Sherman Goldenberg

Forest River Inc.’s Doug Gaeddert, one of three senior managers who assumed new responsibilities in a recent corporate realignment announced by company founder and ongoing CEO Pete Liegl, paused recently for an RVBusiness interview that, among other things, sheds light on Forest River’s accelerating rate of change.

He also provided upbeat insights regarding last week’s (Nov. 12-15) 2024 RV Dealers Convention/Expo in Las Vegas.

“Yeah, I thought RVDA went great, especially coming as it did on the heels of the election, and I thought attendance was good,” said Gaeddert, a former divisional GM who managed much of Forest River’s towable business for 25-plus years and since August has assumed the title of President of Forest River’s RV Group – including both towable and motorized – for the Elkhart, Ind.-based division of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

“And I can tell you that we had far and away the greatest attendance at a brand meeting there as we’ve ever had,” added Gaeddert. “Even though we had a large amount of space in the display area, they had to go get more chairs – and there still wasn’t enough room. People were standing. So, attendance was really good.”

Also taking on additional responsibilities in the recent senior management shift was David Wright, now responsible for Forest River’s Commercial Division, and former CFO Darrell Ritchie, who oversees Corporate Management.

And that, of course, is just a piece of the current evolution underway at 28-year-old, 14,000-employee Forest River, which also recently consolidated its cargo trailer production in Georgia and Indiana while closing California operations reportedly due to the elevated costs of doing business there.

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RVBusiness: So, Doug, what’s the RV world look like from your perspective during the last quarter of 2024?

Gaeddert: I think it’s an excellent time to finish out the year and to roll into 2025, and I’m particularly referring to the election, which was decisive. I think it put a lot of peoples’ fears to rest to an extent because it was a decisive election.

There’s been an immediate impact on the markets in addition to settling people down, which we knew was going to be the first of the major things going on right now. There was a pretty incredible hike in net worth on paper that occurred immediately afterwards. So, it was also reassuring to people and a very positive outcome for retail consumers who have been wondering what’s going to happen next.

RVB: Was that calming influence, in your view, due to the simple fact that the elections were over or because of who – Donald J. Trump – won the day?

Gaeddert: Well, I actually think it did have a lot to do with who won, Sherm, because of the go-forward policies on the table from an economic standpoint.

You know, looking at things a couple of months ago, we had several significant things to watch including the election coming up, which had the United States and really the globe in relative disarray. You had questions about what’s going to happen with the Fed, which everybody felt was going to lower the interest rate a quarter point and it did. And then we saw immediate responses on some hotspots around the globe – Russia-Ukraine, the Middle East and, to an extent, China and Taiwan.

So, I think there’s more of a sense of security that there will be some resolution to some of the global geopolitical situations that are going on with the odds going up that some of that gets resolved. I think all those things are affecting peoples’ overall outlook.

RVB: Closer to home, what’s the domestic RV market look like in general as well as for Forest River from your perspective?

Gaeddert: Well, as for the market, we’ve obviously been going through a little bit of a reset – a purging of the herd so to speak, right? And it happens cyclically, let’s just say every 10 years for a convenient number, keeping in mind that it varies somewhat over the years. But it’s somewhere in there.

So, we’re pretty close to being through that purge cycle when it comes to distribution in terms of both inventories and the number of dealers actually physically retailing RVs.I mean, there have been a lot of (dealer) defaults during the past couple of years.

RVB: Very interesting and an intriguing topic during times like these.

Gaeddert: Obviously the interest rates going down has been a positive. I just looked at two major dealers’ inventories and they’re in really good shape – in one case, in fact, right at 90% of their inventory was between zero and 270 days. And their inventory was about perfect going into November. I looked at a second one that was very similar – a little bit more aging, but otherwise probably close to what would have been the norm three years ago.

So, dealer inventories as a whole are pretty solid and manufacturing levels are in really good shape relative to retail.

As for Forest River, we’re on a nice roll right now when it comes to market share. The market’s down about 10% and I think we’re up right at 9% as far as market share gains this year with our total for RV’s posting almost a 7% gain, with nice pickups as well on the motorhome side in spite of the challenging market. And the world’s a little more stable than what it was a few weeks ago. So, I think it’s all good.

RVB: Taking everything into consideration, what’s your outlook for 2025?

Gaeddert: Well, I think we’ll see a continued drop at a measured pace in interest rates, which is obviously healthy. We’re going into ’25 in really good shape as far as the dealer inventories. And considering that we’re going into ’25 with some settling that’s occurred due to the election being over, I think 2025 looks really good.

Now, as far as how fast the market accelerates, I hope it’s not excessively fast. I hope it’s a nice manageable steady increase and that we just continually stay in sync as far as production rates and retail activity. Then take into account some of the long-term projects that we’ve got in the works thanks to Pete (Liegl) that maybe aren’t on the industry’s radar and aren’t in your trade magazines every day.

RVB: Long term projects like what?

Gaeddert: Well, for one thing, we’re working on a call center project. We’re working on a single part number across the company. We’re digging into the value of data analytics with our dealer partners. We’re communicating with the DMS (Dealer Management System) providers on best ways to integrate some data. We’ve enhanced our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) process with a marketing arm.

We’ve just finished a branding exercise that kind of culminated a little bit with the Expo (Forest River’s term for the Open House). And we’re enhancing tech training availability for our dealer body.

In addition, as you’re well aware, we made a decision to cease manufacturing in California and, at the same time, we made the commitment in California to really put together what I’m super excited about as far as a service center.

We’re working on a captive finance company, both wholesale and retail. We’re doing enhanced product testing on components, and appliances, etc. We’ve really kind of entered into a period where we do a 365 day-a-year product development program.

RVB: Those, frankly, are pretty impressive goals, most of which amount to news for the industry at large.

Gaeddert: And then the other thing is that we’ve got a fixed partner program that basically incentivizes dealers to sell product within 120 days and focus on turn and aging by reimbursing them interest if they participate in the program. They’ve got inventory levels that have to be maintained. But that’s really kind of caught another gear, too. And you can see the impacts on dealer inventory and aging as a result of that.

So, like I said, Pete’s got us in a position where we’ve got a lot of good things going that really are on the radar. And I probably shouldn’t have talked through all of them there, but for the list I did. But we’ve got a lot of great things going that bode well for customer experience, dealer performance, OEM performance and the industry as a whole.

RVB: Thanks. Doug, for working with us on this head-turning interview.

Gaeddert: I should add that while they’re not geared specifically towards it – and they’re not the sole reason – one of the major objectives that we’re working toward with these new initiatives is enhanced RECT – Repair Event Cycle Time – for an improved consumer experience, improved dealer performance, improved OEM performance and improved product performance. So, yeah, I’m totally juiced.

The post Forest River’s Gaeddert Sees Solid Post-Election RV Market first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

Current U.S. Senator and former RV industry executive Mike Braun’s victory in yesterday’s (11/5) Indiana gubernatorial election was almost a foregone conclusion for many observers in the historically conservative Hoosier State.

     And although Braun did face some pretty strong opposition from Democratic contender Jennifer McCormick, a former Superintendent of Public Instruction, it was a race that the Associated Press called fairly early in the evening when Republican Braun had accrued 54% of the vote, McCormick 41% and Libertarian Donald Rainwater 5%.

     As such, Braun, 70, the founder of 37-year-old aftermarket parts and accessories distributor Meyer Distributing Inc., based in Jasper, Ind, succeeds term-limited GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb, a popular governor who had appeared at RVB’s annual Power Breakfast on more than one occasion.

     Now it goes without saying that Braun’s new role won’t have any impact on Meyer’s business affairs. In fact, Braun told RVBusiness during his campaign that he’d retained only “a very small sliver” of equity in Meyer since his election to the U.S. Senate in November of 2018, having turned much of it over to the “next generation.” And he also stepped away from day-to-day management, although sons Jeff, now CEO; Jason, chief technology officer; and daughter Kristen, head of human resources and real estate, are still very much in the full-time mix at Meyer Distributing.

     Braun told the crowd at last night’s Indiana GOP Watch Party not long after his electoral victory was announced that his time in the Senate – along with his business experience — had prepared him to become governor as he addressed details regarding his transition team, policy development, agency reviews and planning for an inaugural event and celebration.

     All of those initial tasks can be distracting, he told WSBT-TV. “But the one thing, the way we were raised, is if you’ve got good principles and you stick to them – regardless of what you pursue – you’ll end up in the long run doing OK,” said Braun, the endorsed candidate of again-incumbent President Donald Trump. “It all comes back to faith, family and community.”

     Indeed, Braun, has frequently cited in a generic sense the lessons learned in his business career and how they continue to apply to his governmental work.

     “If you’re good at business, government’s a lot easier. And if you’re an entrepreneur, you can do a lot of good things in government and do it running a business as well,” he confided previously during a telephone interview. “And that’s what happened after I came back home (to Jasper) after business school at Wabash College. So, it’ll be because I learned a lot in the real world before I decided to get into government.”

     Looking back, Braun, who also got an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, recalled how he ultimately “went with a little business that was struggling selling mostly to the farm market.” To keep the doors open, he started selling (RV) bumpers and running boards and other componentry made up in the Elkhart area, which, he said, didn’t amount to all that much at the time as Meyer Body Inc. in Haysville, Ind.

     The end result, long story short, was Meyer Distributing.

     “Over 17 years,” he told RVB, “we built that into a kind of regional business. And now it’s (Meyer) a national business – a company that I started from scratch, a distribution business selling auto and truck accessories, then moving into RV parts and accessories. And now we do a host of other things. And I had one little office in a used mobile home for 17 years. And now we have 90 locations in 40 states and three in Canada. So that’s the American dream. It took a while to really get going, though.”

     Braun’s goals as Indiana’s next governor, a job previously held by Republicans Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels, include improving state finances, reforming healthcare and tackling high energy costs plus issues like child care, affordable housing and rural broadband.

     “I think that Eric’s done a decent job,” said Braun. “Pence did a decent job. Mitch Daniels fixed it after we had 20 years of Democrats running it. And then I’ll take it, as an entrepreneur, to that next level because I’ve got more business experience than any of them when it comes to small, medium and large companies. And I come from a very entrepreneurial community and have the values of faith, family and community and have an agenda out there that’s going to emphasize freedom and opportunity. So, I’m going to roll all that into a way to take a dynamic state like Indiana and make it even better.”

The post Industry Veteran Braun to Take Reins as Indiana Governor first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

ELKHART, Ind, – The 24^th Annual Bids 4 Kids Dinner & Auction, a popular charitable event that’s drawn impressive support over the years around the RV-building capitol of Elkhart, Ind., was held Friday night (Oct. 4) in the Northern Indiana Event Center and RV/MH Hall of Fame’s newly expanded, 36,000-square-foot East Wing.

And once again, the results of the auction, featuring a memorable catered dinner and an appreciable crowd of RV industry players, didn’t disappoint the event’s leadership including LCI Industries Inc. President and CEO Jason Lippert who has personally spearheaded the fun-filled fundraiser dedicated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County for the last 17 years and currently co-chairs the event with LCI Social Impact Strategist Michilah Grimes.

This year’s unofficial auction revenues at press time: More than $1.75 million, a total that is particularly noteworthy on the heels of a couple of “tough years” for the nation’s RV business, Lippert told RVBusiness, adding that Elkhart usually ranks in the top three for Boys & Girls Club fund-raising nationally.

“It was great,” said Lippert, who especially wanted to commend Boys & Girls Club staffers Jamee Holmes and Matt Fischer for helping to set up and run the event. “I mean, we had a lot of familiar faces that are friends of the club and leaders of the industry show up and bid big. And a lot of people donated items and sponsored. So, those three things usually play the largest role in how we do. And just to have everybody come out and participate like they did and nearly set a record, it was pretty incredible.”

Obviously, those kinds of financial proceeds clearly stand out from the crowd among charitable fundraisers in general whether they’re in northern Indiana, New York City or L.A. as a result of Friday’s live and silent auctions and a wide array of cash donations. “You know, it’s just incredible that a little town like Elkhart can come together and raise more money than most of these big metro areas,” he told RVB.com.

Indeed, the prices paid for live Bids 4 Kids auction items in themselves are often pretty eye-catching. Consider these examples from Friday night in an auction gaveled by popular auctioneer Joe Mast and hosted on stage by local personality Vince Turner, a member of the Elkhart County Sports Hall of Fame and a longtime volunteer, along with his wife, Pat, for the Boys & Girls Club:

• A Weeklong 6-Bedroom Napa Valley Home Stay: $55,000
• 2 bottles of Caymus Cabernet Wine: $25,000 (sold 3 times)
• A Commemorative Winchester Wells Fargo Rifle: $20,000
• A Montana Big Sky Country Trip for Two People: $30,000
• An Italian “Ancient Charm” Experience for 4: $35,000 (sold twice)
• Exclusive Outing at Michael Jordan’s Fla. Golf Course: $37,500
• First Turn Seats for 2 at the 2025 Kentucky Derby: $30,000
• South African Adventures for Two: $17,500 (sold twice)
• Golf with Jason Lippert at Blackthorn: $17,500 (sold twice) 
• A cuter-than-heck male Cavapoo puppy: $20,000

Meanwhile, the Bids 4 Kids auction’s roster of up-front supporters was led by presenting sponsors Bill and Kristin Fenech, Consolidated Metals Inc., Jeffrey & Sabrina Kime, Lippert and Aunalytics.

The post Slideshow: Annual Bids 4 Kids Auction Earns About $1.75M first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Though no obituaries have been issued nor public funerals held, former Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. President and CEO Elden Smith passed away Sept. 24, 2024, at the age of 84 at a senior health facility in Riverside, Calif., confirms Barbara Smith, who was married for 63 years to the late industry leader and former RV Industry Association (RVIA) board chairman.

A Riverside resident who lived in both Southern California and Washington State, Smith, a 1997 RV/MH Hall of Fame inductee, was well known and generally revered for his tenure at Fleetwood, having reportedly played a key role in building up the revenues of Fleetwood – a West Coast-based firm founded in 1950 by John Crean – from $39 million to $1.3 billion during his years as a senior vice president with the company from 1968 until his first retirement in 1997. In so doing, he helped establish Fleetwood and its brands as a dominant publicly held industry player with facilities strategically located throughout the nation marketing RVs, manufactured housing as well as products handled by the company’s retail home centers and supply subsidiaries.

Fleetwood in the late 1990’s employed about 18,000 people in plants located in 18 states and Canada with revenues reaching $2.8 billion. “He retired in ’97 and then he went back to work there in ’05 to try to get Fleetwood back on its feet,” said Barbara Smith, “and I think it was 2010 that they had to close up, and after that we were retired again and we had a home on Whidbey Island, Wash. We spent six months of the year every year there and then we spent the other six months of the year – every year – in Riverside.”

Smith’s second stint with Fleetwood included a seat on the company’s board of directors and the president and CEO title. Some of the vintage brands developed during his time with Fleetwood, which ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, are still on the market today as part of Milwaukee-based RV builder REV Group Inc.’s product portfolio.

All that aside, looking back over the years, former Fleetwood executives like Jim Sheldon, once Fleetwood’s high profile director of marketing, considers him “one of the giants” of the RV industry.

“I will always remember Elden as a very understanding executive.I would visit him on occasion at the factory in Hancock, Maryland, that he managed at the time and I was really impressed observing how he treated all of his employees with tremendous respect. I was also impressed with how he interfaced with the staff and the production crew in a positive manner.  Within a short period of time, he was promoted to the corporate facility of Fleetwood Enterprises as the assistant vice president for RVs. But, I should add, he was also a very strong willed and independent thinker. The clearest example of this was his opposition to the creation of the Go RVing (national marketing) program. As opposed as he was, he still withdrew his view for the sake of industry unity. For taking that position, I will always remember him as principled yet passionate in what he believed in uncompromising his principals. Our industry benefitted due to his compassion and brilliant leadership. He will be missed.”

Also harboring fond memories of Smith today is Jon Nord, who, serving as senior vice president of Fleetwood’s Housing Group, worked closely with Smith for 30 years and distinctly remembers watching he and three partners winning the Pro-Am Golf Championship at the Bob Hope Classic at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

“Eldon ran the RV half of the company, and I ran the housing half of the company,” said Nord, adding that Smith tended to keep corporate politics to a minimum. “We had our offices right next to each other in Riverside. And obviously, we did a lot of things together from a corporate-wide standpoint for about 30 years. And all I can say is that he was a class act and a gentleman at all times. He and I were the same age, and we started at the company at the same time. And then we retired within a month of each other and became even better friends after retirement, which was 20 years ago.

“All I can tell you is that he was an excellent public speaker with great values who was absolutely trustworthy – someone you’d want as a brother or as a son. He was just a class act with a high level of integrity.”

Another familiar Fleetwood name among industry veterans from the company’s heyday is former General Manager for Product Development Dave Russell with whom RVB also touched bases this week. “No one ever said anything bad about Elden, which is most interesting because I don’t know anybody else like that,” said Russell. “But you can turn that around. Elden never said anything bad about anybody else. And I literally don’t know anybody else I can say that about. He never said anything bad about anybody. He made people feel very special when they were around him. He was so good that everybody wanted to be better because of him.”

The post Fleetwood Veterans Warmly Remember CEO Elden Smith first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

It’s obvious to most Americans that the epic impact of last Friday’s (Sept. 27) Hurricane Helene will likely extend for months – if not longer – for some of the millions of victims hit by what looks like the most violent storm since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, which killed 1,392 people and and caused $125 billion in damages around New Orleans.

Helene’s tally thus far: 162 dead across six states and nearly a million powerless homes and businesses amid widespread flash flooding and landslides isolating countless people in western Carolina and elsewhere, according to this morning’s national media reports

Among those scrambling to assist in the recovery in this business sector is Denver-based OHI, formerly known as the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds, which is openly appealing for emergency funding for impacted parks and issued this appeal yesterday for donations to its Disaster Relief Fund.

“Wherever your park is located in the country, you can do something to help your fellow campground owners and their communities,” a widely circulated release stated. “Donate to the OHI Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund, which will go directly to campgrounds affected by this natural disaster. Your donations will make a difference for your fellow campground owners AND the communities they call home. If you’d like to share your willingness to assist those in need with shelter and other needs, visit our Facebook group, Campfire Voices, and leave a comment on this post.”

In light of all this and the fact that this whole turn of events is about to enter its second week, RVBusiness and its sister publication, Woodall’s Campground Magazine, touched bases earlier today with David Basler, chief strategy officer for OHI, a trade association representing private RV parks and campgrounds in the U.S. and Canada. The highlights of that conversation are as follows:

RVB: Looks to us like it’s been a heck of a week, David, for you and your constituency.

Basler: Yeah, and not just our constituency. There’s lots of members of the outdoor hospitality community that have been affected that aren’t members of our organization. Of course, our focus as a national association is obviously on our members, but our goal is to help the whole industry.

RVB: And what are you seeing out there right now?

Basler: “Well, the latest update that I have so far is that we’ve heard from more than 50 campgrounds from across the five (impacted) states — and the five states I’m talking about here are Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, obviously – primarily RV parks that have sustained what I would describe as severe damage, major damage. In at least four cases that we know of the campground is completely gone, and there’ll be an extensive rebuilding over the course of the next few months, multiple months probably in some cases.

RVB: Have you ever seen anything like it before?

Basler: Well, there are plenty of people like Jeff Sims (OHI’s director of state relations and program advocacy) who have been around here long enough to remember Katrina, which, from what I’m seeing on the news lately was the worst in documented history. So, it’s possible that our friends in the New Orleans area and Louisiana and Mississippi and that area where Katrina hit experienced this or worse, but that was before my time in the industry.

RVB: So, what’s the focus of your organization’s collective efforts at this point?

Basler: Well, as OHI, our number one focus is still working with our friends down in the Carolinas and the other states’ associations to get contact with a lot of these parks. I mentioned the number 50 that we’ve heard from, but there are plenty of others that we haven’t heard from, largely because of remaining power outages and the like. So, communication right now is really bad. I spent yesterday on the phone trying to reach people and working with people like CARVC’s Dee Witting in the Carolinas. And I know that Dee is actively trying to communicate with parks down there in the Carolinas. I’m sure other states, Florida and Georgia are doing the same, and we’re trying to do it from the national level.

We’re just trying to communicate and to get in touch with these parks to make sure they’re okay. That’s step No. 1. Step No. 2 is where the OHI Foundation comes in, and that’s making sure that the parks that have been affected get aid as quickly as possible from the Disaster Relief Fund. And that, over the course of the last few years with all the disasters that have happened, has been depleted. So, we’re actively campaigning for donations at the moment to try to replenish that fund so that we can help these campgrounds. And we put a email out yesterday-

RVB: We had noticed your releases along these lines.

Basler: Yes, with a goal, and this is an important update we wanted to give you because we put that out yesterday, thinking that a $75,000 goal would adequate. And we had it in our head that if we could help 15 campgrounds, that would be great, and the demand has just been overwhelming. We’ve already received more than 20 applications, and that number’s going to go up, and if each of those campgrounds gets the $5,000 grant from the foundation, that’s $100,000 right there. We’re likely very soon going to be increasing that goal, probably to at least $150,000 if not higher because the need is just so great. As for an update on where we are with the donations received, the last I heard, which was late yesterday, was that we were coming close to $30,000. We are still a ways away from those goals. We need people to chip in and help us help these campgrounds.

And the other piece I think it’s important to note here is that the foundation is a 501(c)(3), and these donations go straight to the campgrounds. I’m not steering people away from any other way of donating to any other great cause out there, but I think that’s one of the things that makes the foundation really special in our industry is that money comes in and it goes straight back out to the campground that applies, and we make sure that those campgrounds in the most need are getting funds quickly. But we’ve got to have the funds to do it.

RVB: Considering your comments, last week’s natural disaster has obviously been a huge diversion for all of you at OHI.

Basler: Well, yes, it’s changed our focus, but that’s not unusual for a national organization that has to be nimble and go where the members most need us. But one thing I also would say is that the change to our day is nothing compared to what the changes have been for the affected parks. Although I’ve lived through natural disasters including a number of tornadoes growing up in the Midwest, I have a hard time even imagining what they’re going through right now. It’s just kind of unfathomable.

The post OHI is Raising the Bar in Terms of Hurricane Funding  first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

BREVARD, N.C. – SylvanSport CEO Tom Dempsey was making his way home Monday afternoon (9/30) from last week’s Elkhart RV Open House to his home and corporate headquarters in Brevard while the national news media was still covering a “devastating and fluid situation” in western North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina., Virginia, Georgia and Florida.

The region was reeling from the impact of Friday’s historic Hurricane Helene, with up to 1.5 million people without power and widespread communication issues. A vast array of towns were in need of immediate aid and continuing search and rescue operations. In fact, news outlets report as many as 138 lives had been lost by today’s press time.

Although he was able to chat with RVBusiness on his cell phone enroute to Carolina, Dempsey – in what amounted to a microcosm of what the entire region has been experiencing in the aftermath of what’s being described as one of the worst hurricanes in U.S. history — was completely unaware of what he would find in Brevard or whether he could even communicate at all once he got home to his 35-employee towable RV manufacturing firm and wife Linda.

All this historic disarray, curiously, following what had been a rather productive Open House for the manufacturer of mid-size VAST travel trailers, GO All-Terrain (GOAT) popup campers, TRAILOFT Micro Campers and GO EASY lightweight trailers located in a 60,000-square-foot facility in the western North Carolina community of Brevard southwest of Ashville, which has been undergoing a 40,000-square-foot addition.

“Yeah, so we enjoyed a great Open House,” said Dempsey. “I mean, we worked with a number of new dealers and really enjoyed re-establishing with our current dealer base and visiting with a lot of our supplier friends up in Elkhart. So overall a great week there. And it’s ironic because it was a great week and then this storm hit Friday morning and we were getting ready to head back to North Carolina. So, our team’s travel was impacted and getting back into the area has been very, very challenging, but getting word from that area is virtually impossible.”

Quite a disruption for Dempsey and company, he agrees, as it has been for millions of others.

“Well, that’s putting it mildly,” said Dempsey. “The damage to the region and the community is catastrophic. So, the edges of our county where I and the number of my other associates live received over 30 inches of rain on Friday morning and earlier due to Hurricane Helene. We also had wind gusts of over 70 miles an hour up in that area. And so that kind of rain and wind has just not only impacted people’s houses, but all of the infrastructure into the region. So the interstate highway, Interstate 40, leading into western North Carolina is washed away and will be shut down for a very, very long time – similarly with some of the other main roads into the region. And then virtually all the secondary roads are severely damaged like major U.S. highways where landslides have taken out major chunks of the roadways.

“So, from all we can tell, everything’s virtually impassable,” added Dempsey. The region has no power, no water, no cell phone coverage, no internet. And there are a lot of people that are trapped in their homes due to fallen trees, etc., who have no ability to communicate. And so first and foremost, we’re working on trying to verify that all of our team members are accounted for and physically OK, and then we’re trying to assist with getting access to their houses so people can get out and make contact with the outside world. And then it’s going to be a long-term slog. The estimation on power restoration is in the magnitude of weeks, if not longer.”

Yet another unknown, he surmises, is the long-term effect on his company’s business.

“So, it’s going to impact SylvanSport’s business significantly,” he told RVB. “Our business is at a stop for the moment due to the impact on all of our associates’ here. So, I stopped in Ohio. I’m going on about a six-hour rerouted pathway to get down there and I stopped last night in Ohio and I’ve got a truck, so I loaded it with as much water, gasoline, food, pet food, batteries, all the stuff the whole community needs. I know it’s a drop in the bucket, but just trying to get what I could into the space. My wife is still trapped at our house, so I wasn’t able to make contact with her for four days because cell coverage for the entire region is down. There’s no internet, no cell coverage, no nothing.”

The best bet for those wishing to communicate with Dempsey after trying the phone he figures, is probably relying on email at [email protected].

Until things return to something like normal, Dempsey said he appreciated the opportunity to update the industry regarding his company’s current status.

“Thanks for letting me spread the word,” he added. “I appreciate the help of the RV community. That’s really what I just wanted to reach out and ask for the support, prayers from everybody at RVIA and all our good friends up in Elkhart.

The post SylvanSport’s Dempsey & Co.: Still in the Eye of the Storm first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

MIAMI, Fla. – The remnants of Hurricane Helene raced northward through Georgia and into the southern Appalacians late this morning, carrying with it strong bands of heavy rain and very gusty winds, according to information provided by the National Hurricane Center.

The storm made landfall in the Big Bend Region of Florida Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane, creating historic storm surge and flooding and packing winds in excess of 140 miles per hour.

Even so, RV dealerships in Florida seem to have – in most cases – weathered the storm.

“Where the storm actually came ashore was a pretty desolate area of the state (in terms of RV facilities and dealerships),” said Dave Kelly, executive director of the Florida RV Trade Association (FRVTA). “Of all of the areas of the state that it could have hit, it’s probably one of the better places that it could have hit. So, it doesn’t look like we had any of our dealer members who were in the direct line of fire with this thing. So, at least at this point, we feel like we did pretty well – dodging a bullet on this one.”

Even so, Kelly said he would be following up with FRVTA dealer members to assess the situation.

“Having said that, I’ll be checking with everybody up in that area. So, we’ll let you know when and if we hear more reports and find out more. But it sounds like so far, as far as our industry goes, we’re in pretty good shape.”

RVBusiness will continue to reach out to RV park and campground industry sources, including OHI, a national trade association based in Centennial, Colo., for more storm-related information.

The post Florida’s RV Dealers May Have Escaped Hurricane’s Wrath first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported late this morning that tropical storm Helene – located east of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean – had been upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane.

And in the tentative eye of the storm right now is Neal Stewart, co-owner, RV Connections, headquartered in Panama City, Fla., with a second store in Dothan, Ala. As a result, his staff at the 50-employee Panama City store, while trying to take care of their own personal concerns at their respective homes and families, has been moving units together in a defensive posture with an eye to a worst case scenario.

No one, as of this morning, of course, knows what will occur with Hurricane Helene, which at RVB.com’s press time was projected to hit the Big Bend Region of Florida on Thursday.

But the storm is predicted to intensify as it crosses the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane and, according to the NHC, “Damaging hurricane-force winds are expected along portions of coast of the Florida Big Bend, where a hurricane warning is now in effect.”

Computer models late this morning had the storm making landfall near the Florida Panhandle town of Carrabelle, approximately 70 miles east of RV Connections Panama City location.

“We’re looking at the storm coming in,” said Stewart, whose dealership handles an array of towable and motorized RV brands including Tiffin, Newmar, Brinkley, Montana, Cougar, Rockwood and Alliance products. “They’re talking about a possible Cat 3. But we’ve heard that before and it could be larger and it could be smaller. Could it be a two or could it be a four or a five? We’ve seen these storms build up in the Gulf. It’s just depends on how much time it spends in the Gulf building up, how fast the storm is moving and a lot of other variables. But in times like these, we try to prepare the best we can.

“You know, right now the storm’s kind of a teaser for us because we’re (geographically) right on that line there of still being in danger’s way,” said Stewart. “So, it’s kind of touch and go trying to figure out how many units we’re going to try to move out of harm’s way.

“But what we’ve already done is secure a lot of RV’s at the store. We’ve stacked them nice and tight together and basically what we do is we filled the water tanks on the campers. We stack them nice and tight together in a big corral in the middle of the dealership’s yard there. And we put down all the jacks. And then we place the heavier RV’s around the perimeter of that corral to kind of help block the wind. And then we stack a lot of inventory around our steel building. We have an 18-bay service shop and a sizeable building and we’ll put inventory inside the bays and shops and also we will do our best to try to surround the building to try to protect the glass from debris strikes.”

All that said, again, they still don’t know what they’ve got on their hands either in Panama City or even Dothan, where they’re getting some sandbags to protect the building’s entrances because they’re expecting some serious rainfall and potential flooding.

“The scary thing is that if you don’t start preparing early enough you don’t have enough time to prepare. But if you do all of this work and move 150-plus pieces of inventory and the storm misses you, then you’ve done all that work and spent all that time and you don’t have an issue with the storm. So, it’s one of those things where you’ve kind of got to act early and get things shifted around and prepared for the worst if you will, but also make sure that everybody’s secure. Of course, at times like these, employees are always wanting to batten down the hatches at their personal homes. We’re just working on a lot of variables here.”

The post RV Dealer Preps for Potential Hit from Hurricane Helene first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

ELKHART, Ind. – Wednesday’s (9/11) release of the 2024 RVBusiness Top 50 Dealer Awards winners again helped shed a positive light on the industry in general and some of the specific bar-raising business aspects that manufacturers and dealers are currently focusing on within today’s RV marketplace.

As a matter of fact, this year’s Top 50 selection process frankly impressed those overseeing the selection process in terms of the volume and quality of the applications they reviewed this time around from a wide array of North American RV retailers initially nominated for the awards by U.S. and Canadian RV builders.

Same goes for the judges who were anonymously interviewed by RV Business last week following a day-and-a-half selection process managed by BJ Thompson & Associates (BJTA) at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Ind., in which the Top 50-winning dealers plus five “Blue Ribbon” dealers and three special honorees were congratulated for their charitable, humanitarian and innovative business practices.

 But the main talking point behind the scenes this time around among those handling the selection process clearly had to do with service – a consistent theme, of course, for those involved in the 14-year-old program sponsored this year by Airxcel, Brown & Brown Dealer Services, Cummins Inc., GE Appliances, Genesis Products, NTP/STAG, Northpoint Commercial Finance, Protective Asset Protection, RV Trader and Wells Fargo DF.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many high quality applications in one year,” said veteran Top 50 Coordinator Barb Riley of South Bend, Ind.-based BJTA. “It was just astounding. We had a record number of special status candidates. They (OEM’s) were nominating people for Blue Ribbon awards left and right and it was very hard to narrow the roster of (Blue Ribbon) nominees even down to five.”

But at the end of the day, they agreed, the profusion of positive entries and the ways in which it all challenged those administering and judging the program was a good problem to have.

“Yes, we’re very pleased that the program continues to grow and evolve and be as effective as it is,” added BJ Thompson, administrator of the unique Top 50 program facilitated by RVBusiness magazine and its Elkhart-based parent company, G&G Media Group LLC. “We’ve been doing this now for 14 years. It took a couple years off because of Covid, but the program seems to continue to be of interest and desirability among different factions of the industry and we feel good about that.

“I think that we’re doing a good job and everybody that’s involved, especially the dealers, should feel proud of how they continue to evolve in handling their operations and are becoming even more creative and sophisticated in customer satisfaction and in the total operations of their dealerships,” said Thompson, adding that the total number of manufacturer nominations this year was up about 20%.

 Looking back, the 12 participating judges – none of whom are OEM’s or dealers – anonymously mentioned their chief takeaways from this year’s selection process:

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“I look at the service techs, of course, because that’s my background and how many are certified and what percent they represent in terms of their dealership’s total employment numbers. And, overall, I was impressed with how many people are absolutely getting involved with all that. But I was also frankly disappointed in a couple of cases where somebody might have 28 technicians while ten of them are just technicians who aren’t certified. But many of those submitting applications seems to be moving towards training because they’re proud of that and that gives them a leg up on their competitors.”

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“So, I think the best dealers that we saw — and most of what’s represented in the Top 50 — had a strong focus on service. But they also had multiple revenue streams. They just weren’t reliant on unit sales. It might be rental, might be storage, might be a combination of both, or all of the above.”

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“There was a lot of discussion in previous years about the need to implement training processes whereas this year I feel that a lot of the dealers have taken those steps to implement more training throughout their dealerships, which was good.

In addition, we saw that rentals are becoming a more important factor among a certain small percentage of the dealers, the reason being that they’re tapping into that younger generation – the Millennials who often don’t have the ability to store trailers. But they’ve now been opened up to the experience of RVing. So that rental business may become a little bit more popular just based on that younger generation not having the ability or maybe budget to be able to store RV’s.”

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“I didn’t know what to expect when I came in here. For some reason I thought maybe the quality or the number of applications would go down commensurate with sales. But it’s been the complete opposite. I thought the quality of applications was just as strong if not stronger than any year we’ve had.

“Having said that, certainly sales declined in some cases, although in some of the applications I looked at, there was a bump in sales, not huge, but there was a sales increase, which tells me they’re managing their dealerships very well. But I was really impressed by the number of applications and getting down to the blue ribbons was probably more difficult this year than I think I can remember.”

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“The thing that really stuck out at me this year was the employees: You can tell that it’s harder to find and keep good employees because I really noticed a lot of stuff this year that I hadn’t seen a whole lot in the past — employee assistance programs, work-life balance, increased vacation time.

“One dealer had unlimited vacation and they cross-trained their people, which is another good idea so that if somebody wanted to take three weeks off, they could. Another dealer added four additional days for whatever. So, if you had a family emergency or something, you got additional time off. As for training, one dealership is paying technicians to do training three hours a week while they’re at work.

“And there were tuition reimbursement programs, so if you want to go to college, they offer to supplement that. Again, there were things that I hadn’t seen in the past in applications as prominently as I did this year, which tells me that dealers are really thinking about doing what they can to keep employees.”

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    “So one of the things that I noticed is that when they talk about training, it’s not just training certified techs or sales people or F&I. The top dealers that we were battling over (as judges deciding whom to pick), it’s outside training, constant training, in-store training and accountability. And what I noticed in all these is that it’s not just training as such, t’s a culture of the whole dealership and it’s a buy-in from the ownership all the way down to a lot boy or girl.

“When you start reading on there where the owner’s involved in everything that’s going on and that all the employees see it, everybody’s buying into whatever their plan is and you see it from the top down. That’s where you see them succeeding and overcoming those obstacles. And that’s something that I saw mainly in all the top ones (nominees) we were battling on. They all did it. It’s a culture throughout the dealership.”

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“What I noticed in a lot in applications this year compared to other years is the after-support dealers are offering people purchasing RVs. So, a lot of people have come out with YouTube channels or online education of some sort or more ways to get these customers educated and keep them from freaking out and wanting to just ditch their RVs because they might have had some issues with their units.

“But the point is the extent to which some dealers are really just supporting their customers so that they want to keep camping. I think it’s really important to just make sure that they know that there are resources out there, whether they’re their own resources or they’re partnering up with OEMs or suppliers or whomever to get these resources in front of the owner’s faces, so that they know what steps to take and how to get support for their unit, which I think is really important for customers.”

The post RVB Top 50 Judges See Intriguing Trends in Dealer Applications first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

MILLERSBURG, Ind. – Friends and colleagues of Forest River Inc.’s John Stringer, sales manager of the company’s Rockwood and Flagstaff towable RV lines, gathered for a surprise retirement luncheon Thursday (Aug. 29) at the division’s Millersburg facilities to give him a warm send-off for his last day of work today (Aug. 30).

Stringer, a 15-year Forest River employee, clearly enjoyed his celebratory luncheon which caps a 50-year career within the North American RV arena that also included Gulf Stream Coach Inc. in Nappanee, Ind., Morgan Building Spas and RVs in Texas, Stout’s RV Sales in Greenwood, Ind., Longview RV Superstores in Connecticut and Vermont’s Camporama where he worked during his school days dating back to 1974.

Everyone else also seemed to appreciate Thursday’s luncheon that consisted of a brief presentation and an ample round of barbecue chicken at the Rockwood/Flagstaff campus – part of which was once occupied by legendary RV builder Carriage Inc.

“Yeah. John’s one of the most dedicated, hardworking individuals we know,” stated Karl Miller, who recently succeeded long-time Forest River Divisional GM Don Gunden in overseeing the Rockwood/Flagstaff division. “There was never a time where he wouldn’t do whatever it took to get the job complete and there’s never a time he wouldn’t do anything for any dealer or employee if there was something that needed to be done for their families or at work. He was just always the most team-oriented, dedicated, loyal employee that I’ve ever worked with.”

Though he’s retiring on the brink of the Elkhart RV Open House, Stringer wants people to know that he plans to visit various manufacturer displays Sept. 23-26 at Forest River’s Dealer Expo on the west side of town as well as around the RV/MH Hall of Fame to touch bases with friends and acquaintances.

“I’m the luckiest man in the world to work with some of the greatest people, dealers and manufacturers,” he told RVBusiness. “I mean, the RV industry is so full of good people. That’s what makes it fun on both sides of the table.”

What comes next for Stringer and his wife, Barbara, who was on hand for the luncheon? “You know what? I am going to enjoy my family and enjoy visiting dealers and traveling and practice what I’ve been preaching to all these customers about going out and seeing this beautiful country,” said Stringer. “I’m going to be doing what we told them to do, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Stringer’s thoughts regarding the current state of the RV market? “We’ve always been a cyclical industry. It’s going up and down. But the reality is, everybody in the United States, everybody in the world and in North America wants to own an RV at some point in their life. And that’s what makes this business great. Sometimes the timing just has to be right. But it’s an industry that will always grow and flourish.

“And in my opinion, our per capita ownership within the United States is going to grow. We’re going to see more and more RV households because we’re in a situation where people increasingly value their free time, work from home and have time to travel. So that’s why the RV business is going to flourish that much more.”

The post Friends, Colleagues Honor Forest River’s John Stringer first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.