Q & A

Q: You’re officially retiring as a Sales Rep from Burr King. Have you always been a Sales Rep there or did you move around to other positions during your time there?

A: For 40 years I was a Burr King Sales Rep. I’ve been a Rep since 1985. I’ve actually been a manufacturers’ rep for 63 years and I still have one company that I represent. So I’m mostly retired, but I’m not fully retired yet.

Q: 40 years at the same company is impressive! Was there a primary reason why you decided to stay with Burr King for so long?

A: Certainly the quality of the product and I really felt good about selling Burr King. When I started with Burr King, they had nobody as a Rep here for the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland area. They were not well-known in this area and we were able to build it up to an excellent product there.

Q: In your time at Burr King, was there anything that you liked best about being a Sales Rep?

A: Well, the thing I really enjoyed about Burr King was that they sent me a grinder that was delivered to my house! It was an 80 pound machine. I learned how to use it in the garage and they had notes on how to demo it. For years I carried it into plants; that was a task! Burr King told me that if I ever got a mini van or a van, they would send me a gurney to put the grinder on so I wouldn’t have to carry it.

I really enjoyed carrying or taking the van to a company and doing a demo with the grinder. I was good at it and I loved doing it, and I helped build up Burr King to where it is today in my area.

Q: I know you just shared some great stories about your time at Burr King. Are there any other stories, lessons, or experiences that you’ve taken from your time there?

A: I’ve always enjoyed the people at Burr King; they’re very nice people. When I started, they were in South El Monte, California and I traveled out there to visit with Don and meet his dad. Just perfect people to work for.

I had a lot of fun working as a Sales Rep. I worked a lot of shows with Burr King; that’s one of the things that helped really sell the grinder. Doing demos at shows and making sparks grinding a file would have people running over to the booth to see what was going on. It added some excitement to the show!

Q: Earlier, you said that you’re actually still a Sales Rep for one company. Do you have an official retirement date in mind or do you plan to keep going strong?

A: Until they tell me goodbye! I’m old enough not to carry or pull Burr King equipment into a plant anymore. Much of what I do today is done on the phone. I’ll keep doing it as long as I can think and drive!

Q: I know you’re not fully retired, but now that you have a little more time available, do you have any goals or plans?

A: I have a bit of an interest in history and I collect postcards. With these postcards, I post on Facebook and several group sites. And, I’m now doing videos to do presentations of local, historical postcards. I’ve also done one presentation in Cape May, NJ and I have a large collection of Cape May postcards. I consider myself a collector and I was introduced at the Cape May presentation I did as, “Dick Gibbs, Historian.” I still do a lot of that.