Randy Thompson is a multi-route operator and tool distributor with Mac Tools out of Edgemoor, South Carolina. His routes crisscross through small rural towns in a cluster of locations in the upstate countryside north of Columbia and south of Charlotte.
Thompson flies solo when operating these routes, noting that there's "a lot of windshield time between stops." He's fairly new to the industry, having spent just two years running trucks since June 2019. Previously, he spent over 25 years in manufacturing and supply chain management. After changes in the workforce, Thompson crossed over to the automotive equipment industry.
"I always [saw] the Snap-on guy come around [at work], and said 'Well, that'd be something cool to do,'" Thompson says of his humble beginnings. "I ended up losing my job and started looking into Mac Tools two years ago."
Working as a distributor, Thompson finds, is refreshing. It helps him to be more efficient when meeting personal goals and helps him escape the often-stressful nature of corporate settings.
“You have a lot more effect on [job-related] metrics [selling tools] than you would in a corporate environment,” he says.
Thompson navigates rural South Carolina in his 2016 Ford F-650 with an 18' box. One of his current goals is to upgrade to a larger box in the future to better serve his customers, though his current setup is optimal for the smaller parking lots he finds himself in.
The former manufacturing and supply chain expert is no stranger to figuring out what people need, so he stocks a wide variety of tools on his truck. And he always makes sure to have carts and boxes, consistent sellers across his customer base.
But, as "silly" as Thompson says it sounds, some of his hottest sellers aren't boxes, hand tools, or anything of the sort. They're actually small essential items like telescopic magnets and picks.
"It's the little things, like telescopic magnets and pocket screwdrivers, that are the bread and butter [of my stock]," Thompson says. "The other thing is small pick sets. I go through those like candy."
The sheer amount of tools with their varying sizes, shapes, and functions are still intriguing to Thompson, and he enjoys finding and learning about specific use cases.
"When [a competitor] would come around [when I was working in] manufacturing, I'd be like, 'Hey, I need something that, you know, goes out here and then makes a bend here and then goes up.' He'd say 'Oh yeah, we have those,'" Thompson said of the seemingly endless types of equipment in the automotive industry.
Even though Thompson is still relatively new in the space, he's hardly a newcomer to good customer service. His head's in the right place when it comes to offering advice to others looking to get their start like he did -- and possibly even leaving another industry to enter this one.
"I think a lot of people could do this job, but you really need to have something in the way of business sense just to keep track of all the moving pieces," he says. "I think it would be a great move for anybody to do. Just don't get frustrated."
