Assuring Quality in Five Essential Steps
The Yard Ramp Guy conducts five important evaluations before adding any used yard ramp into our inventory:
Specifications
Certain specifications of capacity, length and width are more marketable than others. And certain combinations of specs are more marketable than others.
Age
Most factories claim a ramp under normal continuous use will last 15-20 years. In our experience, we’ve also seen very good ramps that are 20+ years old.
Manufacturer
This matters greatly. Again, in our experience, only those ramps made by reputable manufacturers using U.S.-made raw materials, employ certified welders, and can verify their engineering claims retain value.
Most ramps made outside—and, yes, many inside—the U.S. are not quality ramps. There simply is not a reasonable expectation of either long service life or safety standards.
Condition
We rate ramps as New, Like New, Excellent, Very Good, and Good. A ramp rated as Good may be older or in some need of maintenance or repair due to normal use, though they can be expected to work safely and improve efficiency in an otherwise inefficient operation.
Ramps not deserving of a Good rating will possess one or more of the following characteristics: disrepair that cannot be refurbished without considerable cost or confidence of high safety standards; unknown manufacturer; known manufacturer with poor reputation; or excessive age relative to condition.
Marketability
All of these factors combine to influence a ramp’s marketability. The Yard Ramp Guy® is acutely in tune with industry pricing at the wholesale, dealer, professional reseller, and private seller levels.
In addition, we know the marketplace for new, used, and rental demands throughout the United States—and over the ebb and flow of the calendar year. Combining this information with our knowledge of freight costs and freight lane ratios, we are able to determine the highest reasonable value of any particular ramp.
Like any other product in our free market system, we understand that a ramp is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it. Our goal is always to create, in the words of my sales management guru, Al Lencioni, “the righteous sale—a sale where all parties involved feel great about the outcome and value derived.”
In our case, we want our sellers to make fair money, our buyers to feel they secured a great deal, and The Yard Ramp Guy to make a fair profit for the effort.
___________
Quotable
