Hudson Denney’s letter in the May 2001 issue of MRT “Let’s Improve our Position in the Marketplace” offends me when it describes most dealers as being a part of a “low-brow, low-tech industry made up of has-beens and wash-ups.”

Could Mr. Denney have been moved to say such a thing because he is tired of having dealers tell him that they don’t need his radios because their customers already bought service from Nextel? Thousands of hard-working, professional individuals have fought — and continue to fight — a war against bottomless-pocketed mega-corporations that U.S. government legislation has enabled and has allowed to monopolize and decimate a thriving, competitive radio communications industry.

Many of us, sometimes without much manufacturer support, use as much creativity as possible to package sales and service, and we sustain the educational expense to keep our employees up to date about new technologies. From his letter, I gather that Mr. Denney might be frustrated because relatively few major manufacturers produce products tailored to use newer technologies on radio communications frequencies, as opposed to wireless telephone frequencies.

It will take more than one development to renew the radio communications industry. I wonder whether that’s because asking manufacturers why this or that new technology is not yet developed would reveal their belief that the radio communications marketplace has too little potential to justify the expense of new product development. Mr. Denney’s letter seems to say that he also believes that manufacturers ignore dealers’ product needs in hopes that dealers will disappear.

I would rather not be numbered among those included in his letter’s description of how he sees most dealers. I am proud to still be a dealer. Mr. Denney’s letter does not reveal a similar pride.
— Floyd H. Miltz
Communications Specialists
Grand Rapids, MI

www.mrtmag.com
See the full text of Floyd Miltz’s letter on the Web under “Letters from Readers.”