by Reid Nehring
I write this blog with a large degree of uncertainty and concern for our industry right now. It appears that most of our Dealers including ourselves, find themselves being caught in the middle of the perfect storm. I’m not sure what else could go wrong right now with all the fires burning in Western Canada, the total OHV riding ban in Alberta, the massive Polaris RZR recall, the sinking loonie, the crappy oil prices and the Earl’s chain of restaurants announcing with one final kick to the ying-yangs, that they will buy all their beef from the US and shut out our western Canadian beef producers. Thankfully Earls heard the roar of the customer and have reversed that decision, but holy cow, what else could possibly go wrong right now I ask myself. Don’t get me started on what our new federal government is doing or not doing to help the West and the provincial NDP government in Alberta that figures the way out of recession is to tax the living crap out of everybody! For those of you that follow me on Facebook you will notice that I have become very political in the last year and have a somewhat jaded point of view when it comes to both of these governments that are doing very little to help small business and the people that own them, like you and I.
As I mentioned in my 2016 President’s message that for most of us the downturn we are dealing with isn’t our first rodeo and that most of us will survive. From what I’m hearing out there right now, a lot of us are now in “survival mode” trying to keep expenses and costs in check, paring staff down to bare bones and trying to keep inventories low. I’m starting to see the haunting reflections of the early 80’s and am thinking this downturn may last longer than most of us originally thought. However, through all the bad news we are trying to remain positive and are aggressively planning for a future that includes all of you! We have been working vigorously with our Dealers on seeking out what your needs are and what we can do to meet those needs. We have expanded and have diversified our product lines to include more cost effective parts and maintenance items with some awesome new suppliers and manufacturers such as Warthog Axles for both ATV’s & UTV’s, Energy Suspensions bushings, Race Driven’s line of brake pads & shoes, rotors, cv boots and hydraulic struts, NXT LVL Snorkel Kits and Lucas Oil to name a few.
Having said all this though we find ourselves with some overstock and older inventory that needs to be cleaned out and cleared out, yesterday! I have personally gone through our complete inventory line by line and have identified product that needs to find new homes! We want to give you our Dealers the first opportunity at scooping this product up and after that; we have no choice but to make it go away. A lot of this product is priced at 40, 50 & 60% off of regular Dealer pricing so don’t miss out on your opportunity to make extra margin for your dealership. If you don’t want to take advantage of the savings, we need to find a way to make it go away, so whether we auction it or fire-sale it to some liquidator, this product will eventually make its way into the hands of the retail public. So here is what we have decided to do, Dealers will have until June 10th to purchase the clearance product. On June 10th and 11th we plan on having our first ever garage sale and make this product available to the retail public for two days. Whatever is left after that will go to the auction. When you decide to take advantage of the clearance product we have for sale, call your order in and please specify that they are clearance items in order to get the savings. We will only offer these prices to the Dealers that specify the product on the Clearance sheets. Those that don’t pay attention to these sale flyers won’t be given the clearance pricing! All product is first come, first serve and prices are only valid on in stock items only. All items are final sale and non-returnable.
In closing, I’ll re-iterate from my earlier message that we want you to journey along with us as we both look adversity in the face and seek the opportunities it presents to hopefully move us past survival mode. Not only so you know what to expect from us, but also to inspire you to do the same. We appreciate your business and thank you for your continued support and loyalty!
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