A comment we hear from time to time is, “Why doesn’t Walker design a mower that costs less and competes with some of the other lower-priced mowers on the market”? The quick answer is that we try to design equipment that we would like to buy ourselves, and we just happen to have a taste for high-quality equipment. In our family, we grew up with the idea that we would be willing to pay more to get more value. We are not talking about “luxury” here, but simply high quality and high value to match. So we have never had much interest in building “cheap” or designing to hit a low price point. If that is considered a fault of ours, then we are guilty as charged.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing enthusiasm in action. Barbara and I and our family (all 16 of us) were eating at Fat Daddy’s Smokehouse BBQ in Kihei, Hawaii. As the menus were handed out, the waitress, Maggi Rose, let us know the ribs “were the best you’ll ever eat”. Later I overhead her tell another couple who asked what’s good on the menu, “It’s all good”. Then, when our order was taking a little while to come out from the kitchen, she brought out a couple of small bowls of chips for our eight grandkids to tide them over until the food arrived, and she told them, “Don’t eat too much, because you are going to want to eat all of the wonderful brisket sandwiches that you ordered”. She was right, it was a good meal, but her enthusiasm was what made it a wonderful experience and made us glad we chose to eat there.

In 2010, it will be 30 years for Walker Manufacturing in the lawn mower business. My brother and I, our sisters, our parents and our families count it a real privilege to have lived this story from the start; what a ride it has been!

In 2007, we developed the list “What We Believe At Walker” that is displayed on the inside back cover of this issue. This was our attempt to communicate and remind our employees and others outside the company of the company’s core ideology; a clear definition of our operating principles and what we stand for.

With all the financial turmoil in our country and around the world the last few months, it is natural to ask, “How is Walker Manufacturing doing financially?” and “What does it look like for the future?”

I had written a little of the history of Walker Talk in Volume 25. With this column it seems a good time to answer a few questions people ask us about Walker Talk.