My local You Pick

[DAVES89]

I have made it known that over the last few years I have been going to a You Pick near me called Gibson's. They are the largest You Pick yard in Wisconsin owning the one near me and 3 other yards elsewhere in the state.

 There is a good chance that they will close. 

 It has been in the news that the owner of Gibson's has bribed one of his drivers and a yard guy at a metal recycling plant [sadoff Iron and Steel] which is where they take their scraped cars. What they have been doing is filling the cars with dirt to increase how much they get paid. According to an article I read the trucks are allowed a 500 pound leeway per load for the amount of what a truck load of stripped cars would weigh. Well Gibson's were coming in at loads of up to 2000 pounds which would obviously raise the revenue paid to Gibsons.

 This has been going on for over 15 years and was only triggered by Gibson's challenging a unemployment compensation claim that resulted in a disgruntled employee turning them in.

 When this was found out Sadoff's installed security cameras in the processing area and observed the crane operator "shaking out the cars to get the dirt out before processing. 

 So after building a case they have gone after the driver [who confessed to a lower charge w/probation] and the crane operator [also confessed to a lower charge w/probation] leaving the owner of Gibson's to be chraged. He has not gone to court yet but has agreed to repay Sadoff's for about $14,000,000.00 and the talk is that next the IRS is going to get involved [looking for lost revenue]  followed by the Wi. Dept of Natural Resources for potentially transporting of contaminated soil.

 This all came out in the news about 3 weeks ago but as I said it doesn't look good.

 On a personal level that makes one of my hobbies [junkin] just a bit harder if my local yard closes.

[Ronnie]

I hate to hear that Dave. The government works slow so it might take a long time before it actually shuts down. The time it takes to shut it down will also depend on the owners willingness to fight it and drag it out in court. I have to agree that it doesn't sound good.

[kdirk]

Heh. The (current) American way. Every one has a scam or an angle they are working to get one over on everyone else. Sounds like the owner is cooked, they'll  get him on the environmental impact and tax angle  (the Al Capone approach). Fourteen million? Unless the owner has tens of millions banked from this scam, I don't see how he can cover that without liquidating, to say nothing of the fines and penalties he'll get hit with as this shakes out. The big losers are those who benefited from the existence of such a yard, people like Dave and myself who bought many parts there, and others who depended on the place simply to keep their cars running.

 

The knock on effects will be big too. The township where Gibson's  is located will loose revenue from its existence, and be left with a giant vacated property that can't be redeveloped due to ground contamination without massive costly remediation. The honest employees there will be out of a job, furthering the negative economic effects of the place closing. Unless another operator buys it and keeps it open, all the cars presently in the yard likely get crushed for the scrap value as part of the liquidation process, meaning hundreds of cars with usable parts are gone forever. This drives up parts cost and makes and difficult for people who rely on used parts to keep their old beaters serviceable just  to keep a car. If those people at the edge can't maintain their car for lack of parts due to Gibson's closing,  they lose their only transportation and then possibly their own ability to work.

 

In short, this sucks. And yet, I am completely unsurprised anymore when a story like this breaks. This stuff is so prevalent now the only thing that surprises me is how infrequently it comes to light. One of the marks of a dying empire is this type of endemic fraud. Some get busted because they don't have the emperors blessing. Others are given a free pass (even if only by lack of enforcement) and this is what gets people thinking that they too can play the game. Pretty soon, almost everyone is doing it. That's about where we are now.

[DAVES89]

And yet in my industry [health insurance] we are so regulated I run the risk of losing my license if I did so much as get arrested for shoplifting. We also run the risk of suspension or revocation of license if a client believes we "misrepresented" our product or "enticed" them to buy or "churned" them from one company to another.

One other thing about Gibson's. They use to pay "cash" on overtime. Now the employees don't work overtime or it is added to their paycheck.

Once again this all started from one emplyee complaing about a denied unemplyment claim. Shows how a few dollars in unemployment cost the owners millions...

[Ronnie]

I have a friend with an auto parts store that usually has about 4-5 employees. Several years ago the employees asked if they could all work on a salary so if they had to miss a day they would get paid and if Glen needed them to work over it didn't cost him overtime. He agreed and everyone was put on salary. Glen's parts store caters to the local garages and dealerships and they make parts deliveries after hours if the garage calls them at closing time. One of the guys volunteered to work a lot of overtime when Glen needed it. That employee kept a diary of all his overtime. Him and Glen had a falling out and the guy went to the labor board and filed a claim. Glen had to pay ALL the employees the same amount of overtime pay that he had to pay the guy who kept the diary plus hefty penalties. It cost him a ton of money. It just goes to show that trying to do the right thing can bite you in the ass. It's best to follow the rules.

[2seater]

I didn't know that Gibbie's was the guilty party in that dirt/weight scam. I haven't done nearly the amount of business as Dave but I do go back 40+ years and will be a cryin' shame if that goes away.

[DAVES89]

It's not listed as Gibson's but as Fox Iron and Steel which is the parent company.

[DAVES89]

I was out there last week for parts [Picked up a 90/91 Instrument Cluster with a rebuild sticker and everything works great and it's for sale] and it looks like business as usual. They are even advertising for a counter person. I guess I will have to watch the news to find out anything new...