Who is your stores Counterperson of the Year?

Every store has one, or at least every store wishes it did.

Im talking about a very good, experienced parts store or WD professional. These are the people at the top of the profession. Theyre the ones who keep it all together. Theyre the ones the customers keep asking for. They are the ones who can recite a thousand part numbers by heart. They know when to ignore the catalog because its wrong. They know how to find even the most obscure auto parts.But despite their importance, in reality they are among the unsung heroes of the automotive aftermarket.

At this magazine, we have long recognized this. And so, at this time every year we begin our annual search for the Counterman magazine Counterperson of the Year. It is an annual, national program that honors a single parts professional who represents the on-going, tireless efforts of all parts pros across the nation.

Through the end of this month, we will be accepting nominations for the 2004 Counterperson of the Year. I encourage every reader to nominate that one person in your store whom you think deserves this high industry honor. Anyone (in any job title) who works in a parts store or WD is eligible; the only stipulations are that nominees should have at least 10 years of experience, and they must be ASE certified. For those of you who are not ASE certified, or if your certification has lapsed, ASE will offer certification and recertification tests (P1, P2, P3, P4 and P9; recert tests P1R through P4R and P9R) on Tuesday, November 9. The deadline for registration is September 24. For more information, log onto www.ase.com or call 866-427-3273.

The Counterperson of the Year nomination process is pretty easy. On page 41 of this issue, youll find an entry form. Just fill it out, explaining why the person being nominated should be considered. You can also save yourself a stamp if you go to www.counterman.com, where you can make nominations online.

For the winner, its a pretty sweet deal. We fly the winner and a guest to Las Vegas to attend Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week, the worlds largest aftermarket trade show, in early November. They will stay right on Las Vegas Boulevard at a top hotel/casino and mingle with a very large and influential industry crowd. Its an exhausting, whirlwind of a week including trade shows, conferences, cocktail receptions – everything aftermarket you could possibly imagine.

For the industry, it gets reminded that the responsibility of getting the right part to the right place starts and ends with those who work the counter.

I hope to host one of you in Las Vegas in the fall. Good luck, and get those nominations in!

 

In the June issue, readers were invited to participate in an on-line quiz. We were inundated with entries! The staff randomly selected, among the correct entries, one lucky reader – Duane Mc Kenney of Colonial Auto Supply, an ACDelco and Motorcraft WD in Camp Hill, PA. Duane will receive $100. Congrats, Duane! Look for more opportunities to win in upcoming issues of Counterman!