Worthington Ag Parts - President's Blog

Thanksgiving!

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 years!  Parts - Expect More From Us!

Everyone has something to be thankful for!  I'm sure most of you know what that is.  Today I'm going to tell you a few things I'm thankful for.  In the business world I'm thankful for the opportunity afforded to me by John "Hap" Fauth our owner to let me be the leader of Worthington Ag Parts.  Yesterday I was with the company for 18 years!  I'm also thankful for the team we have assembled at Worthington Ag Parts / Neil's Parts and the effort they put in everyday to make us the number one used agricultural parts supplier in the world!

From a personal stand point I'm thankful for the the three people that are most important in my life!  My wife and two daughters shown in this picture!  They are the main reason I do what I do!  Life would sure be empty without them.  I'm thankful for the good friends that I have in the business and personally.  You know who you are!  I can think of many more personal reasons that I am thankful for but I won't bore you!

Worthington Ag Parts is closed for the long weekend Thursday through Sunday!  I hope our employees and our valued customers have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend with their families!

Thanks for reading my blog and Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

President - Worthington Ag Parts

Inventory Trip Day 12 - Worthington, MN - Home

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Good morning!  This is the day we've been looking for since we started - THE LAST DAY!  We were in the lobby of the Americ Inn bright an early this morning.  The standing units, inside inventory were completed by 5 PM last evening, leaving only the outside parts inventory appraisal this morning.  The inventory team are exhausted and they should be.  They have done a great job! The trip has gone 12 days, covered 8 states and ten locations! 

During this time the crew has appraised all of our used inventory.  You ask how many standing units?  Well here are the numbers:

Used Combines - 2,177

Used Tractors - 1,157

Used Grain Heads, Planters, Foragers and Balers - 367

Used Cotton Pickers - 121

These figures do not include our location in Canada or our four stores in Australia (Neil's Parts)!  Don't forget all of the bins full of used parts that were valued.  We have over 30,000 part numbers set up in our system that track used parts as well.  Each of these are shown in our on-line catalog with the prefix (WU-)!  There is no question we provide the broadest used inventory for salvage parts in the industry.

I'm writing this blog early today in anticipation of the drive home.  All of us should be on the road home by 11 AM today.  I had a chance to stop in and visit my mother here in Worthington yesterday, she is 80 years old.  My mother still lives in the same house I grew up in, yes that's right I'm originally from Worthington, MN.  The smell of homemade cinnamon rolls was floating about the house, freshly removed from the oven.  I didn't need one but of course who turns down their mother's cooking?  It was a nice treat towards the end of a long trip. I even stole one for Nick Moeller our Watertown, SD store manager who is part of the crew.  Nick has a "BIG" sweet tooth and always enjoys his sweets!

We have survived another inventory trip and before you know it we'll be back at this in 2008 for my 18th in a row!  Thanks for reading my blog!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

Inventory Trip Day 11 - Worthington, MN

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Hello from windy Worthington, MN!  The wind is blowing so strong here the wind turbines are glowing red instead of their usual white!  Okay maybe I'm exaggerating but it's really strong here today!  The temperature is 37 degrees today and the wind is blow between 25 and 35 miles per hour.  We made it to Worthington around 4:30 PM yesterday.  The crew wasted no time and headed into the parts bins for an hour, then fatigue set in and we wrapped it up for the night.  They were very quiet this morning departing the hotel, a result of the long day ahead of them evaluating the large amount of standing combines, tractors and grain heads in the yard.  You can see from the above photo the large amount of used inventory in the yard.

You can see from the photo that our sales area is a little different in Worthington!  The parts specialists are in desks.  There are usually seven parts specialists serving the customers full time at this location.  They also have a nice display of parts in the lobby.  This store has a steady stream of walk in customers all day long.  This location has been in business for over 43 years the the name Worthington Ag Parts!  This store is all about the people similar to most of our other locations so here are a few of the team!

This is Laurie Hokeness our office manager she's been on the team 26 years!  She started in July of 1981!  Laurie use to work out of the corporate office when it was in Worthington.  She handled all of the payroll, personnel and inter company accounting.  She is now the office manager at the Worthington store. 

Meet Shelly Bird - bookkeeper Worthington store!  Shelly has been with Worthington Ag Parts since June of 2004!  She is a big Tony Stewart fan even though he didn't do so well this year!  She has a bunch of his stuff posted on her office wall.  Both of these girls carry a big stick like Libby does in Audubon.  If the guys don't do their paperwork right look out.  If you don't believe me just look at the sign they have posted in their office! 

Here is our counter staff, and their hire dates.  It doesn't matter if you need tractor parts, combine parts or implement parts they have the inventory and knowledge to provide a solution to you problem!

Dan Poss - Parts Specialist!  Dan can sell parts, buy inventory, mechanic in the shop and even haul salvage in the company truck!  Dan has been with Worthington Ag Parts since October 1988!

Arnie Ihrke - Parts Specialist!  Arnie has been on the team since April of 1981.  You can count on Arnie to be at the phones everyday!

Dale Martin - Parts Specialist!  Dale has been on the team since October 2000.  Dale is always good for a laugh, if you have time email Dale and ask him his story about the West Nile Virus!  If he can't remember that one I'm sure he has another joke for you! 

Rick Cobb - Parts Specialist!  Rick has been on the team since November of 2006 - he is the rookie!  Rick is excellent on greeting the customer on the phone and is catching on quick to the variety of parts we offer to the customer.  Rick also became a Grandpa recently congratulations!

Matt Helmers - Assistant Manager, Parts Specialist and Buyer!  Matt has been on the team since September 2004.  Matt not only sells parts but he also purchases quite a bit of our salvage for the Worthington location and a host of others.  If you can't find Matt at work you might find him hunting!  I think someone else shoots those big deer he has his picture taken with.

Dennis Bucholz - Manager - Worthington Division!  Dennis is the leader of the team here in Worthington.  He has been employed with the company since July of 1987.  Dennis became the manager of the facility in January of this year.  It's a big job to run our largest store and year one is the hardest but Dennis has risen to the challenge!

That's a few of our 26 employees here at the Worthington store!  I will have more tomorrow, that's it for today!

Thanks,

Mike Winter

Inventory Trip Day 10 - Audubon, IA

Worthington Ag Parts - Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

We arrived in Audubon yesterday at 3:15 PM after a good inventory at Iowa Falls!  We didn't see much corn in the fields during the three hour drive.  Harvest is definitely in Iowa.  We spent part of the time on the truck phone planning advertising and shows for the new year along with operations stuff.  The question is what did we do before mobile phones?  How did all the work get done?  I'm sure it still got done but in this "NOW" world we live in, everyone wants action right now.

The weather was good so the crew walked the outside yard inventory late in the afternoon.  Sergeant Greg Clemens had them out the door and started in five minutes upon arrival.  They started inside for an hour and quit a little after 6PM.  Nick Moeller arrived about 5 PM and jumped right in.  We stayed in Carroll, Iowa last night which is about 30 miles north of Audubon.  After a quick bite to eat in the hotel bar everyone bolted for bed by nine leaving Randy Mittlestadt with the tab and no one to talk to!!  Nice guys we are!  Morning came early, you know it's a long night when you can hear the room next to you getting text messages at 2 AM.  I'm looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for two nights in a row tonight at the hotel in Worthington.  The guys were out the door at 8 AM starting on the standing combines.  You should see Terry Holmes our Sikeston, MO store manager he's bundled up with mittens while the rest of us have light jackets on!  He's not used to this cold weather, we are going to get some good natured ribbing mileage out of this one for time to come!!

The Audubon store looks good.  All the parts in the sales area are labeled with computer generated tags and displayed well for our customers.  It sounds like Libby and Derrick did most of the work on this project.  This is something we should do at all of our stores for product displayed in the show rooms!  Great job!  I know the guys in Goldsboro have one of the new cab cams on display operating behind the counter for walk in customers to see.  That's a creative job on their part as well.

I'd like to you to meet a few of our valued employees in Audubon!

This is Libby Mcdonald our office manager in Audubon.  Libby has been with the company for over 24 years.  She started her position in February 1983  and has ridden the changes and continued to a very good job.  I guarantee you if any paperwork is filled out wrong by the team at the store, Libby gives them a big whack with her stick!  She carry's a big one.  We were joking last night that we've almost worked together for two decades - stating it in that context makes the thought of 20 years frightening.  Time surely does fly!  Thanks Libby for all of your hard work and dedication.  Oh Yeah and thanks for the three apple pies, and wonderful lunch you prepared for the crew today!!!

  This is Wes Thygesen our store manager in Audubon!  Wes has been on the team for over 26 years!  He has been managing the Audubon store since February of 2006.  Prior to becoming manager Wes has consistently been one of the top salesman in Audubon and the company! You can see from this photo of Wes' office wall he has consistently won Sales Achievement and Service Awards every year since we implemented them in 2001!  I'm not sure about the wall paper but I like the fact he has them proudly displayed in his manager's office!  Email Wes with a click here!   

Meet Gene Nowatzke - Parts Specialist in Audubon.  Gene has done a variety of jobs for Worthington Ag Parts and has been a member of the team since April 1981 that's over 26 years too!  It doesn't matter whether the customer needs a tractor part, combine part, planter part or any other implement part Gene can find what you need.  Combine with Wes that gives us 52 years of parts experience on the counter at our Audubon store!  Keep up the good work Gene and congratulations on recently becoming a Grandpa!!  Send Gene a congratulatory email on becoming a grandpa with a click here!

Enough about the veteran countermen, meet the "up an comer" Derrick Rohe - Parts Specialist Audubon store.  Derrick's  been on the team since May of 2005.  If you can't find Derrick on the counter you might find him in shipping, getting the parts out the door in a timely fashion to our customers.  Derrick said he needs to keep moving, he barely made time for me to take a picture of him this morning!  A couple years learning everything from Gene and Wes and Derrick will have some hardware to show off!  Thanks Derrick, keep up the good work!

These are just a few of the faces on the team in Audubon.  We should wrap up here a little after lunch and load up the vehicles for the four hour drive to Worthington, MN.  This is the last stop on our annual pilgrimage and the largest.  That store has over $1 million of used inventory and it's a two day appraisal process.  The store was started in July of 1964 and continues to lead the industry in providing used parts to the farmer!  I'm sure I'm going to get a little nap in that four hour drive as long as the cell phone don't ring and there are no deer laying on the road - AGAIN!

Cheers,

Mike Winter   

Inventory Trip Day 9 - Iowa Falls, IA

Worthington Ag Parts -Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Good morning from Iowa Falls, Iowa!.  An aerial photo of our salvage yard north of town on Highway 65 is shown at the top!  It's Monday - day 9 and the crew was out the door of the hotel by 7 AM.  As usual a stop at Casey's for coffee and breakfast but what was unusual about this stop was the two female deer wandering around town.  I guess they know the safe spots during hunting season!  We've seen some big deer on our inventory trips through the state of Iowa in the past.  I have not hunted deer for 17 years because of this trip every year but it only takes the sight of one big buck to get the old adrenaline flowing again.

Alright back to business - this is the counter area at the Iowa Falls store.  While the store is our smallest store in counter sales area, Gary and Mike shown in the photo can still provide all the parts necessary to fix your combine or tractor.  They were here at 7:15 AM ready for us to get started and answering sales calls.  We had a nice discussion about building a new sales area with offices and more room to display all parts.  They had some good ideas that may become reality in the near future.  The harvest is pretty much finished in this area but once again sales were good at this location during the season.

Here are some of the employees at the Iowa Falls location.

Mike Sykes shown here is our manager of the store!  Mike has been with us since May of 1985!  He has been the manager of the facility since January of 2002!  You can say hello to Mike and ask him how is inventory was with a click here!   

This is Gary Bierman one of our parts specialists.  Gary has been on the team since March of 2005.  He has been giving me a bad time because I haven't posted his picture on our web site yet, but here you go now you are front and center on the blog Gary!  He was busy quoting parts this morning for a 9650 STS combine just received at the store.  You can view photos of the combine by clicking here!  Thanks for your efforts in servicing our loyal customers daily.  If you would like to email Gary click here!

Meet Maria Heetland our part time Office Manager.  Maria is on her second tour of duty with the Worthington Ag Parts team.  She returned to work on March 2003.  Maria's attention to detail helped the company uncover some fraud a few years back.  The two individuals were prosecuted and restitution was made to the company because her effort and honesty.  Maria's husband Chad also worked for the company - she started dating him while working with us.  I guess there is some company romance occurring from time to time.  If you want to email Maria about Chad or anything else click here!

This is Kevin Houdeshell.  Kevin can do it all at the facility from managing the back yard to selling parts.  He is an important member on the Iowa Falls team and has been working for the company since July of 1994.  Thanks Kevin for all your hard work and dedication.

This is Harold Behrends, he pulls parts and tears down tractors.  He is always good for a smile and visit.  He was also wearing his safety glasses too - good job Harold.  Don't let his age fool you, Harold can get the job done and has been since October 2001.

That's just a few of the faces here at the store.  The team should wrap up by noon today and depart for Audubon, IA where they will start appraising immediately.  Nick Moeller will join us tonight in time to value the vast inventory in the parts bins.  I'm looking forward to spotting a big buck on the drive to Audubon today - it happens every year!  Now if I could just find the time to hunt again.  More from Audubon, IA tomorrow.

Cheers,

Mike Winter

Inventory Trip Day 8

Worthington Ag Parts -Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

It was a 4:30 departure time Sunday night from the office - destination Iowa Falls, Iowa.  Randy Mittlestadt, Greg Clemens and Mike Chorzempa were ready to go and I was running late.  It was a crazy 24 hours at home for my family.  Two basketball games for my youngest daughter, fractured finger for my oldest daughter - three hours in urgent care and a late birthday party on Saturday night.  The good news is at the last minute Karen had delivered on all my clothes they were laying neat and clean on the bed and I stuffed them back in the bag and ran out the door.  We were still loaded in the truck and headed down 35W by 4:45 PM! 

It was an uneventful drive to Iowa Falls, no freezing rain or snow this year.  Well there was one little hiccup, right in the middle of the interstate was a buck deer.  Someone must have hit him with a vehicle and stunned him.   He was sitting with his head up looking the other direction.  He came up fast since it was dark but a little swerve and all was fine.  I'm glad I wasn't talking on the phone!  Terry Holmes was in town and joined us for dinner.  A quick bite to eat at camp David around 8:30 PM and we were checked in the hotel by 9:30 PM.  Larry Frodermann had arrived already by the time we returned from dinner and was checked in for the night.

We were all present and accounted for - ready to start another inventory at our Iowa Falls, Iowa store in the morning.

Cheers,

Mike Winter

Inventory Trip Day 7 - Sikeston, MO

Worthington Ag Parts -Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

We arrived in  Sikeston, MO at 1:20 PM on Friday.  It was a beautiful flight with clear skies and the temperature was 65 degrees when we landed in Missouri!  Everyone caught some sleep on the flight except for our auditor who was diligently typing away on his laptop - now that's dedication.  The good news is he was raised on a farm and knows his way around a tractor and combine so I didn't give him too much ribbing for working!

It was straight to the yard for inventory!  Not only do we have a salvage yard in Sikeston, we also have a re-manufacturing facility that specializes in John Deere Hydraulic pumps.  You can read more about how we have re-manufactured over 17,000 pumps by clicking here!  Jerod and I headed down to the warehouse and re-manufacturing center to take inventory.  A photo of Jerod and Denny Bell manager of the facility is shown on the left.  Denny has been on the team since July of 1994.  The facility looked great and it was nice to visit with Denny's team during their coffee break and hear about what's happening! 

It's been a good year at the Sikeston location thanks to our valued customers.  The sales area in Sikeston looks great, along with the yard and building.  The photo shows three of our parts specialists at the Sikeston store, Tony Russell, Matt Berry and Preston Price.  This is the second location for the Sikeston store.  The original salvage yard was located where the re-manufacturing shop is.  In 1986 the yard was relocated along Hwy 62 for better access for our customers!  This location has over 4,000 separate cataloged used part numbers full of various quantities ready for sale!

This is Tony Russell a parts specialist at the store!  Tony has been selling parts for Worthington Ag Parts for over 25 years!  He started in February 1982.  He has also worked at Leland, Mississippi and Crawfordsville, Arkansas store while they were up and running.  If you are broken down and need parts Tony can get you the part that you need whether it's a tractor part or combine part!

Tonya Dillard - Office Manager - Sikeston!  Tonya started with Worthington Ag Parts December 2005.  She keeps the guys in line on the counter as well as Terry Holmes our store manager.  Thanks Tonya!

David Roach is shown here!  David has been a long time member of the Sikeston team - November, 1976!  That is 32 years of service.  David can sell parts, organize the bins, catalog use parts, manager the back yard - he can do it all!  Thanks David your loyalty and dedication does not go unnoticed!

Here are a few faces in the crowd at the re-manufacturing center!

This is Charlie McCabe, Charlie handles all the receiving and shipping at the warehouse.  He is on his second tour of duty with Worthington Ag Parts, returning to the team in April 2005.  Charlie also use to load all the containers for our Australian sister company Neil's Parts until we moved the process to our Export Division in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

This is photo of Allan Brown he's been a member of the re-man team since July 2005.

This is Charles Seabaugh and Tommy Reynolds.  Charles has been a member of the re-man team since January, 1998.

I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures of the rest of the staff but there is only so much time in a day!  It doesn't mean they are not appreciated!  Just be ready next time I'm down!

The inventory team worked until 7 PM last night and Sonic was ordered in for supper - an eight year tradition.  (Remember that creatures of habit statement a few days ago?)  It was a long day but that will allow us to leave here at a decent time this morning. It should be wheels up by 10:30 AM.  It's day seven and the guys needs a little alone time from each other even if it is for less than 24 hours.  The team is close but every body needs a break from time to time and it's amazing what 24 hours of down time does for these guys.  Monday morning in Iowa Falls it will be like last Sunday all over again full of energy focus and enough bull crap to sling around for five more days!   

I'm looking forward to getting home even if it is for one night.  My good friend Juan Rivas has a birthday party tonight and my oldest daughter has a basketball tournament this weekend.  I'm an assistant coach for the team a bunch of good sixth graders.  The photo is of a few of the girls I help coach after winning their 3 on 3 league this summer.  (My Allie is the one on the far left!)  I'm actually looking forward to getting back and seeing the whole team and how they have progressed this week at practice.  I enjoy coaching the kids and being a positive role model for them.

I'm sure my lovely wife is not looking forward to my large bag of laundry I'm bringing home, especially since it's a one day turn around!!  She always rises to the occasion and I'm sure they will be back in the suit case by noon on Sunday! 

These are my thoughts for today and thanks for reading my blog!

Cheers,

Mike  Winter

Inventory Trip Day 6 - Goldsboro, NC

Worthington Ag Parts -Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Greetings from North Carolina!  We arrived around 4:30 PM Eastern Standard time.  The flight from Michigan was only an hour and fifteen minutes.  We had a BIG tail wind!  Everyone caught some sleep on the flight.  As I mentioned yesterday they are starting to smell Saturday and going home because as soon as we landed it was straight to the yard to value the inside inventory.  They wrapped up a little after 7 PM inside the building.  It was off to dinner at the local Apple-bee's.  After it took the staff a half hour to get us one drink, all of which were still not right, we wrapped up the tab and headed to Outback.  What is wrong with businesses and their lack of customer service anymore?  The staff at the Goldsboro Outback were fantastic and the "Toohey's New" was good, along with the food.  Outback restaurant is the only place in the U.S. that you can buy the Aussie beer named Toohey's New.  We've acquired a taste for it after visiting Australia many times.  Apple-bee's missed out on a big tab all because of their lack of service, Skip our store manager in Goldsboro is going to let the manager of Applebee's know about it later this week.  If we have customer service issues I want to know about them ASAP!

It's 7 AM and the guys are back at it this morning all in a push to get the outside done in Sikeston, MO yet today.  We gain an hour flying back to Central Standard Time.  The front of the store in Goldsboro is shown in the picture.  It's dry out here.  This area is below their annual rainfall around 20 inches!  They are estimating if there is no rain the city of Raleigh will run out of water in 128 days!  Despite that this store has done very well this year.  The bean harvest could be down in November and December because of the drought but we'll be just fine.

This is the counter sales area at the Goldsboro store!  The two parts specialists in the photo - right to left are Sherrill "Bill" Creech and Danny "BS'er" Weeks.  Sherrill has been with us since February of 1991!  Danny is on his second tour of duty and rejoined us in May of 2004 but in all he's been with eleven years!  Danny still tells the story about our counterman's meeting in Minnesota late January.  The temperature was 30 degrees below Fahrenheit.  He tested the theory that if a glass of water is thrown in the air at that temperature it will freeze before it hits the ground!  It did freeze and I don't think he is ever coming back to Minnesota in January!  If you have a parts problem with your tractor, combine or implement they can provide the solutions you need.

It's interesting, Sherrill originally started as a bookkeeper and shortly adapted to become a parts specialist!  That's an impressive transformation considering how many parts he sells a year! This is Sherrill selling one of the first parts out the door today!  This is Tammy Sutton our office manager in Goldsboro.  Tammy has been with the company since February 1992!  She handles all of our new parts inventory, helps in shipping and can sell parts as well!  She is a valuable member of the team in Goldsboro, kind of the "glue" that holds the team together.  Thanks Tammy for all that you do!  Tammy's father Leon used to work for us back in the day he was a good guy and very knowledgeable about Massey, Ford and Farmall Tractors. 

Did you know we sold whole goods at all of our stores?  This is a photo of a 9760STS combine that we purchased in North Carolina and sold back in the mid-west.  It is being loaded today for transport.  It should be delivered somewhere in Iowa by Monday!  We come across lots of equipment too good to dismantle and sell for parts.  You can check out all the whole goods we currently have for sale by clicking here!

That's all for now from North Carolina, we are off to Missouri soon!

Cheers,

Mike Winter

 

Inventory Trip Day 5 - St. Johns, MI

We've arrived safely in Lansing, Michigan, the flight was 30 minutes start to finish.  We joked on the plane as if we just did this yesterday, while in fact it's been a year already since we were here.  You know it's getting bad when we know the land marks on approach same pattern every year, bank over the gravel pit hard left, float back right and down for the landing!  Two rental cars same company, still same terrible customer service, more on this later.  Drive to the same hotel in Dewitt.  Randy Mittlestadt tells the desk clerk every year "Make sure we get the corporate rate!" because one time seven years ago they didn't!  I was just waiting to watch him do it again for the sixth straight year!  Dinner at the same restaurant (same food in some cases).  Who said we aren't creatures of habit? 

The St. Johns, Michigan store has great facilities!  To the left are two pictures of the separate buildings all full of tractor parts and combine parts!  We are located conveniently off of U.S. Hwy 27 on the North edge of town!  October was a great sales month for this store!  The large amount of combine salvage inventory provided the opportunity for us to provide parts solutions to the farmers in this area!

Here is a photo of the parts specialists at the sales counter.  From right to left are Dean VanCamp, Jamey Bearden and Matt "Skippy" Myers.  Skippy has been with us since February 2000, Jamey has been on the team since May of 2000 and Dean is on his second tour of duty with us!  I guess he just couldn't stay away!  This location has the nicest sales area and parts counter in the company.  I wish we had these facilities at everyone of our stores! 

I snapped a couple more candid photos of the employees, this is Lyna Hoch our office manager.  Lyna has been employed with us since February, 2005!  Lyna makes us treats every year for mid morning snack, they are delicious!  She also provides a little stability to the store - Keeping Jamey, Skippy and Dean in line!  Thanks Lyna!

This is Rich Ryals in the tear down shop!  I'm pleased to see he is wearing his safety glasses!  He has an injured thumb but he was quick to point out that he sliced it home on Sunday!  Perhaps if he practiced safety at home like on the job he wouldn't have that big bandage on his thumb!  Rich has been with us since March of 2006 and is a pleasant addition to the team.  If you need a tractor torn down properly he's the man for the job.

This is Pat Cordray the store manager for St. Johns.  Pat has been on our team since December 1998, next month that will be ten years!  Pat has built a good team here at the store.  If you can't find Pat at work you can bet he's working his own farm or hunting.  I actually think he has a few deer tied up by his farm, because he always seems to shoot a buck!  Next week is deer season in this area, you could probably close the store from the 15th to the 22nd of November - EVERYONE hunts deer up here!

I enjoyed our stop in Michigan things looked good here!  As always, Jamey is guaranteed to make you laugh.  The next time I come I'm going to get a picture of David Goerge, he's been with the company for 23 years and is quick enough to slip away every time I try and get his picture. 

Well more from Goldsboro, North Carolina tomorrow!  I hope they are ready for us because the guys are starting to smell the end of this week and the opportunity to go home for at least one night on Saturday!

Keep Smiling!

Mike

   

Inventory Trip Day 4 - Leesburg, Indiana

Worthington Ag Parts -Tractor Parts, Combine Parts, Implement Parts providers to customers all over the world for 43 Years!  PARTS - Expect More from us!

Hello from Indiana, home of Hoosier, Pacer and Colt fans!  Oh yeah and don't forget -- racing!  We arrived in an uneventful fashion last night around 6 PM Eastern Standard Time.  We lost an hour going from Central Standard Time.  Didn't matter though the guys were up early and ready for our third inventory.  A photo of the yard is shown above.  We've been in this location since August of 1987. 

October was a good month for the Worthington Ag Parts - Leesburg store!  This photo is of our counter sales area, two of our long time parts specialist are shown in action to the left!  The two combined have 77 years in the parts business.  If they can't find the combine parts, tractor parts or implement parts you are looking for chances are nobody can!  Until we put in our new call center phone software last month the two of them use to race to answer customer calls!

Lloyd "Butch" Moore started with Worthington Ag Parts in 1971 at the Worthington store!  On November 10th he will be with the company for 37 years!  Butch is always good for a "story" about the old days!  He is our longest termed employee!    We'll have to celebrate 40 years with him soon!  You can email Butch with a click here!

Gene "Geno" Wagaman started with Worthington Ag Parts in 1983 at the Worthington store!  He came from Watland International in Worthington prior to joining our team!  He relocated to manage the Leesburg, Indiana store in August, 1987!  He's been here every step of the way and has seen the good days and the bad days!  It's all good right now!  You can email Geno with a click here!

Combine season was great here in Indiana and the surrounding area.  The new after-market combine warehouse shown in the photo is almost empty as it should be at the end of the season.  New after-market combine parts and tractor parts are a great supplement to our used parts offering!  This warehouse was built specifically to our house our new combine parts three years ago!

This is Marsha Abels the office manager in Leesburg.  She is also married to Marv Abels our store manager.  As you can tell she wasn't too excited I that I took her picture!  Marsha was a bookkeeper in Worthington before relocating to Indiana!  Office staff is a vital part of our team, they keep the process rolling!  Thanks Marsha!

That's all from Indiana more from Michigan tomorrow!

Cheers,

Mike Winter