It was really fun reading Jim Kneiszel’s “Celebrating Milestones” piece in the June issue of Pumper. It was truly a walk down Memory Lane for those of us who were there to experience all of it. And we feel uniquely qualified as we have advertised in every Pumper, and have exhibited at every Pumper & Cleaner Expo.
What most people don’t realize about the liquid waste industry is that before there was Pumper there was no industry per se. It was merely a few thousand disconnected contractors, plodding along individually, trying to keep the bills paid. In 1979 Bob Kendall and Pete Lawonn started the “trade journal” that began to glue these contractors together. It gave them a place to visit vendors. It gave them a place to compare notes with other contractors. And it gave them a place to learn what they needed to know to be on the cutting edge of their trades.
Yes, that first eight-page issue was primitive, including a full-page cartoon of “Pumpin’ Pete.” But they have kept true to their mission that has provided tremendous benefit for tens of thousands of septic contractors worldwide.
Would someone else have started a trade journal for the septic industry if Bob and Pete hadn’t done it first? Maybe. Would they have done as good a job as Bob and Pete? No chance. Would they have started a trade show? Very doubtful.
Yet the tradeshow (at first the International Liquid Waste Haulers Equipment and Trade Show, later Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International, and now the Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport show, or WWETT), which in 1981 occupied 25,000 square feet of exhibit space has grown into one of the largest tradeshows in the country, occupying 600,000 square feet of the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Contractors from all over the world come to see the latest equipment, to attend over 80 educational seminars, and to meet and greet the brightest and best in the industry.
One of the main reasons for the success of COLE and the industry they spawned is Bob Kendall’s superlative judge of character in the people he employs. We have enjoyed working with all the people at COLE. They are knowledgeable, eager to learn and expand their knowledge; they are efficient and personable. I’m sure all the people who do business with COLE would agree with me that they make us all feel like members of the COLE family.
When we (at Cape Cod Biochemical Co.) first attempted to test-market our products to pumpers via direct mail, we found that no mailing list existed for the septic trades. In order to get our message out, we painstakingly compiled the first-ever national mailing list for this industry. Now all you have to do is latch on to COLE Publishing and WWETT to get absolutely everything you need to do business in this great industry.
And a great industry it is! We cherish the relationships we have established here, and we look forward to many, many more years of the continuing success of COLE Publishing. Because their success is our success, and vice versa.
So congratulations and thanks to Bob, Pete, and the amazing staff at COLE who for 35 years have made several thousand disconnected pumpers into one of the strongest and most respected industries in the country.
Rick Howe
Cape Cod Biochemical Company
