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The
following letter was written several years ago and
presented to Harold Hitt, President, by his father
at an awards banquet. We felt it was worth sharing
and believe it will provide you with some insight
into how Hitt Marking Devices began.
In
keeping with the all American dream, for sometime
our son Harold, together with his wife Heidi, had
been looking for a business they could establish where
they would "be their own boss." In 1987
they came to my wife Dottie and me, with a proposal.
It wasn’t a proposal to borrow money from us
to start their dream business. What Harold proposed
was a true partnership where he and Heidi would match
our investment and we would start a Rubber Stamp Business."
He suggested that this business be started in my garage
using some old outdated equipment donated to the cause
by Heidi’s mother, who owns and operates a rubber
stamp business in Hemet, CA.
The
plan was that Dottie would make the stamps. Harold
and Heidi would function primarily in sales. We agreed
to the plan and the family business, "HITT
MARKING DEVICES, INC." was begun. The company
grew quickly and it wasn’t long before Harold,
Heidi and Ken had to quit their jobs, and come into
the business full time to assist Dottie in manufacturing
and sales. Harold and Ken made sales calls and deliveries
in the morning, then rushed back to help Heidi and
Dottie manufacture, invoice and ship out the daily
orders. Also as a result of the company’s rapid
growth, it wasn’t long before they were bumping
into each other in our garage. Harold began looking
for a more suitable location, in the Orange County
area. In addition to the fact they needed more space,
Harold confessed to being embarrassed to tell his
customers that he was operating out of "a garage."
We
truly stepped out on faith, but hedged that faith
at Harold’s direction, by moving into the same
general area where several large national and international
corporations had established their home offices. New
product lines were added such as, specialty inks,
stone stamp pads, fingerprint pads, engraving, plaques
& awards, stencils, labels, electric time recorders,
electric branding machines, etc. It truly became a
marking device business, instead of merely a rubber
stamp business.
We
were recently awarded HEAVY WEIGHT SUPPLIER OF
THE YEAR by Marking Industry Magazine. Harold
has made it clear that he isn’t going to be satisfied
with being just another marking device company. He
wants to be the best and the biggest. He is committed
to offering the best in service, together with a quality
product which is competitively priced. We are not
the biggest yet but we are the best, thanks mostly
to Harold and the dream that he held onto and sacrificed
to achieve.
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Also,
thanks to Harold’s philosophy of providing both
quality and good service, and the efforts of our youngest
son Ken, our company, Hitt Marking Devices was awarded
Nordstrom Department store’s "SUPPLIER
OF THE YEAR" award. Since Nordstrom is considered
to be a leader in both quality and service, this was
no small accomplishment. We are grateful to Ken for
making it happen. Ken, who entered the business in
late 1988, has become an invaluable member of Hitt
Marking Devices family team, as demonstrated by this
award.
One
of Harold’s stated goals from the very beginning
has been to provide a source of income for his dad
and mom’s retirement. That goal has now been
achieved much earlier than we ever dreamed it could.
This
award given this 14th day of December, 1993, by his
proud parents, Don and Dottie Hitt.
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