Down here in Orlando, Florida at Richard Brothers spring auction. It's the
biggest auction in the world. If you're in the construction industry this is
where supply meets demand!
Gary Sebald, I'm vice president of OEM dealers and special accounts. I came down
here in Florida in 2004 and we had our first February sale here that was 68
million at that time Rick. And you were here II know that. That was a record at that
time and as you can see we've grown it to this this magnitude now. We're over
14,000 items in this sale I can't really talk about the volume yet, but it's gonna
be phenomenal! Anybody can walk into this auction get a bidder number and bid on
anything you'd like to. But if you come in here, last-minute, unprepared you're
gonna be completely overwhelmed. One of the most common mistakes I see it
auctions, is that when people come in they hone in on one piece of equipment.
They inspect it, they know what they want to pay for it but they they get outbid
and go home upset. So if there's any piece of advice I could give you a bid
on the piece that you want know everything about it have a price in mind
but broaden your horizons - to the machines in that category. You might not
win the piece that you actually want, but you might go home with a better deal.
Prime example, we came down here to buy articulated trucks and it didn't go in
our favor. The prices were way too high and we took with the defense gave us and
ended up buying a bunch of dozers including the one behind me.
Ritchie brothers is one of the finest auctions in the world. The quality of
equipment's here. It's up to you as the buyer to do your homework, to come in
here with an open mind and be flexible in order to get the best deal.
What's the future look like? Well I tell you I think we're we're out of room as you know. We have such a worldwide
base of customers that come in you know. Last year to give you an example we registered
over ten thousand bidders from all 50 states in
87 different foreign countries. 80% of everything Rick leaves Florida. About
20-25% leave the US so it's truly a world market at this sale.
What kind of challenges is that to put on you trying to grow a sale up to those numbers.
Well I'll tell you a sale like this, we have right at a thousand different
consigners. That goes from anyone that may put a pump in here or a pick up to
millions of dollars work equipment. The challenge is to try to get the most
money for every one of them. To treat them all fairly, bring the
customers here marketing and then it's strategically is unbelievable! We'll have
150 truck loads a day coming through here that we have tp unload so it's unbelievable to
have it staged to where it's going to get you the most money.
I saw Dave Ritchie up in the lounge there and it's always a pleasure to see him. To know that the guy
that started this hasn't forgotten where he came from. He'll come up and hit
ya on the shoulder and say "Hey how ya doin!?" You're right about date everybody loves
to see and then he started this but with our new CEO Robbie Sologram that he come
on board five years ago we've kind of jumped and taken it to the next level.
With the acquisition of Iron Planet we've got so many platforms that we can sell from now.
We average right at 50% or maybe a little more that'll be sold to Internet bidders. Well y'all have done
a great job for us having our sale up there.
You came in and put a great sale together for us. Well thank you I have to admit up as you
know I was involved in that heavily and that was a real pleasure for us and a treat.
Anyway, Gary thank you so much for everything you've done for Newman Tractor and you've been a real blessing to us.
Thank you Rick, thank you! If you've never experienced a heavy equipment auction,
Ritchie brothers Orlando is the one to come to. It's been another great year!
We've got a lot of equipment bought, a lot of equipment sold and can't wait to
get home so we can help further our customers business.