FASTENAL CO — Call Transcript 2026

Good morning, everybody and welcome to Fastenal's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. My name is Scott Satterlee, Chair of the Board. First off, I'd like to thank and appreciate the global Fastenal Blue Team for that intro video. Before we move on to official business, actually, I want to make sure I thank everybody here for taking the time, as well as those watching the webcast. We appreciate your connection and your investment in Fastenal. So thank you very much. Before we move on to official business, I would like to introduce Pastor Mark Dumke, the retired pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, to lead the invocation. Thank you, Scott, for the invitation. Friends, it's good to be here with you again this morning. I'm thinking of two words this morning, gratitude and confidence. Dan, I've known you since you moved to town in 1996, and with your wife, Jenny, and your four wonderful kids who have now grown to be outstanding adults. It's been a pleasure to watch you and Fastenal and your family grow. Likewise, it's been a pleasure along with all of you to watch the growth of Fastenal all of these years. I'm grateful for your integrity and for your leadership and stewardship of the Fastenal Company, especially as CEO these past 10 years. Congratulations. I am also confident in the ability of Fastenal to continually raise up leaders who are the best in the industry. I am confident in your successor, Jeff Watts, who will build on your legacy of excellence, bringing out the very best of all the coworkers of Blue Team. I invite you all to reflect on your confidence and gratitude as we offer our prayer. Creator God, your goodness and bounty of your creation are the rich soil that blesses and nourishes and holds firm the roots of our gratitude and confidence. As we gather to review our accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the future, bless the work of this assembly and this corporation. Bless the hands of those who labor. Bless the minds of those who devise strategies and creative solutions. Bless the vision of leaders who bring out the best in their coworkers. Bless the faithfulness and trust of shareholders who provide encouragement and accountability. Let our work be done not only for our gain, but for the betterment of all. Amen. Thank you, Pastor. Okay, this annual meeting of shareholders of Fastenal Company is now convened. Again, I'm Scott Satterlee, Chair of the board of the company, and I will act as Chair of the meeting. Mr. John Milek, who is Vice President and General Counsel for the company, will act as the secretary of the meeting. We'd like to recognize the founders of the company, led by Robert A. Kierlin, Henry K. McConnon, John D. Remick, Stephen M. Slaggie, and Michael M. Gostomski. We also have our entire board of directors here today, so I'd like to recognize them. We have Michael J. Ancius, Stephen L. Eastman, Brady D. Ericson, Daniel L. Florness, Rita J. Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. Johnson, Sarah N. Nielsen, Irene A. Quarshie, and Reyne K. Wisecup. I will now ask Mr. Milek to report on the number of shares present at this meeting and to conduct the voting on the proposals to be considered at this meeting. Following the vote, our President and Chief Sales Officer, Jeffery M. Watts, and our Chief Executive Officer, Daniel L. Florness, will report to you on the company. John. Thank you, Mr. Satterlee, and good morning, everyone. Before starting, I want to remind shareholders of the rules of this meeting, copies of which are available at the registration desk in the back. Most importantly, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. Upon being recognized, please state your name clearly and limit your statements to no more than three minutes. There are five management proposals and one shareholder proposal to be voted on. A designee of the sponsoring shareholder proponent is in attendance and will have three minutes to introduce the proposal and make a statement in support. The board of directors has already made available the position in the proxy statement that you have received. The record date for the determination of the holders of the company's common stock entitled to receive notice of and to vote at this meeting was fixed by our board of directors as February 23rd, 2026. I present to this meeting a certified list of the holders of shares of the company's issued and outstanding stock as of the close of business on the record date. This list will be kept open and subject to inspection by any shareholder during this meeting. I also present to this meeting an affidavit of a manager of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., attesting that the notice of the meeting, together with a proxy statement, a proxy card, and certain other documents, were mailed on or about March 13th, 2026 to each holder of record of the company's common stock as of the close of business on the record date. The affidavit of mailing of the notice of this meeting will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as Exhibit A. The certified list of holders of the company's common stock will be filed with the books and records of the company. As of the close of business on the record date, there are outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting, 1,148,328,513 shares of common stock. Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote. For a quorum to be present, a majority of the 1,148,328,513 votes entitled to be cast must be present in person or by proxy at this meeting. On a preliminary count, there are represented at this meeting, either in person or by proxy, a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at this meeting. Therefore, a quorum is present for the transaction of business. A record of the proxies submitted to this meeting, and the ballots of the individuals appointed as proxies, and of the shareholders voting in person in this meeting, will be filed with the books and records of the company. Ellen Stoltz has been appointed to act as the Inspector of Election with respect to all matters to be voted upon at this meeting or any adjournment thereof. The oath of the Inspector of Election has been administered and will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as Exhibit B. We are hereby making available to the Inspector of Election the list of shareholders, the registration forms, and a record of all proxies submitted to this meeting. Copies of the minutes of the last annual meeting of the company, held on April 24th, 2025, are available at the registration desk. We will therefore dispense with the reading of the minutes of that meeting. All shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 23rd, 2026, are eligible to vote on the matters to be considered today. We will now take up the business of the meeting. We have six matters to be considered by our shareholders today. The first of these is the election of directors for this coming year. The Board of Directors of the company has nominated the following 11 persons for election to the board to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected and qualified. Scott A. Satterlee, Michael J. Ancius, Stephen L. Eastman, Brady D. Ericson, Daniel L. Florness, Rita J. Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. Johnson, Sarah N. Nielsen, Irene A. Quarshie, and Reyne K. Wisecup. I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting the nomination of these individuals. I recognize Mr. Pat Jolliff. I'm supposed to have a microphone available to me, but since I don't, I'll yell. Okay. My name is Pat Jolliff, and I am a shareholder of the company. I move to formally place before this meeting the nomination of the 11 individuals identified for election to the Board of Directors to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders and until their successors are elected and qualified. Thank you. As no other nominations have been made in accordance with the procedures establishing the company's bylaws, I declare the nominations to be closed. The next matter for consideration today is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. I would like to introduce Mr. Ryan Lepper, a partner with PwC LLP, and Ms. Lauren Carew, a director with PwC LLP, who are here today to answer any questions that you may have. I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. I recognize Mr. Ken Lyons. My name is Ken Lyons. I'm a shareholder of the company. I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, be and hereby is ratified. Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, be ratified. I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the approval of executive compensation. I recognize Mr. Dan Norris. My name is Dan Norris, and I'm a shareholder of the company. I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation tables, and related disclosures contained in the section of the proxy statement for 2026 annual meeting of shareholders captioned Executive Compensation. Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the compensation of certain of our executive officers be approved. I will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan. I recognize Ms. Kate Hazelton. My name is Kate Hazelton. I am a shareholder of the company, and I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan. Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan be approved. I will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan. I recognize Ms. Betsy Jerby. My name is Betsy Jerby, and I am a shareholder of the company. I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan. Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan be approved. The last matter for consideration today is the shareholder proposal relating to EEO-1 Report Disclosure Policy, if the shareholder proposal is properly presented at this meeting. This shareholder proposal was submitted by the Comptroller of the City of New York, Mr. Brad Lander, on behalf of the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the New York City Teachers' Retirement System, the New York City Police Pension Fund, and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System, and was included in the proxy statement. The board makes no recommendation on this proposal. I understand that the designee for the sponsor of the proposal is in attendance and will present the shareholder proposal. Please begin, and limit your remarks to three minutes. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and fellow shareholders. My name is Andrew Elcock. I am a senior investment analyst for the New York City Comptroller's Office. I'm presenting Proposal Six on behalf of the New York City Comptroller and four New York City pension funds, which are substantial long-term shareholders with roughly 1 million shares of the company, worth approximately $47 million. Proposal Six asks the board to adopt a policy requiring the company to disclose on its website a consolidated EEO-1 report, which is a comprehensive breakdown of its workforce by race, ethnicity, and gender that the company is required to submit annually to the EEOC. Fastenal's website states, "Because we value people, we prioritize safety, we foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we strive to improve communities and the planet. We remain strongly committed to promotion from within, creating pathways for employees to branch out, build rewarding careers, and become leaders in our organization. We commend the company on its commitment to racial equity and diversity. However, without robust and comparable disclosure of its workforce demographics, shareholders have no way to benchmark the company's diversity performance and hold it accountable for its commitments. We appreciate our engagement with management this year, but we urge you to go further to provide shareholders with consistent and comparable decision-useful information. I would like to point out also that the board elected not to take a position on this proposal. We urge shareholders to vote for proposal number six. Thank you. Thank you. I remind shareholders that the board makes no recommendation in regards to voting on this proposal. Shares of record who wish to vote on these motions by ballot had an opportunity to vote in person at the registration desk. The polls are now closed, and the ballots will be counted. While the ballots are being counted, Mr. Jeffery M. Watts, our President and Chief Sales Officer, and Mr. Daniel L. Florness, our Chief Executive Officer, will report to you on the company. After the conclusion of the report, we will answer any questions that you may have relating to the company and its activities. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'm Jeff Watts. I'm Fastenal's President and Chief Sales Officer and it's an honor to stand before you today to review our company's performance and share our vision for the road ahead. Let me first start by saying just how proud I am of what Fastenal achieved in 2025. We navigated a challenging environment and we delivered remarkable results. Even more than that, I'm excited about where we're headed and the strong foundation we've built for our future growth and our value. Getting started, if I had to sum up 2025 in one word, it would be execution. Last year, it demanded discipline and focus, and throughout the year, we faced uneven industrial demand, continued tariff pressures, and customers who are understandably cautious of trying to control their risk in their supply chains. The Purchasing Managers' Index, or the PMI, at the end-of-the-year, had spent 36 of the previous 38 months below 50, indicating contraction in the industrial sector. In other words, the environment was far from simple, and yet Fastenal rose to the challenge. We stayed close to our customers, we concentrated on the factors that we could control, and we executed our game plan with consistency across the organization. In a difficult climate, our disciplined execution, it protected our margin and really positioned us to resume our growth, benefiting both our customers and our shareholders. Now, our performance last year, it wasn't really just about the numbers, it was about how we delivered them and where we got the growth from. As you can see, Fastenal delivered approximately $8.2 billion in total sales, fueled by strong contributions from across our geographies, across our customer base, and our product lines. United States remains our core market, accounting for $6.8 billion, roughly 83% of company sales. This business unit, it grew revenues over 9% and remains the engine driving our growth. Internationally, our business continues to expand. In Canada and Mexico, it generated $1.1 billion, or about 14% of sales. Our other global markets, including Europe and Asia, it provided about $250 million, or 3% of total revenues. Now, while our U.S. business is strong, these international gains, particularly in Canada and Mexico, it shows that Fastenal's value proposition resonates globally. We have a significant runway for growth in our international markets. Now, when we look at our customer site spend data, what really stands out is the scale and strength across our customer spend tiers. We're accelerating our growth by deepening relationships with our largest customers. The last year, there were just over 19,000 customer sites, each doing over $5,000 per month with Fastenal. Collectively, these larger accounts generated about $7.3 billion, 11% more than the previous year. Within this group, almost 2,700 sites spent over $50,000 per month, contributing $4.3 billion to the company. The number of sites in the 50k plus tier grew by 12%, with revenues surpassing 15% growth. The takeaway is clear. Our largest customers are expanding with us, and a strong indicator of customer trust and the value that we deliver. This consistent momentum across tiers, not just at the top, it shows strong, durable demand and a healthy pipeline for our future expansion. Now, when it comes to product lines, our mix spans both direct and indirect categories. Now, Fastenal's product offering continues to diversify and in 2025, almost 40% of our sales were direct materials. Those are the production components and supplies that become part of our customers' finished goods or products directly consumed in that production, like cutting tools and abrasives. Manufacturing customers now represent about 76% of our sales, and roughly 50% of that subset is direct materials. On the other side, indirect materials, the MRO type items like safety supplies and non-production type items, they make up 60% of our revenues. This balanced mix between direct and indirect product shows how we've evolved into a broad spectrum supply chain partner. This diversification, it's a strategic strength. It expands our market opportunity and makes us more valuable to each customer by fulfilling a wider range of their needs. In summary, we succeeded by growing the right way, through trust, through partnership, and delivering real value to our customers. Now, let's take a step back and look at the year in a longer term type context. Now, this chart on this slide, it shows Fastenal's key financial metrics in 2015, 2020, and 2025, alongside our future milestones of $10 billion and $15 billion in revenues. These figures, they reflect 10 years of strong, sustainable growth. In 2015, Fastenal's annual sales were $3.8 billion. By 2020, we'd reached $5.6 billionand in 2025, we'd reached $8.2 billion. That's an annual growth rate of approximately 8% over the past decade. Essentially, we doubled our revenue in 10 years, turning the vision we all had of an $8 billion Fastenal into reality. This consistent growth, it reflects our ability to gain market share and expand our range of products and services. Our aspiration looking ahead is continue this trajectory towards $10 billion and eventually $15 billion in sales. Hitting $10 billion will represent roughly a 22% increase from last year, and reaching $15 billion will nearly double 2025's revenues again. These are ambitious goals, but achievable with the large market opportunity that we see and our track record of growth. Now, importantly, we've grown profitably. Operating income reached nearly double over the past decade, reaching $1.6 billion in 2025. Our operating margin has held steady at around 20% every year, even as we've scaled. I think that's a testament to our productivity and our cost discipline. Our return on invested capital rose to 31% in 2025, up from 25.6% in 2015, demonstrating again how efficiently we're deploying capital to generate returns. Most importantly for you, our shareholders, we've returned significant value. In 2025, we paid over $1 billion in dividends, the first time our regular dividend crossed that milestone. That's about 80% of our net income. Over the past five years, we've generated $5.6 billion in net income and returned more than $4.5 billion of that, over 80%, through dividends and share repurchases, all while continuing to invest in our people, technology, and inventory for future growth. This is what balanced growth looks like, expanding our business, maintaining strong margins, and delivering meaningful returns to our shareholders. How do we continue this momentum? Our strategy is built on a simple, powerful idea from our founder, Bob Kierlin. Organizations succeed to the extent that all their members pursue a common goal. That shared purpose is what drives us forward. As supply chains grow more complex, our customers need more reliability, visibility, and efficiency. We're meeting that challenge not by reinventing Fastenal, but by sharpening how we win. We've aligned our entire organization around three core objectives, increase sales effectiveness, enhance our services, and expand our total addressable market. These goals, they're supported by key accelerators that are already starting to deliver results like leveraging artificial intelligence to work smarter and more efficiently, by expanding our reach through eCommerce, and empowering our customers with FAST 360, which is our digital front door for analytics and visibility and control, and scaling our Onsite FAST Grip service models to embed Fastenal directly into customers' entire operations. This isn't just a strategy on paper, it's a living game plan. It's guided us through last year's challenges and will continue to shape how we grow and invest and create value in the future. Now by deepening customer relationships, expanding our offerings, and driving innovation, we're building a stronger, more valuable Fastenal for our customers and for you, our shareholders. Before I close, I want to highlight an example of our strategy in action, and it was this year's 2026 Fastenal Customer Expo. We had over 3,000 customers there, over 4,500 total attendees, and it was more than an event. It was a showcase of partnership and innovation and the value that we deliver. We hosted sessions tailored to evolving customer needs, and we created space for collaboration between customers and employees and our supplier partners. The focus wasn't on immediate sales. It was on deepening relationships and accelerating solution adoption and building long-term value. That's how we grow with our customers. We believe efforts like this will pay dividends for years to come, fueling growth, strengthening loyalty, and reinforcing Fastenal's role as a trusted supply chain partner. With that, I want to finish up by saying thank you. Thank you for your continued trust and investment in Fastenal. We're proud of what we've accomplished, and we're even more excited about what's coming in the future. Now, before I turn it over to Dan, as many of you know, this is Dan's last annual shareholder meeting as the CEO, with a planned leadership transition later this year. Before he begins, I want to say publicly what I've told him privately, and it's been extraordinary to work with you. Thank you for your steady leadership through every challenge and opportunity and for your clarity of vision, and for really guiding this company with integrity. It's truly an honor to have been your colleague and to now follow in your footsteps. On behalf of our entire team and the shareholders, again, thank you. Congratulations on an incredible tenure. Dan. Jeff, thank you for the comment. I'll tell you, I don't know. There were moments, and for what it's worth, 30 years ago when I started, I did have hair. But I did want to address one of the first questions I heard today, and I repeated the question to my team because I had the same question. There are chocolate chip cookies. I don't know what box they're in. The day started kind of interesting. My wife and I moved up to the Lake Pepin area a couple of years ago after our daughter graduated. We still have a home here in Winona, so I stayed down here the last couple of days. This morning, I get up, and my wife's up in Lake Pepin area. First off, I couldn't find the keys to my truck. I get in my truck and I'm driving to work. The low gas light comes on, and I'm thinking, "Boy, this is a great start to the day." Then I get a call from my wife and she says, "Okay, Florness, what suit are you wearing? Does it have wrinkles?" I can't see wrinkles. When we're 85 and 90 years old, that's a good thing. I can't see wrinkles, so my wife did show up at my office at 8:00 A.M. with a steamer. I do have a burn on my left leg because you should take your pants off when you use a steamer. As always, Pastor Mark Dumke, thank you for the last 30 years. Thank you for what you did to help Jen and I raise, I think, four great kids, and it's great to see you once again. Mark, I'm not sure if I'm doing it. I guess I'm driving it. First off, one of the pleasures of this annual meeting and one of the pleasures of being in this role, I get to recognize folks that have given to the Blue Team over a long career. As you can see, we were quite a much smaller organization 25, 30, and 40 years ago. The folks that joined saw something special in the people they met, and they decided to stick around. I'd like to start by recognizing five people who have been here for 40 years, and if after I run through the list, if they would stand to be recognized, I'd appreciate it. Dan Norris, Jim Stanek, Pat Jolliff, Ken Lyons, and John Beckman. This comment is no slight to those five individuals, but I would ask the room to recognize their guests. We are successful based on who we choose to surround ourselves with, and we're blessed for that in life. Trying to figure out what I was going to talk about this year, my wife reminded me, "Florness, nobody's here to hear you talk. They're actually here for lunch." I thought I'd share a view of what these individuals have seen in their 40 years. I went back to the first annual report I could find. It was from 1987. I remember making a comment to Bob when I first saw this annual report many years ago when I joined the organization. I said, "You know, Bob, by 1987, you had the Big Ten covered." Because if you notice those states, that's the original Big Ten states. I popped into Casey Miller this morning, and I said, "Casey," I need to apologize to you up front. I noticed something that I never mentioned to Bob, but there was an error in our 1987 annual report. We had two locations in Kentucky. You can see them right there south of the Ohio River, but in the years that I've been in this role, I've had the opportunity to discuss the business with a lot of individuals within the company, because we're not an $8 billion organization. Jeff, with all due respect, I disagree. We're not an $8 billion organization. We're actually 240 district business units that average about $35 million a year. That's where our business, the strength of our organization comes from. 30% of my time over the last decade has been spent in one-on-one discussions with those district managers, understanding their business, how they go to market, and how do they discover ways to be special for the customers in their market, and how they grow. I want to also thank, it was a discussion back in 2019, before the world got weird in the COVID year. In 2019, I was having a conversation with our district manager in southwestern Minnesota, and it was one of those kind of a light bulb moments. Because I was looking at this district, and Jason, I don't know if you're in the room, but, or if you're listening, but Jason Knutson, thank you for that conversation, by the way. I was looking at his district, and he had moved from Nebraska up to southwestern Minnesota in around the 2017 timeframe. Quite frankly, that district, that area of Fastenal, had grown 2% to 4% for a decade. Now, it was nicely profitable. It was a nice business, but it wasn't special. In a few short years, Jason turned that business into a business growing in the teens, and it really came from the standpoint, he had about 30 customers doing more than $10,000 a month in that business. In over about a five, six-year period, he grew that 30 to about 80. That $20 million district became a $60+ million district. We discovered something that was really special in one of our oldest business units of, yes, we can make a difference for our customers and be really successful by being a supply chain partner to them, not merely a purveyor of goods. It had changed a lot of how the business has developed ever since. Getting back to the premise. Back in 1987, this was the organization that these five individuals would have experienced back in the day. I want to show you how it's changed a little bit, and I normally don't have notes in front of me. I have the slide deck because when I'm up here, I really can't see what's on that screen with the lights coming in. Back in 1987, we did about $20 million in revenue. For Casey's benefit, I flagged that there was $1 million in Kentucky. We probably opened those 2 branches in December, and it was probably $10,000, but we'll round up. By 1995, that organization had grown to $223 million. You can see we had to kind of estimate because we didn't have the actual detailed numbers by state. You can see those eight states that were the Big Ten circa 1990 when Penn State joined. We had about $100 million in revenue in that area. It had grown fivefold in those eight years, and then we'd added about another $120 million in the rest of the United States as we'd expanded. We expanded beyond the United States in that timeframe. We opened up in 1994 in Southern Ontario, and it was a couple of years later that Jeff Watts joined the organization in Southern Ontario. You can see we grew to about a $1.5 billion organization. Look at the growth that's happening in those oldest business units. Even though we'd been there for years, the market was immense. We had to figure out how to tap into that market. By 2015, we were a little over $3.5 billion. Here's what it looked like last year. Again, $8.2 billion organization. Almost $7 billion in the United States, $1.1 billion outside the United States and the rest of the Americas, and about a $250 million business between Europe and Asia. Incredible opportunity to grow the business. The market is immense. The thing that's most important to me when I look at this is to this day, we've figured out how to grow in those original eight states, which gives me confidence. This isn't a forward-looking statement, so I don't want to get in trouble with the SEC here, but it gives me confidence in Fastenal's ability to grow in the future because the market exists. We have to decide if we're going to go take it. The market exists for us to keep expanding for years to come if we so choose. I also thought I'd take a quick look at the business from the standpoint of, in our earnings release last week, we mentioned that our return on invested capital was just over 30% in the first quarter. For 2025, it was in the low 30s as well. When I had that 1987 annual report out, I looked at it and said, "I wonder what it was back then." We were in the high 20s. I was surprised it was that high because we weren't as profitable back then. We also didn't have as much capital deployed in business, and so we had a really attractive business, probably one of the reasons the marketplace embraced us when we decided to go public back in 1987. Here's what it looks like in between. In the 1990s, we actually expanded into the low 30s. Again, I was surprised by that. I learned from one of our board members a number of years ago, and it's a board member where English is a second language. He taught me a piece of the English language I didn't appreciate, and it was a concept. It was strategy, and strategy is about choice. We chose, as we went through the 1990s and into the 2000s, to expand the breadth of products that we distribute. We chose to expand the breadth of customers we sell to. In the mid-1990s, we added national accounts, and that's a different game from what we were doing prior to that. We also decided to start sourcing more product directly, which meant we needed a lot more working capital because you're not buying weeks and months of supply, you're buying months, maybe a year of supply in order to source that item at a different cost point. We allowed the return on invested capital to move down into the mid-20s%, because that was the right long-term decision for Fastenal and its shareholders, its customers, and its employees. I'm pleased to say in the last decade, we were able to, again, through choice, move the return on invested capital back up into the low 30s%. That's a testament to Bob Kierlin and the original founders and the ability of the Blue Team to execute and choose a path for them that was different than the path we had. It also required a lot of change in the organization in that timeframe, and I'll touch on that in a few minutes. If you're curious, here's a few more, and again, this is my last time to talk, so I want to share some of this stuff because I find this fascinating and I hope everybody isn't sitting there like, "When is this guy going to shut up so we can have lunch?" Fixed assets to sales, we didn't have a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s. We needed more distribution capacity to do the things we wanted to do. We needed more trucking capacity to do the things we wanted to do. You can see how that third column in the middle section there, 9% of sales, 10% of sales, 14%. We actually had for every dollar in sales, 20 cents in fixed capital a decade ago. Now I put that little 17% in there. A decade ago, we were really in the early innings of this thing we call Fastenal Managed Inventory or vending, is what it started as. If you'd have gone down to Des Moines, Iowa, you would have found a warehouse full of vending machines because we had bought a bunch and we weren't deploying them quite as fast as we thought we would. We had about $130 million worth of vending machines stacked to the ceiling in this warehouse. We were looking around like, "Oh, God. What do we do?" We decided, again, strategy is about choice. We decided we need to pick up the pace and deployment. I'm pleased to say we worked that capital off. If I remove that, we didn't really have 20% of sales. We had about 17. Look how that number has dropped over the last decade because of the Blue Team going to market in a responsible way. We also made a choice to close about 40% of our branch locations over the last decade because we moved where we do business. It wasn't strictly out of a Fastenal branch. Today, over 50% of our business is with customers doing more than $50,000 a month in that location, and most of that business goes through what we call an Onsite, where we're physically in their facility. It changed our real estate needs and it allowed us to accomplish that. Then on the far right, you can see again, our invested capital and what that is. It's kind of funny when I look back to 1987 to think our total invested capital in the organization was $7 million. Today it's just over $4 billion. If you want an exercise in finance, that is the definition of compounding your growth over a long period of time. What have the last 10 years taught me? One of the things I try to do in the president's letter or in more recent years, the shareholder's letter in general, is try not to use the word I or me, but if you would allow me, I'd like to share a few things I've learned over the last 10 years. One of them was these 10 rules that Bob had carried a lot more meaning when you're the CEO than when you're the CFO. Especially Rule number one, challenge rather than control. The adversity of the situation really challenges leaders to emerge, and I'm particularly impressed with the folks on the Blue Team, on the leaders that have emerged over the last decade to assist me in the cause and to assist the organization in the cause, to get us through periods of uncertainty. COVID's a perfect example. You're not sure if the step you're taking is the right step, and you rely on the folks around you. Rule number nine. Let people learn. A key to a leader is what is your habit every day to develop yourself and to develop those around you so you continually make the organization and everybody better and bring more ideas to the customer and the marketplace? That's what allows us to grow for the last 40 years. This year, maybe you've seen this chart if you've participated in some of our earnings calls. There's an index out there called the Purchasing Managers' Index, and it's a survey that's done of purchasing managers where they look at the backlog in their business. Being the Blue Team, we consider red bad. Those periods that you see that are red are bad. I remember when stepping into the role back in the fall of 2015, you can see a few months there of red. We actually went negative in sales growth for the last four months of 2015. There was a lot of uncertainty. There was a lot of folks wondering, "Geez, what's happening to Fastenal?" If you would allow me, I would like to add five rules to Bob's list that I learned over the last decade. Rule number 11: don't be a victim. I think Jeff's letter to shareholders this year said it well. He said, "We didn't wait for the market to lift us. We leaned into our strengths, our people, our service, and our ability to solve problems for our customers." The other thing about not being a victim is you need to have empathy, but you have to have a plan and you have to decide to execute on that plan. It's our destiny, not what we're victims of. Rule number 12: own everything that goes wrong. Share the rewards on everything that goes right. Always understand the math and the story behind it, and you can replicate success in many different places because you can share that story throughout the Fastenal organization. Finally, I learned this from Bob, believe in people. All else fails, believe in people. They'll surprise you and impress you every time. Life has some special phrases. "I'm wrong" is a good phrase. "I'm sorry" is a good phrase. If you don't have a phrase, maybe a simple smile, because that is a phrase in and of itself. Usually, it means hello or you're trying. "I believe in you" is a great phrase, but I don't think there's anything better than the phrase, "Thank you." To the shareholders in the room, thank you for placing your trust in the Blue Team. Since 1987, for me more personally in the last decade, thanks for cutting us slack on the things we messed up and believing that having a plan for the long term works for the long term. Although I do have to say, every year when we're doing the vote, you get updates to the voting, and I saw the update this morning, and I was thinking in the final year, I wonder if the directors will get more votes than our external auditors. We didn't make it, and I guess that's just life. I just thought I'd share that, but thank you for everything you've done as far as allowing us the opportunity to take the investment you entrusted us with and growing it into something special. Oop, I got ahead of myself there. To the board, and Scott in particular, thank you for the partnership over the last decade, and thanks for allowing me to vent. I was probably a pain to have around most of the time, but thank you. We all need a shoulder to cry on sometimes or to vent with, and so thank you for providing that shoulder. From a mentors and peers standpoint, two that stand out early in my career, Mike Dolan, one of our former directors. When I first was out of college, I worked for Mike. I learned a lot from Mike over the last 40 years of knowing him, so thank you for that. For Bob Kierlin, thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime and the mentorship you provided to me over the last 30 years. From a peer standpoint, when I first stepped into this role, Nick Lundquist and Reyne Wisecup could have chosen to look at it and say, "Okay, we'll do our job, but we won't do more than that." They did just the opposite. They pushed me and pushed us in every way they could to make Fastenal a better organization until the last day they were in the office. I thank them for that. A few of the Fastenal folks are going to laugh when I mention this next one, when I say selfless leader, because if you know the person, he has kind of an in-your-face persona. Maybe a little bit of an arrogant persona, but he's an incredible teacher of people, and that's Randy Miller. Randy joined us back in February of 1987. He lived in Winona for a number of years, and then we asked him to relocate down to Indianapolis to lead our business down there. Randy has developed more leaders within Fastenal. We often talk about our tree and who sprang from your tree. If I think about our regional and district leaders, nobody has developed and mentored more people in this organization from Randy Miller. Randy will be hitting 40 years next year, and I hope he comes to the annual meeting to be recognized. I'm coming to see Randy recognized a year from now. He's been an incredible person for me to talk to over the last decade of bouncing stuff off of and getting some very blunt feedback, which is well appreciated. Randy, thank you for that. In the letter to shareholders this year, I generically mentioned four people, and I'd like to call those four people out by name. In 2014, I asked Bill Drazkowski to step out of a regional leadership role and lead our national accounts. Nothing was more eye-opening for me than working with Bill in roughly a year directly in national accounts, because I really realized in a lot of discussions with customers how truly big the opportunity was and what some of our priorities should be in the decade that followed. Bill, thank you for that. First decision that was presented to me is I chose a leader for the Eastern United States, and Casey Miller, who's originally from Kentucky, I tapped him on the shoulder, I said, "Hey, Casey, can you move up to this cold area for a few years? What you've done in Kentucky and Tennessee is special in the organization, and we need to bring that special to more places. Casey assisted from the standpoint of. If all my decisions over the last decade would've been as good as that, we'd have been a lot bigger today. Casey made me look smarter than I actually am, and Casey, thank you for everything you've done for the Blue Team in the last decade. In 2016, John Soderberg. John started in a branch for us on the East Coast. John once showed me this app on his phone where you can look up at the sky, and it'll tell you what you're looking at. "Hey, there's Jupiter. There's Mars. This is that constellation." I came to John in the summer of 2016, and I said, "John, how would you like to run IT?" I said, "We have great people in IT. They're not close enough to the business, and we need a great leader to bring them closer to the business." John didn't give me the sideways look. He said, "What do you need me to do?" John has led that group for the last decade and done amazing things for Fastenal's employees, our shareholders, and our customers. John, thank you for that. Jeff and I, we actually met in the late 1990s. He was a district manager out, I think, in British Columbia at the time. We've had a close relationship ever since because he always asked really good questions, even if sometimes they were questions I didn't want to hear. I'm really excited for what the next decade means with Jeff and this leadership team going after an incredibly large opportunity in the marketplace. Finally, to the 25,000 people on the Blue Team, thank you for cutting me slack on the dumb decisions and supporting me on the ones that were better and fixing, again, the dumbest decisions I made. Finally, what Fastenal has taught me over the last 30 years, recruiting is hard work, but it's really simple. Just find great people, ask of them to join, and give them a reason to stay. Always remember, regardless of where you go in life, no culture or geography has a monopoly on talent or ambition. You can find it everywhere. In fact, if you were talking to a bunch of leaders here today, you would discover a lot of them are native Spanish speakers. Not because we're trying to teach Spanish to everybody in the organization, because we found some incredibly talented people down there, as we did in every place else we went, and we asked them to take a step forward and bring their leadership to more people within the organization. Finally, I've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like, "Okay, does this mean he's almost done?" Because yes, it does mean I'm almost done. Surround yourself with people better than you. That's the biggest advice I can give to the leadership team for the next decade. On that note, and I'll try to keep my composure on this one, Jen, thanks to you for the last 30 years. My wife and I got married. I met Jenny Ann Gustafson late in 1993 timeframe. We got married in the fall of 1995. We celebrated 30 years last year. Thanks, and thanks for our four great kids. In case you're wondering, so we got the chocolate chips covered. In case you're wondering what Florness is doing next, I have a plan. In February, you know we sponsor NASCAR. In the NASCAR, our team, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team, gave me a fire suit. That's the suit the pit crew wears when they're doing the things they do on that stop that takes a split second. Yeah. I put my name in to join the pit crew, although I talked to him in February, and I haven't heard back yet, so I'm not sure what that means. With that, thank you, and I'll turn it back over to Scott. I promised Dan that we weren't going to embarrass him too much. After that last slide, I realized he has no problem embarrassing himself. Dan Florness has had an exceptional career at Fastenal. For those of you who don't know, he joined the organization in 1996, coming from the public accounting sector. Like most CFOs, Dan's great with numbers. In his case, he'll tell you a long story about them sometimes, but he's exceptional with numbers, like most CFOs. Dan did something very different. He embraced Fastenal's culture. What I mean by that is, early on in his career as CFO, he started visiting offices, getting out to the field, going to distribution centers, interacting with customers, talking to employees at all levels. Understanding the business and then applying his financial acumen to be able to produce solutions that could be delivered out in the field. For that reason, he was promoted to CEO in 2016. That ability to be able to embrace the culture and learn the business and be part of the Blue Team. Now, there are a number of key milestones, both financially and strategically, and I'm only going to touch on a couple few extras because both Jeff and Dan mentioned a number of them. Doubling revenue, operating margin or operating income. Providing the dividends, consistent dividends over the years. Achieving market capitalization beyond $50 billion, and a number of others. As well as some strategic milestones that are critical. Thinking about adjusting the network. Like Dan said, there's been a shift. There's been an expansion of physical offices and onsites, but mainly onsites and that infrastructure to get closer to customers and provide growth through customer service. As well, one of the things that wasn't mentioned is during this time period, things like eCommerce, the international business, vending, all surpassed $1 billion in revenue. Most importantly, and Dan alluded to it, Dan was critical in working with the leadership team to help shift Fastenal from a transactional distributor to a data-informed supply chain partner. Dan has many skills, many achievements during his career, but I want to focus on one that I think goes a little bit underrated. One of his skills, one of his strongest skills, and you can see it when he presents, and if you spend enough time with him, you can see how he interacts, but he has a tremendous ability to connect with people. I wrote down a number of comments as I prepared for this from employees that I've interacted with. From the very start, Dan has prioritized the importance of customers and employees through interaction and recognition. One of the things he regularly does for the board and for employees is provide updates via video, and every single one of those videos, outside of the information that he's presenting, recognizes key individuals just like he did for the 40-year employees. It's a signature component of Dan's leadership style. During COVID, as we all know, a very difficult time for society. His message always prioritized employees' health and safety, while also emphasizing that Fastenal's goal was helping customers to do the same. Dan believes in people and their ability to do great things when given the chance. He also cares more about employees' success and well-being than his. It comes out when you listen to him. He also leads by example with practical frugality. That doesn't mean he's cheap. He's frugal, practically. He also insisted that honesty and integrity are non-negotiable leadership qualities. The founder of Fastenal, Bob Kierlin, wrote a book called "The Power of Fastenal People." I'm probably guessing many of you have read it. It's an exceptional read. The book outlines the core cultural pillars that make Fastenal a special company. Within it, as you saw from Dan's slides, Bob outlines the 10 key leadership characteristics, now maybe 15, that embody the culture. Dan embraces these leadership characteristics, and it's one of the many reasons he is so admired in the field and why he's going to be very missed, not only from the organization, but also at the board. He's been an exceptional board member and provided the same sort of integrity and guidance and cultural understanding to all of us. Dan's leaving the organization in the very capable hands of an exceptional leadership team, led by Jeff Watts, all of whom also embody the power of Fastenal people. Unfortunately, Bob Kierlin is no longer with us, but if he were, Bob would be very proud. Please join us in thanking Dan Florness for everything he has accomplished for Fastenal. Now with that, we're going to make Dan take some Q&A. Actually, no. Probably good if Jeff leads it right now, but I think both of you are going to do it, right? If there is any. Yeah. You want me to take those? Yeah. You're pretty emotional. I think you need this. Now we're going to ruin that moment by having Florness and Watts answer some questions. Are there any questions from the room? Pardon? Okay. There's one person over here on this side. Dan, you're a numbers guy. Hi, Dan. Hi there. Nice to see you. Thank you. Over the tenure that you've put in, the 10 years, the revenues have grown about double? Just over doubled. It was about 3.82. What has the stock done in 10 years? We're off a little bit in the last week. We were almost up five-fold, but a little over four-fold. Yeah, we were about $11 billion in market cap back in the fall of 2015, and we're just over $50 billion today. Yep. Any other questions? I like a question where I can just say, "Yep. There's one right here in the front. I have a question about the vending machines. Yes. Over the last five years, how has the projection been on the growth of the vending machines? I'll answer it in pieces. If I go back to a decade ago, and then I'll kind of plug in halfway, because I don't have the exact number from five years ago. If I go back a decade ago, about 24% of our revenue went through either a vending machine or through eCommerce, and it was probably about 18% and 6% making up that 24%. Today, that number is 62%. I think last October, we were about 62%, maybe we're 63% now. Inside of that, the vending is about 46%, 47%. It's gone from about 18% of sales to about 47%. Biggest piece of that increase is vending. If I kind of walk that back, you're probably looking around 30% to, well, 25% to about 45%, is what the vending is as a percentage of our business. Not all of that is pure growth. A lot of it is growth. A lot of it is introduced into existing customer relationships, and it makes the business more efficient. Because one of the challenges in supply chain is knowing what's on the different shelves and what's close to the point of use, which is the person working in that manufacturing plant or that distribution center. What the vending machine does, as well as all the adjacent things we do, like the RFID and all these different systems, it puts a gas gauge on that supply of inventory that's inside your customer's facility. It's like my car this morning. If I wouldn't have had a gas gauge, I wouldn't have made it to work. I would've called my wife and I'd have said, "Hey, Jen, when are you getting down here? I'm somewhere on County 17 out of gas." By having that in our customer's facility, our replenishment becomes very efficient from a labor perspective, and we can actually lower the amount of inventory that our customer needs in their facility. To get back to your question, it's gone from mid-20s% to mid-40s% of our business. Thank you. Thank you for all your service, too. Thank you. Anybody else? Oh, there's one question over here. There's a mic coming up right behind you. I agree. Thank you for your service. Thank you. This last year has been a lot of ups and downs with tariffs and what's good and what's bad and what's been converted. What's the process for Fastenal with the tariffs that have been extended to you, and what's the future going to hold? The future changes about every 15 minutes, and so that one I can't spec. I can say it'll be interesting. As far as what we try to do as an organization is we immediately have a great team that goes about studying what was just announced, and we communicate as quickly as possible with our customer of what this means for their supply chain, and we try to give them as much time as possible to make decisions. Because when you do that, you create optionality for your customer. I believe our customers really value that aspect of us because when tariffs come along, we're not raising prices. We're sharing with our customer their supply chain has just become more expensive, and then we're giving them options of how to reduce some of that increase or eliminate it altogether by modifying source supply, by modifying the product selection, by being creative with our solutions, and our team in the field are particularly good at that. Since 2018, they've had a lot of practice. That's the biggest thing to do, is give information so people can make decisions. Jeff, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. No, you did a good job. All right. Any other questions? Before we switch it back over, I'm going to close out the question part then. Before we switch it back over to the final part of the meeting, voting results, I do have a gift for Jeff. Now, Jeff is Canadian. Now, normally I would say, "Jeff's Canadian," so when I talk to him, I use small words. But I'm not going to say that today. We're good friends as well. I'm used to this. I don't have a baton to pass off to Jeff, so I thought I'd get something that resonated more for this circumstance. Give me one second. I don't know much about hockey, and Jeff will agree with that. I'll make two comments. One is goalies are known for maybe having a screw loose once in a while, and so it's okay to have some crazy ideas once in a while. Vet it with the team. Secondly, always remember, and this is as funny as I get, the puck stops here. Thanks, everybody. Okay. The ballots have now been counted, and the report of the Inspector of Elections indicates that Scott A. Satterlee, Michael J. Ancius, Stephen L. Eastman, Brady D. Ericson, Daniel L. Florness, Rita J. Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. Johnson, Sarah N. Nielsen, Irene A. Quarshie, and Reyne K. Wisecup have received the required number of votes and are hereby elected directors of company. The report of the Inspector of Election also indicates that, one, the resolution for the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Two, the resolution for the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of certain of our executive officers has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Three, the resolution for the approval of the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Four, the resolution for the approval of the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Five, the resolution for the consideration of the shareholder proposal related to an EEO-1 report disclosure policy has not received the required number of votes and has not been approved. All ballots and a record of all proxies will be filed with the books and records of the company. The certificate of the Inspector of Election will be attached to the minutes of the meeting as Exhibit C. The meeting is now adjourned. Thank you all for coming, and we invite you to join us for lunch, which is available outside in the tent. Thank you.

Speaker 11: Good morning, everybody and welcome to Fastenal's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. My name is Scott Satterlee, Chair of the Board. First off, I'd like to thank and appreciate the global Fastenal Blue Team for that intro video. Before we move on to official business, actually, I want to make sure I thank everybody here for taking the time, as well as those watching the webcast. We appreciate your connection and your investment in Fastenal. So thank you very much. Before we move on to official business, I would like to introduce Pastor Mark Dumke, the retired pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, to lead the invocation. Good morning, everybody and welcome to Fastenal's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. good morning everybody and welcome to fastenal's 2026 annual meeting of shareholders My name is Scott Satterlee, Chair of the Board. my name is scott satterlee chair of the board First off, I'd like to thank and appreciate the global Fastenal Blue Team for that intro video. first off i'd like to thank and appreciate the global fastenal blue team for that intro video Before we move on to official business, actually, I want to make sure I thank everybody here for taking the time, as well as those watching the webcast. before we move on to official business actually i want to make sure i thank everybody here for taking the time as well as those watching the webcast We appreciate your connection and your investment in Fastenal. we appreciate your connection and your investment in fastenal So thank you very much. so thank you very much Before we move on to official business, I would like to introduce Pastor Mark Dumke, the retired pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, to lead the invocation. before we move on to official business i would like to introduce pastor mark dumke the retired pastor of faith lutheran church to lead the invocation

Speaker 9: Thank you, Scott, for the invitation. Friends, it's good to be here with you again this morning. I'm thinking of two words this morning, gratitude and confidence. Dan, I've known you since you moved to town in 1996, and with your wife, Jenny, and your four wonderful kids who have now grown to be outstanding adults. It's been a pleasure to watch you and Fastenal and your family grow. Likewise, it's been a pleasure along with all of you to watch the growth of Fastenal all of these years. I'm grateful for your integrity and for your leadership and stewardship of the Fastenal Company, especially as CEO these past 10 years. Congratulations. I am also confident in the ability of Fastenal to continually raise up leaders who are the best in the industry. Thank you, Scott, for the invitation. thank you scott for the invitation Friends, it's good to be here with you again this morning. friends it's good to be here with you again this morning I'm thinking of two words this morning, gratitude and confidence. i'm thinking of two words this morning gratitude and confidence Dan, I've known you since you moved to town in 1996, and with your wife, Jenny, and your four wonderful kids who have now grown to be outstanding adults. dan i've known you since you moved to town in 1996 and with your wife jenny and your four wonderful kids who have now grown to be outstanding adults It's been a pleasure to watch you and Fastenal and your family grow. it's been a pleasure to watch you and fastenal and your family grow Likewise, it's been a pleasure along with all of you to watch the growth of Fastenal all of these years. likewise it's been a pleasure along with all of you to watch the growth of fastenal all of these years I'm grateful for your integrity and for your leadership and stewardship of the Fastenal Company, especially as CEO these past 10 years. i'm grateful for your integrity and for your leadership and stewardship of the fastenal company especially as ceo these past 10 years Congratulations. congratulations I am also confident in the ability of Fastenal to continually raise up leaders who are the best in the industry. i am also confident in the ability of fastenal to continually raise up leaders who are the best in the industry I am confident in your successor, Jeff Watts, who will build on your legacy of excellence, bringing out the very best of all the coworkers of Blue Team. I invite you all to reflect on your confidence and gratitude as we offer our prayer. Creator God, your goodness and bounty of your creation are the rich soil that blesses and nourishes and holds firm the roots of our gratitude and confidence. As we gather to review our accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the future, bless the work of this assembly and this corporation. Bless the hands of those who labor. Bless the minds of those who devise strategies and creative solutions. Bless the vision of leaders who bring out the best in their coworkers. Bless the faithfulness and trust of shareholders who provide encouragement and accountability. I am confident in your successor, Jeff Watts, who will build on your legacy of excellence, bringing out the very best of all the coworkers of Blue Team. i am confident in your successor jeff watts who will build on your legacy of excellence bringing out the very best of all the coworkers of blue team I invite you all to reflect on your confidence and gratitude as we offer our prayer. i invite you all to reflect on your confidence and gratitude as we offer our prayer Creator God, your goodness and bounty of your creation are the rich soil that blesses and nourishes and holds firm the roots of our gratitude and confidence. creator god your goodness and bounty of your creation are the rich soil that blesses and nourishes and holds firm the roots of our gratitude and confidence As we gather to review our accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the future, bless the work of this assembly and this corporation. as we gather to review our accomplishments challenges and plans for the future bless the work of this assembly and this corporation Bless the hands of those who labor. bless the hands of those who labor Bless the minds of those who devise strategies and creative solutions. bless the minds of those who devise strategies and creative solutions Bless the vision of leaders who bring out the best in their coworkers. bless the vision of leaders who bring out the best in their coworkers Bless the faithfulness and trust of shareholders who provide encouragement and accountability. bless the faithfulness and trust of shareholders who provide encouragement and accountability Let our work be done not only for our gain, but for the betterment of all. Amen. Let our work be done not only for our gain, but for the betterment of all. let our work be done not only for our gain but for the betterment of all Amen. amen

Speaker 11: Thank you, Pastor. Okay, this annual meeting of shareholders of Fastenal Company is now convened. Again, I'm Scott Satterlee, Chair of the board of the company, and I will act as Chair of the meeting. Mr. John Milek, who is Vice President and General Counsel for the company, will act as the secretary of the meeting. We'd like to recognize the founders of the company, led by Robert A. Kierlin, Henry K. McConnon, John D. Remick, Stephen M. Slaggie, and Michael M. Gostomski. We also have our entire board of directors here today, so I'd like to recognize them. We have Michael J. Ancius, Stephen L. Eastman, Brady D. Ericson, Daniel L. Florness, Rita J. Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. Johnson, Sarah N. Nielsen, Irene A. Quarshie, and Reyne K. Wisecup. Thank you, Pastor. thank you pastor Okay, this annual meeting of shareholders of Fastenal Company is now convened. okay this annual meeting of shareholders of fastenal company is now convened Again, I'm Scott Satterlee, Chair of the board of the company, and I will act as Chair of the meeting. again i'm scott satterlee chair of the board of the company and i will act as chair of the meeting Mr. John Milek, who is Vice President and General Counsel for the company, will act as the secretary of the meeting. mr john milek who is vice president and general counsel for the company will act as the secretary of the meeting We'd like to recognize the founders of the company, led by Robert A. we'd like to recognize the founders of the company led by robert a Kierlin, Henry K. kierlin henry k McConnon, John D. mcconnon john d Remick, Stephen M. remick stephen m Slaggie, and Michael M. slaggie and michael m Gostomski. gostomski We also have our entire board of directors here today, so I'd like to recognize them. we also have our entire board of directors here today so i'd like to recognize them We have Michael J. we have michael j Ancius, Stephen L. ancius stephen l Eastman, Brady D. eastman brady d Ericson, Daniel L. ericson daniel l Florness, Rita J. florness rita j Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. heise hseng-hung sam hsu daniel l Johnson, Sarah N. johnson sarah n Nielsen, Irene A. nielsen irene a Quarshie, and Reyne K. quarshie and reyne k Wisecup. wisecup I will now ask Mr. Milek to report on the number of shares present at this meeting and to conduct the voting on the proposals to be considered at this meeting. Following the vote, our President and Chief Sales Officer, Jeffery M. Watts, and our Chief Executive Officer, Daniel L. Florness, will report to you on the company. John. I will now ask Mr. Milek to report on the number of shares present at this meeting and to conduct the voting on the proposals to be considered at this meeting. i will now ask mr milek to report on the number of shares present at this meeting and to conduct the voting on the proposals to be considered at this meeting Following the vote, our President and Chief Sales Officer, Jeffery M. following the vote our president and chief sales officer jeffery m Watts, and our Chief Executive Officer, Daniel L. watts and our chief executive officer daniel l Florness, will report to you on the company. florness will report to you on the company John. john

Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Satterlee, and good morning, everyone. Before starting, I want to remind shareholders of the rules of this meeting, copies of which are available at the registration desk in the back. Most importantly, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. Upon being recognized, please state your name clearly and limit your statements to no more than three minutes. There are five management proposals and one shareholder proposal to be voted on. A designee of the sponsoring shareholder proponent is in attendance and will have three minutes to introduce the proposal and make a statement in support. The board of directors has already made available the position in the proxy statement that you have received. Thank you, Mr. Satterlee, and good morning, everyone. thank you mr satterlee and good morning everyone Before starting, I want to remind shareholders of the rules of this meeting, copies of which are available at the registration desk in the back. before starting i want to remind shareholders of the rules of this meeting copies of which are available at the registration desk in the back Most importantly, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. most importantly if you wish to speak please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you Upon being recognized, please state your name clearly and limit your statements to no more than three minutes. upon being recognized please state your name clearly and limit your statements to no more than three minutes There are five management proposals and one shareholder proposal to be voted on. there are five management proposals and one shareholder proposal to be voted on A designee of the sponsoring shareholder proponent is in attendance and will have three minutes to introduce the proposal and make a statement in support. a designee of the sponsoring shareholder proponent is in attendance and will have three minutes to introduce the proposal and make a statement in support The board of directors has already made available the position in the proxy statement that you have received. the board of directors has already made available the position in the proxy statement that you have received The record date for the determination of the holders of the company's common stock entitled to receive notice of and to vote at this meeting was fixed by our board of directors as February 23rd, 2026. I present to this meeting a certified list of the holders of shares of the company's issued and outstanding stock as of the close of business on the record date. This list will be kept open and subject to inspection by any shareholder during this meeting. I also present to this meeting an affidavit of a manager of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., attesting that the notice of the meeting, together with a proxy statement, a proxy card, and certain other documents, were mailed on or about March 13th, 2026 to each holder of record of the company's common stock as of the close of business on the record date. The record date for the determination of the holders of the company's common stock entitled to receive notice of and to vote at this meeting was fixed by our board of directors as February 23rd, 2026. the record date for the determination of the holders of the company's common stock entitled to receive notice of and to vote at this meeting was fixed by our board of directors as february 23rd 2026 I present to this meeting a certified list of the holders of shares of the company's issued and outstanding stock as of the close of business on the record date. i present to this meeting a certified list of the holders of shares of the company's issued and outstanding stock as of the close of business on the record date This list will be kept open and subject to inspection by any shareholder during this meeting. I also present to this meeting an affidavit of a manager of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., attesting that the notice of the meeting, together with a proxy statement, a proxy card, and certain other documents, were mailed on or about March 13th, 2026 to each holder of record of the company's common stock as of the close of business on the record date. this list will be kept open and subject to inspection by any shareholder during this meeting. i also present to this meeting an affidavit of a manager of broadridge financial solutions inc attesting that the notice of the meeting together with a proxy statement a proxy card and certain other documents were mailed on or about march 13th 2026 to each holder of record of the company's common stock as of the close of business on the record date The affidavit of mailing of the notice of this meeting will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as Exhibit A. The certified list of holders of the company's common stock will be filed with the books and records of the company. As of the close of business on the record date, there are outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting, 1,148,328,513 shares of common stock. Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote. For a quorum to be present, a majority of the 1,148,328,513 votes entitled to be cast must be present in person or by proxy at this meeting. On a preliminary count, there are represented at this meeting, either in person or by proxy, a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at this meeting. Therefore, a quorum is present for the transaction of business. The affidavit of mailing of the notice of this meeting will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as Exhibit A. the affidavit of mailing of the notice of this meeting will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as exhibit a The certified list of holders of the company's common stock will be filed with the books and records of the company. the certified list of holders of the company's common stock will be filed with the books and records of the company As of the close of business on the record date, there are outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting, 1,148,328,513 shares of common stock. as of the close of business on the record date there are outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting 1,148,328,513 shares of common stock Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote. each share of common stock is entitled to one vote For a quorum to be present, a majority of the 1,148,328,513 votes entitled to be cast must be present in person or by proxy at this meeting. for a quorum to be present a majority of the 1,148,328,513 votes entitled to be cast must be present in person or by proxy at this meeting On a preliminary count, there are represented at this meeting, either in person or by proxy, a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at this meeting. on a preliminary count there are represented at this meeting either in person or by proxy a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at this meeting Therefore, a quorum is present for the transaction of business. therefore a quorum is present for the transaction of business A record of the proxies submitted to this meeting, and the ballots of the individuals appointed as proxies, and of the shareholders voting in person in this meeting, will be filed with the books and records of the company. Ellen Stoltz has been appointed to act as the Inspector of Election with respect to all matters to be voted upon at this meeting or any adjournment thereof. The oath of the Inspector of Election has been administered and will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as Exhibit B. We are hereby making available to the Inspector of Election the list of shareholders, the registration forms, and a record of all proxies submitted to this meeting. Copies of the minutes of the last annual meeting of the company, held on April 24th, 2025, are available at the registration desk. A record of the proxies submitted to this meeting, and the ballots of the individuals appointed as proxies, and of the shareholders voting in person in this meeting, will be filed with the books and records of the company. a record of the proxies submitted to this meeting and the ballots of the individuals appointed as proxies and of the shareholders voting in person in this meeting will be filed with the books and records of the company Ellen Stoltz has been appointed to act as the Inspector of Election with respect to all matters to be voted upon at this meeting or any adjournment thereof. ellen stoltz has been appointed to act as the inspector of election with respect to all matters to be voted upon at this meeting or any adjournment thereof The oath of the Inspector of Election has been administered and will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as Exhibit B. the oath of the inspector of election has been administered and will be attached to the minutes of this meeting as exhibit b We are hereby making available to the Inspector of Election the list of shareholders, the registration forms, and a record of all proxies submitted to this meeting. we are hereby making available to the inspector of election the list of shareholders the registration forms and a record of all proxies submitted to this meeting Copies of the minutes of the last annual meeting of the company, held on April 24th, 2025, are available at the registration desk. copies of the minutes of the last annual meeting of the company held on april 24th 2025 are available at the registration desk We will therefore dispense with the reading of the minutes of that meeting. All shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 23rd, 2026, are eligible to vote on the matters to be considered today. We will now take up the business of the meeting. We have six matters to be considered by our shareholders today. The first of these is the election of directors for this coming year. The Board of Directors of the company has nominated the following 11 persons for election to the board to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected and qualified. Scott A. Satterlee, Michael J. Ancius, Stephen L. Eastman, Brady D. Ericson, Daniel L. Florness, Rita J. Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. Johnson, Sarah N. Nielsen, Irene A. Quarshie, and Reyne K. Wisecup. We will therefore dispense with the reading of the minutes of that meeting. we will therefore dispense with the reading of the minutes of that meeting All shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 23rd, 2026, are eligible to vote on the matters to be considered today. all shareholders of record as of the close of business on february 23rd 2026 are eligible to vote on the matters to be considered today We will now take up the business of the meeting. we will now take up the business of the meeting We have six matters to be considered by our shareholders today. we have six matters to be considered by our shareholders today The first of these is the election of directors for this coming year. the first of these is the election of directors for this coming year The Board of Directors of the company has nominated the following 11 persons for election to the board to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected and qualified. the board of directors of the company has nominated the following 11 persons for election to the board to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected and qualified Scott A. scott a Satterlee, Michael J. satterlee michael j Ancius, Stephen L. ancius stephen l Eastman, Brady D. eastman brady d Ericson, Daniel L. ericson daniel l Florness, Rita J. florness rita j Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. heise hseng-hung sam hsu daniel l Johnson, Sarah N. johnson sarah n Nielsen, Irene A. nielsen irene a Quarshie, and Reyne K. quarshie and reyne k Wisecup. wisecup I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting the nomination of these individuals. I recognize Mr. Pat Jolliff. I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting the nomination of these individuals. i will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting the nomination of these individuals I recognize Mr. Pat Jolliff. i recognize mr pat jolliff

Speaker 10: I'm supposed to have a microphone available to me, but since I don't, I'll yell. I'm supposed to have a microphone available to me, but since I don't, I'll yell. i'm supposed to have a microphone available to me but since i don't i'll yell

Speaker 6: Okay. Okay. okay

Speaker 10: My name is Pat Jolliff, and I am a shareholder of the company. I move to formally place before this meeting the nomination of the 11 individuals identified for election to the Board of Directors to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders and until their successors are elected and qualified. My name is Pat Jolliff, and I am a shareholder of the company. my name is pat jolliff and i am a shareholder of the company I move to formally place before this meeting the nomination of the 11 individuals identified for election to the Board of Directors to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders and until their successors are elected and qualified. i move to formally place before this meeting the nomination of the 11 individuals identified for election to the board of directors to serve until the next regular meeting of shareholders and until their successors are elected and qualified

Speaker 6: Thank you. As no other nominations have been made in accordance with the procedures establishing the company's bylaws, I declare the nominations to be closed. The next matter for consideration today is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. I would like to introduce Mr. Ryan Lepper, a partner with PwC LLP, and Ms. Lauren Carew, a director with PwC LLP, who are here today to answer any questions that you may have. I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. I recognize Mr. Ken Lyons. Thank you. thank you As no other nominations have been made in accordance with the procedures establishing the company's bylaws, I declare the nominations to be closed. as no other nominations have been made in accordance with the procedures establishing the company's bylaws i declare the nominations to be closed The next matter for consideration today is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. the next matter for consideration today is the ratification of the appointment of pricewaterhousecoopers llp as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026 I would like to introduce Mr. Ryan Lepper, a partner with PwC LLP, and Ms. Lauren Carew, a director with PwC LLP, who are here today to answer any questions that you may have. i would like to introduce mr ryan lepper a partner with pwc llp and ms lauren carew a director with pwc llp who are here today to answer any questions that you may have I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. i will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the ratification of the appointment of pricewaterhousecoopers llp as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026 I recognize Mr. Ken Lyons. i recognize mr ken lyons

Speaker 8: My name is Ken Lyons. I'm a shareholder of the company. I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, be and hereby is ratified. My name is Ken Lyons. my name is ken lyons I'm a shareholder of the company. i'm a shareholder of the company I move that the following resolution be adopted. i move that the following resolution be adopted Resolved, that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, be and hereby is ratified. resolved that the appointment of pricewaterhousecoopers llp as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending december 31st 2026 be and hereby is ratified

Speaker 6: Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, be ratified. I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the approval of executive compensation. I recognize Mr. Dan Norris. Thank you. thank you Is there any discussion of this motion? is there any discussion of this motion It has been moved that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, be ratified. it has been moved that the appointment of pricewaterhousecoopers llp as independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending december 31st 2026 be ratified I will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the approval of executive compensation. i will now open the floor to a motion to formally place before this meeting a resolution concerning the approval of executive compensation I recognize Mr. Dan Norris. i recognize mr dan norris

Speaker 3: My name is Dan Norris, and I'm a shareholder of the company. I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation tables, and related disclosures contained in the section of the proxy statement for 2026 annual meeting of shareholders captioned Executive Compensation. My name is Dan Norris, and I'm a shareholder of the company. my name is dan norris and i'm a shareholder of the company I move that the following resolution be adopted. i move that the following resolution be adopted Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation tables, and related disclosures contained in the section of the proxy statement for 2026 annual meeting of shareholders captioned Executive Compensation. resolved that the shareholders of the company approve on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the compensation discussion and analysis compensation tables and related disclosures contained in the section of the proxy statement for 2026 annual meeting of shareholders captioned executive compensation

Speaker 6: Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the compensation of certain of our executive officers be approved. I will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan. I recognize Ms. Kate Hazelton. Thank you. thank you Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the compensation of certain of our executive officers be approved. is there any discussion of this motion? it has been moved that the compensation of certain of our executive officers be approved I will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan. i will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the fastenal company employee restricted stock unit plan I recognize Ms. Kate Hazelton. i recognize ms kate hazelton

Speaker 7: My name is Kate Hazelton. I am a shareholder of the company, and I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan. My name is Kate Hazelton. my name is kate hazelton I am a shareholder of the company, and I move that the following resolution be adopted. i am a shareholder of the company and i move that the following resolution be adopted Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan. resolved that the shareholders of the company approve the fastenal company employee restricted stock unit plan

Speaker 6: Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan be approved. I will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan. I recognize Ms. Betsy Jerby. Thank you. thank you Is there any discussion of this motion? is there any discussion of this motion It has been moved that the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan be approved. it has been moved that the fastenal company employee restricted stock unit plan be approved I will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan. i will now open the floor to a motion concerning the approval of the fastenal company non-employee director stock and restricted stock unit plan I recognize Ms. Betsy Jerby. i recognize ms betsy jerby

Speaker 2: My name is Betsy Jerby, and I am a shareholder of the company. I move that the following resolution be adopted. Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan. My name is Betsy Jerby, and I am a shareholder of the company. my name is betsy jerby and i am a shareholder of the company I move that the following resolution be adopted. i move that the following resolution be adopted Resolved, that the shareholders of the company approve the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan. resolved that the shareholders of the company approve the fastenal company non-employee director stock and restricted stock unit plan

Speaker 6: Thank you. Is there any discussion of this motion? It has been moved that the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan be approved. The last matter for consideration today is the shareholder proposal relating to EEO-1 Report Disclosure Policy, if the shareholder proposal is properly presented at this meeting. This shareholder proposal was submitted by the Comptroller of the City of New York, Mr. Brad Lander, on behalf of the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the New York City Teachers' Retirement System, the New York City Police Pension Fund, and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System, and was included in the proxy statement. The board makes no recommendation on this proposal. I understand that the designee for the sponsor of the proposal is in attendance and will present the shareholder proposal. Please begin, and limit your remarks to three minutes. Thank you. thank you Is there any discussion of this motion? is there any discussion of this motion It has been moved that the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan be approved. it has been moved that the fastenal company non-employee director stock and restricted stock unit plan be approved The last matter for consideration today is the shareholder proposal relating to EEO-1 Report Disclosure Policy, if the shareholder proposal is properly presented at this meeting. the last matter for consideration today is the shareholder proposal relating to eeo-1 report disclosure policy if the shareholder proposal is properly presented at this meeting This shareholder proposal was submitted by the Comptroller of the City of New York, Mr. Brad Lander, on behalf of the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the New York City Teachers' Retirement System, the New York City Police Pension Fund, and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System, and was included in the proxy statement. this shareholder proposal was submitted by the comptroller of the city of new york mr brad lander on behalf of the new york city employees' retirement system the new york city teachers' retirement system the new york city police pension fund and the new york city board of education retirement system and was included in the proxy statement The board makes no recommendation on this proposal. the board makes no recommendation on this proposal I understand that the designee for the sponsor of the proposal is in attendance and will present the shareholder proposal. i understand that the designee for the sponsor of the proposal is in attendance and will present the shareholder proposal Please begin, and limit your remarks to three minutes. please begin and limit your remarks to three minutes

Speaker 1: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and fellow shareholders. My name is Andrew Elcock. I am a senior investment analyst for the New York City Comptroller's Office. I'm presenting Proposal Six on behalf of the New York City Comptroller and four New York City pension funds, which are substantial long-term shareholders with roughly 1 million shares of the company, worth approximately $47 million. Proposal Six asks the board to adopt a policy requiring the company to disclose on its website a consolidated EEO-1 report, which is a comprehensive breakdown of its workforce by race, ethnicity, and gender that the company is required to submit annually to the EEOC. Fastenal's website states, "Because we value people, we prioritize safety, we foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we strive to improve communities and the planet. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and fellow shareholders. good morning mr chairman members of the board and fellow shareholders My name is Andrew Elcock. my name is andrew elcock I am a senior investment analyst for the New York City Comptroller's Office. i am a senior investment analyst for the new york city comptroller's office I'm presenting Proposal Six on behalf of the New York City Comptroller and four New York City pension funds, which are substantial long-term shareholders with roughly 1 million shares of the company, worth approximately $47 million. i'm presenting proposal six on behalf of the new york city comptroller and four new york city pension funds which are substantial long-term shareholders with roughly 1 million shares of the company worth approximately $47 million Proposal Six asks the board to adopt a policy requiring the company to disclose on its website a consolidated EEO-1 report, which is a comprehensive breakdown of its workforce by race, ethnicity, and gender that the company is required to submit annually to the EEOC. proposal six asks the board to adopt a policy requiring the company to disclose on its website a consolidated eeo-1 report which is a comprehensive breakdown of its workforce by race ethnicity and gender that the company is required to submit annually to the eeoc Fastenal's website states, "Because we value people, we prioritize safety, we foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we strive to improve communities and the planet. fastenal's website states "because we value people we prioritize safety we foster a culture of diversity equity and inclusion and we strive to improve communities and the planet We remain strongly committed to promotion from within, creating pathways for employees to branch out, build rewarding careers, and become leaders in our organization. We commend the company on its commitment to racial equity and diversity. However, without robust and comparable disclosure of its workforce demographics, shareholders have no way to benchmark the company's diversity performance and hold it accountable for its commitments. We appreciate our engagement with management this year, but we urge you to go further to provide shareholders with consistent and comparable decision-useful information. I would like to point out also that the board elected not to take a position on this proposal. We urge shareholders to vote for proposal number six. Thank you. We remain strongly committed to promotion from within, creating pathways for employees to branch out, build rewarding careers, and become leaders in our organization. we remain strongly committed to promotion from within creating pathways for employees to branch out build rewarding careers and become leaders in our organization We commend the company on its commitment to racial equity and diversity. we commend the company on its commitment to racial equity and diversity However, without robust and comparable disclosure of its workforce demographics, shareholders have no way to benchmark the company's diversity performance and hold it accountable for its commitments. however without robust and comparable disclosure of its workforce demographics shareholders have no way to benchmark the company's diversity performance and hold it accountable for its commitments We appreciate our engagement with management this year, but we urge you to go further to provide shareholders with consistent and comparable decision-useful information. we appreciate our engagement with management this year but we urge you to go further to provide shareholders with consistent and comparable decision-useful information I would like to point out also that the board elected not to take a position on this proposal. i would like to point out also that the board elected not to take a position on this proposal We urge shareholders to vote for proposal number six. we urge shareholders to vote for proposal number six Thank you. thank you

Speaker 6: Thank you. I remind shareholders that the board makes no recommendation in regards to voting on this proposal. Shares of record who wish to vote on these motions by ballot had an opportunity to vote in person at the registration desk. The polls are now closed, and the ballots will be counted. While the ballots are being counted, Mr. Jeffery M. Watts, our President and Chief Sales Officer, and Mr. Daniel L. Florness, our Chief Executive Officer, will report to you on the company. After the conclusion of the report, we will answer any questions that you may have relating to the company and its activities. Thank you. Thank you. thank you I remind shareholders that the board makes no recommendation in regards to voting on this proposal. i remind shareholders that the board makes no recommendation in regards to voting on this proposal Shares of record who wish to vote on these motions by ballot had an opportunity to vote in person at the registration desk. shares of record who wish to vote on these motions by ballot had an opportunity to vote in person at the registration desk The polls are now closed, and the ballots will be counted. the polls are now closed and the ballots will be counted While the ballots are being counted, Mr. Jeffery M. while the ballots are being counted mr jeffery m Watts, our President and Chief Sales Officer, and Mr. Daniel L. watts our president and chief sales officer and mr daniel l Florness, our Chief Executive Officer, will report to you on the company. florness our chief executive officer will report to you on the company After the conclusion of the report, we will answer any questions that you may have relating to the company and its activities. after the conclusion of the report we will answer any questions that you may have relating to the company and its activities Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: Good morning, everyone. I'm Jeff Watts. I'm Fastenal's President and Chief Sales Officer and it's an honor to stand before you today to review our company's performance and share our vision for the road ahead. Let me first start by saying just how proud I am of what Fastenal achieved in 2025. We navigated a challenging environment and we delivered remarkable results. Even more than that, I'm excited about where we're headed and the strong foundation we've built for our future growth and our value. Getting started, if I had to sum up 2025 in one word, it would be execution. Last year, it demanded discipline and focus, and throughout the year, we faced uneven industrial demand, continued tariff pressures, and customers who are understandably cautious of trying to control their risk in their supply chains. Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone I'm Jeff Watts. i'm jeff watts I'm Fastenal's President and Chief Sales Officer and it's an honor to stand before you today to review our company's performance and share our vision for the road ahead. i'm fastenal's president and chief sales officer and it's an honor to stand before you today to review our company's performance and share our vision for the road ahead Let me first start by saying just how proud I am of what Fastenal achieved in 2025. let me first start by saying just how proud i am of what fastenal achieved in 2025 We navigated a challenging environment and we delivered remarkable results. we navigated a challenging environment and we delivered remarkable results Even more than that, I'm excited about where we're headed and the strong foundation we've built for our future growth and our value. even more than that i'm excited about where we're headed and the strong foundation we've built for our future growth and our value Getting started, if I had to sum up 2025 in one word, it would be execution. getting started if i had to sum up 2025 in one word it would be execution Last year, it demanded discipline and focus, and throughout the year, we faced uneven industrial demand, continued tariff pressures, and customers who are understandably cautious of trying to control their risk in their supply chains. last year it demanded discipline and focus and throughout the year we faced uneven industrial demand continued tariff pressures and customers who are understandably cautious of trying to control their risk in their supply chains The Purchasing Managers' Index, or the PMI, at the end-of-the-year, had spent 36 of the previous 38 months below 50, indicating contraction in the industrial sector. In other words, the environment was far from simple, and yet Fastenal rose to the challenge. We stayed close to our customers, we concentrated on the factors that we could control, and we executed our game plan with consistency across the organization. In a difficult climate, our disciplined execution, it protected our margin and really positioned us to resume our growth, benefiting both our customers and our shareholders. The Purchasing Managers' Index, or the PMI, at the end- of- the- year, had spent 36 of the previous 38 months below 50, indicating contraction in the industrial sector. the purchasing managers' index or the pmi at the end- of- the- year had spent 36 of the previous 38 months below 50 indicating contraction in the industrial sector In other words, the environment was far from simple, and yet Fastenal rose to the challenge. in other words the environment was far from simple and yet fastenal rose to the challenge We stayed close to our customers, we concentrated on the factors that we could control, and we executed our game plan with consistency across the organization. we stayed close to our customers we concentrated on the factors that we could control and we executed our game plan with consistency across the organization In a difficult climate, our disciplined execution, it protected our margin and really positioned us to resume our growth, benefiting both our customers and our shareholders. in a difficult climate our disciplined execution it protected our margin and really positioned us to resume our growth benefiting both our customers and our shareholders Now, our performance last year, it wasn't really just about the numbers, it was about how we delivered them and where we got the growth from. As you can see, Fastenal delivered approximately $8.2 billion in total sales, fueled by strong contributions from across our geographies, across our customer base, and our product lines. Now, our performance last year, it wasn't really just about the numbers, it was about how we delivered them and where we got the growth from. now our performance last year it wasn't really just about the numbers it was about how we delivered them and where we got the growth from As you can see, Fastenal delivered approximately $8.2 billion in total sales, fueled by strong contributions from across our geographies, across our customer base, and our product lines. as you can see fastenal delivered approximately $8.2 billion in total sales fueled by strong contributions from across our geographies across our customer base and our product lines United States remains our core market, accounting for $6.8 billion, roughly 83% of company sales. This business unit, it grew revenues over 9% and remains the engine driving our growth. Internationally, our business continues to expand. In Canada and Mexico, it generated $1.1 billion, or about 14% of sales. Our other global markets, including Europe and Asia, it provided about $250 million, or 3% of total revenues. Now, while our U.S. business is strong, these international gains, particularly in Canada and Mexico, it shows that Fastenal's value proposition resonates globally. We have a significant runway for growth in our international markets. Now, when we look at our customer site spend data, what really stands out is the scale and strength across our customer spend tiers. We're accelerating our growth by deepening relationships with our largest customers. United States remains our core market, accounting for $6.8 billion, roughly 83% of company sales. united states remains our core market accounting for $6.8 billion roughly 83% of company sales This business unit, it grew revenues over 9% and remains the engine driving our growth. this business unit it grew revenues over 9% and remains the engine driving our growth Internationally, our business continues to expand. In Canada and Mexico, it generated $1.1 billion, or about 14% of sales. internationally our business continues to expand. in canada and mexico it generated $1.1 billion or about 14% of sales Our other global markets, including Europe and Asia, it provided about $250 million, or 3% of total revenues. our other global markets including europe and asia it provided about $250 million or 3% of total revenues Now, while our U.S. business is strong, these international gains, particularly in Canada and Mexico, it shows that Fastenal's value proposition resonates globally. now while our u.s business is strong these international gains particularly in canada and mexico it shows that fastenal's value proposition resonates globally We have a significant runway for growth in our international markets. we have a significant runway for growth in our international markets Now, when we look at our customer site spend data, what really stands out is the scale and strength across our customer spend tiers. now when we look at our customer site spend data what really stands out is the scale and strength across our customer spend tiers We're accelerating our growth by deepening relationships with our largest customers. we're accelerating our growth by deepening relationships with our largest customers The last year, there were just over 19,000 customer sites, each doing over $5,000 per month with Fastenal. Collectively, these larger accounts generated about $7.3 billion, 11% more than the previous year. Within this group, almost 2,700 sites spent over $50,000 per month, contributing $4.3 billion to the company. The number of sites in the 50k plus tier grew by 12%, with revenues surpassing 15% growth. The takeaway is clear. Our largest customers are expanding with us, and a strong indicator of customer trust and the value that we deliver. This consistent momentum across tiers, not just at the top, it shows strong, durable demand and a healthy pipeline for our future expansion. Now, when it comes to product lines, our mix spans both direct and indirect categories. Now, Fastenal's product offering continues to diversify and in 2025, almost 40% of our sales were direct materials. The last year, there were just over 19,000 customer sites, each doing over $5,000 per month with Fastenal. the last year there were just over 19,000 customer sites each doing over $5,000 per month with fastenal Collectively, these larger accounts generated about $7.3 billion, 11% more than the previous year. collectively these larger accounts generated about $7.3 billion 11% more than the previous year Within this group, almost 2,700 sites spent over $50,000 per month, contributing $4.3 billion to the company. within this group almost 2,700 sites spent over $50,000 per month contributing $4.3 billion to the company The number of sites in the 50k plus tier grew by 12%, with revenues surpassing 15% growth. the number of sites in the 50k plus tier grew by 12% with revenues surpassing 15% growth The takeaway is clear. the takeaway is clear Our largest customers are expanding with us, and a strong indicator of customer trust and the value that we deliver. our largest customers are expanding with us and a strong indicator of customer trust and the value that we deliver This consistent momentum across tiers, not just at the top, it shows strong, durable demand and a healthy pipeline for our future expansion. this consistent momentum across tiers not just at the top it shows strong durable demand and a healthy pipeline for our future expansion Now, when it comes to product lines, our mix spans both direct and indirect categories. now when it comes to product lines our mix spans both direct and indirect categories Now, Fastenal's product offering continues to diversify and in 2025, almost 40% of our sales were direct materials. now fastenal's product offering continues to diversify and in 2025 almost 40% of our sales were direct materials Those are the production components and supplies that become part of our customers' finished goods or products directly consumed in that production, like cutting tools and abrasives. Manufacturing customers now represent about 76% of our sales, and roughly 50% of that subset is direct materials. On the other side, indirect materials, the MRO type items like safety supplies and non-production type items, they make up 60% of our revenues. This balanced mix between direct and indirect product shows how we've evolved into a broad spectrum supply chain partner. This diversification, it's a strategic strength. It expands our market opportunity and makes us more valuable to each customer by fulfilling a wider range of their needs. In summary, we succeeded by growing the right way, through trust, through partnership, and delivering real value to our customers. Those are the production components and supplies that become part of our customers' finished goods or products directly consumed in that production, like cutting tools and abrasives. those are the production components and supplies that become part of our customers' finished goods or products directly consumed in that production like cutting tools and abrasives Manufacturing customers now represent about 76% of our sales, and roughly 50% of that subset is direct materials. manufacturing customers now represent about 76% of our sales and roughly 50% of that subset is direct materials On the other side, indirect materials, the MRO type items like safety supplies and non-production type items, they make up 60% of our revenues. on the other side indirect materials the mro type items like safety supplies and non-production type items they make up 60% of our revenues This balanced mix between direct and indirect product shows how we've evolved into a broad spectrum supply chain partner. this balanced mix between direct and indirect product shows how we've evolved into a broad spectrum supply chain partner This diversification, it's a strategic strength. this diversification it's a strategic strength It expands our market opportunity and makes us more valuable to each customer by fulfilling a wider range of their needs. it expands our market opportunity and makes us more valuable to each customer by fulfilling a wider range of their needs In summary, we succeeded by growing the right way, through trust, through partnership, and delivering real value to our customers. in summary we succeeded by growing the right way through trust through partnership and delivering real value to our customers Now, let's take a step back and look at the year in a longer term type context. Now, this chart on this slide, it shows Fastenal's key financial metrics in 2015, 2020, and 2025, alongside our future milestones of $10 billion and $15 billion in revenues. These figures, they reflect 10 years of strong, sustainable growth. In 2015, Fastenal's annual sales were $3.8 billion. By 2020, we'd reached $5.6 billionand in 2025, we'd reached $8.2 billion. That's an annual growth rate of approximately 8% over the past decade. Essentially, we doubled our revenue in 10 years, turning the vision we all had of an $8 billion Fastenal into reality. This consistent growth, it reflects our ability to gain market share and expand our range of products and services. Our aspiration looking ahead is continue this trajectory towards $10 billion and eventually $15 billion in sales. Now, let's take a step back and look at the year in a longer term type context. now let's take a step back and look at the year in a longer term type context Now, this chart on this slide, it shows Fastenal's key financial metrics in 2015, 2020, and 2025, alongside our future milestones of $10 billion and $15 billion in revenues. now this chart on this slide it shows fastenal's key financial metrics in 2015 2020 and 2025 alongside our future milestones of $10 billion and $15 billion in revenues These figures, they reflect 10 years of strong, sustainable growth. these figures they reflect 10 years of strong sustainable growth In 2015, Fastenal's annual sales were $3.8 billion. in 2015 fastenal's annual sales were $3.8 billion By 2020, we'd reached $5.6 billion and in 2025, we'd reached $8.2 billion. by 2020 we'd reached $5.6 billion and in 2025 we'd reached $8.2 billion That's an annual growth rate of approximately 8% over the past decade. that's an annual growth rate of approximately 8% over the past decade Essentially, we doubled our revenue in 10 years, turning the vision we all had of an $8 billion Fastenal into reality. essentially we doubled our revenue in 10 years turning the vision we all had of an $8 billion fastenal into reality This consistent growth, it reflects our ability to gain market share and expand our range of products and services. this consistent growth it reflects our ability to gain market share and expand our range of products and services Our aspiration looking ahead is continue this trajectory towards $10 billion and eventually $15 billion in sales. our aspiration looking ahead is continue this trajectory towards $10 billion and eventually $15 billion in sales Hitting $10 billion will represent roughly a 22% increase from last year, and reaching $15 billion will nearly double 2025's revenues again. These are ambitious goals, but achievable with the large market opportunity that we see and our track record of growth. Now, importantly, we've grown profitably. Operating income reached nearly double over the past decade, reaching $1.6 billion in 2025. Our operating margin has held steady at around 20% every year, even as we've scaled. I think that's a testament to our productivity and our cost discipline. Our return on invested capital rose to 31% in 2025, up from 25.6% in 2015, demonstrating again how efficiently we're deploying capital to generate returns. Most importantly for you, our shareholders, we've returned significant value. In 2025, we paid over $1 billion in dividends, the first time our regular dividend crossed that milestone. Hitting $10 billion will represent roughly a 22% increase from last year, and reaching $15 billion will nearly double 2025's revenues again. hitting $10 billion will represent roughly a 22% increase from last year and reaching $15 billion will nearly double 2025's revenues again These are ambitious goals, but achievable with the large market opportunity that we see and our track record of growth. these are ambitious goals but achievable with the large market opportunity that we see and our track record of growth Now, importantly, we've grown profitably. now importantly we've grown profitably Operating income reached nearly double over the past decade, reaching $1.6 billion in 2025. operating income reached nearly double over the past decade reaching $1.6 billion in 2025 Our operating margin has held steady at around 20% every year, even as we've scaled. our operating margin has held steady at around 20% every year even as we've scaled I think that's a testament to our productivity and our cost discipline. i think that's a testament to our productivity and our cost discipline Our return on invested capital rose to 31% in 2025, up from 25.6% in 2015, demonstrating again how efficiently we're deploying capital to generate returns. our return on invested capital rose to 31% in 2025 up from 25.6% in 2015 demonstrating again how efficiently we're deploying capital to generate returns Most importantly for you, our shareholders, we've returned significant value. most importantly for you our shareholders we've returned significant value In 2025, we paid over $1 billion in dividends, the first time our regular dividend crossed that milestone. in 2025 we paid over $1 billion in dividends the first time our regular dividend crossed that milestone That's about 80% of our net income. Over the past five years, we've generated $5.6 billion in net income and returned more than $4.5 billion of that, over 80%, through dividends and share repurchases, all while continuing to invest in our people, technology, and inventory for future growth. This is what balanced growth looks like, expanding our business, maintaining strong margins, and delivering meaningful returns to our shareholders. How do we continue this momentum? Our strategy is built on a simple, powerful idea from our founder, Bob Kierlin. Organizations succeed to the extent that all their members pursue a common goal. That shared purpose is what drives us forward. As supply chains grow more complex, our customers need more reliability, visibility, and efficiency. We're meeting that challenge not by reinventing Fastenal, but by sharpening how we win. That's about 80% of our net income. that's about 80% of our net income Over the past five years, we've generated $5.6 billion in net income and returned more than $4.5 billion of that, over 80%, through dividends and share repurchases, all while continuing to invest in our people, technology, and inventory for future growth. over the past five years we've generated $5.6 billion in net income and returned more than $4.5 billion of that over 80% through dividends and share repurchases all while continuing to invest in our people technology and inventory for future growth This is what balanced growth looks like, expanding our business, maintaining strong margins, and delivering meaningful returns to our shareholders. this is what balanced growth looks like expanding our business maintaining strong margins and delivering meaningful returns to our shareholders How do we continue this momentum? how do we continue this momentum Our strategy is built on a simple, powerful idea from our founder, Bob Kierlin. our strategy is built on a simple powerful idea from our founder bob kierlin Organizations succeed to the extent that all their members pursue a common goal. organizations succeed to the extent that all their members pursue a common goal That shared purpose is what drives us forward. that shared purpose is what drives us forward As supply chains grow more complex, our customers need more reliability, visibility, and efficiency. as supply chains grow more complex our customers need more reliability visibility and efficiency We're meeting that challenge not by reinventing Fastenal, but by sharpening how we win. we're meeting that challenge not by reinventing fastenal but by sharpening how we win We've aligned our entire organization around three core objectives, increase sales effectiveness, enhance our services, and expand our total addressable market. These goals, they're supported by key accelerators that are already starting to deliver results like leveraging artificial intelligence to work smarter and more efficiently, by expanding our reach through eCommerce, and empowering our customers with FAST 360, which is our digital front door for analytics and visibility and control, and scaling our Onsite FAST Grip service models to embed Fastenal directly into customers' entire operations. This isn't just a strategy on paper, it's a living game plan. It's guided us through last year's challenges and will continue to shape how we grow and invest and create value in the future. Now by deepening customer relationships, expanding our offerings, and driving innovation, we're building a stronger, more valuable Fastenal for our customers and for you, our shareholders. We've aligned our entire organization around three core objectives, increase sales effectiveness, enhance our services, and expand our total addressable market. we've aligned our entire organization around three core objectives increase sales effectiveness enhance our services and expand our total addressable market These goals, they're supported by key accelerators that are already starting to deliver results like leveraging artificial intelligence to work smarter and more efficiently, by expanding our reach through eCommerce, and empowering our customers with FAST 360, which is our digital front door for analytics and visibility and control, and scaling our Onsite FAST Grip service models to embed Fastenal directly into customers' entire operations. these goals they're supported by key accelerators that are already starting to deliver results like leveraging artificial intelligence to work smarter and more efficiently by expanding our reach through ecommerce and empowering our customers with fast 360 which is our digital front door for analytics and visibility and control and scaling our onsite fast grip service models to embed fastenal directly into customers' entire operations This isn't just a strategy on paper, it's a living game plan. this isn't just a strategy on paper it's a living game plan It's guided us through last year's challenges and will continue to shape how we grow and invest and create value in the future. Now by deepening customer relationships, expanding our offerings, and driving innovation, we're building a stronger, more valuable Fastenal for our customers and for you, our shareholders. it's guided us through last year's challenges and will continue to shape how we grow and invest and create value in the future. now by deepening customer relationships expanding our offerings and driving innovation we're building a stronger more valuable fastenal for our customers and for you our shareholders Before I close, I want to highlight an example of our strategy in action, and it was this year's 2026 Fastenal Customer Expo. We had over 3,000 customers there, over 4,500 total attendees, and it was more than an event. It was a showcase of partnership and innovation and the value that we deliver. We hosted sessions tailored to evolving customer needs, and we created space for collaboration between customers and employees and our supplier partners. The focus wasn't on immediate sales. It was on deepening relationships and accelerating solution adoption and building long-term value. That's how we grow with our customers. We believe efforts like this will pay dividends for years to come, fueling growth, strengthening loyalty, and reinforcing Fastenal's role as a trusted supply chain partner. With that, I want to finish up by saying thank you. Thank you for your continued trust and investment in Fastenal. Before I close, I want to highlight an example of our strategy in action, and it was this year's 2026 Fastenal Customer Expo. before i close i want to highlight an example of our strategy in action and it was this year's 2026 fastenal customer expo We had over 3,000 customers there, over 4,500 total attendees, and it was more than an event. we had over 3,000 customers there over 4,500 total attendees and it was more than an event It was a showcase of partnership and innovation and the value that we deliver. it was a showcase of partnership and innovation and the value that we deliver We hosted sessions tailored to evolving customer needs, and we created space for collaboration between customers and employees and our supplier partners. we hosted sessions tailored to evolving customer needs and we created space for collaboration between customers and employees and our supplier partners The focus wasn't on immediate sales. the focus wasn't on immediate sales It was on deepening relationships and accelerating solution adoption and building long-term value. it was on deepening relationships and accelerating solution adoption and building long-term value That's how we grow with our customers. that's how we grow with our customers We believe efforts like this will pay dividends for years to come, fueling growth, strengthening loyalty, and reinforcing Fastenal's role as a trusted supply chain partner. we believe efforts like this will pay dividends for years to come fueling growth strengthening loyalty and reinforcing fastenal's role as a trusted supply chain partner With that, I want to finish up by saying thank you. with that i want to finish up by saying thank you Thank you for your continued trust and investment in Fastenal. thank you for your continued trust and investment in fastenal We're proud of what we've accomplished, and we're even more excited about what's coming in the future. Now, before I turn it over to Dan, as many of you know, this is Dan's last annual shareholder meeting as the CEO, with a planned leadership transition later this year. Before he begins, I want to say publicly what I've told him privately, and it's been extraordinary to work with you. Thank you for your steady leadership through every challenge and opportunity and for your clarity of vision, and for really guiding this company with integrity. It's truly an honor to have been your colleague and to now follow in your footsteps. On behalf of our entire team and the shareholders, again, thank you. Congratulations on an incredible tenure. Dan. We're proud of what we've accomplished, and we're even more excited about what's coming in the future. we're proud of what we've accomplished and we're even more excited about what's coming in the future Now, before I turn it over to Dan, as many of you know, this is Dan's last annual shareholder meeting as the CEO, with a planned leadership transition later this year. now before i turn it over to dan as many of you know this is dan's last annual shareholder meeting as the ceo with a planned leadership transition later this year Before he begins, I want to say publicly what I've told him privately, and it's been extraordinary to work with you. before he begins i want to say publicly what i've told him privately and it's been extraordinary to work with you Thank you for your steady leadership through every challenge and opportunity and for your clarity of vision, and for really guiding this company with integrity. thank you for your steady leadership through every challenge and opportunity and for your clarity of vision and for really guiding this company with integrity It's truly an honor to have been your colleague and to now follow in your footsteps. it's truly an honor to have been your colleague and to now follow in your footsteps On behalf of our entire team and the shareholders, again, thank you. on behalf of our entire team and the shareholders again thank you Congratulations on an incredible tenure. congratulations on an incredible tenure Dan. dan

Speaker 4: Jeff, thank you for the comment. I'll tell you, I don't know. There were moments, and for what it's worth, 30 years ago when I started, I did have hair. But I did want to address one of the first questions I heard today, and I repeated the question to my team because I had the same question. There are chocolate chip cookies. I don't know what box they're in. The day started kind of interesting. My wife and I moved up to the Lake Pepin area a couple of years ago after our daughter graduated. We still have a home here in Winona, so I stayed down here the last couple of days. This morning, I get up, and my wife's up in Lake Pepin area. First off, I couldn't find the keys to my truck. Jeff, thank you for the comment. jeff thank you for the comment I'll tell you, I don't know. i'll tell you i don't know There were moments, and for what it's worth, 30 years ago when I started, I did have hair. there were moments and for what it's worth 30 years ago when i started i did have hair But I did want to address one of the first questions I heard today, and I repeated the question to my team because I had the same question. but i did want to address one of the first questions i heard today and i repeated the question to my team because i had the same question There are chocolate chip cookies. there are chocolate chip cookies I don't know what box they're in. i don't know what box they're in The day started kind of interesting. the day started kind of interesting My wife and I moved up to the Lake Pepin area a couple of years ago after our daughter graduated. my wife and i moved up to the lake pepin area a couple of years ago after our daughter graduated We still have a home here in Winona, so I stayed down here the last couple of days. we still have a home here in winona so i stayed down here the last couple of days This morning, I get up, and my wife's up in Lake Pepin area. this morning i get up and my wife's up in lake pepin area First off, I couldn't find the keys to my truck. first off i couldn't find the keys to my truck I get in my truck and I'm driving to work. The low gas light comes on, and I'm thinking, "Boy, this is a great start to the day." Then I get a call from my wife and she says, "Okay, Florness, what suit are you wearing? Does it have wrinkles?" I can't see wrinkles. When we're 85 and 90 years old, that's a good thing. I can't see wrinkles, so my wife did show up at my office at 8:00 A.M. with a steamer. I do have a burn on my left leg because you should take your pants off when you use a steamer. As always, Pastor Mark Dumke, thank you for the last 30 years. Thank you for what you did to help Jen and I raise, I think, four great kids, and it's great to see you once again. I get in my truck and I'm driving to work. i get in my truck and i'm driving to work The low gas light comes on, and I'm thinking, "Boy, this is a great start to the day." Then I get a call from my wife and she says, "Okay, Florness, what suit are you wearing? the low gas light comes on and i'm thinking "boy this is a great start to the day." then i get a call from my wife and she says "okay florness what suit are you wearing Does it have wrinkles?" I can't see wrinkles. does it have wrinkles?" i can't see wrinkles When we're 85 and 90 years old, that's a good thing. when we're 85 and 90 years old that's a good thing I can't see wrinkles, so my wife did show up at my office at 8:00 A.M. with a steamer. i can't see wrinkles so my wife did show up at my office at 8:00 a.m with a steamer I do have a burn on my left leg because you should take your pants off when you use a steamer. i do have a burn on my left leg because you should take your pants off when you use a steamer As always, Pastor Mark Dumke, thank you for the last 30 years. as always pastor mark dumke thank you for the last 30 years Thank you for what you did to help Jen and I raise, I think, four great kids, and it's great to see you once again. thank you for what you did to help jen and i raise i think four great kids and it's great to see you once again Mark, I'm not sure if I'm doing it. I guess I'm driving it. First off, one of the pleasures of this annual meeting and one of the pleasures of being in this role, I get to recognize folks that have given to the Blue Team over a long career. As you can see, we were quite a much smaller organization 25, 30, and 40 years ago. The folks that joined saw something special in the people they met, and they decided to stick around. I'd like to start by recognizing five people who have been here for 40 years, and if after I run through the list, if they would stand to be recognized, I'd appreciate it. Dan Norris, Jim Stanek, Pat Jolliff, Ken Lyons, and John Beckman. Mark, I'm not sure if I'm doing it. mark i'm not sure if i'm doing it I guess I'm driving it. i guess i'm driving it First off, one of the pleasures of this annual meeting and one of the pleasures of being in this role, I get to recognize folks that have given to the Blue Team over a long career. first off one of the pleasures of this annual meeting and one of the pleasures of being in this role i get to recognize folks that have given to the blue team over a long career As you can see, we were quite a much smaller organization 25, 30, and 40 years ago. as you can see we were quite a much smaller organization 25 30 and 40 years ago The folks that joined saw something special in the people they met, and they decided to stick around. the folks that joined saw something special in the people they met and they decided to stick around I'd like to start by recognizing five people who have been here for 40 years, and if after I run through the list, if they would stand to be recognized, I'd appreciate it. i'd like to start by recognizing five people who have been here for 40 years and if after i run through the list if they would stand to be recognized i'd appreciate it Dan Norris, Jim Stanek, Pat Jolliff, Ken Lyons, and John Beckman. dan norris jim stanek pat jolliff ken lyons and john beckman This comment is no slight to those five individuals, but I would ask the room to recognize their guests. We are successful based on who we choose to surround ourselves with, and we're blessed for that in life. Trying to figure out what I was going to talk about this year, my wife reminded me, "Florness, nobody's here to hear you talk. They're actually here for lunch." I thought I'd share a view of what these individuals have seen in their 40 years. I went back to the first annual report I could find. It was from 1987. I remember making a comment to Bob when I first saw this annual report many years ago when I joined the organization. I said, "You know, Bob, by 1987, you had the Big Ten covered." Because if you notice those states, that's the original Big Ten states. This comment is no slight to those five individuals, but I would ask the room to recognize their guests. this comment is no slight to those five individuals but i would ask the room to recognize their guests We are successful based on who we choose to surround ourselves with, and we're blessed for that in life. we are successful based on who we choose to surround ourselves with and we're blessed for that in life Trying to figure out what I was going to talk about this year, my wife reminded me, "Florness, nobody's here to hear you talk. trying to figure out what i was going to talk about this year my wife reminded me "florness nobody's here to hear you talk They're actually here for lunch." I thought I'd share a view of what these individuals have seen in their 40 years. they're actually here for lunch." i thought i'd share a view of what these individuals have seen in their 40 years I went back to the first annual report I could find. i went back to the first annual report i could find It was from 1987. it was from 1987 I remember making a comment to Bob when I first saw this annual report many years ago when I joined the organization. i remember making a comment to bob when i first saw this annual report many years ago when i joined the organization I said, "You know, Bob, by 1987, you had the Big Ten covered." Because if you notice those states, that's the original Big Ten states. i said "you know bob by 1987 you had the big ten covered." because if you notice those states that's the original big ten states I popped into Casey Miller this morning, and I said, "Casey," I need to apologize to you up front. I noticed something that I never mentioned to Bob, but there was an error in our 1987 annual report. We had two locations in Kentucky. You can see them right there south of the Ohio River, but in the years that I've been in this role, I've had the opportunity to discuss the business with a lot of individuals within the company, because we're not an $8 billion organization. Jeff, with all due respect, I disagree. We're not an $8 billion organization. We're actually 240 district business units that average about $35 million a year. That's where our business, the strength of our organization comes from. I popped into Casey Miller this morning, and I said, "Casey," I need to apologize to you up front. i popped into casey miller this morning and i said "casey," i need to apologize to you up front I noticed something that I never mentioned to Bob, but there was an error in our 1987 annual report. i noticed something that i never mentioned to bob but there was an error in our 1987 annual report We had two locations in Kentucky. we had two locations in kentucky You can see them right there south of the Ohio River, but in the years that I've been in this role, I've had the opportunity to discuss the business with a lot of individuals within the company, because we're not an $8 billion organization. you can see them right there south of the ohio river but in the years that i've been in this role i've had the opportunity to discuss the business with a lot of individuals within the company because we're not an $8 billion organization Jeff, with all due respect, I disagree. jeff with all due respect i disagree We're not an $8 billion organization. we're not an $8 billion organization We're actually 240 district business units that average about $35 million a year. we're actually 240 district business units that average about $35 million a year That's where our business, the strength of our organization comes from. that's where our business the strength of our organization comes from 30% of my time over the last decade has been spent in one-on-one discussions with those district managers, understanding their business, how they go to market, and how do they discover ways to be special for the customers in their market, and how they grow. I want to also thank, it was a discussion back in 2019, before the world got weird in the COVID year. In 2019, I was having a conversation with our district manager in southwestern Minnesota, and it was one of those kind of a light bulb moments. Because I was looking at this district, and Jason, I don't know if you're in the room, but, or if you're listening, but Jason Knutson, thank you for that conversation, by the way. 30% of my time over the last decade has been spent in one-on-one discussions with those district managers, understanding their business, how they go to market, and how do they discover ways to be special for the customers in their market, and how they grow. 30% of my time over the last decade has been spent in one-on-one discussions with those district managers understanding their business how they go to market and how do they discover ways to be special for the customers in their market and how they grow I want to also thank, it was a discussion back in 2019, before the world got weird in the COVID year. i want to also thank it was a discussion back in 2019 before the world got weird in the covid year In 2019, I was having a conversation with our district manager in southwestern Minnesota, and it was one of those kind of a light bulb moments. in 2019 i was having a conversation with our district manager in southwestern minnesota and it was one of those kind of a light bulb moments Because I was looking at this district, and Jason, I don't know if you're in the room, but, or if you're listening, but Jason Knutson, thank you for that conversation, by the way. because i was looking at this district and jason i don't know if you're in the room but or if you're listening but jason knutson thank you for that conversation by the way I was looking at his district, and he had moved from Nebraska up to southwestern Minnesota in around the 2017 timeframe. Quite frankly, that district, that area of Fastenal, had grown 2% to 4% for a decade. Now, it was nicely profitable. It was a nice business, but it wasn't special. In a few short years, Jason turned that business into a business growing in the teens, and it really came from the standpoint, he had about 30 customers doing more than $10,000 a month in that business. In over about a five, six-year period, he grew that 30 to about 80. That $20 million district became a $60+ million district. I was looking at his district, and he had moved from Nebraska up to southwestern Minnesota in around the 2017 timeframe. i was looking at his district and he had moved from nebraska up to southwestern minnesota in around the 2017 timeframe Quite frankly, that district, that area of Fastenal, had grown 2% to 4% for a decade. quite frankly that district that area of fastenal had grown 2% to 4% for a decade Now, it was nicely profitable. now it was nicely profitable It was a nice business, but it wasn't special. it was a nice business but it wasn't special In a few short years, Jason turned that business into a business growing in the teens, and it really came from the standpoint, he had about 30 customers doing more than $10,000 a month in that business. in a few short years jason turned that business into a business growing in the teens and it really came from the standpoint he had about 30 customers doing more than $10,000 a month in that business In over about a five, six-year period, he grew that 30 to about 80. in over about a five six-year period he grew that 30 to about 80 That $20 million district became a $60+ million district. that $20 million district became a $60+ million district We discovered something that was really special in one of our oldest business units of, yes, we can make a difference for our customers and be really successful by being a supply chain partner to them, not merely a purveyor of goods. It had changed a lot of how the business has developed ever since. Getting back to the premise. Back in 1987, this was the organization that these five individuals would have experienced back in the day. I want to show you how it's changed a little bit, and I normally don't have notes in front of me. I have the slide deck because when I'm up here, I really can't see what's on that screen with the lights coming in. Back in 1987, we did about $20 million in revenue. We discovered something that was really special in one of our oldest business units of, yes, we can make a difference for our customers and be really successful by being a supply chain partner to them, not merely a purveyor of goods. we discovered something that was really special in one of our oldest business units of yes we can make a difference for our customers and be really successful by being a supply chain partner to them not merely a purveyor of goods It had changed a lot of how the business has developed ever since. it had changed a lot of how the business has developed ever since Getting back to the premise. getting back to the premise Back in 1987, this was the organization that these five individuals would have experienced back in the day. back in 1987 this was the organization that these five individuals would have experienced back in the day I want to show you how it's changed a little bit, and I normally don't have notes in front of me. i want to show you how it's changed a little bit and i normally don't have notes in front of me I have the slide deck because when I'm up here, I really can't see what's on that screen with the lights coming in. i have the slide deck because when i'm up here i really can't see what's on that screen with the lights coming in Back in 1987, we did about $20 million in revenue. back in 1987 we did about $20 million in revenue For Casey's benefit, I flagged that there was $1 million in Kentucky. We probably opened those 2 branches in December, and it was probably $10,000, but we'll round up. By 1995, that organization had grown to $223 million. You can see we had to kind of estimate because we didn't have the actual detailed numbers by state. You can see those eight states that were the Big Ten circa 1990 when Penn State joined. We had about $100 million in revenue in that area. It had grown fivefold in those eight years, and then we'd added about another $120 million in the rest of the United States as we'd expanded. We expanded beyond the United States in that timeframe. We opened up in 1994 in Southern Ontario, and it was a couple of years later that Jeff Watts joined the organization in Southern Ontario. For Casey's benefit, I flagged that there was $1 million in Kentucky. for casey's benefit i flagged that there was $1 million in kentucky We probably opened those 2 branches in December, and it was probably $10,000, but we'll round up. we probably opened those 2 branches in december and it was probably $10,000 but we'll round up By 1995, that organization had grown to $223 million. by 1995 that organization had grown to $223 million You can see we had to kind of estimate because we didn't have the actual detailed numbers by state. you can see we had to kind of estimate because we didn't have the actual detailed numbers by state You can see those eight states that were the Big Ten circa 1990 when Penn State joined. you can see those eight states that were the big ten circa 1990 when penn state joined We had about $100 million in revenue in that area. we had about $100 million in revenue in that area It had grown fivefold in those eight years, and then we'd added about another $120 million in the rest of the United States as we'd expanded. it had grown fivefold in those eight years and then we'd added about another $120 million in the rest of the united states as we'd expanded We expanded beyond the United States in that timeframe. we expanded beyond the united states in that timeframe We opened up in 1994 in Southern Ontario, and it was a couple of years later that Jeff Watts joined the organization in Southern Ontario. we opened up in 1994 in southern ontario and it was a couple of years later that jeff watts joined the organization in southern ontario You can see we grew to about a $1.5 billion organization. Look at the growth that's happening in those oldest business units. Even though we'd been there for years, the market was immense. We had to figure out how to tap into that market. By 2015, we were a little over $3.5 billion. Here's what it looked like last year. Again, $8.2 billion organization. Almost $7 billion in the United States, $1.1 billion outside the United States and the rest of the Americas, and about a $250 million business between Europe and Asia. Incredible opportunity to grow the business. The market is immense. The thing that's most important to me when I look at this is to this day, we've figured out how to grow in those original eight states, which gives me confidence. You can see we grew to about a $1.5 billion organization. you can see we grew to about a $1.5 billion organization Look at the growth that's happening in those oldest business units. look at the growth that's happening in those oldest business units Even though we'd been there for years, the market was immense. even though we'd been there for years the market was immense We had to figure out how to tap into that market. we had to figure out how to tap into that market By 2015, we were a little over $3.5 billion. by 2015 we were a little over $3.5 billion Here's what it looked like last year. here's what it looked like last year Again, $8.2 billion organization. again $8.2 billion organization Almost $7 billion in the United States, $1.1 billion outside the United States and the rest of the Americas, and about a $250 million business between Europe and Asia. almost $7 billion in the united states $1.1 billion outside the united states and the rest of the americas and about a $250 million business between europe and asia Incredible opportunity to grow the business. incredible opportunity to grow the business The market is immense. the market is immense The thing that's most important to me when I look at this is to this day, we've figured out how to grow in those original eight states, which gives me confidence. the thing that's most important to me when i look at this is to this day we've figured out how to grow in those original eight states which gives me confidence This isn't a forward-looking statement, so I don't want to get in trouble with the SEC here, but it gives me confidence in Fastenal's ability to grow in the future because the market exists. We have to decide if we're going to go take it. The market exists for us to keep expanding for years to come if we so choose. I also thought I'd take a quick look at the business from the standpoint of, in our earnings release last week, we mentioned that our return on invested capital was just over 30% in the first quarter. For 2025, it was in the low 30s as well. When I had that 1987 annual report out, I looked at it and said, "I wonder what it was back then." We were in the high 20s. This isn't a forward-looking statement, so I don't want to get in trouble with the SEC here, but it gives me confidence in Fastenal's ability to grow in the future because the market exists. this isn't a forward-looking statement so i don't want to get in trouble with the sec here but it gives me confidence in fastenal's ability to grow in the future because the market exists We have to decide if we're going to go take it. we have to decide if we're going to go take it The market exists for us to keep expanding for years to come if we so choose. the market exists for us to keep expanding for years to come if we so choose I also thought I'd take a quick look at the business from the standpoint of, in our earnings release last week, we mentioned that our return on invested capital was just over 30% in the first quarter. i also thought i'd take a quick look at the business from the standpoint of in our earnings release last week we mentioned that our return on invested capital was just over 30% in the first quarter For 2025, it was in the low 30s as well. for 2025 it was in the low 30s as well When I had that 1987 annual report out, I looked at it and said, "I wonder what it was back then." We were in the high 20s. when i had that 1987 annual report out i looked at it and said "i wonder what it was back then." we were in the high 20s I was surprised it was that high because we weren't as profitable back then. We also didn't have as much capital deployed in business, and so we had a really attractive business, probably one of the reasons the marketplace embraced us when we decided to go public back in 1987. Here's what it looks like in between. In the 1990s, we actually expanded into the low 30s. Again, I was surprised by that. I learned from one of our board members a number of years ago, and it's a board member where English is a second language. He taught me a piece of the English language I didn't appreciate, and it was a concept. It was strategy, and strategy is about choice. We chose, as we went through the 1990s and into the 2000s, to expand the breadth of products that we distribute. I was surprised it was that high because we weren't as profitable back then. i was surprised it was that high because we weren't as profitable back then We also didn't have as much capital deployed in business, and so we had a really attractive business, probably one of the reasons the marketplace embraced us when we decided to go public back in 1987. we also didn't have as much capital deployed in business and so we had a really attractive business probably one of the reasons the marketplace embraced us when we decided to go public back in 1987 Here's what it looks like in between. here's what it looks like in between In the 1990s, we actually expanded into the low 30s. in the 1990s we actually expanded into the low 30s Again, I was surprised by that. again i was surprised by that I learned from one of our board members a number of years ago, and it's a board member where English is a second language. i learned from one of our board members a number of years ago and it's a board member where english is a second language He taught me a piece of the English language I didn't appreciate, and it was a concept. he taught me a piece of the english language i didn't appreciate and it was a concept It was strategy, and strategy is about choice. it was strategy and strategy is about choice We chose, as we went through the 1990s and into the 2000s, to expand the breadth of products that we distribute. we chose as we went through the 1990s and into the 2000s to expand the breadth of products that we distribute We chose to expand the breadth of customers we sell to. In the mid-1990s, we added national accounts, and that's a different game from what we were doing prior to that. We also decided to start sourcing more product directly, which meant we needed a lot more working capital because you're not buying weeks and months of supply, you're buying months, maybe a year of supply in order to source that item at a different cost point. We allowed the return on invested capital to move down into the mid-20s%, because that was the right long-term decision for Fastenal and its shareholders, its customers, and its employees. I'm pleased to say in the last decade, we were able to, again, through choice, move the return on invested capital back up into the low 30s%. We chose to expand the breadth of customers we sell to. we chose to expand the breadth of customers we sell to In the mid-1990s, we added national accounts, and that's a different game from what we were doing prior to that. in the mid-1990s we added national accounts and that's a different game from what we were doing prior to that We also decided to start sourcing more product directly, which meant we needed a lot more working capital because you're not buying weeks and months of supply, you're buying months, maybe a year of supply in order to source that item at a different cost point. we also decided to start sourcing more product directly which meant we needed a lot more working capital because you're not buying weeks and months of supply you're buying months maybe a year of supply in order to source that item at a different cost point We allowed the return on invested capital to move down into the mid-20s%, because that was the right long-term decision for Fastenal and its shareholders, its customers, and its employees. I'm pleased to say in the last decade, we were able to, again, through choice, move the return on invested capital back up into the low 30s%. we allowed the return on invested capital to move down into the mid-20s% because that was the right long-term decision for fastenal and its shareholders its customers and its employees. i'm pleased to say in the last decade we were able to again through choice move the return on invested capital back up into the low 30s% That's a testament to Bob Kierlin and the original founders and the ability of the Blue Team to execute and choose a path for them that was different than the path we had. It also required a lot of change in the organization in that timeframe, and I'll touch on that in a few minutes. If you're curious, here's a few more, and again, this is my last time to talk, so I want to share some of this stuff because I find this fascinating and I hope everybody isn't sitting there like, "When is this guy going to shut up so we can have lunch?" Fixed assets to sales, we didn't have a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s. We needed more distribution capacity to do the things we wanted to do. That's a testament to Bob Kierlin and the original founders and the ability of the Blue Team to execute and choose a path for them that was different than the path we had. that's a testament to bob kierlin and the original founders and the ability of the blue team to execute and choose a path for them that was different than the path we had It also required a lot of change in the organization in that timeframe, and I'll touch on that in a few minutes. it also required a lot of change in the organization in that timeframe and i'll touch on that in a few minutes If you're curious, here's a few more, and again, this is my last time to talk, so I want to share some of this stuff because I find this fascinating and I hope everybody isn't sitting there like, "When is this guy going to shut up so we can have lunch?" Fixed assets to sales, we didn't have a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s. if you're curious here's a few more and again this is my last time to talk so i want to share some of this stuff because i find this fascinating and i hope everybody isn't sitting there like "when is this guy going to shut up so we can have lunch?" fixed assets to sales we didn't have a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s We needed more distribution capacity to do the things we wanted to do. we needed more distribution capacity to do the things we wanted to do We needed more trucking capacity to do the things we wanted to do. You can see how that third column in the middle section there, 9% of sales, 10% of sales, 14%. We actually had for every dollar in sales, 20 cents in fixed capital a decade ago. Now I put that little 17% in there. A decade ago, we were really in the early innings of this thing we call Fastenal Managed Inventory or vending, is what it started as. If you'd have gone down to Des Moines, Iowa, you would have found a warehouse full of vending machines because we had bought a bunch and we weren't deploying them quite as fast as we thought we would. We had about $130 million worth of vending machines stacked to the ceiling in this warehouse. We were looking around like, "Oh, God. We needed more trucking capacity to do the things we wanted to do. we needed more trucking capacity to do the things we wanted to do You can see how that third column in the middle section there, 9% of sales, 10% of sales, 14%. you can see how that third column in the middle section there 9% of sales 10% of sales 14% We actually had for every dollar in sales, 20 cents in fixed capital a decade ago. we actually had for every dollar in sales 20 cents in fixed capital a decade ago Now I put that little 17% in there. now i put that little 17% in there A decade ago, we were really in the early innings of this thing we call Fastenal Managed Inventory or vending, is what it started as. a decade ago we were really in the early innings of this thing we call fastenal managed inventory or vending is what it started as If you'd have gone down to Des Moines, Iowa, you would have found a warehouse full of vending machines because we had bought a bunch and we weren't deploying them quite as fast as we thought we would. if you'd have gone down to des moines iowa you would have found a warehouse full of vending machines because we had bought a bunch and we weren't deploying them quite as fast as we thought we would We had about $130 million worth of vending machines stacked to the ceiling in this warehouse. we had about $130 million worth of vending machines stacked to the ceiling in this warehouse We were looking around like, "Oh, God. we were looking around like "oh god What do we do?" We decided, again, strategy is about choice. We decided we need to pick up the pace and deployment. I'm pleased to say we worked that capital off. If I remove that, we didn't really have 20% of sales. We had about 17. Look how that number has dropped over the last decade because of the Blue Team going to market in a responsible way. We also made a choice to close about 40% of our branch locations over the last decade because we moved where we do business. It wasn't strictly out of a Fastenal branch. Today, over 50% of our business is with customers doing more than $50,000 a month in that location, and most of that business goes through what we call an Onsite, where we're physically in their facility. What do we do?" We decided, again, strategy is about choice. what do we do?" we decided again strategy is about choice We decided we need to pick up the pace and deployment. we decided we need to pick up the pace and deployment I'm pleased to say we worked that capital off. i'm pleased to say we worked that capital off If I remove that, we didn't really have 20% of sales. if i remove that we didn't really have 20% of sales We had about 17. we had about 17 Look how that number has dropped over the last decade because of the Blue Team going to market in a responsible way. look how that number has dropped over the last decade because of the blue team going to market in a responsible way We also made a choice to close about 40% of our branch locations over the last decade because we moved where we do business. we also made a choice to close about 40% of our branch locations over the last decade because we moved where we do business It wasn't strictly out of a Fastenal branch. it wasn't strictly out of a fastenal branch Today, over 50% of our business is with customers doing more than $50,000 a month in that location, and most of that business goes through what we call an Onsite, where we're physically in their facility. today over 50% of our business is with customers doing more than $50,000 a month in that location and most of that business goes through what we call an onsite where we're physically in their facility It changed our real estate needs and it allowed us to accomplish that. Then on the far right, you can see again, our invested capital and what that is. It's kind of funny when I look back to 1987 to think our total invested capital in the organization was $7 million. Today it's just over $4 billion. If you want an exercise in finance, that is the definition of compounding your growth over a long period of time. What have the last 10 years taught me? One of the things I try to do in the president's letter or in more recent years, the shareholder's letter in general, is try not to use the word I or me, but if you would allow me, I'd like to share a few things I've learned over the last 10 years. It changed our real estate needs and it allowed us to accomplish that. it changed our real estate needs and it allowed us to accomplish that Then on the far right, you can see again, our invested capital and what that is. then on the far right you can see again our invested capital and what that is It's kind of funny when I look back to 1987 to think our total invested capital in the organization was $7 million. it's kind of funny when i look back to 1987 to think our total invested capital in the organization was $7 million Today it's just over $4 billion. today it's just over $4 billion If you want an exercise in finance, that is the definition of compounding your growth over a long period of time. if you want an exercise in finance that is the definition of compounding your growth over a long period of time What have the last 10 years taught me? what have the last 10 years taught me One of the things I try to do in the president's letter or in more recent years, the shareholder's letter in general, is try not to use the word I or me, but if you would allow me, I'd like to share a few things I've learned over the last 10 years. one of the things i try to do in the president's letter or in more recent years the shareholder's letter in general is try not to use the word i or me but if you would allow me i'd like to share a few things i've learned over the last 10 years One of them was these 10 rules that Bob had carried a lot more meaning when you're the CEO than when you're the CFO. Especially Rule number one, challenge rather than control. The adversity of the situation really challenges leaders to emerge, and I'm particularly impressed with the folks on the Blue Team, on the leaders that have emerged over the last decade to assist me in the cause and to assist the organization in the cause, to get us through periods of uncertainty. COVID's a perfect example. You're not sure if the step you're taking is the right step, and you rely on the folks around you. Rule number nine. Let people learn. One of them was these 10 rules that Bob had carried a lot more meaning when you're the CEO than when you're the CFO. one of them was these 10 rules that bob had carried a lot more meaning when you're the ceo than when you're the cfo Especially Rule number one, challenge rather than control. especially rule number one challenge rather than control The adversity of the situation really challenges leaders to emerge, and I'm particularly impressed with the folks on the Blue Team, on the leaders that have emerged over the last decade to assist me in the cause and to assist the organization in the cause, to get us through periods of uncertainty. the adversity of the situation really challenges leaders to emerge and i'm particularly impressed with the folks on the blue team on the leaders that have emerged over the last decade to assist me in the cause and to assist the organization in the cause to get us through periods of uncertainty COVID's a perfect example. covid's a perfect example You're not sure if the step you're taking is the right step, and you rely on the folks around you. you're not sure if the step you're taking is the right step and you rely on the folks around you Rule number nine. rule number nine Let people learn. let people learn A key to a leader is what is your habit every day to develop yourself and to develop those around you so you continually make the organization and everybody better and bring more ideas to the customer and the marketplace? That's what allows us to grow for the last 40 years. This year, maybe you've seen this chart if you've participated in some of our earnings calls. There's an index out there called the Purchasing Managers' Index, and it's a survey that's done of purchasing managers where they look at the backlog in their business. Being the Blue Team, we consider red bad. Those periods that you see that are red are bad. I remember when stepping into the role back in the fall of 2015, you can see a few months there of red. A key to a leader is what is your habit every day to develop yourself and to develop those around you so you continually make the organization and everybody better and bring more ideas to the customer and the marketplace? a key to a leader is what is your habit every day to develop yourself and to develop those around you so you continually make the organization and everybody better and bring more ideas to the customer and the marketplace That's what allows us to grow for the last 40 years. that's what allows us to grow for the last 40 years This year, maybe you've seen this chart if you've participated in some of our earnings calls. this year maybe you've seen this chart if you've participated in some of our earnings calls There's an index out there called the Purchasing Managers' Index, and it's a survey that's done of purchasing managers where they look at the backlog in their business. there's an index out there called the purchasing managers' index and it's a survey that's done of purchasing managers where they look at the backlog in their business Being the Blue Team, we consider red bad. being the blue team we consider red bad Those periods that you see that are red are bad. those periods that you see that are red are bad I remember when stepping into the role back in the fall of 2015, you can see a few months there of red. i remember when stepping into the role back in the fall of 2015 you can see a few months there of red We actually went negative in sales growth for the last four months of 2015. There was a lot of uncertainty. There was a lot of folks wondering, "Geez, what's happening to Fastenal?" If you would allow me, I would like to add five rules to Bob's list that I learned over the last decade. Rule number 11: don't be a victim. I think Jeff's letter to shareholders this year said it well. He said, "We didn't wait for the market to lift us. We leaned into our strengths, our people, our service, and our ability to solve problems for our customers." The other thing about not being a victim is you need to have empathy, but you have to have a plan and you have to decide to execute on that plan. It's our destiny, not what we're victims of. Rule number 12: own everything that goes wrong. We actually went negative in sales growth for the last four months of 2015. we actually went negative in sales growth for the last four months of 2015 There was a lot of uncertainty. there was a lot of uncertainty There was a lot of folks wondering, "Geez, what's happening to Fastenal?" If you would allow me, I would like to add five rules to Bob's list that I learned over the last decade. Rule number 11: don't be a victim. there was a lot of folks wondering "geez what's happening to fastenal?" if you would allow me i would like to add five rules to bob's list that i learned over the last decade. rule number 11 don't be a victim I think Jeff's letter to shareholders this year said it well. i think jeff's letter to shareholders this year said it well He said, "We didn't wait for the market to lift us. he said "we didn't wait for the market to lift us We leaned into our strengths, our people, our service, and our ability to solve problems for our customers." The other thing about not being a victim is you need to have empathy, but you have to have a plan and you have to decide to execute on that plan. we leaned into our strengths our people our service and our ability to solve problems for our customers." the other thing about not being a victim is you need to have empathy but you have to have a plan and you have to decide to execute on that plan It's our destiny, not what we're victims of. it's our destiny not what we're victims of Rule number 12: own everything that goes wrong. rule number 12 own everything that goes wrong Share the rewards on everything that goes right. Always understand the math and the story behind it, and you can replicate success in many different places because you can share that story throughout the Fastenal organization. Finally, I learned this from Bob, believe in people. All else fails, believe in people. They'll surprise you and impress you every time. Life has some special phrases. "I'm wrong" is a good phrase. "I'm sorry" is a good phrase. If you don't have a phrase, maybe a simple smile, because that is a phrase in and of itself. Usually, it means hello or you're trying. "I believe in you" is a great phrase, but I don't think there's anything better than the phrase, "Thank you." To the shareholders in the room, thank you for placing your trust in the Blue Team. Share the rewards on everything that goes right. share the rewards on everything that goes right Always understand the math and the story behind it, and you can replicate success in many different places because you can share that story throughout the Fastenal organization. always understand the math and the story behind it and you can replicate success in many different places because you can share that story throughout the fastenal organization Finally, I learned this from Bob, believe in people. finally i learned this from bob believe in people All else fails, believe in people. all else fails believe in people They'll surprise you and impress you every time. they'll surprise you and impress you every time Life has some special phrases. "I'm wrong" is a good phrase. "I'm sorry" is a good phrase. life has some special phrases "i'm wrong" is a good phrase "i'm sorry" is a good phrase If you don't have a phrase, maybe a simple smile, because that is a phrase in and of itself. if you don't have a phrase maybe a simple smile because that is a phrase in and of itself Usually, it means hello or you're trying. "I believe in you" is a great phrase, but I don't think there's anything better than the phrase, "Thank you." To the shareholders in the room, thank you for placing your trust in the Blue Team. usually it means hello or you're trying "i believe in you" is a great phrase but i don't think there's anything better than the phrase "thank you." to the shareholders in the room thank you for placing your trust in the blue team Since 1987, for me more personally in the last decade, thanks for cutting us slack on the things we messed up and believing that having a plan for the long term works for the long term. Although I do have to say, every year when we're doing the vote, you get updates to the voting, and I saw the update this morning, and I was thinking in the final year, I wonder if the directors will get more votes than our external auditors. We didn't make it, and I guess that's just life. I just thought I'd share that, but thank you for everything you've done as far as allowing us the opportunity to take the investment you entrusted us with and growing it into something special. Oop, I got ahead of myself there. Since 1987, for me more personally in the last decade, thanks for cutting us slack on the things we messed up and believing that having a plan for the long term works for the long term. since 1987 for me more personally in the last decade thanks for cutting us slack on the things we messed up and believing that having a plan for the long term works for the long term Although I do have to say, every year when we're doing the vote, you get updates to the voting, and I saw the update this morning, and I was thinking in the final year, I wonder if the directors will get more votes than our external auditors. although i do have to say every year when we're doing the vote you get updates to the voting and i saw the update this morning and i was thinking in the final year i wonder if the directors will get more votes than our external auditors We didn't make it, and I guess that's just life. we didn't make it and i guess that's just life I just thought I'd share that, but thank you for everything you've done as far as allowing us the opportunity to take the investment you entrusted us with and growing it into something special. i just thought i'd share that but thank you for everything you've done as far as allowing us the opportunity to take the investment you entrusted us with and growing it into something special Oop, I got ahead of myself there. oop i got ahead of myself there To the board, and Scott in particular, thank you for the partnership over the last decade, and thanks for allowing me to vent. I was probably a pain to have around most of the time, but thank you. We all need a shoulder to cry on sometimes or to vent with, and so thank you for providing that shoulder. From a mentors and peers standpoint, two that stand out early in my career, Mike Dolan, one of our former directors. When I first was out of college, I worked for Mike. I learned a lot from Mike over the last 40 years of knowing him, so thank you for that. For Bob Kierlin, thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime and the mentorship you provided to me over the last 30 years. To the board, and Scott in particular, thank you for the partnership over the last decade, and thanks for allowing me to vent. to the board and scott in particular thank you for the partnership over the last decade and thanks for allowing me to vent I was probably a pain to have around most of the time, but thank you. i was probably a pain to have around most of the time but thank you We all need a shoulder to cry on sometimes or to vent with, and so thank you for providing that shoulder. we all need a shoulder to cry on sometimes or to vent with and so thank you for providing that shoulder From a mentors and peers standpoint, two that stand out early in my career, Mike Dolan, one of our former directors. from a mentors and peers standpoint two that stand out early in my career mike dolan one of our former directors When I first was out of college, I worked for Mike. when i first was out of college i worked for mike I learned a lot from Mike over the last 40 years of knowing him, so thank you for that. i learned a lot from mike over the last 40 years of knowing him so thank you for that For Bob Kierlin, thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime and the mentorship you provided to me over the last 30 years. for bob kierlin thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime and the mentorship you provided to me over the last 30 years From a peer standpoint, when I first stepped into this role, Nick Lundquist and Reyne Wisecup could have chosen to look at it and say, "Okay, we'll do our job, but we won't do more than that." They did just the opposite. They pushed me and pushed us in every way they could to make Fastenal a better organization until the last day they were in the office. I thank them for that. A few of the Fastenal folks are going to laugh when I mention this next one, when I say selfless leader, because if you know the person, he has kind of an in-your-face persona. Maybe a little bit of an arrogant persona, but he's an incredible teacher of people, and that's Randy Miller. Randy joined us back in February of 1987. From a peer standpoint, when I first stepped into this role, Nick Lundquist and Reyne Wisecup could have chosen to look at it and say, "Okay, we'll do our job, but we won't do more than that." They did just the opposite. from a peer standpoint when i first stepped into this role nick lundquist and reyne wisecup could have chosen to look at it and say "okay we'll do our job but we won't do more than that." they did just the opposite They pushed me and pushed us in every way they could to make Fastenal a better organization until the last day they were in the office. they pushed me and pushed us in every way they could to make fastenal a better organization until the last day they were in the office I thank them for that. i thank them for that A few of the Fastenal folks are going to laugh when I mention this next one, when I say selfless leader, because if you know the person, he has kind of an in-your-face persona. a few of the fastenal folks are going to laugh when i mention this next one when i say selfless leader because if you know the person he has kind of an in-your-face persona Maybe a little bit of an arrogant persona, but he's an incredible teacher of people, and that's Randy Miller. maybe a little bit of an arrogant persona but he's an incredible teacher of people and that's randy miller Randy joined us back in February of 1987. randy joined us back in february of 1987 He lived in Winona for a number of years, and then we asked him to relocate down to Indianapolis to lead our business down there. Randy has developed more leaders within Fastenal. We often talk about our tree and who sprang from your tree. If I think about our regional and district leaders, nobody has developed and mentored more people in this organization from Randy Miller. Randy will be hitting 40 years next year, and I hope he comes to the annual meeting to be recognized. I'm coming to see Randy recognized a year from now. He's been an incredible person for me to talk to over the last decade of bouncing stuff off of and getting some very blunt feedback, which is well appreciated. Randy, thank you for that. He lived in Winona for a number of years, and then we asked him to relocate down to Indianapolis to lead our business down there. he lived in winona for a number of years and then we asked him to relocate down to indianapolis to lead our business down there Randy has developed more leaders within Fastenal. randy has developed more leaders within fastenal We often talk about our tree and who sprang from your tree. we often talk about our tree and who sprang from your tree If I think about our regional and district leaders, nobody has developed and mentored more people in this organization from Randy Miller. if i think about our regional and district leaders nobody has developed and mentored more people in this organization from randy miller Randy will be hitting 40 years next year, and I hope he comes to the annual meeting to be recognized. randy will be hitting 40 years next year and i hope he comes to the annual meeting to be recognized I'm coming to see Randy recognized a year from now. i'm coming to see randy recognized a year from now He's been an incredible person for me to talk to over the last decade of bouncing stuff off of and getting some very blunt feedback, which is well appreciated. he's been an incredible person for me to talk to over the last decade of bouncing stuff off of and getting some very blunt feedback which is well appreciated Randy, thank you for that. randy thank you for that In the letter to shareholders this year, I generically mentioned four people, and I'd like to call those four people out by name. In 2014, I asked Bill Drazkowski to step out of a regional leadership role and lead our national accounts. Nothing was more eye-opening for me than working with Bill in roughly a year directly in national accounts, because I really realized in a lot of discussions with customers how truly big the opportunity was and what some of our priorities should be in the decade that followed. Bill, thank you for that. First decision that was presented to me is I chose a leader for the Eastern United States, and Casey Miller, who's originally from Kentucky, I tapped him on the shoulder, I said, "Hey, Casey, can you move up to this cold area for a few years? In the letter to shareholders this year, I generically mentioned four people, and I'd like to call those four people out by name. in the letter to shareholders this year i generically mentioned four people and i'd like to call those four people out by name In 2014, I asked Bill Drazkowski to step out of a regional leadership role and lead our national accounts. in 2014 i asked bill drazkowski to step out of a regional leadership role and lead our national accounts Nothing was more eye-opening for me than working with Bill in roughly a year directly in national accounts, because I really realized in a lot of discussions with customers how truly big the opportunity was and what some of our priorities should be in the decade that followed. nothing was more eye-opening for me than working with bill in roughly a year directly in national accounts because i really realized in a lot of discussions with customers how truly big the opportunity was and what some of our priorities should be in the decade that followed Bill, thank you for that. bill thank you for that First decision that was presented to me is I chose a leader for the Eastern United States, and Casey Miller, who's originally from Kentucky, I tapped him on the shoulder, I said, "Hey, Casey, can you move up to this cold area for a few years? first decision that was presented to me is i chose a leader for the eastern united states and casey miller who's originally from kentucky i tapped him on the shoulder i said "hey casey can you move up to this cold area for a few years What you've done in Kentucky and Tennessee is special in the organization, and we need to bring that special to more places. Casey assisted from the standpoint of. If all my decisions over the last decade would've been as good as that, we'd have been a lot bigger today. Casey made me look smarter than I actually am, and Casey, thank you for everything you've done for the Blue Team in the last decade. In 2016, John Soderberg. John started in a branch for us on the East Coast. John once showed me this app on his phone where you can look up at the sky, and it'll tell you what you're looking at. "Hey, there's Jupiter. There's Mars. What you've done in Kentucky and Tennessee is special in the organization, and we need to bring that special to more places. what you've done in kentucky and tennessee is special in the organization and we need to bring that special to more places Casey assisted from the standpoint of. If all my decisions over the last decade would've been as good as that, we'd have been a lot bigger today. casey assisted from the standpoint of. if all my decisions over the last decade would've been as good as that we'd have been a lot bigger today Casey made me look smarter than I actually am, and Casey, thank you for everything you've done for the Blue Team in the last decade. casey made me look smarter than i actually am and casey thank you for everything you've done for the blue team in the last decade In 2016, John Soderberg. in 2016 john soderberg John started in a branch for us on the East Coast. john started in a branch for us on the east coast John once showed me this app on his phone where you can look up at the sky, and it'll tell you what you're looking at. "Hey, there's Jupiter. john once showed me this app on his phone where you can look up at the sky and it'll tell you what you're looking at "hey there's jupiter There's Mars. there's mars This is that constellation." I came to John in the summer of 2016, and I said, "John, how would you like to run IT?" I said, "We have great people in IT. They're not close enough to the business, and we need a great leader to bring them closer to the business." John didn't give me the sideways look. He said, "What do you need me to do?" John has led that group for the last decade and done amazing things for Fastenal's employees, our shareholders, and our customers. John, thank you for that. Jeff and I, we actually met in the late 1990s. He was a district manager out, I think, in British Columbia at the time. We've had a close relationship ever since because he always asked really good questions, even if sometimes they were questions I didn't want to hear. This is that constellation." I came to John in the summer of 2016, and I said, "John, how would you like to run IT?" I said, "We have great people in IT. this is that constellation." i came to john in the summer of 2016 and i said "john how would you like to run it?" i said "we have great people in it They're not close enough to the business, and we need a great leader to bring them closer to the business." John didn't give me the sideways look. they're not close enough to the business and we need a great leader to bring them closer to the business." john didn't give me the sideways look He said, "What do you need me to do?" John has led that group for the last decade and done amazing things for Fastenal's employees, our shareholders, and our customers. he said "what do you need me to do?" john has led that group for the last decade and done amazing things for fastenal's employees our shareholders and our customers John, thank you for that. john thank you for that Jeff and I, we actually met in the late 1990s. jeff and i we actually met in the late 1990s He was a district manager out, I think, in British Columbia at the time. he was a district manager out i think in british columbia at the time We've had a close relationship ever since because he always asked really good questions, even if sometimes they were questions I didn't want to hear. we've had a close relationship ever since because he always asked really good questions even if sometimes they were questions i didn't want to hear I'm really excited for what the next decade means with Jeff and this leadership team going after an incredibly large opportunity in the marketplace. Finally, to the 25,000 people on the Blue Team, thank you for cutting me slack on the dumb decisions and supporting me on the ones that were better and fixing, again, the dumbest decisions I made. Finally, what Fastenal has taught me over the last 30 years, recruiting is hard work, but it's really simple. Just find great people, ask of them to join, and give them a reason to stay. Always remember, regardless of where you go in life, no culture or geography has a monopoly on talent or ambition. You can find it everywhere. In fact, if you were talking to a bunch of leaders here today, you would discover a lot of them are native Spanish speakers. I'm really excited for what the next decade means with Jeff and this leadership team going after an incredibly large opportunity in the marketplace. i'm really excited for what the next decade means with jeff and this leadership team going after an incredibly large opportunity in the marketplace Finally, to the 25,000 people on the Blue Team, thank you for cutting me slack on the dumb decisions and supporting me on the ones that were better and fixing, again, the dumbest decisions I made. finally to the 25,000 people on the blue team thank you for cutting me slack on the dumb decisions and supporting me on the ones that were better and fixing again the dumbest decisions i made Finally, what Fastenal has taught me over the last 30 years, recruiting is hard work, but it's really simple. finally what fastenal has taught me over the last 30 years recruiting is hard work but it's really simple Just find great people, ask of them to join, and give them a reason to stay. just find great people ask of them to join and give them a reason to stay Always remember, regardless of where you go in life, no culture or geography has a monopoly on talent or ambition. always remember regardless of where you go in life no culture or geography has a monopoly on talent or ambition You can find it everywhere. you can find it everywhere In fact, if you were talking to a bunch of leaders here today, you would discover a lot of them are native Spanish speakers. in fact if you were talking to a bunch of leaders here today you would discover a lot of them are native spanish speakers Not because we're trying to teach Spanish to everybody in the organization, because we found some incredibly talented people down there, as we did in every place else we went, and we asked them to take a step forward and bring their leadership to more people within the organization. Finally, I've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like, "Okay, does this mean he's almost done?" Because yes, it does mean I'm almost done. Surround yourself with people better than you. That's the biggest advice I can give to the leadership team for the next decade. On that note, and I'll try to keep my composure on this one, Jen, thanks to you for the last 30 years. My wife and I got married. I met Jenny Ann Gustafson late in 1993 timeframe. We got married in the fall of 1995. Not because we're trying to teach Spanish to everybody in the organization, because we found some incredibly talented people down there, as we did in every place else we went, and we asked them to take a step forward and bring their leadership to more people within the organization. not because we're trying to teach spanish to everybody in the organization because we found some incredibly talented people down there as we did in every place else we went and we asked them to take a step forward and bring their leadership to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 Finally, I've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like, "Okay, does this mean he's almost done?" Because yes, it does mean I'm almost done. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 Surround yourself with people better than you. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 That's the biggest advice I can give to the leadership team for the next decade. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 On that note, and I'll try to keep my composure on this one, Jen, thanks to you for the last 30 years. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 My wife and I got married. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 I met Jenny Ann Gustafson late in 1993 timeframe. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 We got married in the fall of 1995. to more people within the organization finally i've talked about quite a few people today and hopefully everybody isn't sitting there like "okay does this mean he's almost done?" because yes it does mean i'm almost done surround yourself with people better than you that's the biggest advice i can give to the leadership team for the next decade on that note and i'll try to keep my composure on this one jen thanks to you for the last 30 years my wife and i got married i met jenny ann gustafson late in 1993 timeframe we got married in the fall of 1995 We celebrated 30 years last year. Thanks, and thanks for our four great kids. In case you're wondering, so we got the chocolate chips covered. In case you're wondering what Florness is doing next, I have a plan. In February, you know we sponsor NASCAR. In the NASCAR, our team, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team, gave me a fire suit. That's the suit the pit crew wears when they're doing the things they do on that stop that takes a split second. Yeah. I put my name in to join the pit crew, although I talked to him in February, and I haven't heard back yet, so I'm not sure what that means. With that, thank you, and I'll turn it back over to Scott. We celebrated 30 years last year. we celebrated 30 years last year Thanks, and thanks for our four great kids. thanks and thanks for our four great kids In case you're wondering, so we got the chocolate chips covered. in case you're wondering so we got the chocolate chips covered In case you're wondering what Florness is doing next, I have a plan. in case you're wondering what florness is doing next i have a plan In February, you know we sponsor NASCAR. in february you know we sponsor nascar In the NASCAR, our team, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team, gave me a fire suit. in the nascar our team the roush fenway keselowski racing team gave me a fire suit That's the suit the pit crew wears when they're doing the things they do on that stop that takes a split second. that's the suit the pit crew wears when they're doing the things they do on that stop that takes a split second Yeah. yeah I put my name in to join the pit crew, although I talked to him in February, and I haven't heard back yet, so I'm not sure what that means. i put my name in to join the pit crew although i talked to him in february and i haven't heard back yet so i'm not sure what that means With that, thank you, and I'll turn it back over to Scott. with that thank you and i'll turn it back over to scott

Speaker 11: I promised Dan that we weren't going to embarrass him too much. After that last slide, I realized he has no problem embarrassing himself. Dan Florness has had an exceptional career at Fastenal. For those of you who don't know, he joined the organization in 1996, coming from the public accounting sector. Like most CFOs, Dan's great with numbers. In his case, he'll tell you a long story about them sometimes, but he's exceptional with numbers, like most CFOs. Dan did something very different. He embraced Fastenal's culture. What I mean by that is, early on in his career as CFO, he started visiting offices, getting out to the field, going to distribution centers, interacting with customers, talking to employees at all levels. I promised Dan that we weren't going to embarrass him too much. i promised dan that we weren't going to embarrass him too much After that last slide, I realized he has no problem embarrassing himself. after that last slide i realized he has no problem embarrassing himself Dan Florness has had an exceptional career at Fastenal. dan florness has had an exceptional career at fastenal For those of you who don't know, he joined the organization in 1996, coming from the public accounting sector. for those of you who don't know he joined the organization in 1996 coming from the public accounting sector Like most CFOs, Dan's great with numbers. like most cfos dan's great with numbers In his case, he'll tell you a long story about them sometimes, but he's exceptional with numbers, like most CFOs. in his case he'll tell you a long story about them sometimes but he's exceptional with numbers like most cfos Dan did something very different. dan did something very different He embraced Fastenal's culture. he embraced fastenal's culture What I mean by that is, early on in his career as CFO, he started visiting offices, getting out to the field, going to distribution centers, interacting with customers, talking to employees at all levels. what i mean by that is early on in his career as cfo he started visiting offices getting out to the field going to distribution centers interacting with customers talking to employees at all levels Understanding the business and then applying his financial acumen to be able to produce solutions that could be delivered out in the field. For that reason, he was promoted to CEO in 2016. That ability to be able to embrace the culture and learn the business and be part of the Blue Team. Now, there are a number of key milestones, both financially and strategically, and I'm only going to touch on a couple few extras because both Jeff and Dan mentioned a number of them. Doubling revenue, operating margin or operating income. Providing the dividends, consistent dividends over the years. Achieving market capitalization beyond $50 billion, and a number of others. As well as some strategic milestones that are critical. Thinking about adjusting the network. Like Dan said, there's been a shift. Understanding the business and then applying his financial acumen to be able to produce solutions that could be delivered out in the field. understanding the business and then applying his financial acumen to be able to produce solutions that could be delivered out in the field For that reason, he was promoted to CEO in 2016. for that reason he was promoted to ceo in 2016 That ability to be able to embrace the culture and learn the business and be part of the Blue Team. that ability to be able to embrace the culture and learn the business and be part of the blue team Now, there are a number of key milestones, both financially and strategically, and I'm only going to touch on a couple few extras because both Jeff and Dan mentioned a number of them. now there are a number of key milestones both financially and strategically and i'm only going to touch on a couple few extras because both jeff and dan mentioned a number of them Doubling revenue, operating margin or operating income. doubling revenue operating margin or operating income Providing the dividends, consistent dividends over the years. providing the dividends consistent dividends over the years Achieving market capitalization beyond $50 billion, and a number of others. As well as some strategic milestones that are critical. achieving market capitalization beyond $50 billion and a number of others. as well as some strategic milestones that are critical Thinking about adjusting the network. thinking about adjusting the network Like Dan said, there's been a shift. like dan said there's been a shift There's been an expansion of physical offices and onsites, but mainly onsites and that infrastructure to get closer to customers and provide growth through customer service. As well, one of the things that wasn't mentioned is during this time period, things like eCommerce, the international business, vending, all surpassed $1 billion in revenue. Most importantly, and Dan alluded to it, Dan was critical in working with the leadership team to help shift Fastenal from a transactional distributor to a data-informed supply chain partner. Dan has many skills, many achievements during his career, but I want to focus on one that I think goes a little bit underrated. There's been an expansion of physical offices and onsites, but mainly onsites and that infrastructure to get closer to customers and provide growth through customer service. there's been an expansion of physical offices and onsites but mainly onsites and that infrastructure to get closer to customers and provide growth through customer service As well, one of the things that wasn't mentioned is during this time period, things like eCommerce, the international business, vending, all surpassed $1 billion in revenue. as well one of the things that wasn't mentioned is during this time period things like ecommerce the international business vending all surpassed $1 billion in revenue Most importantly, and Dan alluded to it, Dan was critical in working with the leadership team to help shift Fastenal from a transactional distributor to a data-informed supply chain partner. most importantly and dan alluded to it dan was critical in working with the leadership team to help shift fastenal from a transactional distributor to a data-informed supply chain partner Dan has many skills, many achievements during his career, but I want to focus on one that I think goes a little bit underrated. dan has many skills many achievements during his career but i want to focus on one that i think goes a little bit underrated One of his skills, one of his strongest skills, and you can see it when he presents, and if you spend enough time with him, you can see how he interacts, but he has a tremendous ability to connect with people. I wrote down a number of comments as I prepared for this from employees that I've interacted with. From the very start, Dan has prioritized the importance of customers and employees through interaction and recognition. One of the things he regularly does for the board and for employees is provide updates via video, and every single one of those videos, outside of the information that he's presenting, recognizes key individuals just like he did for the 40-year employees. It's a signature component of Dan's leadership style. During COVID, as we all know, a very difficult time for society. One of his skills, one of his strongest skills, and you can see it when he presents, and if you spend enough time with him, you can see how he interacts, but he has a tremendous ability to connect with people. one of his skills one of his strongest skills and you can see it when he presents and if you spend enough time with him you can see how he interacts but he has a tremendous ability to connect with people I wrote down a number of comments as I prepared for this from employees that I've interacted with. i wrote down a number of comments as i prepared for this from employees that i've interacted with From the very start, Dan has prioritized the importance of customers and employees through interaction and recognition. from the very start dan has prioritized the importance of customers and employees through interaction and recognition One of the things he regularly does for the board and for employees is provide updates via video, and every single one of those videos, outside of the information that he's presenting, recognizes key individuals just like he did for the 40-year employees. one of the things he regularly does for the board and for employees is provide updates via video and every single one of those videos outside of the information that he's presenting recognizes key individuals just like he did for the 40-year employees It's a signature component of Dan's leadership style. it's a signature component of dan's leadership style During COVID, as we all know, a very difficult time for society. during covid as we all know a very difficult time for society His message always prioritized employees' health and safety, while also emphasizing that Fastenal's goal was helping customers to do the same. Dan believes in people and their ability to do great things when given the chance. He also cares more about employees' success and well-being than his. It comes out when you listen to him. He also leads by example with practical frugality. That doesn't mean he's cheap. He's frugal, practically. He also insisted that honesty and integrity are non-negotiable leadership qualities. The founder of Fastenal, Bob Kierlin, wrote a book called "The Power of Fastenal People." I'm probably guessing many of you have read it. It's an exceptional read. The book outlines the core cultural pillars that make Fastenal a special company. Within it, as you saw from Dan's slides, Bob outlines the 10 key leadership characteristics, now maybe 15, that embody the culture. His message always prioritized employees' health and safety, while also emphasizing that Fastenal's goal was helping customers to do the same. his message always prioritized employees' health and safety while also emphasizing that fastenal's goal was helping customers to do the same Dan believes in people and their ability to do great things when given the chance. dan believes in people and their ability to do great things when given the chance He also cares more about employees' success and well-being than his. he also cares more about employees' success and well-being than his It comes out when you listen to him. it comes out when you listen to him He also leads by example with practical frugality. he also leads by example with practical frugality That doesn't mean he's cheap. that doesn't mean he's cheap He's frugal, practically. he's frugal practically He also insisted that honesty and integrity are non-negotiable leadership qualities. he also insisted that honesty and integrity are non-negotiable leadership qualities The founder of Fastenal, Bob Kierlin, wrote a book called "The Power of Fastenal People." I'm probably guessing many of you have read it. the founder of fastenal bob kierlin wrote a book called "the power of fastenal people." i'm probably guessing many of you have read it It's an exceptional read. it's an exceptional read The book outlines the core cultural pillars that make Fastenal a special company. the book outlines the core cultural pillars that make fastenal a special company Within it, as you saw from Dan's slides, Bob outlines the 10 key leadership characteristics, now maybe 15, that embody the culture. within it as you saw from dan's slides bob outlines the 10 key leadership characteristics now maybe 15 that embody the culture Dan embraces these leadership characteristics, and it's one of the many reasons he is so admired in the field and why he's going to be very missed, not only from the organization, but also at the board. He's been an exceptional board member and provided the same sort of integrity and guidance and cultural understanding to all of us. Dan's leaving the organization in the very capable hands of an exceptional leadership team, led by Jeff Watts, all of whom also embody the power of Fastenal people. Unfortunately, Bob Kierlin is no longer with us, but if he were, Bob would be very proud. Please join us in thanking Dan Florness for everything he has accomplished for Fastenal. Now with that, we're going to make Dan take some Q&A. Actually, no. Dan embraces these leadership characteristics, and it's one of the many reasons he is so admired in the field and why he's going to be very missed, not only from the organization, but also at the board. dan embraces these leadership characteristics and it's one of the many reasons he is so admired in the field and why he's going to be very missed not only from the organization but also at the board He's been an exceptional board member and provided the same sort of integrity and guidance and cultural understanding to all of us. he's been an exceptional board member and provided the same sort of integrity and guidance and cultural understanding to all of us Dan's leaving the organization in the very capable hands of an exceptional leadership team, led by Jeff Watts, all of whom also embody the power of Fastenal people. dan's leaving the organization in the very capable hands of an exceptional leadership team led by jeff watts all of whom also embody the power of fastenal people Unfortunately, Bob Kierlin is no longer with us, but if he were, Bob would be very proud. unfortunately bob kierlin is no longer with us but if he were bob would be very proud Please join us in thanking Dan Florness for everything he has accomplished for Fastenal. please join us in thanking dan florness for everything he has accomplished for fastenal Now with that, we're going to make Dan take some Q&A. now with that we're going to make dan take some q&a Actually, no. actually no Probably good if Jeff leads it right now, but I think both of you are going to do it, right? Probably good if Jeff leads it right now, but I think both of you are going to do it, right? probably good if jeff leads it right now but i think both of you are going to do it right

Speaker 6: If there is any. If there is any. if there is any

Speaker 11: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 6: You want me to take those? You want me to take those? you want me to take those

Speaker 11: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 6: You're pretty emotional. I think you need this. Now we're going to ruin that moment by having Florness and Watts answer some questions. Are there any questions from the room? Pardon? You're pretty emotional. you're pretty emotional I think you need this. i think you need this Now we're going to ruin that moment by having Florness and Watts answer some questions. now we're going to ruin that moment by having florness and watts answer some questions Are there any questions from the room? are there any questions from the room Pardon? pardon Okay. There's one person over here on this side. Okay. okay There's one person over here on this side. there's one person over here on this side

Speaker 12: Dan, you're a numbers guy. Hi, Dan. Dan, you're a numbers guy. dan you're a numbers guy Hi, Dan. hi dan

Speaker 4: Hi there. Hi there. hi there

Speaker 12: Nice to see you. Nice to see you. nice to see you

Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 12: Over the tenure that you've put in, the 10 years, the revenues have grown about double? Over the tenure that you've put in, the 10 years, the revenues have grown about double? over the tenure that you've put in the 10 years the revenues have grown about double

Speaker 4: Just over doubled. It was about 3.82. Just over doubled. just over doubled It was about 3.82. it was about 3.82

Speaker 12: What has the stock done in 10 years? What has the stock done in 10 years? what has the stock done in 10 years

Speaker 4: We're off a little bit in the last week. We were almost up five-fold, but a little over four-fold. Yeah, we were about $11 billion in market cap back in the fall of 2015, and we're just over $50 billion today. Yep. Any other questions? I like a question where I can just say, "Yep. We're off a little bit in the last week. we're off a little bit in the last week We were almost up five-fold, but a little over four-fold. we were almost up five-fold but a little over four-fold Yeah, we were about $11 billion in market cap back in the fall of 2015, and we're just over $50 billion today. yeah we were about $11 billion in market cap back in the fall of 2015 and we're just over $50 billion today Yep. yep Any other questions? any other questions I like a question where I can just say, "Yep. i like a question where i can just say "yep

Speaker 6: There's one right here in the front. There's one right here in the front. there's one right here in the front

Speaker 13: I have a question about the vending machines. I have a question about the vending machines. i have a question about the vending machines

Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 13: Over the last five years, how has the projection been on the growth of the vending machines? Over the last five years, how has the projection been on the growth of the vending machines? over the last five years how has the projection been on the growth of the vending machines

Speaker 4: I'll answer it in pieces. If I go back to a decade ago, and then I'll kind of plug in halfway, because I don't have the exact number from five years ago. If I go back a decade ago, about 24% of our revenue went through either a vending machine or through eCommerce, and it was probably about 18% and 6% making up that 24%. Today, that number is 62%. I think last October, we were about 62%, maybe we're 63% now. Inside of that, the vending is about 46%, 47%. It's gone from about 18% of sales to about 47%. Biggest piece of that increase is vending. If I kind of walk that back, you're probably looking around 30% to, well, 25% to about 45%, is what the vending is as a percentage of our business. Not all of that is pure growth. I'll answer it in pieces. i'll answer it in pieces If I go back to a decade ago, and then I'll kind of plug in halfway, because I don't have the exact number from five years ago. if i go back to a decade ago and then i'll kind of plug in halfway because i don't have the exact number from five years ago If I go back a decade ago, about 24% of our revenue went through either a vending machine or through eCommerce, and it was probably about 18% and 6% making up that 24%. if i go back a decade ago about 24% of our revenue went through either a vending machine or through ecommerce and it was probably about 18% and 6% making up that 24% Today, that number is 62%. today that number is 62% I think last October, we were about 62%, maybe we're 63% now. i think last october we were about 62% maybe we're 63% now Inside of that, the vending is about 46%, 47%. inside of that the vending is about 46% 47% It's gone from about 18% of sales to about 47%. it's gone from about 18% of sales to about 47% Biggest piece of that increase is vending. biggest piece of that increase is vending If I kind of walk that back, you're probably looking around 30% to, well, 25% to about 45%, is what the vending is as a percentage of our business. if i kind of walk that back you're probably looking around 30% to well 25% to about 45% is what the vending is as a percentage of our business Not all of that is pure growth. not all of that is pure growth A lot of it is growth. A lot of it is introduced into existing customer relationships, and it makes the business more efficient. Because one of the challenges in supply chain is knowing what's on the different shelves and what's close to the point of use, which is the person working in that manufacturing plant or that distribution center. What the vending machine does, as well as all the adjacent things we do, like the RFID and all these different systems, it puts a gas gauge on that supply of inventory that's inside your customer's facility. It's like my car this morning. If I wouldn't have had a gas gauge, I wouldn't have made it to work. I would've called my wife and I'd have said, "Hey, Jen, when are you getting down here? A lot of it is growth. a lot of it is growth A lot of it is introduced into existing customer relationships, and it makes the business more efficient. a lot of it is introduced into existing customer relationships and it makes the business more efficient Because one of the challenges in supply chain is knowing what's on the different shelves and what's close to the point of use, which is the person working in that manufacturing plant or that distribution center. because one of the challenges in supply chain is knowing what's on the different shelves and what's close to the point of use which is the person working in that manufacturing plant or that distribution center What the vending machine does, as well as all the adjacent things we do, like the RFID and all these different systems, it puts a gas gauge on that supply of inventory that's inside your customer's facility. what the vending machine does as well as all the adjacent things we do like the rfid and all these different systems it puts a gas gauge on that supply of inventory that's inside your customer's facility It's like my car this morning. it's like my car this morning If I wouldn't have had a gas gauge, I wouldn't have made it to work. if i wouldn't have had a gas gauge i wouldn't have made it to work I would've called my wife and I'd have said, "Hey, Jen, when are you getting down here? i would've called my wife and i'd have said "hey jen when are you getting down here I'm somewhere on County 17 out of gas." By having that in our customer's facility, our replenishment becomes very efficient from a labor perspective, and we can actually lower the amount of inventory that our customer needs in their facility. To get back to your question, it's gone from mid-20s% to mid-40s% of our business. I'm somewhere on County 17 out of gas." By having that in our customer's facility, our replenishment becomes very efficient from a labor perspective, and we can actually lower the amount of inventory that our customer needs in their facility. i'm somewhere on county 17 out of gas." by having that in our customer's facility our replenishment becomes very efficient from a labor perspective and we can actually lower the amount of inventory that our customer needs in their facility To get back to your question, it's gone from mid-20s% to mid-40s% of our business. to get back to your question it's gone from mid-20s% to mid-40s% of our business

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you for all your service, too. Thank you. thank you Thank you for all your service, too. thank you for all your service too

Speaker 4: Thank you. Anybody else? Oh, there's one question over here. There's a mic coming up right behind you. Thank you. thank you Anybody else? anybody else Oh, there's one question over here. oh there's one question over here There's a mic coming up right behind you. there's a mic coming up right behind you

Speaker 14: I agree. Thank you for your service. I agree. i agree Thank you for your service. thank you for your service

Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 14: This last year has been a lot of ups and downs with tariffs and what's good and what's bad and what's been converted. What's the process for Fastenal with the tariffs that have been extended to you, and what's the future going to hold? This last year has been a lot of ups and downs with tariffs and what's good and what's bad and what's been converted. this last year has been a lot of ups and downs with tariffs and what's good and what's bad and what's been converted What's the process for Fastenal with the tariffs that have been extended to you, and what's the future going to hold? what's the process for fastenal with the tariffs that have been extended to you and what's the future going to hold

Speaker 4: The future changes about every 15 minutes, and so that one I can't spec. I can say it'll be interesting. As far as what we try to do as an organization is we immediately have a great team that goes about studying what was just announced, and we communicate as quickly as possible with our customer of what this means for their supply chain, and we try to give them as much time as possible to make decisions. Because when you do that, you create optionality for your customer. I believe our customers really value that aspect of us because when tariffs come along, we're not raising prices. The future changes about every 15 minutes, and so that one I can't spec. the future changes about every 15 minutes and so that one i can't spec I can say it'll be interesting. i can say it'll be interesting As far as what we try to do as an organization is we immediately have a great team that goes about studying what was just announced, and we communicate as quickly as possible with our customer of what this means for their supply chain, and we try to give them as much time as possible to make decisions. as far as what we try to do as an organization is we immediately have a great team that goes about studying what was just announced and we communicate as quickly as possible with our customer of what this means for their supply chain and we try to give them as much time as possible to make decisions Because when you do that, you create optionality for your customer. because when you do that you create optionality for your customer I believe our customers really value that aspect of us because when tariffs come along, we're not raising prices. i believe our customers really value that aspect of us because when tariffs come along we're not raising prices We're sharing with our customer their supply chain has just become more expensive, and then we're giving them options of how to reduce some of that increase or eliminate it altogether by modifying source supply, by modifying the product selection, by being creative with our solutions, and our team in the field are particularly good at that. Since 2018, they've had a lot of practice. That's the biggest thing to do, is give information so people can make decisions. Jeff, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. We're sharing with our customer their supply chain has just become more expensive, and then we're giving them options of how to reduce some of that increase or eliminate it altogether by modifying source supply, by modifying the product selection, by being creative with our solutions, and our team in the field are particularly good at that. we're sharing with our customer their supply chain has just become more expensive and then we're giving them options of how to reduce some of that increase or eliminate it altogether by modifying source supply by modifying the product selection by being creative with our solutions and our team in the field are particularly good at that Since 2018, they've had a lot of practice. since 2018 they've had a lot of practice That's the biggest thing to do, is give information so people can make decisions. that's the biggest thing to do is give information so people can make decisions Jeff, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. jeff i don't know if you want to add anything to that

Speaker 5: No, you did a good job. No, you did a good job. no you did a good job

Speaker 4: All right. Any other questions? Before we switch it back over, I'm going to close out the question part then. Before we switch it back over to the final part of the meeting, voting results, I do have a gift for Jeff. Now, Jeff is Canadian. Now, normally I would say, "Jeff's Canadian," so when I talk to him, I use small words. But I'm not going to say that today. We're good friends as well. All right. all right Any other questions? any other questions Before we switch it back over, I'm going to close out the question part then. before we switch it back over i'm going to close out the question part then Before we switch it back over to the final part of the meeting, voting results, I do have a gift for Jeff. before we switch it back over to the final part of the meeting voting results i do have a gift for jeff Now, Jeff is Canadian. now jeff is canadian Now, normally I would say, "Jeff's Canadian," so when I talk to him, I use small words. now normally i would say "jeff's canadian," so when i talk to him i use small words But I'm not going to say that today. but i'm not going to say that today We're good friends as well. we're good friends as well

Speaker 5: I'm used to this. I'm used to this. i'm used to this

Speaker 4: I don't have a baton to pass off to Jeff, so I thought I'd get something that resonated more for this circumstance. Give me one second. I don't have a baton to pass off to Jeff, so I thought I'd get something that resonated more for this circumstance. i don't have a baton to pass off to jeff so i thought i'd get something that resonated more for this circumstance Give me one second. give me one second I don't know much about hockey, and Jeff will agree with that. I'll make two comments. One is goalies are known for maybe having a screw loose once in a while, and so it's okay to have some crazy ideas once in a while. Vet it with the team. Secondly, always remember, and this is as funny as I get, the puck stops here. Thanks, everybody. I don't know much about hockey, and Jeff will agree with that. i don't know much about hockey and jeff will agree with that I'll make two comments. i'll make two comments One is goalies are known for maybe having a screw loose once in a while, and so it's okay to have some crazy ideas once in a while. one is goalies are known for maybe having a screw loose once in a while and so it's okay to have some crazy ideas once in a while Vet it with the team. vet it with the team Secondly, always remember, and this is as funny as I get, the puck stops here. secondly always remember and this is as funny as i get the puck stops here Thanks, everybody. thanks everybody

Speaker 11: Okay. The ballots have now been counted, and the report of the Inspector of Elections indicates that Scott A. Satterlee, Michael J. Ancius, Stephen L. Eastman, Brady D. Ericson, Daniel L. Florness, Rita J. Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. Johnson, Sarah N. Nielsen, Irene A. Quarshie, and Reyne K. Wisecup have received the required number of votes and are hereby elected directors of company. The report of the Inspector of Election also indicates that, one, the resolution for the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Two, the resolution for the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of certain of our executive officers has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Okay. okay The ballots have now been counted, and the report of the Inspector of Elections indicates that Scott A. the ballots have now been counted and the report of the inspector of elections indicates that scott a Satterlee, Michael J. satterlee michael j Ancius, Stephen L. ancius stephen l Eastman, Brady D. eastman brady d Ericson, Daniel L. ericson daniel l Florness, Rita J. florness rita j Heise, Hseng-Hung Sam Hsu, Daniel L. heise hseng-hung sam hsu daniel l Johnson, Sarah N. johnson sarah n Nielsen, Irene A. nielsen irene a Quarshie, and Reyne K. quarshie and reyne k Wisecup have received the required number of votes and are hereby elected directors of company. wisecup have received the required number of votes and are hereby elected directors of company The report of the Inspector of Election also indicates that, one, the resolution for the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. the report of the inspector of election also indicates that one the resolution for the ratification of pricewaterhousecoopers llp as the independent registered public accounting firm for the company for the fiscal year ending december 31st 2026 has received the required number of votes and has been adopted Two, the resolution for the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of certain of our executive officers has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. two the resolution for the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of certain of our executive officers has received the required number of votes and has been adopted Three, the resolution for the approval of the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Four, the resolution for the approval of the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. Five, the resolution for the consideration of the shareholder proposal related to an EEO-1 report disclosure policy has not received the required number of votes and has not been approved. All ballots and a record of all proxies will be filed with the books and records of the company. The certificate of the Inspector of Election will be attached to the minutes of the meeting as Exhibit C. The meeting is now adjourned. Three, the resolution for the approval of the Fastenal Company Employee Restricted Stock Unit Plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. three the resolution for the approval of the fastenal company employee restricted stock unit plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted Four, the resolution for the approval of the Fastenal Company Non-Employee Director Stock and Restricted Stock Unit Plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted. four the resolution for the approval of the fastenal company non-employee director stock and restricted stock unit plan has received the required number of votes and has been adopted Five, the resolution for the consideration of the shareholder proposal related to an EEO-1 report disclosure policy has not received the required number of votes and has not been approved. five the resolution for the consideration of the shareholder proposal related to an eeo-1 report disclosure policy has not received the required number of votes and has not been approved All ballots and a record of all proxies will be filed with the books and records of the company. all ballots and a record of all proxies will be filed with the books and records of the company The certificate of the Inspector of Election will be attached to the minutes of the meeting as Exhibit C. the certificate of the inspector of election will be attached to the minutes of the meeting as exhibit c The meeting is now adjourned. the meeting is now adjourned Thank you all for coming, and we invite you to join us for lunch, which is available outside in the tent. Thank you. Thank you all for coming, and we invite you to join us for lunch, which is available outside in the tent. thank you all for coming and we invite you to join us for lunch which is available outside in the tent Thank you. thank you