Snow Rakes Help Small Biz Weather Rough Economy
One small business has found a way to dig itself out of the snowballing recession — snow rakes. Lots of them.
Tipke Manufacturing, a metal fabricating company in Spokane, Washington, did not have much to look forward to entering the holidays. The small business of about 25 employees went through a round of layoffs and was planning to close its doors from Christmas Eve until early January.
But wintry weather hit the Pacific Northwest earlier than usual, dumping record amounts of snow and collapsing the roofs of a supermarket, a hardware store and a church gymnasium in the Spokane area.
A brainstorming session among employees led to designs for a prototype of a snow rake, an extending metal rake that pulls snow off roofs.
“We were just tossing ideas around of how we could make a rake that was sturdier and stronger than others out there,” said Ryan Ford, vice president of Tipke Manufacturing.
Call it the right timing or the right product, but the response was overwhelming, the company said. After the first batch sold out on December 23, people stood in line for hours waiting for more.
Photo by KXLY-TV.
home based business on January 13th, 2009 1:54 pm
living in michigan, I know this is a great Idea, i see these thinks all over the place. They weren’t around a few years ago and roofs were collapsing all over.
Jaclyn on January 13th, 2009 2:42 pm
I agree…especially with michigan life! my parents up north have this snow problem building up on the roof and then come spring their roof leak’s into the house because they just get killed with snow. and since they are slightly older…it’s not always’ easy for them to climb up there with a shovel and shovel the snow off…i think a snow rake would make it all much easier for a lot of people.
cassy on January 21st, 2009 11:37 am
i cant comment on this matter coz i never seen a snow before and we dont have snow here in the philippines,i cant really view my point on the post about the snow effect on the business!
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