ANDERSON, Ind. -- While a lot of people in central Indiana have expressed outrage to Carrier leaving Indiana and moving to Mexico, one businessperson in the area is boycotting the company altogether.
PREVIOUS | WATCH: Employees react to news that Carrier is moving from Indy to Mexico
R.D. Poffenbarger, the owner of 911 Heating and Cooling in Anderson, Indiana, decided to stop using Carrier products after learning of the company's planned move to Monterrey, Mexico.
The move is especially close to home for Poffenbarger. He sympathizes with the workers, similar to the workers of the now-closed General Motors and Delco plants in Madison County.
"I have friends and family affected by GM," he said.
While Poffenbarger's small business in Anderson doesn't move the needle for a large company like Carrier, Poffenbarger hopes what he's doing will inspire larger companies to do the same.
"We're a small company," he said. "We're not a huge Carrier dealer."
Still, he does have customers who use Carrier's products, noting that there's a lot of brand loyalty in the area.
When one potential customer recently asked him for a Carrier product, he talked them out of it by discussing the company's move over the border. He told them if they really want a Carrier product, "there's others still doing it."
But he won them over.
"They were well willing to change," he said.
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The bottom line for Poffenbarger comes down to pride in the products.
"We put our names on these furnaces we put in," he said. "We like the workmanship of quality products."
Poffenbarger didn't believe Chris Nelson, the president of HVAC Systems and Services North America, when he said the move was to "continue to produce high-quality HVAC products."
"I thought it was wrong to move across the border," Poffenbarger said.
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