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 News from the Field
Here’s a summer story to warm up a cold day. On June 21st, Hurricane Harbor (the aquatic park at Six Flags/Great America in St. Louis) was shut down due to a series of failed chemical feed pumps. This was bad news since St. Louis is noted for its summer heat and humidity. The customer made about a dozen calls to local suppliers and vendors, attempting to find replacement pumps to get the park back in operation, without success. Help is on the way! Ron Zito, Senior Technical Advisor and 12-year USABlueBook employee, received several desperate calls from the customer around midmorning. Since USABlueBook did not have the exact pump they required in stock, Ron and Don Samuelson, our Repair/Returns Manager, custom-modified four pumps that were in stock to meet the customer’s requirements. The customer also really needed the pumps by that evening. Ron looked for a cheap delivery rate to send four 100-pound pumps same-day delivery, but the best deal he could find offered next-day delivery for $3000. The customer asked if someone from USABlueBook could meet a Six Flags representative halfway between USABlueBook and St. Louis, which is about a seven hour drive. It turned out the customer could not find someone to drive up halfway, so Ron offered to drive the pumps down himself. Road trip time Ron left USABlueBook around 2:00 pm and showed up at Six Flags around 9:00 pm. It seemed that every security guard and parking lot attendant were waiting for him to show up. He delivered the pumps in time for the 11:00 p.m. arrival of the pump installer. The pumps were installed overnight and the water park was fully operational again the next day. Instead of spending the night in St. Louis, Ron opted to drive back home that night. He even showed up for work the next day! Ron says that it was fun to take an unexpected road trip in the middle of the week. Thanks Ron, for really coming to the rescue! |
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