Mother Deere....No Loyalty

Well, loyalty in the ag industry apparently has gone by the way side. I currently work for a family owned single store dealership. We have a large customer base, and do a good deal of sales. The owners of the store had no intention of closing or selling out for the quite some time. However, since John Deere wants only multi store operations, we have been forced out. Deere did not renew out contract this year. Our territory was purchased by a larger multi store organization, who will be building a new dealership about 25 miles from us. Unfortunately, we will be closing when the new store opens. Today I was informed that the new dealership will not have "room for me as an employee at the new location". So....just like that, come December 1st, I will no longer have a job. Thanks John Deere... End of rant.
 
Sorry to hear that. John Deere used to take better care of people in the past, when it was family owned. These big multinational corporations today just look at us like we are peasants.
 
I see more and more of this......a sad story, but Deere has lost interest in small dealerships and the people that made them work,,kinda makes me want to throw my cap into the waste basket...
 
RN Johnson in New Hampshire was forced out like this a few years ago. They claimed they were the 3rd oldest Deere dealer in the country. Sorry for your job loss.
 
I do not wish anyone to loose there jobs, but the owner(s) of your store that you worked for seen the writing on the walls years ago in the direction that Deere was going. This is no suprise to anyone in the industy.

You have to be disappointed in the owner(s) of your store for not working out a deal with the group that was bound to take your area over. They may of been able to secure jobs for thier employees.
 
I'm curious what the advantage is for Deere to do this? I mean if say 50 machines are sold by each of 4 small dealers as opposed to 200 by one large dealer I don't see what difference it makes to Deere.
 
This has been going on for years and is nothing new. It started around here in the late 90s. I?m surprised there even single owned stores still left. By the way my local Case red dealer owns 8 stores and forced out two locally one owner stores. Go ahead and ream on green because the other side is no better.
 
Same thing happened to me with General Motors back in 2009.
GM dealers were independent so what did that matter to GM ? Let the dealers sink or swim on their own.

If your owners and store are good at all and want to be a dealer, have them check into becoming a Kubota dealer ! or even a Mahindra dealer.
 
JD only wants to deal with a room full of dealership owners in one sitting vs 1,000. That was told to me by someone in the know. Case is doing the same thing.
 
Makes sense, probably in there eyes viewed as more trustworthy than small dealers slipping warranty stuff thru etc, also less price competition etc
 
Yea it's a shame. Our local dealer just got bought out by one of the multi location dealerships. Fortunately they retained all the key parts people and the store manager.
 
Is there any chance they could become an independent shop? That's what a local JD dealership did a few years ago.
 
Our local dealer has been sold out 3 times in the last 15 years, only good thing they kept all the people and the dealership still on the same property. Sometimes I think I need to change colors.
 
This is the direction the whole agriculture industry is going, the coops are next, then the small family farm.
 
A co-worker once reminded me we were even with the company we worked for every pay check. A stark realization but that's the way it is.

At our company those let go were walked out the door the day they were notified. Often it was done around the holidays when they were making adjustments for the next year. I always told my co-workers don't be caught standing around talking about it, just get to work and do the very best job you can.

It is always hard to loose a job. I feel bad for your hurting. At least you have some time to start looking while you still have a pay check.

You seem intent on blaming Deere. Deere is only doing what they need to do to survive in the environment they compete. They would be doing their stockholders, customers, and employees a disservice if they didn't. They would not have survived the many many consolidations over the years in the Ag industry if they were not paying attention.

Good Luck on finding that next job. Maybe this is an opportunity to seek some additional training.

Paul
 
Mom and Pop fertilizer and chemical businesses here have really dwindled in the last 20 years. The nearest two small fert and chem suppliers have owners most likely over 60 years old. Probably when they get too old I would not be surprised to just to see those locations close as the big outfits have locations in the area. Areas that have lots of Amish or old order Mennonites have seen new feed supply stores open that are not chain operations. In other areas mom and pop feed stores are just about all gone. Land is terribly inconsistent in soil type in lots of places discouraging large farm operations. But that is not to say that a few are not trying to build operations on soils that will give 200 bushel per acre corn and a quarter mile away be lucky to get 140 bushel corn per acre. As long as somebody does not start with a mountain of debt there will be a number of 500 acre or less farms around.
 
I still have a one store JD dealer 3 miles from me. I believe this is only one of two single store JD dealers left in Wisconsin. They are great dealer and I sure hope the same thing doesn't happen to them. I know all the owners and most of the employees. Al
 
You guys are blaming the wrong company. It was CaseIH who started this craziness. So take your rants out on them.
 
Same thing happened here where I live with family owned tractor company, they sold Fords for many many years and after New Holland aquired Ford they sold NH tractors for years, then one day NH told them no more family owned dealers, pulled the rug out from under them, their still in business today but now sell LS tractors, and I heard someone say that LS is making some of the NH tractors now....
 
I don?t know of any single location Deere dealerships in Illinois, three consolidated here locally probably 15 years ago. The case dealer was bought out a few years ago by a huge one!
 
The owner of one of the JD dealers we dealt with was married to a niece of the CEO at JD back in the early 90s. I don't know his name. But my owner was golfing with him back in Moline one year in the mid 90s and was told all of this dealer consolidation was coming down the pipeline. Point blank he was asked if he wanted to be a mega dealer. He said no and about 5 years later he closed up the store. So for a couple of years we were without a JD dealer but then the NH dealership in the same town closed its doors no doubt due to the CIH and NH merger since the CIH dealer was just down the road. They reopened a short time later as the new JD dealer.
 
Went to get new distributor cap for my 1950 Farmall H, the dealership has just been taken over and consolidated. I walked in, some big new guy behind the counter said Yep, got them right here and slapped down on the counter a 6-post distributor cap. Smiled at me. Long pause. I didn't quite know how to say it, so I just said it. A 1950 Farmall H was a 4-cylinder tractor, not 6. I thought, Uh=oh, here we go.
 
Our small town of 3200 people at one time had 4 machinery dealers. Now we have none.At one time we had 16 places to purchase gas and now 2.Sign of the times our multi dealership does a good job and JD probably has close to 75% of the business although last year I can think of very few new tractors or combines sold. Parts can usually be found at one of the stores as they keep their parts inventory low.
 
Dealership you are referring to doesn't care much about employees anymore. Alot of good people have left, and alot of good people have been let go. Someday it will catch up to them.
 
I spoke this past spring to the woman that, with her husband started the Jd dealership here in the early 50's, selling out in 1988 Literally a Mom & Pop situation. She is 85 now but I bet she could still kick the tails of some of the local "management"
She and her husband knew that if they were to succeed, their customers had to succeed too.
 
I worked at a Mom and Pop dealership back in the 70's, they took good care of their customers, more than once they loaned out equipment to customers that were in a pinch at little or no cost. Several times if a customer had a tractor go down at planting or harvest time He would send out a new tractor of the same size for them to use,,he would say it will help him out of a pinch,,and he may fall in love with the new tractor and want to keep it,,and most times that is the direction it would go..The bottom line is the Old 1 store owners cared and looked after their customers, and took pride in doing it...and they did it with older, well kept buildings,,no flashy over done locations,,so their overhead was much more reasonable..
 
It's not just the ag industry doing this. Look at the car dealers, they went to multiple locations for one brand now it's one dealer with as many different brands as they can get in lots of locations. Heavy equipment dealers are all multi location. It just keeps going, the independent operators are fewer and far between.
 
Very sorry to read about what has happened to you. I read most of the other posts and this is unfortunately happening today, as it has been for years. I am 51 years old and I saw the IH dealership in my hometown close up on account of IH not renewing the contract with this man who had been in the business for decades, and this closure happened in about 1975. I saw the Deere dealership we had been doing business with for a number of years close in 1986/1987. This was voluntarily due to the low business volume as the owners could not afford to "bleed money" anymore. In this time, Deere was going to 1 dealership per county in our area. In the locale where I live, the Deere dealerships are all part of the mega-store ownership corporations and we just had consolidation of other multi-store locations merge with one or two others to form mega-store dealership networks. Just a couple years ago, we saw some "low volume" stores closed down. I was traveling a few weeks ago and saw a new Titan Case-IH store, which had been built just a few years ago. It is now closed up. A town of around 2000 people had a family who had two locations of auto dealerships. One specialized in GM products, while the other specialized in Ford and Chrysler products. The 2008 meltdown initiated the auto manufacturers not renewing the franchises in this community. The cooperatives involved in grain, feed, agronomy, and energy products are going through merger mania, too. Where our family farm is located, we are down to 2 choices in grain buying cooperatives, 3 choices in agronomy supply cooperatives, 2 choices in feed supplier cooperatives, and 3 choices in energy supplier cooperatives. The largest 2 are in grain, feed, and agronomy, with one of them also involved in energy. These operations are $300 to $450 million in annual sales revenues! I might strike a nerve, here, but I really question these large companies being governed by a board entirely made up of farmers! I had worked in the cooperative system for nearly 10 years and that was a small operation doing about $12 million per year in annual sales revenues. The quality of most of the members of the board of directors was less than stellar. In my thinking about that, I cannot help but ask the question as to how the typical, or even a large scale farmer can truly sit on the board of a $100 million company, or a $450 million company, and have the slightest idea as to what it takes to run or lead a company of this size? Sorry for going off the topic a bit, but I thought my comments were worth sharing.
 
How is this any differnent than the vast majority of the farms out there? Yes there are still small family farsm out there today, but they are dwindleing.

How many cows did you milk in the 1970's and how many acres of grains did you grow in the 1970's?

How many cows and how acres do you run now?

Why is Deere a No Good Son of a....when all these mega farmers are no differnet?
 
About 30 years ago it seemed like a bunch of milk Coop's had the same issue with farmers on the board of directors trying to run the multi million dollar corporation as a side job to the home farm. Remember the year they said Dairylea stole Christmas.
 
Most of us on here are "Old School" and Loyal to what we believe in and who we deal with,,this "New" ... "it's only business" line of thought and direction is hard for us to get use to...
 
I understand that, I?m in my mid 30s and am farming just under 1000 acres with my 79 year old grandpa. We are about as old school as it gets and I appreciate the opportunity to learn things this way but I?m pretty sure we?ll get swallowed up by the large farm operations and large dealers who cater to them sooner or later. I also operate a small residential carpentry business, i have one other full time employee other than myself as well as a part timer. Probably the only reason I am able to do what I do the way that I do it is because of the 74 year old owner/operator of the last mom and pops lumberyard here. I?m sure I?m on barrowed time on both ventures but life?s been good so far! It?s gonna be a hard pill to swallow when I gotta try and find a job someday!
 
Same thing happened to me when ih bought Case w/Tenneco's money. Problem w/opening as an Independent now days is few if any dealerships will work with you offering parts w/resale discount. Several aftermarket suppliers are available such as Hy-Capacity, AP Air Group, A&I etc.
 
It is the corporate directive, loyalty is to the stock holders.

I really cannot believe JD still has parts for the older tractors, expensive, but can get most of them.
 
Tim S your correct as always. Technology and Globalization is happening on a torrent pace. It's just the way life is now for all humans. Whoever adapts and understands that it just can't go back to the good old days that will make it and profit.
 
Your employers knew about this probably 6 or 7 years ago! Mine certainly did, you should have been told about this. Deere have said for ages that a single outlet dealer will not be able to afford the after market service requirements to support their tractors and machinery. The Deere dealer I used to work for had 2 outlets ten years ago, it now has 8 I think.
 

Aftermarket service requirements is decoded to be - we are going to overcharge you on annual software subscriptions for systems diagnosis tools as well as require frequent training of your employees on ever changing complex systems resulting in the inability to afford the overhead on a one shop operation.

John
 
The mega dealer shop to the East of me has a large lot,40 acres along a major road, they paid $32,000 per acre for, a huge black topped lot and parking area, a huge over done show room/shop area,,35 employees (8 or so that actually work)10 new pick ups 3or4 over done shop trucks 2 semis,,and cell phones for all, plus a Hi-tech phone system,that no one answers...I can't even guess what it cost to open the door each morning...so I cannot understand the positive economics of a store like this...
 
Growing up I remember old John Deere signs over independent repair shops in almost every small town with 300 people and a railroad siding. All those small towns had dealerships at one time. After WW2 the smaller dealerships started closing and consolidating.
 
I am the independent repair shop for this area, and I still uphold the old fashion values of the old days,,a lot of people come here to have me look up the parts and print a list they need before they go to the mega dealer, and no I don't charge for it,,and yes I am always glad to help them,,when they need a major repair they come to me for it,,no fancy place, just a clean shop that get things done for a fair price...Years back there were 3 new car dealers and 4 tractor dealers in my little town,,now there are no tractor dealers in the county and one new car dealer..30 miles to a mega dealer to the East and west,,near a 100 miles to the North or South...
 
The John Deere dealer here now owns 17 stores. Last year they owned 22. They started buying all the mom and pop dealers in the late 90's. Each time they would send a letter stating they bought the dealer to better serve me. Then a year or two latter they send another letter closing the dealership because they had too many!

As their circle of dealerships gets larger. They close any dealerships inside the circle. Closest one to me is now 40 miles. Use to be 14 miles.

Two years ago I needed a combine part on the 3rd of July. The dealer was closed at 2:00. Sign on the door said to call this number for parts. Their would be a $100 after hours charge.

My mom and pop dealer was open on the 4th during wheat harvest and was more than happy to help you any way they could.
 
We will depend on the dealer less and less,,and they will feel it more and more...instead of driving to the dealer to pick up a part, and cruising the lot to see what is there,,we will get more parts on line dropped at our door by UPS,,so we won't care about what the dealer has on their lot,,and there for will not have any interest in buying it..There will be Rogue dealers that will offer parts for less online many miles away and UPS will still drop them at the door next day,,and then the implosion will begin...
 
You guys need to think a little more about how thinks are out there. I worked worked for the local JD Dealer Back in the early 60s in that time frame most farmers had one Qt 160 acres, bigs guys 3qts. Here in Lake county SD we had Case, Oliver, IH MM,Ford,Alice and JD dealers Deere and IH were in nearly every county seat, today we have John Deere And Case IH. JD dealer put up new building Cost 4 million dollars this dealer now has 22 stores eastern SD and west central Minn. a small farmer in our area farms 2000 to 3000 acres, the big guys are up to 20000 and all those Qts bare now no building or fence left go to center part of the state and there are a lot of guys farming 20000 to 50000 acres there is no place for little dealers
 
Tim, doing that now with combine and planter parts. If I don't need them right away shoup or others will be at my door the next day most of the time free shipping.
 
Our local Deere only has 6 stores. The 1 I go to has a decent parts guy. On more than 1 occasion he's spilled about if business both parts and machinery don't pick up they're concerned that store may close. Never anyone in for parts when I go. Only big machinery in the lot so I don't even look.
 
We seen this happen in the 80's..things hit the wall hard and fast when farm prices fell,,and they are at a near break even price now.
 

Yep......I've been through this a few times. I was working for the local Hesston mom and pop dealership when AGCO bought Hesston. After a year or so of putting up with AGCO's bs, they cancelled our contract and gave it to a competitor with 7 stores.....closest being 35 miles away. The owner put most everything up for sale and kept all of us on until we found other work. He kept his service truck and went independent repair still taking care of his customers. I went to the mom and pop John Deere dealer in the next town. Deere pressured him to sell in the early 2000's so he sold to a dealer with 5 other stores. Not a lot of changes we were still able to take good care of our customers. Then in 2013 Deere handed him a list of 3 mega dealers and told him to pick one and start negotiating a sale.
Mega dealer came in and pretty much tied our hands as far as taking care of customers. I stayed a year and retired early......couldn't take it any more.
As soon as I retired, the former Hesston guy called me and wanted me to come help him part time. He is still taking care of customers out of his truck and home shop. We too spend time helping people with parts look up etc.......mega dealer can't get the job done....we don't mind.....we get the repair jobs.
 
Cross Imp in Minier, Shiloh Valley Impmelent in Shiloh, IL, and Neff Co. in Avon IL are the only ones.
Green/Line Equipment in Farina just sold to Riechmann Bro's in October.

Tyler in IL
 
sydentricker Deere sucked up all the dealers near me, southwest of st Lois mo, went to one yr or so ago, sparkplugs for 41 JD b , he grabbed a box of 4, asked if I wanted all of em, I said no I don't need extras..he looked lost lol Dusty
 

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