Today’s about the workers who make Benjamin truly official.
Happy Labor Day! While we hope you’re enjoying your day off, we also hope you recognize why Labor Day is a holiday to begin with.
It’s thanks to the working people of the world — starting with the labor activists who pushed for a holiday that honors the huge contribution workers make to our country and lives. What better way to celebrate Labor Day than by featuring one of the many amazing people who keep Benjamin producing true originals.
Say Hello to Line Leader Heidi Schrader.
Heidi has been contributing her skills and good sense to Benjamin and Crosman since she came on board in June 2018. Today, she’s leading the 760 line, and that means managing everyone who’s a part of that assembly line. When the orders come flying in — as they regularly do — that means overseeing as many as 23 people who are putting together, inspecting, and boxing up air rifles so you get yours in a flash.
On an assembly line like this, Benjamin team members put airguns together by handing them off through a number of stations — there’s a barrel station, a tube station, and more. Keeping everything going smoothly and making sure every product is just as it should be is a big job. Lucky for us, Heidi is just who we’d want keeping everything A-okay.
You could even say it’s a job she was destined for.
A handful of years back, after Heidi completed remodelling her whole house, she wanted to get back into the workforce. She relates, “One day I turned to my husband and said, ‘I’m going to get a job.’ And he responded, ‘Make sure it’s one you like.’” And that’s what she did.
Heidi worked with an agency to find a position that suited her. They sent a few possibilities her way, but none were a good match. Then the position at Benjamin came up and she knew: this was it. Both Heidi’s mother- and father-in-law worked at and had retired from Benjamin’s sister company, Crosman. Her husband had spent his youth hearing dad’s stories about managing the pellet room and wood shop, and his mom’s stories about her job in the stock cage. Heidi’s husband had grown up with Crosman and now? He’s married to it!
For Heidi, working for Benjamin and Crosman feels like being at home. While it can be stressful when demand grows high, and setting the right example can be challenging, she enjoys the work. She appreciates the trust her managers place in her and likes working alongside her teammates.
While Heidi didn’t come to Benjamin with hand-on air gun experience, she’s gained a bunch since. She’s got a Benjamin Bulldog .357 plus a few different break barrels: a .22 and a few .177s. She’ll get them out so she can shoot targets in the backyard with her husband, friends, and co-workers.
Heidi isn’t Benjamin’s longest-standing employee, but she’s in for the long term. “I want to retire from here,” she told us. We hope so! We’re lucky to have her.
Thanks Heidi, for all you do for Benjamin. And thanks to the workers of the world. You built this country and we’d be lost without you.