The labor shortage isn’t just impacting farm equipment dealers, manufacturers are facing the same struggle. “It’s stifling to think through the challenges. We have to be able to find the right people, enough people and to keep them there and be able to manage our business,” says Mark Core, executive vice president & CMO for Vermeer.

Workforce development is an issue impacting all sectors of the U.S. and Canadian economy, and farm equipment dealerships are no exception. Currently, unemployment rates in both countries are low — 3.6% in the U.S. and 5.7% in Canada.

Sales tax compliance has never been easy, even though the vagueness of some of the standards may have made it easier to gloss over potential sales tax obligations. With the new Wayfair ruling by the Supreme Court, dealers will get the benefit of some additional clarity for both reporting obligations and responses to customer questions. But this clarity comes at the cost of requiring you to be even more vigilant about your compliance efforts as there will be less gray area involved in sales tax audits regarding sales to out-of-state customers. Learn these new rules to help minimize your exposure in future sales tax audits. [To view any of our webinar replays, you must be logged in with a free user account.]

We’ve been following and reporting on “Right to Repair” legislation for over 2 years now, and it just keeps popping back up in my newsfeed. This time around, it was an opinion piece that appeared in Bloomberg.

As whole goods sales slowdown, there is added pressure on aftermarket financial performance. Customer and competitive forces are also major challenges for dealer profitability. WEDA Dealer Institute Trainer Kelly Mathison offers insights on improving performance and increasing profitability through interdepartmental cooperation between parts and service. [To view any of our webinar replays, you must be logged in with a free user account.]

Spring is here and that means baseball season is upon us (and here in Wisconsin we’re blessed with the top of the National League Milwaukee Brewers, adding to the fun). With baseball comes hotdogs, beer and … business advice (bear with me).

Power Pac, a John Deere rural lifestyle and power sports dealership, recently added a second showroom to its facilities in Wisconsin to better highlight its mower and compact tractor lineup.

Monroe Tractor recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Adams Center, N.Y., location. In 2017, the dealership made a $1 million update to the facility by adding 8,000 square feet of service bays and 2,400 square feet to the parts department and showroom.