This past week we’ve seen bitter cold all over the nation. I’ve read about people back east freezing to death in their cars. It appears they got trapped on a freeway and couldn’t stay warm. I’ve also read about cattle falling through the ice and freezing in ponds. It seems everyone and every critter had heck this past week.
Our local feed store contracts with a big feed mill for their bulk feed every year. John likes to contract all the bulk feed he sells the entire winter. He argues he doesn’t have to worry about keeping up with fluctuating prices, so he has less bean counting time each month and more time helping out around the store. All of us that buy feed usually know for the entire winter what our cost will be as well. He really makes it easy on us to budget our feed bill. Most of us that buy his bulk feed also realize he most likely could make more profit if he contracted the entire winter and then upped his prices throughout the winter like most folks do, but John don’t believe in doing business that way. He figures he’ll make more in the long run by helping his local customers out. He says yes, it’s an ethical decision, but also a business decision. He says it’s best to treat people right and everything no will work out fine.
This past week, right before Christmas he had a big announcement on social media. He has already sold all the “contracted” feed he had bought. He thinks because of the drought this past summer folks are having to feed more. He was really upset about having to raise his prices and we haven’t hit the hardest months of winter yet. He said he never expected to sell this much feed this quick, it has really surprised him.
I sat in the feed store for awhile today. I bet he apologized two dozen times for raising his prices. Finally, one older farmer told him to quit. He said, “shoot you’re still thirty dollars cheaper than the big feed mill up the road.”
I didn’t say much to anyone, I just kind of sit quietly and listened as people came and went. I’ve seen agriculture people that counted every single penny, and I’ve seen others who just were happy to break even. I’m almost fifty years old and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any business owner as concerned about his customers being able to make it through a winter. The more I thought on it the more I figured John was as good hearted a person as I’d ever met.
It seems every so often I meet a person who really surprises me. I’ve met young people who were crazy smart. I’ve met people with no high school diploma that could quote Shakespeare word for word. This week I met a small business owner who really cares about his customers. I think in his mind, if his customers fail, he also will fail. I see new items he brings in each month, trying to cater to this person or animal. I think he has a mind for business like no one I’ve ever met. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart once said, “The goal of a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary.” I think our local feed store owner must have studied up on Sam Walton’s ideals, because he’s nailed that one better than anyone I’ve ever seen. It made feeding the cows a little easier knowing someone I do business with actually cares about my success.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He fools with horses, cows and writes cowboy stories.
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