MESSENGER
Spring 2013 • Vol. 23
www.midcountycoop.com
HONEST Y • INTEGRIT Y • VALUE
INSIDE:
PAGE 2
PAGE 3
Energy
PAGE 4
Agronomy
OUR PEOPLE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
Recently I was
working on my taxes
and came across
my annual dividend
statements from Mid-
County. Were they
huge numbers? Not
Bill Reimers
necessarily, in the
General Manager
grand scheme of
(952) 466-3721
[email protected] things. But you start
asking yourself, who
else is sending me a dividend? Sure, maybe
some credit card companies offer some
incentives. But after that, nowhere on their
statement does it show that you own part of
the company. At Mid-County, you not only
receive a dividend, but you share in the own-
ership of the company.
Ownership offers many things. It allows
you to talk face-to-face with the people who
actually run the business for you. It also
allows you to control the direction of the
business, maybe even become a member
of the Board of Directors. Or, it simply allows
you to attend the company’s annual meeting
to get an update on the operations of the
business.
Your local coop offers many services to
an audience that has the opportunity to buy
similar products from others, unlike a utility
Staff Spotlight
company that has a 100% captive customer.
That means we need to be razor sharp to
keep our customers satisfied.
How often have you called a business
wanting them to know your specific situation
so their customer service representative can
help you? Unfortunately, in today’s internet
world, that is becoming a rarity. It is fresh in
my mind about a company that I wanted to
call the other day. Unfortunately they did not
even offer a phone number; you could do a
“live chat” over the internet. No thank you!
It is our people that make the difference;
the old saying that “our people are our great-
est asset” still holds true today. Top-of-the-
line technology, equipment, and facilities are
of no value without the right employees to
make them work for you. It is our goal to
know who our customers are when they call,
or when they come to see us, so we can
bring value to them.
The energy markets have experienced a
dip recently; it may be short-lived as one of
the refineries in the Twin Cities is shut down
for maintenance for the month of April. Hope-
fully, it will be up and running when spring
planting and construction starts up, so sup-
plies will be adequate. Every spring and fall
we experience long lines at the terminals.
Many of the terminals out state, such as Alex-
andria, Marshall, and Mankato are supplied
by pipelines. When they run out of product, all
of those out state trucks come to the Twin Cit-
ies, where the refineries are, placing pressure
on our local supplies. Mid-County is fortunate
to have four bulk storage facilities to keep an
adequate supply during the busy periods.
Our new John Deere dry fertilizer applica-
tor is here and ready for pre-planting spread-
ing, as well as top-dressing nitrogen on corn.
We have also added another 25 ton tender
to the fleet to insure timely delivery to our
growing custom application fleet. Our custom
anhydrous equipment is also ready.
Our convenience store in Cologne has
had a slow recovery after the highway con-
struction last fall. We still are showing a minor
decrease in some product areas, but the
business is slowly making a comeback. We
are anxious to see what the summer brings
when the driving season is in full swing. The
new car wash is a vast improvement from the
old unit. It will run you through faster than
ever and still have a great wash.
Hopefully you received your dividend
check recently for your purchases last year.
If you have any questions on dividends and
equity in your coop, please call at any time.
As always I appreciate your comments
and suggestions to make your coop better.
AGRONOMY
710 Lake St. W, Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-3710
700 Lake St. W, Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-3720
700 Lake St. W, Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-3730
COLOGNE
Hwy. 212 & Hwy. 284, Cologne, MN 55322
(952) 466-5657
(952) 466-3700 • 888-466-3700 • 700 Lake Street , W., P.O. Box 177, Cologne