As of July 1, we started a new company called Fisher's Finance. This is an exciting development for us and for our clients. Beyond the obvious financial benefits of having our own leasing company (aggressive lease rates and use of depreciation in consolidated tax accounting), there are two primary driving factors behind this decision.

First is complete control of client experience.  Although Fisher's now offers a stellar service experience and provides the best products in the market, when we use third-party leasing companies we are introducing an entity into the relationship that we cannot control.  Some leasing companies are great and some are atrocious.  When things go south with leasing companies it will always reflect poorly on Fisher's... always.  With our own leasing company we will be able to control 100% of the customer experiencetaking credit for the great things we do and taking ownership of our failures.  Ultimately this will be a significant differentiating aspect of our service to clients.

Second is complete control of the assets.  There is a market for used equipment and traditionally this equipment is procured from warehouses whose assets are purchased from leasing companies at lease end.  The problem with purchasing used equipment from those warehouses and rebuilding them to sell to our customers is that we have no idea what the service history of that equipment is.  It is a very risky proposition for Fisher's and for our customers to deploy a used piece of equipment whose history none of us know.  With Fisher's Finance, we will own the assets and will know exactly which pieces of equipment have another several years life in them and which ones need to be retired.

This is an exciting development for us and I look forward to utilizing Fisher's Finance to better serve our customers.