RePlay Magazine Podcast - Interview with Terry Moss
RePlay Magazine Podcast - Interview with Terry Moss
In Episode 2 of the RePlay Podcast, we chat with Terry Moss (Moss Distributing). In the late 1970s, Terry was working for Capitol Records in Hollywood when his father called him home to Des Moines...
Highlights
- Moss Distributors has been in business for 61 years (founded 1961); Terry joined in late 1970s
- Terry's father and brother died in a plane crash in Kansas City, Missouri within six months of him joining the company
- Terry worked as a record promoter for Capitol Records in Southern California before joining the family business
- In 1985, Nelson Peltz bought Triangle Industries which owned Rowe International, and Peltz offered to buy out Moss's operations
- About a year after the Peltz buyout, Peltz acquired National Can/American Can and Snapple, and told Moss to take back his operations
- Moss Distributors was recognized by Arachnid as the largest dart distributor in the world
- Moss Distributors currently operates facilities in Denver, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Des Moines, and Kansas City, Missouri
- Terry is 80 years old and has been in the amusement business for over 50 years
- Moss Distributors does not operate its own machines to avoid competing with customers
- FECs (Family Entertainment Centers) now dominate the amusement operator industry over traditional street operations
Notable quotes
“I was thrown in the ocean and told to swim or sink.”
“I learned by mistakes, Randy. You learn by your mistakes.”
“It's in my blood. And if I retired, Randy, what would I do? I don't play golf.”
“I'm old-fashioned. Call me what you want. I'm very basic, very simple. I read a lot about this industry. I have a desk with everything organized. I'm very organized.”
“You must communicate. And in my situation, when I hang the phone up, I want to make sure my customer is satisfied with what we did and what we talked about.”
“The customers that I've had are not customers. They're friends, like yourself. They're friends. And business is business, but friendship matters.”
“If somebody works harder than you in this business, I have not met them.”
“There is a requirement. You got to pay your bills. We're not a nonprofit organization.”
“When you call me, you get an answer back, don't you? Seven days a week.”
“I have a mobile phone right here. Call me because I get more calls on Saturdays and Sundays because when you own your own business, you care the most.”
Entities
- Arachnid· company
- Capital Records· company
- Goldfinger Amusement· company
- Moss Distributors· company
- Rowe International· company
- Touch Dunes· company
- Triangle Industries· company
- Arizona State University· organization
- Quicksilver Messenger Service· organization
- Ira· person
- Jerry Gordon· person
- Nelson Peltz· person
- Randy Chilton· person
- Stan Chilton· person
- Terry Moss· person
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