Jess Donkersloot owns Highway 59 Auction Service in Slayton and Interstate Auction Center in Brandon. His interest in the auction business began many years ago in the sale barns around Worthington where he grew up and still lives today.
“Since I could walk I was in a sale barn,” said Donkersloot, now 51.
Donkersloot started working in the Worthington sale barn when he was 13. At 15 he started helping at the Slayton sale barn. At 16 or 18 he obtained his auctioneer license in Minnesota.
He said auctioneering is something people can either do or they can’t.
“If your tongue can do the lingo, you got it,” he said. “It’s nothing you can teach.”
Over the years, Donkersloot worked with auction companies in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota. He spent 37 years working for the Canby sale barn.
Donkersloot said his favorite parts of the auction business are the atmosphere and the people.
“I call it the common folk,” he said.
About 13 years ago he took over Interstate Auction Center in Brandon after Luverne Johnson died. Then seven years ago he started Highway 59 Auction Service in Slayton.
Donkersloot specializes in machinery, including farm equipment and construction equipment. He also has an occasional lawn and garden and recreational equipment sale. Most of his business is done within a 50 to 100-mile radius of Worthington where he lives with his wife Lori on the acreage that he grew up on.
Donkersloot said the auction business has changed significantly since he started in it, especially in the last few years, with online auctions becoming much more popular. His businesses have the capacity to hold online auctions, but he doesn’t utilize it much.
“I think it’s going to be a fad,” he said of the online auctions.
He believes people still want to go to the auctions, see and touch the items and maybe even have a burger while they’re there. Nonetheless, he said the online options have had an impact on his business.
“It hurts, but I don’t have a lot of overheard,” he said.
Donkersloot said he’s also seen the closure of some of the area sale barns that he spent time in as a youth. He said he used to go to six sales a week, but there just aren’t that many sale barns around now.
More recently, Donkersloot said his business, particularly in Minnesota, has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. He said his first auction in Minnesota since the pandemic began was scheduled for June 1 in Slayton. He said he planned to ask people to practice social distancing and would have hand sanitizer available. Masks are up to the individual. He said about 10 percent of the people at a May 2 auction in Brandon had masks on.