Lynn Peavey came from a family of entrepreneurs. He was the nephew of Frank Haskell the founder of Beatrice Foods Inc. Another uncle, Bill Peavey, was the founder of the Peavey Milling Company, which today is known as ConAgra, the largest milling company in the world. Harold Peavey, Lynns other uncle whom he worked with for a few years in the 1940s started the Peavey Paper Mills based in Ladysmith Wisconsin, this company became the largest paper mill in the world.
In 1951, Lynn Peavey formed The Lynn Peavey Company. The Company marketed unique plastic recloseable bags to hospitals and pharmacies nationwide. Calling the bags by the name "gripr-top", Lynn was one of the first to market the bags better known today as "zip-lock" bags. The first location was in a spare bedroom in Lynn and Carmen Peavey's home in Prairie Village,KS.
In 1958, Zane Peavey, Lynn and Carmen's son, joined the company, helping with the bag business while starting The Peavey Advertising Company. Peavey Advertising began as an advertising specialty company distributing custom imprinted promotional items. Zane was a graduate of the University of Missouri.
In 1966, Zane changed the name to Peavey Incentive Programs to reflect the new direction of selling caps, jackets and brand name premiums for incentive programs.
In 1971, The incentive company created a merchandise catalog grouping merchandise in value levels. Zane then started providing incentive program design services to his clients. The company name was changed to Motivation Services. As this was going on, The Lynn Peavey Company continued to expand its bag business as well. It was also 1971 when they incorporated and The Peavey Corporation became the parent company with its two divisions - The Lynn Peavey Company and Motivation Services.
In 1980, Doug Peavey one of Zane's three sons joined the business after graduating from the University of Missouri. He began working with his grandfather in the Lynn Peavey division. Soon thereafter, he began exploring new markets for their bags and came upon the law enforcement market. They began using the "gripr-top" bags as evidence collection containers. A direct mail catalog was then developed and mailed nationwide.
In 1982, Lynn Peavey retired to focus more time on his many hobbies. Doug was named President of the Lynn Peavey Company.
In 1983, Skip Peavey graduating from Westminster College then started in the family business. Skip founded the S.H. Peavey company, which manufactured unique full color custom name badges.
In 1990, Buck Peavey graduating from the University of Kansas, started working with Motivation Services. He focused his time on the Safety incentive industry, and after one year of field research, he created a gamecard incentive concept named Safety Jackpot. A paradigm shift, This incentive program changed the motivating emphasis to the entire campaign not just the merchandise "carrot" that most programs focus on.
In 1992, The S.H. Peavey Company was sold to the Cawley Company. Skip with a background in the operations and financial side of the business, became the Chief Operating Officer for the Peavey Corporation, overseeing corporate operations issues.
In the early nineties, The exponential success and growth of The Safety Jackpot Program lead Buck to develop other gamecard driven packaged incentive programs focussing on Sales, Productivity, Employee turn-over, etc
In 1994, Buck was named President of Motivation Services, which then changed names to its current Peavey Performance Systems.
Today, The Industry recognized Safety Jackpot program is being run by thousands of companies across the country. Clientele includes the likes of Amoco, Coca-Cola, Kraft, General Electric, 3M, Farmland, and others. Peavey Performance Systems has now become the leader in packaged gamecard incentive systems nationwide.
Today, the Lynn Peavey company has over 800 evidence collection related items, and has become the leading law enforcement supply company worldwide. The companys clients include the FBI, CIA, New York Police, L.A. Police, The countries of France, Germany, Israel, U.K., and thousands of others.
The Peavey Corporation now resides in a 140,000 sq. ft. headquarters based in Lenexa, Kansas a suburb in Kansas City. A long way from the basement of Lynn Peavey in 1952!
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