Redman Van and Storage Time Line – John C. Eberhardt

Redman Van and Storage Time Line – John C. Eberhardt John applied at Redman Van and Storage after graduating from Olympus High School in 1965. John’s parents, John and Margaret Eberhardt, were friends and knew Lee Steorts, one of Redman’s owners and arranged for an interview. On the same day of the interview, Lee offered John the job as a helper and handed white coveralls to John there and then that John put over his suit and tie and was asked to go to work. His, first job was located at the SL County Hospital to move cadavers. John, "the Rookie" was asked by veteran employees to fish out bodies that were soaking in formaldehyde. During that summer John worked on the trucks doing household and office moves on a full time basis. Over time John worked as a packer, a work hand in the warehouse, a driver and other various duties that kept him busy. John’s girlfriend, Sandi Dedekind, embraced John’s commitment to Redman by making a patch that said "Super Mover" that John put on his coveralls. When fellow workers saw this cute patch, John explained that Dill Wolley, one of the owners of Redman, gave the patch to John, which made several Redman employees insecure in their commitment to the company. During this time at Redman, John was up at the U of U working on his business management and finance degree. Soon after, he joined the army reserves as a canoneer and went to Fort Lewis, Washington leaving his 65 Mustang Fastback behind for Sandi to drive. Be mindful that John and Sandi were NOT married yet. John and Sandi were married in August 1969 while finishing upper division classes at the U, while Sandi was teaching 3rd graders. John was not excited about any of the job opportunities the U of U offered. He and Sandi moved into John's grandma's home near St Mark's Hospital paying $150 a month in rent. Later in 1969, Mack Stowe, President of Redman offered John a sales job, which he was excited about. Still looking for other opportunities, John thrived at Redman as a commission salesperson making good money at 10-12K a year. After a couple years, John and Sandi decide to go into debt and buy a home in Millcreek for $32,000 and had their first child, me, in 1972. In 1973 John bought the household portion of Redman from Dill Wolley (Tramell Crow) and joined his new partners, Doug and Gary Derrick, Dick Coleman and Mack Stowe. To accomplish this buy in, John borrowed money from in laws, parents and used their own savings to acquire 22% of the business. As a result, there was a shift in management keeping Mack as President, John – V.P., Gary Derrick -Sec/ Treasurer and Dick Coleman as a Director. These new partners focused on growing the household portion of the business. As part of the purchase, the partners acquired the Sugarhouse warehouse as well as the downtown office and warehouse. At that time Redman was the agent for Beacons Van Lines. For 4-5 years the company grew. In 1975, Doug Derrick, a silent partner, pushed for a position in the company and met some resistance from the partners. As a result, the Derricks were bought out by a silent partner, Dick Redman. Jim Harris replaced Gary Derrick as Sec/Treasurer. A couple years passed and the silent partners wanted to pull money out of the company while John wanted to reinvest the profits to grow the company. Although the business was profitable, there were many inefficiencies that presented themselves as opportunities in John's eyes. There was a great deal of turmoil among owners. John was frustrated and started considering other options. He became aware of his good friend, Gary Barrus' frustrations in his various business endeavors. Gary and Irene were long time friends of John and Sandi, as well as the Dave and Karen Furhman. In 1977, Gary took the position as sales manager at Redman. For two more years, turmoil internally continued despite the company doing well and building a new warehouse in Centennial Park on the west side of Salt Lake valley and selling the Sugarhouse location in 1979. With the help of Scott Loveless' advice (lawyer) John realized he had more leverage as a minority owner than he thought. With an ally in Mac Stowe, who liked and trusted John and Gary, he supported John and Gary's ambition to buy out all other partners. As part of the deal, John and Gary were required to use the real estate of the business as collateral in a leveraged buyout in 1981. The former partners were counting on the business failing and taking back the real estate and business. As you might have guessed, John and Gary paid off the 10-year loan in five years with great satisfaction. Good news - Two friends and sole partners secured Redman who shared similar business philosophies. Several inefficiencies were solved and money was put back into the company to grow the business. Bad News – The Barrus and Eberhardts had to learn to live like poppers with young children for another 5 years. (Examples of this poverty included sharing a VCR with the Barrus family and swapping it every other weekend with my family in addition to seeing my dad share power tools with Gary in their many capentering adventures. Over the years, John and Gary involved themselves in the community and worked to build Redman's reputation. (Rotary Club, Utah Motor Transport Association, YMCA, Utah Alumni Association, etc). It was understood that Redman needed to diversify. As a result, Gary and John beefed up the record storage business, commercial warehousing and transporting high value products. Mutt and Jeff (John and Gary’s Leasing Company) was also created to create tax advantages and benefit the company. Redman outgrew the fairly new 40,000 sq ft facility in about 8 years. With the help of Dave Fuhrman at Zion's Bank, John and Gary borrowed $1M to build a 75K sq ft building on I -215 in 1993. Four years later in 1997, they built a second warehouse just North of the main warehouse. From 1987 until present Redman has had satellite warehouses in Lindon, Ogden, St. George and Billings, Montana. In 2008, Redman moved out of the record storage facility, which served as Redman’s headquarters for many years prior, into a newer and more serviceable larger warehouse several blocks to the South. So here we are in 2012....at John and Gary’s retirement party. John, 47 years with Redman and Gary, 35 years ( a combined 82 years of service!!) I asked my dad what he valued and remembered the most working at Redman to which he replied, “Seeing people grow within the company. Developing relationships within the industry. Working with Gary and appreciating the 35 year partnership working through challenges together.”