MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints

4,850 thoughts on “MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints”

• Way to go Debbie, get right back to the point of business. The comment she posted above states the plain and simple truth from another DBR about the 80% NPA.

  It makes such perfect sense as to why there is ALWAYS a 49% “churnover” rate. No matter how you cut it there will always be half of the DBR’s out there NOT purchasing 80%.

  The top half never see this as a problem so the revolving door distributors are told to hit the road (and go away quietly).

• Debbie I tried to post this this morning
  If you like being a took dealer but are being forced out by Matco call Cornwell and tell them you want to come over and ask for a free starter inventory, they will give it to you. Then after that call your Matco dm tell him you quit if they way 15% restocking fee, I will buy your new Matco boxes that you have in stock at what you paid for them.
  Remember after a few years on the truck your customers are buying from you not what it says on the side of your truck.

• Good job Deb, tell it like you see it, Tell everyone about this site, lets get 600 post today, it can be done. POST,POST,POST and by the way everyone needs to call Jerry.

• Matco Tool conventions… Don’t get me started.

  Each would cost me on average $1500-$2000 to attend. Thats before buying any tools.

  I went to two independant tool shows around the country this year. Both times the WD, paid my airfare and hotel expenses, and provided all but 2 meals. And I still got better than 15% off of purchased product, in one case 10% cash back.

  I know what deals Matco gets for hold conventions at specific locations. Distributors pay for it all.

  Independant shows, the Vendors foot the bill.

• Back to the facts, if you’re researching Matco you should be aware
  according to the propaganda poster in my truck………..

  “Because it’s a mobile franchise, I didn’t have to pay for employees, rent, or leasehold improvements”
  BUT YOU DO PAY TO LEASE (RENT) YOUR TRUCK – YOUR “MOBILE STORE”

  Matco states “their proven success system”
  MATCO’S OWN DOCUMENTS SHOW 47% FAILURE RATE

  In my book, odds a little better than a 50-50 chance – don’t equal “proven success system”

  @Former – Guest3 only had one thing right in his post, i DO enjoy being a tool distributor

  you and i both know – the rest is fiction
  matco would never waive anything – and i have no interest in cornwell

• and Starter Inventory purchases keep boosting that Natl Average…

• Honestly, I do feel bad that the Matco Tools corporate viewpoint is not better represented here. I mean, they must have justifications in their own heads for the way things are and why this structure is set up the way it is.

  Unfortunately, the pro-Matco viewpoints here have been childish and kind of embarrassing, ranging from bullying to juvenile (like trying to spam up the discussion). It’s like they brought a pea-shooter to a gunfight. Matco might be saving their A-game for court, but in the meantime you’d think they’d want to at least defend themselves or challenge some of the stats, some of which are clearly open to interpretation.

  I think Debbie makes an excellent, excellent point that I wish someone would explain. By it’s very design, Matco will always be terminating at least the lowest 20%. Logic would dictate that eventually that would creep upwards until the dbrs being terminated were actually healthy, profitable dbrs in the lower 20%, wouldn’t it?

  Unless, of course, at least 20% of the dbr routes are not viable and just keep getting churned over and over.

  Are there ANY pro-Matco defenders capable of addressing this fundamental issue directly?

• yes Debbie, if you are interested in cornwell, email me….I can hook you up.

• Thank you admin for the explanation, I will try to be good from now on. I won’t do 1000 posts about Matco being #1 tool franchise I appreciate you not banning me, people do need to hear both sides

• I wished I would have joined Snap-On , maybe I would not have been kicked to the curb. By the way, Snapon is the number one tool company.Their products are by far better.They have much more to offer in their catalog and their flyers are much nicer. You talk about brand recognition, you ask normal people on the street if they have heard of snapon or matco and theres a big chance they are going to say yes I have heard of snapon. GO GET EM JERRY.

• If you are a DBR and you feel that giant Silver Eagle is looking over your shoulder (and trust me, they are) here is what you do………………….2 weeks before Expo go nuts and buy tons of tools from the current promotion(s).

  When you get to Vegas go “full tilt” and order so much it will take you a week to check everything in. I am talking 70 to 80 grand worth of merchandise. You will be on tool hold for the rest of the year, but so what? Apparently that doesn’t matter to Matco.

  You’ve met the 80% NPA for several months, your store is loaded with well above the minimum, and because you owe so much to Matco you have instant job security.

• Tommy you’re wrong Matco number 1 5 of the last 6 years, and yes snap on would have kicked you to the curb, ask jerry

• What about their catalog and flyers?Much nicer, I wished I would have joined snapon from the beginning.What about brand knowledge? I bet more people know about snapon versus matco. Now lets get back to the problems with matco and their deceitful ways and the way they treated their distr.

• I was a DBR from ’00 to ’08. My start up $ was all from savings. The route I filled had been empty for 3-4 years, long enough that most of my customers couldn’t remember the old DBR’s name. There were some issues with my survey. We found one shop that had been closed and knocked down years before. There were some bigger shops that the head counts had been “padded”. However there was a large area that was “water locked” not included in my area. You would have to drive thru my area to get to the un-surveyed area. My DM said this area was mine to develop if I wanted (he did stand by this).
  During my first 5 years business was great. 60hr+ work weeks were the norm. I was always #1-3 in my district in sales. My bills were being paid and usually took 2 vacations each year. Even through the good years I struggled calculating my actual income. When I asked my DM how to come up with a concrete number he would say don’t worry you are making money. I’m not sure if he 1- didn’t know how to calculate it. 2- Was afraid I would leave if I really knew what I was making or 3- was too lazy to help me. My sales peaked in ’04 and started to slide in ’05. I stayed in until the end of ’08.
  From mid ’06 to the end I kept saying to myself I give it 3 – 6 months for business to turn around it never did. You can only reinvent the way you do business so many times. Shops that once had 30 techs now had 8. Even with that extra area my customer count was very low.
  In the middle of ’08 my DM was fired. From early summer until long after I terminated he wasn’t replace. I heard from my regional manger once in that time.
  To the point of this post: I could blame Matco Tools for my failure. But I blame myself for not bailing two years earlier. I do believe Matco’s policies and pricing have made it next to impossible for it’s DBR to make a living consistent with the hours needed to run their business.
  If Matco had come to me in ’06 and told me they were terminating me for not being at 80%. I would have been upset to say the least. But at this point I wished they had. Think about it. I promise you there is life after Matco. I feel this way even though I will be paying bills related to my time with Matco for some time.

  BTW When I’m asked would I recommend a mobile tool franchise my answer is always no and it doesn’t matter who’s name would be on the truck.

  And yes I have signed on with Jerry not sure if I want to pursue but that’s another story.

  Deb I can tell you how I handled the 90 day psa rule but not here

• Snapon never kicked Jerry, they paid him what they owed him, and that was millions, just like matco is going to do.GO GET EM JERRY

• Look Guys! Matco will start you with a minimum of 325 customers. That is not so BAD! But what they FAIL to tell you and train you in Stowe, OH is that when you start your route especially in an Urban area’s where there is Lots of competetion.

  For example Snap-On (Been around the longest have the deepest roots if they have a good distributor) Mac (Lots of turnover have a bad reputation for the most part) Cornwell (Not been around a long time and they have a lot of turnover as well) STS (Operate with lower inventory and have quite a bit of turnover) Independents (They do pretty well as long as they are good to their customers) and others that you are expected to take away your competitors money no matter how much competition is there already.

  So, with all these competitors in the market and your mechanic can spend $30.00 dollars a week you have to
  A) try to do it better than your competitor
  B) Have it when they need it
  C) Bargain with your commission (Profit)
  D) Be there when your competitor isn’t
  E) Search for other areas where noone else is going. This is where Matco gets you. You start your route and after about two months of serviing the MINIMUM amount of customers Matco guarantees you (In my case 328) and being done by 12:00am three days of the week and 2:00pm the other days you find yourself looking for more customers to fill your day. Then low and behold when you fill your day up with shops and lets say your working 14 to 16 hrs a day instead of the 25 a week Matco started you with and your by $9000 per week in tools from Matco they come to you when they have just fired the District Manager that put you in business 2 years ago and tell you that you have to give up shops that you established with your PREVIOUS DISTRICT MANAGER and were not getting service from Matco to a new Distributor wanting to start a franchise.

  Forget the fact that these surveys found that you were servicing 95% of what Matco gave you plus what your District Manager said you could call on and your customers are happy. Forget the fact that you are purchasing $9000 dollars per week from their company and geting VPTT bonus for timely payments. Forget the fact your at least $8000 paid ahead on your account to Matco (start up costs I didn’t have). Forget the fact you have paid for and invested 5 times the inventory you started with. (Yes I had over $245000 my cost of inventory on my truck). Forget the fact that you had within the last 6 mo. purchased a new tool truck in excess of $125000.

  Your Matco manager (Regional Manager because he fired my District Manager) will come to you and tell you the shops that you picked up, that your District Manager never told you need to fill out a drop/add form to secure on your “List of Calls” (and by the way they fail to mention that in training in Stowe, OH), are MATCO’S shops and you will either give them up or you can lose your franchise.

  Oh and its not over yet, after starting this new distributor with your customers (close to 250) and him having 100 more customers than you (450+) and 125 more than you started your franchise with you will be expected to sustain 80% of the National average when 4 years later your customer base will shrink to 240 and after you have requested at least 2 times for your route to be resurveyed and your District Manager says he will.

  You will receive a letter from Matco that if in the next 90 days you do not reach 80% of the National Average you will be terminated and if in the same year you should drop below (evidently it doesn’t matter if your snowed in or hit by a hurricane) 80% of the National average again it doesn’t matter why, YOUR GONE.

  In fact , your Regional Manager will tell you 3 times in your termination phone call “I don’t care what you do you won’t be doing it with Matco”. Am I mad “Yes”. In the four years after my route was raped Matco never assigned me one shop. Even when I told my District Manager I was struggling, he did nothing, even though he told me he would. In fact, I can’t remember ever getting an annual business review from him when I had gotten one every year from the Manager who was fired.

  I do know he never said I was doing poorly and the only time I heard anything from him he was giving me praise. I know what destoyed my business and it wasn’t me. I tried to honor my word to pay off my debt even when Matco stacked the deck against me. I should have got an attorney when Matco threatened to take my customers away but I figured that would be rocking the boat. I was so heavily invested I was scared to rock it so I tried to stay afloat.

  Did I mention I only owed Matco $1300 dollars on my franchise when they terminated it? Did I mention I had an inventory of $180,000 dollars when they terminated me and out of that they only took back about 80,000 sent me back 5,000 (said it was previously displayed product) charged me 10,000 (restocking fee) and paid me 60,000?

  YES! This doesn’t add up seems I involuntarily tipped them 5,000. WHAT A TIP! I didn’t mention the false survey my District Manager did finally perform 14 days after I received my separation letter from Matco. Magically, I had 328 customers and was not servicing but 67% of them. I wonder what the actual stats were if you take out the shops that were closed and the shops I never signed up to go to.

  Am I done yet? NO! Evidently Arkansas Franchise Law has no effect when it comes to franchise law with Matco. Arkansas says “Good Cause” for termination is when we as Franchisees are treated equal and Impartial and do not comply. Can I say that their is NO WAY that all Matco Distributors are equal. As it says right their in your franchise agreement some Matco Distributors may be employees, some have territories. Do you think you as a NEW Distributor who has less than 350 customers can compete with a Distributor of more than 10 years on purchase average?. Let alone be at 80% of the National average?.

  Arkansas Franchise Law says I should have been given 10 days to cure a repeat offense. (Not being at 80% of the National average. When I pointed this out the Vice President of Matco Tools he told me “You never cured” even though I was aloud to keep franchise 215 days after my separation letter that is 125 days after my 90 day cure period. You see when I got my separation letter and after the bogus survey from my district manager. My District Manager pays me a visit and I go from around 240 customers (His survey said I had 328) to 405 customers.

  My purchase average when I got my separation letter was around 700 per week. Buy the end of the year it was over 1400 per wk. which means with the added customers I more than tripled my purchase average in the last fives months to get a purchase average double for the whole year. I admit my purchase average was very low in the last 3 months of my franchise missing nearly 15 days to inclement weather and with the holidays which typically means guys going on vacations less than average collections and I would have been more worried but I was told “Don’t worry. Your doing GREAT! Forget that letter ever existed.” when I was visited by my District Manager who didn’t call me ahead of time. This was well after my 90 day cure period. The first words out of my mouth were “What did I do now.” That’s when he sang my praises. I asked specifically about the letter he said “Forget tha letter ever existed.”

  I pointed out that the slow time was coming and I had concerns about the purchase average in the new year. He responded “Don’t worry. Things are different now I have more control than I used to.” You see I had asked him for two stops that were already in my route area and had not been assigned yet this was shortly after I surrendered around 250 customers to the new distributor who needed a route. My District Manager told me I could call on them and just phone in the addresses when they opened and he would make sure they got Drop/Add correctly and make everything legal. So, I pull into call on them on a Wednesday and they say they had a Matco guy show up the day before. So I called the Distributor who runs down the same street I do only to find out from him that he gave those shops to the distributor who has 100 more customers than I do.

  By the way, he doesn’t have any shops on this street. So I called my District Manager who had already told me I could phone in their addresses and asked him if he told this distributor he could call on them. He said “No”. So I asked him “Since when can another Distributor give another Distributor shops.” and he tells me “They can’t.” So the next week I call my District Manager who is in the area and he comes to my house and I tell him “This is BULLSHIT! How can a guy who just started a franchise and already has more shops than I do (Because I was forced to give them to him) , who didn’t request the shop through the proper channels be given those shops. He informs me and my wife at my house “You know. You’re right. Those are your shops. You will get those shops.” Then 2 days later I call him because he didn’t call me and he informs me that it is “Out of his hands.” “Not my call.”

  You see if Matco wants you out your going to be gone. Did I mention that when my route was cut this regional manager had just started within the last six months? Did I mention there was another Distributor who had his route cut the same way I did before me? This Regional Manager went to both of our homes and told us how wrong we were to make profitable routes with the approval of our District Manager. The other Distributor quit and I know he was not pleased and felt betrayed as I do.

  I am telling you if you are deciding to become a Matco Franchisee please look at your contract and first and read it very carefully before you commit and while I believe Matco Corporate has some of the finest employees and support I can say its management is “REAL &%$ED UP.” I would feel differently if I didn’t plead to be heard and drive all the way to Stow, OH to be heard by the Vice President and another member of management only to have a piece of paper thrown in my face to sign away my right to speak negatively about Matco or pursue Matco legally and in return they would waive the 15% restocking fee I informed them they were holding illegally for false termination.

  I loved being a Matco Distributor it was everything I was promised and everything I was told I could acheive till I got a new Regional Manger and a District Manager who lies and gives me false securities. If you decide to do this and some Manager decides your out I will at least feel good (Even though it has cost me $10,000) that I tried to warn you. I do wish and encourage if this has happened to you that you get involved and fill out a questionnaire.

  Todd Peterson
  Todd’s Matco Tools, Inc.
  President

• @Happy2bout, Tommy, and Todd Peterson

  Hey guys, shoot me an email please ~ actually have questions for each of you :)
  thanks!!!!!

• Todd ~ EXCELLENT POST!!!!!!!!!!! good information

• You know I missed something in my novel I just wrote and am curious if it has happened to anyone else. Please reply if you have some input.

  Has anyone who has been a Distributor for Matco noticed that there are a lot of Distributors who once sold tools for Snap-On and seem to have larger area’s of coverage which seem to be protected and are usually at the top at Expo?

  How about this one? Has anyone ever had a franchise that got split by a Regional Manager. Then within the next 2 yrs. that Regional Manager hires the Snap-on Distributor that had just filed bankruptcy and lived in the same area as you for the last 15 yrs. and been a top Snap-On distributor for that time winning a Harley and a BMW Mini Coop is hired to be the next District Manager in your Region. Then about two months after you receive your separation letter from Matco this District Manager (Previous Snap-On Distributor) assumes the very route you were forced to give up and which he sold tools as a Snap-On Distributor. Sounds to me like a Hostile takeover to me.

• Hey, just logged on and noticed the Matco Tool **AD** at the top of this page! Is this new?? I’ve seen, and clicked the Nextag :) saw the Revive link,
  but this is the FIRST time I noticed the Matco AD

  wow, that takes some – some something………….
  wonder IF ANYONE would click and sign on after READING

• Matco has their select few that they pamper, will increase their territory, more head count, Premiere areas, not run down,etc. IT all depends on who your D.M. is and your regional manager.Some of their actions could be labeled discrimatory. We have a guy in the gator district who dosen’t attend meetings, go to expo, dosen’t use mdbs and dosen’t upload his numbers. All of this is a violation and nothing has been done.HMMM.

• I see a bunch of new names on here, keep telling everyone and keep posting, thanks to unhappy franchisee, for having a site that we can gripe and complain about a franchisee. Keep up the good work guys and gals. We will win this feud and right this wrong. Lets get a 1000 post by monday. GET EM JERRY.

• no guest 3 since 1:39 going to be a relaxing night WOW

• We need to let everyone know about this site, get everyone involved.Debbie, I left you a message on your cell phone.Lets get loud.

• On my way up the mountain, no service. Will call you in morning ;)
  No worries about getting LOUD !!
  I’ve never been accused of being quiet ;-).

• Sorry mike, I was pulling off the hat trick, 3 boxes in 3 days, $11,000 in Psa. What’s on your mind? I like it when you guys get me fired up your helping me sell;) I just got to watch it here I am on Kyle busch probation

• I hear ya. just wondering how your still sell so much. you posted 35 comments in 72 hours and have such a good customer base,do you have some help.I know i worked more than 60 hours a week thats in 5 days and still couldn’t find time to mow my lawn,your advice is something ,KYLE BUCSH, AND WE TALK ABOUT CRY BABYS.

• I- phone mike and big dealerships, no help about 60 to 70 per week, I am trying to help Tommy boy reach his goal of 1000 posts so he can win that toaster…lol

• Your less agressive,much better, if you only knew how dp [gator dist] did tommy and others including myself, you may feel different but it still comes from the top.I just dont want to see someone else lose what i have lost,good chat, go tommy and jerry im with ya.No bad feeling to ya guest3

• None taken mike, I have had my issues with Matco, I just try and get it resolved and move on. When I get the feeling Matco doesn’t want me around I am out of here, but I will stay in the tool business because I enjoy it, when I stop enjoying it, I will move onto something else. Don’t know DP, so can’t judge him, sounds to me like there is a lot of complaining coming out of the south with the exception of Debbie, as you know she should do something before selling off all of her inventory and collecting all her tp money, then owing Matco money with no way to pay

• Silly silly franchisee’s, don’t you know it takes more than silly hearsay, chearleading and conjecture to come after us, you need to find concrete legal and binding proof that we “screwed you” which by the way is not a recognized legal term.
  While all you 8 or so posters are trying to get all “legal” on us-we are going to continue business as usual of the financial rape and pillage of the remaining franchisee’s and we will pay next to nothing in fines and settlements compared to how much money we legally extract from you, Wall St taught us well

• I’m disappointed… Nobody tells me anything…

  This week I communicated with and old Matco friend and a ex-matco buddy, and they both inform me that Tom Willis is retiring. Why didn’t you guys share this info?

  You know, the good ole’ days where when Eric Mulinmiester and Tom Willis were running the show. You couldn’t tell which one was the President or VP. Eric sure did take charge! Ahhhh! those were the days.

  Now that Tom is leaving, you guys better get ready to RRRUUUMMBBBLLE! Maybe you guys know… Who is in line to take the spot?

  Maybe someone from Danaher that can sell that ToolBox building puppy off QUICK!

• tim gilmore

• Eric was the best. He really cared about the DBRs. Once you got passed his ego you realized he cared.

• Didn’t Tim Gilmore leave; Maybe being groomed for the job @ Danaher somewhere.

  I thought he left the Danaher system.

• I think I found Tim, he is at Hennessy, I know Tim, he’s a good man. But be careful, he is all Smoke and Mirrors. He’s good.

  It would be a shame to ruin a good man by giving him Matco.

• Tim went to Hennesey, will be back Jan 1. Didn’t know you guys were looking for him. Hopefully with Tim back, former distributor, DM, RM, customer service supervisor, VP of Sales, the distributors will finally have someone that has been in our position before. Look forward to the new year!

• Greetings. I know this is supposed to be a website for unhappy distributors so please indulge my opinion. If an individual gets into business without doing all the research then he/she is to blame. When purchasing into a franchise you are buying a tried and tested business plan and that is exactly what MATCO is. If you follow the business plan and follow the lead of other successful Deistributors I do not know how you could not succeed. I started in July 08 as the economy was tanking and I got out August 10. I paid off my MATCO loan (starter inventory), sold truck, collected 65% of my money off the street, and sent back remaining inventory to clear $20k after paying myself for two years. What other business can you do that in? There is money to make in the business but you have to be dedicated and hustle. Too man people want to start a business and live the big life of self employment but blame others when they fail due to their lack of effort. MATCO did not promise me anything but an opportunity. If you were rushed to sign something or didn’t do your research take the blame and own up to failing instead of hiring a lawyer. If MATCO needs someone to testify for them in any court they can call me.

  P.S. if all the current distributors who are posting on here spent that time on the tool truck instead they may have less to complain about.

  Craig. Tucson AZ

• WARNING:
   
  I am a Matco DM and just learned that Matco is attempting to finalize a deal that would sell to every Chrysler dealership that opens an express lube a Matco tool set including a cart and basic hand tools for the lube techs. While Matco tools contracts state that Matco reserves the right to sell to industrial accounts and some schools, this is a clear violation of every distributor’s agreement with Matco.
   
        Matco always says “sell to the shop owner” great idea…. but how can we when you get there first? And sell at a price less than the distributor’s cost. This just will add to the tools that the distributor is already providing warranty service to. More tools that the distributor is not being compensated  for the expenses of effecting such warranty. And this time with no profit whatsoever to either the distributor or the DM.
   
  What a crummy company!”

• I can’t wait to get my toaster, it will be the most expensive one on the market and I will have matco to thank. All current distr, have us to thank, because when we get done with matco, the price of your tools are going up,up,up.Just keeps us in mind when you need a great legal team, it’s called Jerry Marks and gang. We will be there for you when matco disposes of you.Craig, each district has been treated differently by matco, I have read my doc’s, crossed my t’s and dotted my I’s
  and If you had the D.M. that we have here in the south, you would be complaining just as we are. I made money and enjoyed matco, but when you have bad apples in the company, you have to get rid of them and you have to go through matco to do it, which is my goal. I will right a wrong and I won’t shut up, till its done. If you ever need us,that is , Marks and Klein, we will represent you too. That toaster i will be getting, will be full of matco dollars, cha-ching. GO GET EM JERRY.

• I am the unofficial spokesperson for Jerry Marks. Call or E-mail me.

• D.M. thanks for the info. If you need us to represent you , we can help, we have some other d.m’s on board that we are representing. Your message represents how matco does business.Thanks for the posting and help us spread the word.

• On the direct to dealership deal with Matco…In other similar deals, didn’t Matco give the local distributors 5% of the Sale? Of course, 5% does not support a franchisee. Maybe because it would be nat’l account, you get NOTHING!

  It’s like the Student/Education program that goes direct through Matco Corporate.
  Students were supposed to be limited to certain items and not multiples. Purchased at a price WELL below the distributors cost.

  Did I tell you about the time one of my Shop owners sent his son to a local trade school, signed him up on Matco’s website as a student (needed the credentials from the school). A few weeks later, he received a marketing email from Matco, offering some products, 20% LESS THAN WHAT I PAY as a distributor. I forget what the particular item was, I had him order me 5 of them. Now that was a good customer (and still is) :)

  Another case of where Matco turned and looked the other way – screw the distributor.

  How many sales did YOU loose because your customers’ –co-worker, brother, buddy, wife – what ever– was going to a tech school– “hey Joe, I was on the Matco Truck and saw one of these nice $200+ 1/2 flex head ratchets, part # xxx,”.
  “Would you order me one? and I’ll give you the money.” — “No problem Fred, I just got one of those too, it only cost me $80, what a sweet deal”

• I would like to remind anyone that is reading my posts. i am NOT complaining, I am stating facts as I know them. I’ve read my contract many, many times.

  DM states above that selling to these ‘lube shops’ are in violation of the distributor agreement. Not the one I have in my hand.

  Look elsewhere on this site, download the FDD, and review the Matco Distributor Agreement, specifically section 1.4-Rights reserved by Matco:

  (in part)

  Matco retains all rights to sell, and license or authorize others to sell. Products to any customers, at any location, and through any channels or methods of distribution.

  Again, in my case and many others, we signed this agreement, because there was a DM, RM or Franchise salesman telling us, we won’t let you fail. Oh yea, (from Craig above) “its a proven and tested system, it works”

• Dm, if you are truly a dm, what dm had the least sales to plan in November

• I’ve dealt direct with Tim Gilmore as I’m sure many here have. He is a very nice person and a pleasure to be with. He will make a nice President for Matco Tools.

  But remember, he works for and will answer to Danaher Management.

  Example: do you think section 1.4 of the Distributor Agreement will be abolished when he starts?

  Even my DM was an ex distributor like Tim was. But my DM was the biggest immoral a-hole I ever met. My DM performed unfair and misleading business practices and when the management was confronted, they did nothing.

• Dear Craig,

  I doubt you walked across the stage as #41 out of 1500 distributors. I doubt you ever purchased 5 times your start up inventory. I doubt you ever purchased a bigger truck. So, don’t get on hear and call me a failure and tell me how the cow ate cabbage. I am pretty sure I could teach you a thing or two about selling tools.

  Sincerely and with Best Regards,

  Todd Peterson

• Wow, it’s getting a little heated here.We are always going to have someone that preaches matco.I also retained the number 2 position in the top 1500, a couple of times, i Also knew how to sell tools and take care of my customers. I take partial blame for being out of business and mislead by matco on some other ideas they had, which makes them to blame on the other half. Some of their practices are something to be said.Matco has some D.M.’s that just flat out lie to you, make promises that weren’t kept. I was also told by a D.M. out of Tampa, what I could make every year.For what reasons must matco D.M.’s lie to their distr?We are supposed to be a team. GO GET EM JERRY.

• Todd,

  I’m sure you could teach me something about selling tools but if your ranked #41 and still complaining I’ll know I could teach you something about maximizing your profit margin. A bigger truck doesn’t make you any money so I’m not sure what your point is there but it makes me think your not good at an managing a business. If you don’t have the cash flow don’t buy a new truck. I have read every post on this site and what it sounds like to me is that people like to blame DMs or MATCO for failures that they had no hand in. I’ve been out of MATCO a year and half and most days I don’t miss it but I know if my employment situation changed I could get back into a truck and make money. It is not for everybody and people must realize there is a risk with any business venture. If you bought stock in company XYZ and it lost money you would except the risk of losing money. Would you file a lawsuit on the company for their stock losing money? Judging by most of the posts here I think you would try but that’s not how things work. Go to work and sell tools!

• Keeping in mind 5 times 54,000 equals $270,000 which is about a 5000 purchase avg, probably wouldn’t get you in the top 200 anymore, although back then the starter inventory was actually 40,000, so not really that impressed Todd