July 2007 Letter from the President

First let me start by saying “thank you” to ALL our customers. It has now been just over a year since we invested in what is now Owen Equipment. It seems like yesterday; however, like most things in life, time just flies by. The key is to make every day count and make improvements in everything we do to build a better tomorrow. I believe that our TEAM at Owen has been working hard these last thirteen months to make improvements to serve you a little better every day. We will always go above and beyond to make sure we resolve every issue that comes up. If you ever feel we have not treated you right and given you the service you deserve, I hope you will take the time to call me personally so we can resolve the issue and improve our process to avoid the problem in the future. Our Number One Goal remains the same: to EXCEED YOUR EXPECTATIONS, EVERY TIME!

So what’s new at Owen Equipment? As you will see inside, we have added several new product lines to our expanding list of equipment available for sale and rent. When we look at new lines to represent, we follow several key decision-making factors. Is this a product our customer base can use? Is the product line the leader in their field (not necessarily the largest, but the BEST)? Does the manufacturer provide factory support at the level at which we expect to serve our customers? Is the company stable and do they have a strong history? Many manufacturers have come to us asking us to represent their product lines; some companies would take products on simply to turn a quick dollar. My promise to our customers is that when we introduce a new line you can rest assured we have done our homework. Your investment can be made with confidence that you are purchasing a top-of-the-line product and that Owen Equipment will there to back up the product with service and support for years to come.

We have in-stock demo units for most new products: feel free to call us to set up your no charge on-site demonstration for most everything we carry. We are not a company after the quick dollar since like most of you our TEAM has many years before retirement. All of our decisions are made with building long term relationships as the baseline.

We now have a rental fleet of new Vactors, Elgin Sweepers, Green Machines and PowerBoss. In the near future, we will be adding some US Jetting units as well. Since we started renting six months ago, our rental equipment inventory has grown to over $2 million! When you call Owen you can count on getting new or almost new equipment, not someone else’s ten year old trade-in. If you don’t have room in your budget to purchase, and you need the machine now, NO PROBLEM, we can put together a Rental Purchase Option (RPO) program that will fit your budget today which will gain equity for you while you rent. Being a small company, we have flexible terms and conditions. We make all our decisions and have answers the same day! Our goal in the rental business is not to be one of the billion-dollar rental companies; rather, our focus is on offering the specialized products you need, serviced by factory-trained technicians providing the service and support you deserve.

We continue to invest in both our Oregon and Washington parts, service and supplies inventories, as well as in our TEAM with ongoing factory training. As our inventories grow, we focus every week on getting the right parts and supplies on our shelves. We will be working on this constantly to ensure we have the right parts and supplies when you need them.

Owen Equipment supports our states, counties and cities in which we do business. At times we may not be able to compete with the guy in his truck coming out of a different country to sell brushes, or with the company that has no local overhead in facilities or employees and that ships their product in from a different state thousands of miles away. However, you do have my word that we will do our best to compete for EVERY opportunity to serve you. You can also rest assured that when you invest with us your money is used in the local economy supporting your local and state governments, schools and our TEAM of local dedicated Owen employees. Everyone on our staff appreciates the opportunities you give us by choosing Owen Equipment and we will always do our best for you EVERY TIME!

Until next time, best wishes for a safe and great summer!

Thank you,
Earl A Rose
503-704-2151

PS. Just a quick update on Owen. He is now 16 months old finally started walking, has eight new teeth and personality plus!! For those of you that have kids, I am sure you all know what a joy they bring to life!