FreedomWorks

My son, John T. Jeffs (nick name: "Jay") is a 42-year-old self-made
entrepreneur and innovator. And, of course, I couldn't be prouder of him.
Jay is a great man, married with a daughter. He is too modest and humble to
tell his own story, so I will.

Before I begin, It should be noted that against all odds, Jay built his
small business from nothing, in Apple Valley, CA, the town where he lives,
employing local people and providing the important products of security mail
handling equipment. Of course, his constant challenge has been surviving the
unyielding anti-business environment of extreme taxation and regulations by
California government. A remarkable accomplishment.

Children are often asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  While
Jay was excavating a project in the dirt yard with his Tonka trucks, I asked
him the question. He replied, "I'm gonna be a workin' man." And that's what
he became. While growing up he wanted to work with me around the house and
yard, making improvements and working on the car. He loved to work with
tools and to make things. In junior high school woodshop, he made an amazing
laminated cutting board for his mother from various hardwoods. She still
uses it today.

Jay's work ethic was established early. He helped the family when times were
tough, skipped high school sports so he could work after school and
contribute his paycheck, and he never complained. His first job was working
at a local pizza parlor, then for a new Carl's Jr. in town, where he worked
his way up to assistant manager. Then we worked for the Old Quaker Paint
Company, saved his money, and bought into a quick-lube business. Soon after,
he joined a credit union and established his first credit with a small loan.

But Jay wasn't satisfied with working for others. He wanted to start his own
business and be an entrepreneur. While still working at the paint company
and quick lube, he decided to do something no one else was doing. Sell,
install and repair curbside mailboxes for people. It was 1987, and the U.S.
Postal Service was changing to curbside service from mail trucks instead of
door to door mail service. The curbside mailbox was the last thing new
homeowners installed, which were not included when new homes were built. It
was a chore because people had to buy a mailbox, post and house numbers,
along with a posthole digger if they didn't have one. Plus, most curbside
mailboxes were rural-style, not secure and easily damaged by vandals with
bats, or broken by being struck by vehicles.

Jay placed an ad describing his new service in the local newspaper. The
basic service was for a box, post and numbers installed for $30.00. At first
the response was slow, but when people responded, word-of-mouth increased
the business. Jay had a pick-up truck, and he used my hand tools, power
tools and posthole digger to do the work. He purchased mailboxes from a
distributor and offered several styles and models. Then when tracts of homes
were being built in the area, he obtained a contract to install mailboxes,
which led to additional contracts. It was less expensive for builders to
subcontract with Jay than to use their own carpenters.

It wasn't long before Jay expanded to sales and installations of commercial
and residential multiple mailbox units, which he purchased from a dealer in
the Los Angeles area. The dealer was also a commercial mail handling
equipment contractor who asked Jay to do installations for them because they
lost their installer. Jay agreed and expanded his experience to installing
equipment in mailrooms, office and apartment buildings, along with mail
chutes, bank chutes and laundry chutes in high rise buildings. Subsequently,
he obtained his own specialty contractor's license. And he received a timely
$3,000 inheritance from a great uncle who sensed something special in Jay as
an eager toddler.

While all this was going on, our home became a mailbox business. Jay used
the garage for his shop, and the mailboxes were assembled in the house by my
wife. He bought a larger truck, more power tools, built several sheds to
store product and supplies, and the house was filled with assembled boxes.
Then Jay took a bigger step and began bidding on and getting more commercial
and larger jobs, including apartments and mobile home parks. It wasn't long
before my wife and I had to run away from home. We sold the house to Jay,
and bought another home nearby.

With all the experience Jay absorbed, and the fact that mail theft was
becoming a significant problem, Jay invented and patented the highest
quality security mailbox available and trademarked it as the Letter Locker.
After being tested and approved by the Postmaster General, the examiner was
so impressed by it that he bought one. Soon, Jay built a large shop behind
the house and began manufacturing the Letter Locker. He contracted out the
fabrication, welding and powder-coating, and my wife did his office work and
helped assemble Letter Lockers along with Jay's first employee. It wasn't
long before our new garage was converted to assemble more boxes.

Jay secured more and more dealers for the Letter Locker and continued to
expand, including the development of a rear loading model and a Supreme
model that could receive and store more mail and larger parcels and
packages. Then came the big step. He formed Jayco Industries as a limited
liability corporation, and purchased a light industrial building on 15 acres
where he manufactured the entire Letter Locker, which became the core of his
business. He also became the largest western regional distributor for
Auth-Florence mail handling equipment.

The business continued to grow, and by the turn of the century Jay had 85
dealers, 15 employees, 20 various size trucks, state-of-the-art metal
manufacturing machinery. He expanded with satellite offices in Las Vegas,
San Diego and Denver, and purchased the 15 acres of land next to his plant.
When the USPS upgraded mailbox standards, they established security
mailbox standards, using the Letter Locker as a model.

Jay recently invented an even more secure locking device for mailboxes, "The
Claw Lock," which is available as an upgrade option on Letter Lockers,
particularly, the heavy-duty model. He has websites for Letter Lockers and
Jayco Industries at:
http://www.letterlocker.com and http://www.jaycoindustries.com

Of course, since the economic downturn in the housing market, Jay's business
has slowed significantly. He is holding on as best as he can, supported by
slower, but steady sales of Letter Lockers, commercial equipment and custom
security boxes. Jay is a great employer and boss. He is fair and honest with
his employees, who have the utmost respect for him. And he helps them out
personally whenever he can. Though he is trying to keep them all employed,
he has had to cut back on their hours, and close the Denver office.

Jay became the ideal entrepreneurial success story and he did it on pure
self-reliance and hard work. He enjoys an excellent reputation for service
in all his business dealings, and with the U.S. Postal Service. Needless to
say, we are extremely proud parents, knowing that our son, John T. Jeffs is
a well-respected example for anyone to aspire to in our democratic free
market society. Indeed, I know of no one, other than my wife and daughter,
who work as hard or have as much character and integrity as my son, Jay. For
that, my wife and I are very successful family entrepreneurs.

As a footnote, I should add that my wife still assembles Letter Locker
flag/bolt kits for the business at our home. And my daughter worked with Jay
for a time as his director of operations. I retired in 2006 after working in
law enforcement and as an investigator in the criminal justice system for a
total of 41 years. I have always done all I could as an American citizen to
ensure our continued security, liberty and freedom.

Recently, I completed a term of service on our County 2007/2008 Grand Jury.
I am an Eagle Scout and a volunteer for our BSA District Executive
Committee.  In 2005, my book, Letters to the Editor: From the Trenches of
Democracy was published by Publish America, which contains 165 of my
published letters and tips for writing letters. Sixty additional letters
have been published since the book was released. I continue to do my best
for my family, my community, my state and my country by supporting limited
government, free market and fair taxation, social, political, economic and
education reform. We need it now, more than ever. My wife and I are members
of the Ronald Reagan Library Foundation, and we are admirers of Newt
Gingrich, Dick Armey and many others for their continued good works.