Thanks For the Memory

To my customers, friends and employees:

As Bob Hope always sang, “Thanks for the Memories.”  February 17, 2012 will be the last day for Lutterbein Lumber Co. except in our memories.  In fact, after the 17^th, this will be the first time since 1924 there won’t be a business owned and operated by the Lutterbein family on North Michigan Avenue in Edgerton, Ohio.  It’s been a long and memorable run.

Big C Lumber, based in Granger, Indiana, is buying my buildings, equipment, and inventory and will be open for business Monday, February 20, 2012.  Edgerton will be their 15^th store.  They will be employing many of the same people you have come to know at Lutterbein’s.  I, however, will not be staying.  There are just too many memories of my family members all around those buildings.  Emotionally, it would just be too hard.  Plus I have to work on the auction at our door hanging shop and the closing of our truss plant in Columbus, Ohio over the next three or four months.  After that, I will be seeking a new job.

The folks at Big C Lumber seem to be genuinely good people, and I believe they will serve my old customers well.  They are a family-owned business with the fourth generation of family owning and working at the company.  They are similar to us in many ways.  As Lutterbein’s grew, we went into trusses, construction, real estate management, and other ventures.  As Big C Lumber grew, they stayed with lumber supply.  By concentrating on their core business, they remained successful, even during this economic downturn that has forced me to call it quits.

I sincerely hope you will support Big C Lumber here in Edgerton.  Because of their size they have more buying power and are better equipped to serve both the contractor and the do-it-yourselfer.  Please join me in welcoming them to our community and to the Buckeye State.  I sincerely wish them nothing but the best, and I hope you will support them with your business.

I am very grateful for the employees and customers I have worked with over the years.  I may not miss the headaches of owning a retail business, but I will miss the people who helped make our business a success for nearly 88 years.  Thanks you for your support over the years, and Thanks For The Memories!  Bill Lutterbein, President of Building Concepts, Inc.

A letter to my Dad.

Hi Dad.
I've been thinking about you quite a bit lately. I really miss you when big things happen. Isuppose you already know we've decided to sell the lumber yard. I hope you don't mind too much. When we were deciding, Dennis asked "What do you think John and Dick would do? I said "I don't know about Dick, but you would really buckle down and somehow save the place.". I also said that I don't have the guts for that.

Well we now have a verbal agreement to sell it. We saved it from sure ruin. The company we are selling it to is a good company. They are a family owned small chain from Indiana. It really is a perfect fit. I wish we had the skill and fearless spirit you and Dick had, but we don't.

Thanks for setting everything up for us. We tried, but this recession has been such a long one, we just couldn't make it through. To be honest, I'm relieved it's almost over. Failing is really hard to accept. Now maybe I can do something positive and self fulfilling.

I'm really sorry Dad.

I love you and respect you more than ever, even though you have been gone for a while. You were the biggest man I have ever known.

Love Bill

Yes, It's True.

After 87 years (three generations) of the Lutterbein family operating a business at 444 N. Michigan Ave. in Edgerton Ohio, the last Lutterbein living in Edgerton has decided (along with the board of directors of Building Concepts, Inc.) it's time to sell the business and try something different.

We have just begun to activly market to sell Lutterbein Lumber Company.  As most people know the building industry has been hit hard by the current recession.  There are a number of things that I could site as problems, but you don't want to hear any of them.  Let it be said that if things were better, we wouldn't be doing this.

I just hope we can find a good buyer so there can be a quality lumber / hardware store in Edgerton.  I love Edgerton and the people in Edgerton.  I hope you will continue to support us during this time of transition and if I can find a buyer, I hope you will support them as well.  Thanks!  Bill Lutterbein

White House: We Have Never Communicated with Aliens, Honest | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

White House: We Have Never Communicated with Aliens, Honest | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

I thought the White House was full of aliens!

At least an alien way of thinking from mainstream American thinking.

The Edgerton Historical Society

A couple of weeks ago Don Allison spoke at our local historical society.  Here is an article he put in the Bryan Times newspaper.  I thought it was worth blogging.  Enjoy.

The Bryan Times - September 2, 2009

On My Mind – Don Allison

Moving ahead means using

rearview mirror sometimes, too

I was feeling good about life, kicking back and enjoying my drive home on a beautiful summer evening.

It had been a long day. I was tired to the bone, but it was a good tired — I had just been a small part of something much larger than myself.

That evening I was guest speaker for the Edgerton Historical Society’s meeting. I was flattered to be invited, and excited to see what this relatively new historical group was all about.

When I saw three rows of tables and chairs already set up when I arrived at the church fellowship hall, I was somewhat taken aback. I hadn’t expected as large a crowd.

But the meeting organizers had pegged it right, as nearly all those chairs were occupied when the meeting began.

The Edgerton memorabilia brought in for display by the society’s members and guests was impressive. I was particularly excited to see discharge papers, photos and other memorabilia connected with the Civil War — the group’s focus that night, since the Civil War was the topic of my talk.

A digital slide show of Edgerton High School senior class composites was on display as guests arrived, and I enjoyed spotting people I knew among the decades-old photographs.

Darwin and Shirley Krill were the meeting’s organizers, and they went out of their way to make me feel welcome. I felt very much at home, as a number of old friends and acquaintances were there — Edgerton residents I’ve come to know through my work at The Times, or through my historical endeavors.

The Edgerton community is fortunate to have people willing to work hard to preserve the heritage of the town and outlying areas. Preserving and copying historic photographs and documents — and recording the facts and memories that go with them — is creating a priceless treasure trove.

And it’s a treasure that will be mined far into the future, by generations of Edgertonians yet unborn.

We are a society that tends to be very ignorant of our history. We are slow to learn that we can’t understand where we are — much less where we’re going — unless we’re aware of how we got here. To quote from the late philosopher George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

 A bit of remembrance. I believe, can head off considerable condemnation.

I’ve been very fortunate over the last few decades to be a part of the Williams County Historical Society, to see knowledge, artifacts and even buildings from our past preserved.

More recently I was able to be part of the ground floor organization of the Stryker Area Heritage Council, another group that is laying away treasures for our future generations. Restoration of the Stryker railroad depot as the home for a museum is an endeavor well worth the effort by the many people involved.

I’m thankful for the chance to experience the Edgerton Historical Society firsthand. It is a group with focus and energy, and I wish them well — especially their efforts to find a building to house their own museum, a mecca for those who appreciate Edgerton’s heritage.

Don Allison is senior editor

of The Bryan Times. He can be

reached at 419-636-1111 or

dallison@bryantimes.com.

Is a Housing Construction Boom Coming? - Daniel Indiviglio - Business - The Atlantic

This is a big..... who the hell knows. I've been predicting an upswing for the last four years and it's only gotten worse. This article simply says.... sooner or later thing will improve, duh.
Too little, too late for many of my lumber friends. Let's hope sooner rather than later.

Is a Housing Construction Boom Coming? - Daniel Indiviglio - Business - The Atlantic

It is unwise to pay too little...............

The quote below was written a well over 100 years ago by John Ruskin, but still rings true.  I especially like the last line.

Thought for the day....... "Save big money (or waste big money) at....    "

“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little.

When you pay too much, you loose a little money; that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything.

Because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot.

It cannot be done.

If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.

There is hardly anything in the world that someone can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper – and people who consider price alone are this man’s lawful prey”.    - John Ruskin 1819-1900

Building Material Stores Continue To Close.

It is still happening at an alarming rate. The latest two in our area are McComb Lumber in McComb Ohio and T&M Supply in Stryker Ohio.

The Stryker one isn't on this map yet, but it has closed. Jim Haddox owner of McComb Lumber is a good friend of mine from back in the Ohio Lumbermen's Association days.

It's really sad for me to see this. I think the hand writing is on the wall for all of us independent lumber dealers. The old fashion yards without the large retail stores seem to be going first in our area, but I think the time is coming when even that walk in retail trade won't help much. It really bothers me when someone comes in for a chalk line and staples for their roofing felt, when I know they went to a big box for everything else. I guess the thing that irritates me the most is those same people come in and want donations for their kids baseball team, or post prom party.

I had a customer ask why I was not open Sundays anymore. The answer I wanted to give them was that twenty years ago, there were no big boxes between Fort Wayne and Toledo. People from the surrounding towns would shop here on the weekend. Now with four big boxes within 30 minutes of me, the surrounding town and many Edgerton people go to them. I can't afford to stay open five hours on a Sunday and sell only two or three hundred dollars worth of goods. The answer I told the guy is that I decided to have a life. After working 72 hours a week for twenty years, now that I'm working only 60 it seems like I'm semi-retired.

I still love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else. And even though I may not sound like it, I appreciate and treasure every customer I have.

PROSALES Online: news, trends and sound business advice for America's pro-focused building materials dealers.

Obama announces steps to speed US oil production

Obama announces steps to speed US oil production

The President is finding it's easy to sit back and criticize until you have to be the adult in charge; then the "pie in the sky" ideals have to be set aside and real decisions made.

This is what has to happen. He has to give up many of his precious ideals or the whole country will fail. We need oil and gas for energy and more importantly we have to kill the debt spending.

A compromise would be equal amounts of dollars of budget cuts and dollar amounts of new taxes for the short term. Then real reform to hold down spending and not spend any more than we take in. All new spending should not be allowed unless it is shown how we will pay for it NOW, not in the future.

Good luck with that in this political climate!

Pictures from WILLIAM

Click here to view these pictures larger