At the end of April 2017, Neufeld will be retiring from his longstanding employer, the now Boundary Co-op. Over his years, he has worked in many different positions in a few different departments, building relationships and changing with the times. But ultimately it was time for one last move.
“I thought it was time for a change,” Neufeld explained, adding he reached the 43-year mark in February. “It was time to do something different, to do something when I want to do it.”
The journey started in 1974, when Neufeld was driving the fuel truck for Imperial Oil. He had just asked his boss for a raise and was turned down. He was leaving the lot on North Railway Street by the tracks, went down Broadway and turned onto South Railway. At about the Civic Centre, he was flagged down by Les Brown, the then general manager of Boissevain Co-op. Their fuel truck driver was retiring soon. Would he be interested in the job?
“This was on the same day I was refused a raise. It was circumstances. I thought it was meant to be.”
“I tell people I probably left the truck running,” Neufeld joked.
Starting at $1.95 an hour, he became the new petroleum driver. He is not sure how long he was in that position, but later moved to the hardware store.
“The petroleum driver was a great job, but tough in the winter, handling the fuel accounts. In the summer, spring and fall, it was great to get out to the country. But there wasn’t a future in that. Different positions kept becoming available for me in Boissevain.”
In 1976, Mel Blanchard passed away suddenly, and Neufeld moved on to hardware manager. At the time, he was checking into manager positions in other Co-op’s. He later moved on to petroleum manager, adding agro manager to that portfolio when they still sold fertilizer and chemicals. When Boissevain became part of Boundary several years ago, petroleum and agro were split into two positions, with Neufeld continuing on the agro side.
Over the years, he has been identified with farm bins. He said they started with this when they got the trailer for delivery in 1995, which really increased the sales. They deal in Meridian bins, which he said is a high quality product, favoured by farmers. With the larger bins now, they no longer do the delivery themselves. But he has enjoyed this part of the business.
“I enjoyed seeing the customers, making a deal and following it through.”
Neufeld feels the ever-changing nature of his positions helped keep his job fresh and interesting. As well, the Co-op has been a good employer, with fair salary and a good benefit package.
Because of his different positions and his long time with the Co-op, he has seen a lot of changes. Obviously the coming of computers affected things, making a lot of jobs easier. But there were many others.
Manpower needs were another area. He remembers whenever they had to load drywall or lumber, it took a morning or more to unload it. Now one person with one forklift can get it done in half the time. The bins used to come in sheets, unloaded by hand and sorted by gauge. When a farmer bought one, they had to load up the different numbers of sheets by gauge to fit the bin. Now they come packaged by bin.
There used to be about 300 heating oil accounts, which are now down to around five. The hardware store has changed a great deal in what they sell. There used to be appliances, more sporting goods, even a record department. Now it is more lawn and garden oriented. There were even gas pumps at the shop for many years.
Neufeld said current GM Ryan Polnik is by his count the 13th he has worked under. For years in the fuel side, he worked with Howard Dalrymple. Al Sheirlinck, Bill Dougall, Chris Graham, Judy Adams and Don Gordon have been in the same Co-op with him for a long time.
“We have a lot of camaraderie,” he stated, “and a great team there right now.”
For the first couple months of his retirement, Neufeld’s plan is to not do too much. But he is looking into some job possibilities, although he has committed to nothing yet.
He knows there will be difficult parts of walking away.
“There will definitely be things I’ll miss. I’ll miss all the people for sure. I really enjoyed my time at Co-op. It’s been a great
experience.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff