About Sandhills Publishing

Provide your readers with accurate, timely information when they need it. It's a simple philosophy, and one that has made Sandhills Publishing a leader in its field.

In 1978, Tom and Rhonda Peed founded Sandhills Publishing (then known as Peed Corp.) in an old blacksmith shop in Webster City, Iowa. The company had only seven employees at the time, two of whom were Tom Peed's parents.

The first Sandhills publication, Machinery Trader, rolled off the presses in March of that year. The company sent the inaugural edition of this trade publication, which targets buyers and sellers of heavy construction equipment, to 20,000 readers. Lacking sophisticated mailing equipment, the staff labeled each of the copies by hand and dropped them off at the local post office in a pickup truck. Though the company's beginnings were hardly glamorous, Machinery Trader found a niche in the construction industry, and circulation increased. As the publication grew, so did Sandhills. By 1985, the company had introduced three more trade publications: Processor, Controller, and Truck Paper.

The Move West

The Peeds soon discovered their company had outgrown the small Iowa community where it was founded. They began researching several Midwestern cities that offered both a large employee recruiting base and a suitable environment for a company with small-town roots. In 1985, they moved the company to Lincoln, Neb.

Today, the corporate headquarters for Sandhills Publishing sprawls over a 68-acre campus in northwest Lincoln. In June 2008 the company opened an additional office in Scottsdale, Ariz., that houses a redundant data center. Each of the company's data centers automatically reroutes the company's web traffic to the other location if there is a system failure, assuring uninterrupted service for site visitors.

Since moving to Lincoln, the company has continued to grow and add various new products and services for the computing, aircraft, heavy machinery, trucking, and agricultural equipment industries.

What's In A Name?

In 1997 the Peeds decided to rename the corporation Sandhills Publishing. The new name describes the company's focus, but that's not the only reason for the change. In the name Sandhills, the company strengthens a link to its corporate symbol—the Sandhill crane.

Sandhill cranes make an annual migratory trek from Texas to Canada, stopping en masse at Nebraska's Platte River valley for food and rest. In a similar way, Nebraska has proven to be a bountiful resource for Sandhills Publishing, and the company strives to meet its readers' needs, whether they are large businesses or individual consumers.

In the cranes' behavior, Sandhills Publishing finds another characteristic it strives to model. Just as the success of the whole flock depends on the efforts of the individual birds, Sandhills Publishing depends on the efforts and initiatives of its individual employees, now more than 450.

Data Center

In 2011, Sandhills Publishing’s new Data Center was unveiled. The Data Center building and grounds were designed to be environmentally sound additions to the extensive Sandhills campus in Lincoln, Nebraska. The center, a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-rated building, houses the company’s servers and was built with recycled and reclaimed materials. Utilizing geothermal heating and cooling, solar power, and purified air, the Data Center and its surrounding grounds stand as a powerful reminder of the company’s commitment to the environment.

Sandhills East

Sandhills Publishing is international in scope, with offices in Manchester, United Kingdom and Luxembourg. The company’s Canada Marketbook, printed weekly, consists of two regional editions that cover the entire country, while Euro Marketbook covers all of Western Europe and is printed biweekly. Together, the Marketbook websites are translated into more than 30 languages, and the company will continue to expand its international operations.

From Webster City To The Web

Back in 1978, the Peeds may have envisioned one day publishing a number of trade and consumer magazines, but they could not have imagined how the Internet would expand the company's reach.

The Sandhills Publishing Web site offers links to each of the Sandhills publications. These Web sites serve a vital role in enhancing the print publications and giving readers continuously updated information.