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STAR Employee Spotlight

STAR Employee Spotlight: Eddie Appleby

By July 1, 2019October 25th, 2021No Comments

Eddie Appleby

 

There are people who have the wonderful characteristic of being fully committed to a task or endeavor, those who give all of their energy or resources toward something they are particularly committed to.  Then there are people like Eddie Appleby, a Yard/Warehouse Operator in our Athens location.

“Steady Eddie” as he’s known around the yard, is one of those rare people who is fully ALL IN to absolutely everything he believes in.  With over 40 years in the building supplies industry, and 20+ at Harbin Lumber, Eddie doesn’t just do his job in the yard every day and go home.  He is fully committed to the business. He is interested in how the industry is doing, how the company is doing and is daily on top of the branch sales and inventory counts.  He shows up to work a full hour before he is supposed to come in so he can get an early start on getting the trucks unloaded with supplies so the drivers can get back on the road ahead of schedule.  Eddie makes it a point to get to know the customers, and greets them by name while he loads their materials with a smile.

Eddie goes above and beyond his duties by keeping a mental count of daily sales and averages so when the store is going through inventory more quickly and might be trending towards getting low, he’s proactively prodding to get more purchased.
Zack Barnes, Eddie’s supervisor, can’t talk about Eddie without smiling. “Eddie is the neatest guy you will ever meet,” he says.  “Everything has to be perfect.  If a stack of lumber has even one board slightly out of line, he will bump on that stack until it’s perfect.”
According to Zack, Eddie knows every inch of the Athens lumber yard.  “He can tell you if something is missing or not in the right spot, and he always catches it before anyone else does.”
Coworker Brenda Parr says Eddie is the most dedicated person she’s ever met.  “Beyond his dedication to work, he is devoted to his religion and his second religion – his beloved Georgia Bulldogs.  He knows all the players, their hometowns, what pick they were on the team, their numbers and all their stats.  He is the walking picture of All-In.”
Zack finishes his summary of Eddie with the remark “We just all love him to death.”
Yes, we do, Zack.  Keep up the great work Eddie.  We are so proud to have you as part of the team.