On November 22, 2021, I interviewed Tony LaPorta on the Moving Iron Podcast. Tony is a trader and brought up some excellent points during the interview. What made me think the most was his point about the cost of uncertainty and how the various markets are reacting. 

Rapid changes create both risk and opportunity. Your dealership is impacted by big changes in technology, the workforce and higher expectations of your customers, employees and suppliers.

Earlier this week, I commented on the “unprecedented times” our farm equipment industry finds itself in. I’ve been hearing about it most of the week from manufacturers —tires, castings, virtually everything needed to finish off wholegoods — with live bodies a close #2 concern. 

As most of you know, our company also publishes No-Till Farmer (NTF), now in its 50th year (my dad, Frank, has personally edited each edition since 1972). With NTF’s half-century milestone and the 60th anniversary of the first commercial no-till plots in Kentucky in 2022, we’ve been preparing a museum display to bring to Louisville for the 30th National No-Tillage Conference (NNTC) in January.

Last month, I talked about the used equipment manager and how the position is different from that of a remarketing manager. Both the remarketing manager and the used equipment manager share 85% of the same characteristics. The remaining 15% is where the most significant differences are.

Last month I wrote about the difference between a used equipment manager and remarketing manager. I am not sure I can do justice to both with just one article, so I will spend some time looking at what the used equipment manager does and what kind of person is needed.