Scott's Friday afternoon ponder....

[MrBobcat]

Being that there are alot of company owners on this site of all shapes and sizes thought i would pick your brain.

How many of you are contemplating large ( for your busniess) purchase's yet this year? next 6 months?

Also curious to your thoughts as to why or why not ?

My 1st poll , so go easy on me guys!:popcorn2:popcorn2

[Mark Oomkes]

Unfortunately, only if I have to.

Other than that, make do with what I have.

[OSCLandscaping]

I just purchased a used loader, we have been doing a winter lease for the past nine years and the company I was using no longer carries them. The cost has steadily risen to over 2 times what we were paying when when we first rented, I purchased this for the same amount as a winter lease and now I will have it available year round.

[atgreene]

I've been purchasing only as cash allows. Some deals have been too good to pass-up, but there's no way I'm financing anything for a while. I have my eye on a few more small items, but need to get the cash reserves back up before I can add to my collection.

[snowjoker]

I voted no, but in a way i kinda needed to vote yes at the same time. I bought a large truck at a cheap price.... :D

[2COR517]

Nothing in the near future for me. If I can get all three/four on the road at once, I'll be golden.

[Mick]

Yes, but the purchase paid for itself within a month.

[JMac]

I voted yes. Business growth is still strong and free cash flow is strong. Personally, I live very modestly so that I can put most of my profits back into the business and keep it growing with as little debt as possible. If I need to finance anything, I have a banker that continually asks me how soon and how much I need to borrow.

[Pickering Snow]

Scott

I Voted no Also probley the first year i havent bought a new Wrecker since 04 i did buy a used one in Jan when the Sterling was totaled and spent about 4k out of pocket for the upgrade for the replacement Dodge, and bought out a buss partners end of the 330 Pete 4 car carrier this is the first year my friend i can honeslty can say i have paid my qtr estimated taxs on time and in 4 yrs meaning over the last 4 i would take the pentalty from the Feds which wasnt enough to worry about since at the end of the year i would average 125-200k in truck purchases.

I know why your doing this poll and i slept on it before i would answer the true under lying reason your asking i read your other thread last night with alot of emotion and just felt it would be better to answer without yesterdays pressures on my mind.

Iam and always have been a self banker to be honest my criedt score probley sucks worse than a bag ladys on woodward ave in Detroit but its because my mom was the bank for me when i was 23 and bought the propertys here and it allowed me to become aggressive quick not only has a landlord but i made a game out of saving and making money. Stick with me this is going somewere, i became a heavy invester in the stock market in the early 90s until the late Clinton days i also would cont to invest in propertys and land.

I started out subbing in Snow with my brother we both had decent trucks but when the guy i subbed for handed me his contracts and said he was done i was forced to **** or get off the pot i went in and would start buying trucks new like crazy and the snow buss would grow, during its growth the local Western dealer would see me twice a year which would lead me to seeing a man in Erie for about 4 yrs to the tune of about 22k in plows iam only saying this because buss was growing growth is good it means YOU arnt dipping into your savings because guys are buying equipment to cover the growth.

Towing same thing i have paid for everything out of pocket i own every single truck free and clear but being bored one sunday i couldnt get a Best Buy criedt card to buy a Tv why because i have no established criedt with a bank hang in there its going somewere....So with over a 1/2 millon dollars in hardware alone setting in the parking lot i cant get a freaking big screen tv again i was bored just wanted to see if i could get approved and proved being a self banker all my life has killed me criedt wise.

Before you even posted i knew you were in trouble , reason i have watched Doug from Danzi brothers who sold me 4 wreckers from Delaware call me three times a month to get me into a truck he has moved around from Danzi to Penn Truck sales , to Worldwide to now hes vanished. The reason he was calling me and probley others like me is because we were his cash cows no banks to deal with on getting approved but the truth is all this jibber jabber i have been writing has a point i got were iam at from being a smart self banker,,, Last Nov the magor part of America wanted CHANGE and my friend thats about whats left right now so what you have left is self bankers, and like many of the members here i conisder smart buss people, Mark O, Rodger, Walt , Mick etc buying only what they need and not new and i would venture to say with them on there creidt terms not someone elses.

Heres my Advice short and sweet move on or do the part time job to stop the blood letting from your savings allowing you to keep the company truck the rotton bastards are writing off every month while you distroy your lifes savings sticking it out with them. Iam not picking on BC just stating that truck isnt costing them a dime nor is the fuel its a big corp write off no diff than my guys driving my Wreckers home even though they have went from 15-25 calls a week each to 15-25 company total.

If you are to cont with sales i agree with others who have said used sales are booming reason is Scott the land of Milk and honey has turned to Cottage cheese and arm pit juice, that said smart buss owners are looking at the fact that it doesnt have to smell all new inside to make there company money anymore and most are finding a low hours or low mileage unit is a better way truth is probley built better too example me and Mark O both bought used 7.3 diesel trucks low mileage for decent prices and to be honest and iam sure Mark will agree his and i know mine are producing the same income the Dodge is for me.

And just for the record its painful to read your other post last night when a friend of mine is hurting i hurt too , that said i would venture to say if i did a poll on Diamond P people probley would ask for a fill in line "If i had money to piss away" what people dont know fully because i have not come out and said it fourth right is that Diamond P is my new wrecker this year except this time yes its giving me a tax write off but its being raffled or auctioned off to help a org ACS that will do nothing but suffer when the commys on Penn Ave take over health care so i know has people see that bike its like what a waste of money well dont think for one min has i have seen things get worse with some close friends here since the contract was signed with Vforce that if i had taken that money and split if up to help everyone here thats hurting right now it would have made me feel has good inside has giving to ACS except if it wernt for people like me and millons of other givers to ACS i probley wouldnt be here to write this.:wink

Scott start looking at other options my phone is on you need to call me before my finger falls off from typing and explain your many options God will guide you if you let him.

Again the above my friend is the painful truth with sales right now i went to the point of putting a sign on the shop door NO Soliciting because i dont want my company name on the local Chat and Chew were people drink a cup of coffee for 4 hours and them come want me to finace there repair work no thanks ill cont to take my referals the phone book this year i dropped from 1/2 page to 1/8 page that peice of crap yellow book hasnt done nothing but wear my battery down answering stuipd price shoppers questions, to probely adding brain cancer to my Hodgkins , along with wrecker calls coming at 2am wanting a price to pull them out of the woods because Johnny had to bang mary in the woods instead of just paying 45 bucks for a flop house hotel ...

A painful thread sits at the bottom of this site and i would venture the answers to why it happened had to do with slow sales those who read this probley know who and what iam talking about and why you mean enough to me has a friend to punish the entire board here with my crappy typing..

[Pelican]

It's a buyer's market right now and I'd love to be able to take advantage of some of the great pricing, but my credit is in such a shambles right now from the market conditions I wouldn't be able to if I wanted to. The only way I've been able to continue to operate is that my equipment is paid for otherwise I'd be looking over my shoulder for Fred or one of his colleagues. My market started seeing a down trend 3 years ago and I made adjustments, and at this point I've used up all my reserves to stay afloat. I'm operating out of pocket the best I can, I've got a mower with a blown engine right now that I can't afford to fix.

4 years ago I was carrying 4 times the credit load I have now and was making all my payments on time, plus had some play money left plus reserves in the bank. Today I'm working check to check, there's no way I can make any major purchases.

[MrBobcat]

Fred ...PM sent my freind.

Thanks guys ... i wrote down some numbers before i posted this ... and i was pretty damn close to right as you can get. Just wanted a little validation.

I admire of all you guys making it work your way out there ... keep it up!

[AL Inc]

I'm in "survival mode" right now, keeping everything I have going the best I can. I've been rebuilding equipment when I can where in the past I would have just bought new. Only my front line mowers I will continue to replace every 3 years or so. Trucks, I'm sticking with what I've got. I feel very fortunate coming into this time with very little debt business wise, things could be much worse for me right now.
I read your other thread Scott, I was also sad to hear that. I bought my Cat skid steer in 2004 and really kept it pretty busy for three years or so, but this year, since the winter, it has barely moved. I sent my foreman to pick it up from the area where we dump, as moving those piles is the only work I have for it, and he said there were literally weeds starting to grow out of the debris on top of the engine compartment. It has been a while since we used it:mad: