most highly trained workers. And they pay their workers more than anyone else in the industry, too. And that's very appealing to me as a dealer as well.
American quality and values are still out there. We DO build the best in the world in this category, but it won't come cheaply - quality does cost. Most people know that. I admire companies that refuse to bow to consumer demand for less costly products and still build it the right way, and to last.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
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