Johnston's in Welwyn

[sumdumguy]

most non-payment issues that we experienced:
1. Young marketer in Winnipeg. He was a casualty of the f/x market when CDN dollar crashed. Despite court case, he left about 15 of us hanging.
2. Some foreign type in Calgary, Rayally screwed there. He left the country.
3. Feedmills in Southern AB. They just emptied the bank accounts, declared bankruptcy, changed their name, carried right on. Never saw a cent there.
4. Then the Mexican train robbery where an entire railcar of bagged Canaryseed disappeared at Laredo. Someone in the freight forward office manufactured false release documents and when the load entered Mexico, adios.
Mexico, India, Turkey, Middle East in our experience. Theft is a way a life as we witnessed while a broker we were with in Mexico stolen a container of cinnamon from an East Indian exporter and laughed to us that the cinnamon was going to finance their summer in Spain. That's when we said see you later.

[sumdumguy]

After I posted, I realized that I forgot to state that our experiences were not deals through Johnston's. Just wanted to share some of our experiences in marketing.

[Kodiak]

I've done a lot of selling to smaller companies and buyers. Only once, a number of years ago, did I get screwed over. A southern Alberta Feed Mill. Owned at the time by a couple of brothers - Dutch or Belgian immigrants if I remember correctly. I talked to them at the time, and they admitted they could pay. But they allowed (or more correctly, orchestrated) their feed business to be bled by other companies they controlled. Feed Mill declared bankruptcy. They never did pay. Total scum bags. They should have been jailed.

[Kodiak]

And same thing....the deal was not brokered by Johnsons.

[sumdumguy]

When we drove to southern AB looking for them, the lady at the corporate titles office told us they opened a new company and gave us the name of it. She said a few people had come looking for them. Two brothers in our case too. By your post, it may be the same guys.

[Kodiak]

Yes, you are probably right. Sounds too familiar. All talk, and zero integrity. I see where they publicly boast about turning around bankrupt companies. Yeah right. Happily hiding out in Mexico.

[jdepape]

bucket:
"If you sell your grain to an elevator the freight is prepaid"

You've said this a couple of times. What are you talking about? Are you saying the graincos pay for freight before even getting the cars?

[FarmLead]

Every buyer on the FarmLead Marketplace has an independent credit check performed on them via Dun & Bradstreet before they can be given access to the system, regardless if they are a bonded/licensed company or not.

Further, we get updates from D&B when the buyer's financial situation changes and we update their user rating (completely mathematical-based) accordingly. Case in point, a mid-side Saskatchewan pulse company had their buyer's access removed 2 weeks ago because their credit situation & dropped twice since Christmas (per D&B). Simply put, every company, small or large, bonded or not, gets painted with the same quantitative brush. If they don't meet our financial requirements, they can't use the system. This is why out of the 430 North American-wide companies registered on FarmLead, only 307 can participate as buyers (at this time of writing).

Finally, We've had zero payment issues and about 95% of the deals made through the FarmLead Marketplace have payment terms that are negotiated as either Upon Delivery or Within 7 Days.

Simply put, we manage buyer risk proactively. We prefer quality deals versus quantity (unlike some outfits). Also, you're right! You have to call in to someone to see if the posted price is still available. On the FarmLead Marketplace, you simply make a counteroffer directly to the ubyer (AKA you don't have to call us but our toll free # is 1-855-332-7653 if you'd like to chat) and you can negotiate on price, quantity, freight, payment terms, etc.. That's why farmers are finding anywhere from 10 to 60 cents, on average, better than posted bids elsewhere.

All things being equal, "Figures never lie, but liars figure." - Mark Twain.

[FarmLead]

Sorry - should've also mentioned that each buyer has a credit check re-performed on them every calendar quarter to make sure they're staying in good financial health. If not, they can't deal with any farmers that use the FarmLead Marketplace.

[oneoff]

Sounds like a step in a lot more workable system.

That is one credit check; instead of pretending every seller does their own due diligence. An unworkable solution.

Now if the next step were taken and every seller be compelled to publically post their credit check (if they need to use credit and can't make payment upon delivery) and then like FarmLead claims........payment problems magically disappear.

[oneoff]

And do the math on the (as stated) 430 buyers and and 307 approved credit risks.

Looks like about a one in four roulette chance.

That is why bad situations happen too often. And its not just the sellers that get affected; there are indirect consequences we'd never normally recognize.

Where's the regulator??

[sumdumguy]

Farmlead, can one get a list of Farmlead qualified buyers from you?

The credit checks that you are conducting can be helpful despite their limitations, some being time span between credit checks and quality of information, but for sure from a farmer's perspective, it can only help to screen out the poor quality buyers, and as we all know, not all are the same. When someone offers a lot more than the market, you gotta wonder, "What's Up?"