January brought ringing phones, beeping faxes and an influx of snail- and e-mail! We can speculate that flip of the calendar opened up a new budget year for many.

Of what we are certain is that while things were slow in 2008 we kept busy behind the scenes. Firetec retained its position as the company with the most used fire trucks sales annually, even in a stagnant economy, with 159 in 2008.

One thing that's working for us-- and for you-- is our exclusive mailing list. The largest reseller of used apparatus has a customer list which is certainly among the best in the industry. Constantly capturing not only buyers and sellers, but also those looking for future purchase, keeps our list up-to-date. For example, many departments in the process of FEMA applications call Firetec for values on their used apparatus. This happens months - sometimes years - before an actual purchase is made. We track this information to create our targeted customer list which is one-of-a-kind. In late 2008 we cross-checked our data, one name at a time, with a recently verified list of fire departments from a dozen states. As soon as the January catalog mailed we began hearing from new customers. This painstaking but important fine-tuning process will continue throughout 2009 until we've personally checked every Fire Department in America.

Sometimes what we do looks easy-- matching buyers and sellers -- often with very fast sales. It is fun, it is simple, but it's not easy! We invest a lot of time and resources to keep our leadership position and to keep your faith in our abilities. Thank you for holding us up to the challenge time and time again.

We specially enjoy meeting you in person at the shows.

Next Show:

We'll be shamelessly schlepping red licorice. We know you love it! Free used apparatus appraisals too!

Jennifer H. Baumann	Barbara W. Baumann
jbaumann@firetec.com	bbaumann@firetec.com

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