Dear Fellow Pumpers: During the last year, I have been accused of putting out an information sheet in regards to our industries concrete pump companies manufacturers, banks, leasing companies, and finance companies' business practices. I can tell you, it is not me. But after some thought, it is not a bad idea for a company to provide our industry with information about the business practices of pumpers, suppliers, manufactures, banks, leasing companies, and lenders in our industry. Due to their bad business practices, they have created an unfair playing field for concrete pumping companies in the United States that are trying to make their payments etc. It creates a great disadvantage when: 1. A manufacturer provides concrete pumps to a competitor with no payments for 3 months, 6 months, or even a 12-month period. a. to guarantee a loan and arrange the financing for a competitor in order to sell their equipment. b. to set a competitor up as a distributor or other arrangements; providing parts, or service personnel not otherwise available to the average pumper. We need an industry reporting system to make owners aware of an industry problem with equipment due to a manufacturers' design problem or parts problem, and make sure the manufacturer corrects the problem for all pumpers. 2. Banks - Lending and Leasing Companies: prolonging and choosing whom they are going to put out of business by repossessing their equipment or cancelling their line of credit or etc. That creates an unfair playing field by allowing other companies to stay in business even though they may owe thousands or millions of dollars more in debt than the company that they just now helped shut down. Ever hear the slogan, "too big to fail?" What is too big: 50-100-200 - what? a. Finance companies are now allowing those companies to stay in business who now are destroying the market place in the United States by going after every job at drastically reduced pricing, less than cost, in order to get cash flow. Due to finance companies not requiring them to make payments creates an unfair playing field, which will eventually cause pumpers in their area of operations to go bankrupt or out of business. b. They can steal parts off other pumps in order to keep half their fleet running at no cost to the company, while not making repairs to other equipment they are running, such as; engines, rear ends, hydraulic pumps, tires, boom systems, etc. That eventually the bank will have to pay for. I can assure you that when lending institutions decide to move on that company "too big to fail" the equipment they will be picking up will require up to thousands, if not millions, to repair for companies too big to fail in order for the bank to sell the equipment at auctions in the future. Finally, but not least, we must provide for our industry good ideas in regards to good business practices, such as rental contracts, job tickets, maintenance, financial information on costs, how to arrive at a cost for our services, and make a profit in a down economy. Our industry must now make a profit pumping maybe at a 50% utilization rate now that the economy is flat, and will remain flat for a considerable time. In addition, realizing that there is very little value left in a concrete pump after a few years of use, resale values are drastically down and will remain down for a long time. Ritchie Brothers has auctioned off more than 600 concrete pumps at their auctions. I will say they would have a opportunity of an additional 1000 concrete pumps to auction in the near future due to the oversupply we have in our industry. If you are in favor of such an information source in the future, we will have someone contact you in the near future. Please email us your thoughts and ideas of creating such a source for this information. Please let me know. Thank you. A Concerned Pumper! Richard O'Brien robrien@obrienpumping.com

Wow you put alot of thought into this subject Mr. Obrien . But Im not gonna touch this with a 10 foot pole ...

Trueth,justice and the american way.

I agree whole heartedly , I havent dug and read the laws but I do believe many have been broken , if this was AIG,GM,Chrysler,etc. there would be federal investigators all over this,but its not , its us ,concrete pumping companies being put at a disadvantage by manufacturers and finance companies many being put out of business and ruined financially, I remember being proud of this industry a hard working group of people that worked there way to having a decent business and making a decent life for themselves and their employees,now greed and corruption has turned this industry into shambles, where people who speak the truths have to hide behind a alias whether due to persecution or prosecution,these words needed to be spoken,I lie sleeepless many nights about the profession I chose and the sacrifices my wife and kids have given to an industry so unworthy of all of our hard work and dedication to making it what it is and now to see the ones most to blame are being given free passes while the rest of us with consciences stress over notes due, our guys makin enough to provide for their families, and so on , if I was 25 again and had to do over I would dedicate my life to a industry worthy and I promise you it wouldnt be this one,but for now Im here and I will continue to work with a conscience and feeling for my fellow operators employees and friends and hope in my lifetime this industry will become what it should be a profession operators can be proud to be a part of.

     Todd Termini

here here richard you hit the nail on the head. your a top notch man and i respect all you say. i have owned my own company and if i hadnt seen this coming  i would stil be in business.but i wold love to talk to you in person some day.

First and foremost I would like to state that Mr Obriens statement above looks and sounds exactly like the trashing bullshit mass emails that all of us have received, almost word for word! In response to that, I would like to be the first to stand up and call Bullshit on this one!!!

As for the contents of the above:

There is the weak, and their is the strong!

The weak fell victim to this downed economy, and now want to find someone to blame for their problems. This makes them feel better, as if they played no part in this game, but were a mere victim, oh woe is me!

The strong too fell victim to the current economy, but they dont see themselves as a victim at all! Rome rose, and Rome fell. It is the natural sequence of events. Shit happens, we deal with it. We dont look for a scapegoat or start throwing around accusations to make ourselves feel better. We just keep our chins up and work our asses off to beat this thing, and we will!

So in closing I would like to say there is one word that comes to mind here, hypocrites! Practice what you preach, that was a term my grandma used constantly, and it rings true where ever it is applied! While you diligently look for someone or something to blame for the exact things you too have been guilty of, we will diligently work to come out of this economy stronger and smarter than ever before, and we will!!!

Joey Lucas.

Exactly..... No one wants to be responible for thier own screw ups.

Tough shit, get past it and work to help the industry, not just your own pocket.

Hi Richard, I absolutely agree with everything you have mentioned. My main concern as a leasing and finance professional is that so many banks are simply refusing to loan money to buy or lease concrete pumps at all...under any circumstances. This really hurts us all. As the pool of lenders shrinks, this drives pumpers into a smaller and smaller group of lenders. The price of money increases and competition between lenders does not exist. Our industry becomes less and less able to purchase new equipment, refinance current equipment or take advantage of opportunities to acquire good used equipment. When an entire industry is frozen out of the money supply, how are we to continue in business? I understand the reluctance of the lenders to loan into a market where the equipment values drop with every auction - but, as an industry we have been red-lined. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm willing to help. Please, call or write anytime. Anne Albaugh Industrial Services (801) 485-5251 industrialservices@xmission.com

joey,joey,joey

check your mail,an invatation.

I am gonna have to agree with Joey on this one....

If your company is using 90% financed equipment and you have to discount rates to meet payments, you were doomed from the start, and maybe you should go look for a job.

Blaming the banker or finance company, doesnt cut it. Its like sueing the local donut shop for my 10 lbs overweight!!!

And this crap about manufacturers giving "no payment" deals to large customers,= sure it hurts the small guy, but this just the way it is, the big guys get deals

I love it when an underdog wins, but in reality it seldom happens,...only in hollywood

Continue in business by raising your prices that's an easy question to answer.

I am not about to point fingers at any one person or one company there is plenty of blame to go around..To a degree Joey is right and Mr. O'Brien is also very correct...I am not a lawyer but I will play one on CP.com...There seem to be plenty of laws broken by many people and if it comes to the light of day there will and could be and should be hell to pay.Not only is there strong and weak, there are ethical and legal people and unethical and what seem to be unethical ways of business being done. There are also predators and the prey...Karma has a way coming around when you least expect it...I have worked for the O'Brien Companys and BBCP both. And like all companys and employees niether are perfect and not everything I or they did are they did is liked by all and that is to be expected in the employee/employer relationship...And companys just like people aren't always proud of everything that they do or what goes on. With that being said, if there is illegal and unethical things benefiting one company over others the word collusion comes to mind, maybe but not exactly insider trading but you get the jist of it. The people involved whether it be pump companys, lenders and other financial institutions in on it they should get exactly what is comiing to them. I am trying to stay neutral on the previous posts and companys and people that are involved or allegedly involved. I have enjoyed working for Bruce Young and Kieth Woods at BBCP and the same goes for Mr. O'Brien and Peter Horner at O'Brien's. I dont feel any of the afore mentioned people have intentionaly or directly lied to myself in anyway, but with that being said I have never found a more ethical, upfront, honest person/persons than Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Horner. Take that for what is worth probably not much just one mans opinion 

Agreeng with Joe about Pete Horner. He was always a great person to deal with.

Hey Chad glad to see you are doing fine. as for typesduds that would make too much sense too many people want all the work and try and make it up on volume...I cant tell you how many time that has been tried and failed but everyone thnks that they will be the ones to break that way or line of thinking...All it does is increase your exposure and liiability risks, wears out your equipment faster and you then try and cut corners on repairs to save a buck and increase your labor costs....No one ever seems to follow or see what they need to make a profit...

I do agree with Joey it does sound like the same chain of letters but Joey you shouldnt throw rocks if you live in glass houses, So I will not either, I will say some should be held accountable maybe not you or BB but someone in these finance companies pulled a slick one and now theyre crying wolf cause no ones payin there bills,well boo hoo , and what if what Richard says is true I hope they all go down, I am sure some of BBs yards are run respectably I just hope they bring that down here if not I will let everyone know , its time for them to live up to thier claim that this industry goes as they go if so where are we now ? if you gonna talk shit take the good with the bad , you just cant have it one way , take the scrutiny with the glory, if not you are nothing but imposters fakes and that never lasts , I wish nothing but the best for all in this industry that conducts thereselves in a professional and ethical way , but do not lie and say we are the greatest we dont cut prices we dont do unsafe acts we are the best that is lies I have seen firsthand, I will say I do what I have to do to put food on my mens and my table ,and I have cut prices only because my hand was forced, I donot do unsafe acts and we are not the biggest nor or we the best but we strive everyday to get better not bigger , to make our profits on a smaller scale where we do not have to cutthroat just to stay afloat and where I can manage our company to be a safe ,productive,and profitable one.

Everyone has heard about the creative financing scheme,been around for at least since putz bought out Thompson Royal.Ever notice how the big guys get the best deals? or only pump companies get dealerships? Someone smarter than me can do the math.One year,no payments,name your price.Now for the sake of argument one orders 25 new pumps,mmm.That now gives an unfair advantage to the compition.Joe blow makes his/her payments in the 30 day colume each and every month.The big guys get the brakes,an unethical move by the manufacturer.Give me a free machine for a year,pocket all the money and simply run for cover.

Mr O'Brian is 100% on target.

It upsets me to see this and preditory lending going on.Oh,if I was a pump appraiser I would be shaking in my boots.Up to this point it has nothing to do with what company did what.It's general knowledge the bankers are "cya" in all this.When the banks dictate who wins or loses it's then un-american.I do believe the bankers have broken the law,real simple.That folks upsets me,and it should the rest of the world (bailout we pay for).

If the bankers and appraisers did it by the law of the land,this subject would be mute.

Its just big business. Its not personal, either play the game to win...or be left behind. Real world example: The largest pizza company in the world had a directive for each of their units. THE GOAL OF YOUR INDIVIDUAL RESTAURANT IS TO PUT "OUT" OF BUSINESS ONE LOCAL PIZZA RESTAURANT EACH YEAR. Is that too aggressive for anyone here? Its the way it works......get a grip and play the game, if you think your competitor wants you in business next year.....guess again. Now, go out and "take the work".

I agree , its competition and you better be ready , there is guys around here with a pump or two thats not even a challenge but there is 4 or 5 around here really makes you keep your gameface on,thats the way I like it,I have been a competitive athlete all my life and to this dat I still play at a very high level at work and at play, if you wanna think your the bigdog go ahead thats fine with me, but never count out that little guy with the ferocious attitude, I play to win and hate settling for 2nd place so game on

Richard, I COMPLETELY agree.  It isn't fair that we are forced to compete with "big guys" that aren't making equipment payments because of scared banks.  They are dropping prices below cost just to generate cashflow (42 Meters for $85/hr and $2/yd).  The only reason they can afford to do it is because the bank is allowing them to make little or no payments. The bank will eventually need to be made whole and that will make it even worse for the rest of us.