For the last three winters, and continuing this winter, I’ve been working to grow my AMSOIL synthetic lubricant business down here in Texas. Rio Grande Valley business considerations are different than we would ever imagine in Iowa!
We live on the extreme west edge of Mission. Actually, it’s west of Mission and not in any city. (Our park is Hidden Valley Ranch, if any of you are familiar with the area or are actually looking for it.) Because of our location, most of my business prospecting is done east of here. I’ve become fairly familiar with Mission and McAllen and have several accounts in those cities. I range as far “downstream” as Donna, 20 miles east of our park. To date, that is; I’m more than willing to go further!
If you remember this area from a few decades ago, or are thinking that we’re down here in a “sleepy little town,” you might be surprised to learn that just McAllen and their immediate city-neighbors have a population of over 300,000 people.
The way I look at it, that’s a lot of people who could/should be using AMSOIL in their cars!!
Now, to the point of this story!
A few weeks ago, I broke a front marker light lens on my pickup. (The picture is not of my truck, thankfully!) I located marker light assembly (you can’t buy just a lens) in a salvage yard in Donna and went there to pick it up today. While waiting, I was talking to the owner/manager who told me about his business.
The auto salvage business, he told me, isn’t as good as it used to be. The have more competition. That competition comes from the drug business! They have discovered that a salvage yard provides a good vehicle (no pun intended) for laundering money!
That’s Rio Grande business, but certainly not a consideration in Iowa. An Iowa businessman would never even think of such a thing.