05 Apr The ACS Infrastructure: Trust, Reputation, and Ethics
Reputation means everything. Creating a good one is only in the hands of the individual or entity taking the action. And the same goes for creating a bad reputation, for oneself or a company. What creates a bad reputation? Poor decisions making for financial and personal gain. What I am getting at here is that if there are a few companies/individuals in a specific industry creating bad reputations for themselves, then that entire industry is viewed as polluted ethically.
In the game vending industry, it seems to be an unfortunate truth that bad business practices have led to a somewhat poor reputation for the industry. Any industry that deals predominantly in cash transactions is vulnerable to manipulation of a relationship between businesses. And this is taken advantage of by people and businesses for short-term financial gain. I say short-term because this sort of action in the long run creates a bad reputation which will then effect how your business is viewed. Eventually nobody will trust or use your service. All of these factors construct a paranoia and sense of hesitance when looking to make new partnerships from a business-to-business standpoint.
This is the part where I boast about ACS as a business regarding trust, reputation, and ethics. Why be so confident? Because since the company was founded by my father Jim Ernst almost 40 years ago, nobody has been swindled or cheated. He always held up his end of the deal and that has remained consistent ever since my brother and I have taken the wheel of the operations since his passing in 2007. ACS sticks out from the crowd among operators in the industry because we understand the simple concept that trust is established by being trustworthy. We were never taught to dupe anyone. It’s not in our DNA. We are transparent with transactions, providing weekly reporting showing our partners where every single penny comes from. What we want to attain from these actions is long-term success, for our company, our families, and our partners.
The bottom line here is that the more profitable your entertainment center is, the more profitable our company is. And every business’ goal is to be profitable. But to do that and have a healthy future for a business, the foundation must be built by trust and ethics, which in turn creates a solid reputation.
-Jeff Ernst
