US Glass and Medal

So, I have this cousin Mark, who really means well. It is just that his recent activities have caused me to hope if he ever has kids, his wife's gene pool will overflow his. What makes me talk about Mark, especially here in this blog that is based in the glass industry? Here's the story, and at the end, I think you will agree.

I ran into Mark at a recent family get-together. We were alone at the table, while the other couples and our wives were swapping baby and grandchild stories and photos. Mark said to me, "Hey, Paulie, I hear your retired from the glass business, what are you doing now?" I told him I was a writer for US Glass and Metal. Mark says, "What is this us glass--is it like us and them glass?" (Are you beginning to get an insight into Mark?)

I told him that US Glass and Metal is a very successful business and told him about the people who run it. "It's simple...do something better than anybody else, have a great idea, and you, too, will be a success." Well, our wives came back to the table, and we dropped the conversation. As we left, Mark said, "Paulie, can I call you about this glass and medal business?" "Sure," I said, "anytime at all."

He didn't call, not that I was looking forward to it. Six months later at another cousin's wedding, Mark pulls me into the bar and begins to tell me this story.

He had thought a lot about the glass and medal business, and if a mere 'girlie' (Our publisher Deb Levy), could succeed, than he would be a shoo-in to be a success. So, Mark opened up a store, without having the faintest idea of how to be in business. He went around to every senior citizen home and offered to pay two bucks to every war vet for each of their medals. He paid an extra buck for purple hearts. Mark told these unsuspecting vets that he was going to open a store to showcase these medals, and he might sell a few. Everyone would share in the profits, with the two dollar payment being an advance of the profits to show his good faith.

Soon, he had over six hundred medals. Now, what would the glass be. He knew. He went on-line and bought hundreds of imported magnifying glasses, to better see the medals. He opened the store, selling the medals for $100 bucks each, and throwing in the magnifying glass for free.

Let's make a long story short...he lasted about three months without a single sale. A few people came in looking for a quote on patio doors, and Mark didn't know what to do. He did donate six magnifying glasses to a kindergarten teacher so the kids could see some caterpillars.

The moral of the story? The glass and medal business is not as easy as it looks.

So, You've Got A New Suit

OK, you have a new suit---a nice blue one, with a faint stripe---NO, not that kind of suit, the kind where a beefy guy with yellow teeth, comes to the counter in your shop, asks for the owner, hands you a document, says "You've been served; have a nice day", and leaves.

What next?

Most people read the suit, say it is a load of bull, that they did do the job correctly. Of course, you curse a little, and the next day you read the summons again, getting more angry. A couple of days later, you call the client and ask what is going on, and they say you screwed up, and you have to speak with their attorney now.

You call the attorney, and three days later, he spends two minutes on the phone with you, telling you he cannot help you solve this, that the court has set a date for an answer, and that must be followed.

You beg him for a meeting, he finally agrees, and four days later you meet, and come away thoroughly upset and of course, the suit goes on.

Now what, you don't want to spend a couple hundred an hour on your cousin's son, who just became an attorney, so you figure you can handle this yourself. To make this long-story short. You loose a bundle, when you miss the court date because it was yesterday, not today, and the judge hands down a summary judgement.

Dummy!

Let's start over. A beefy guy with yellow teeth comes into your store and hands you a document...oh you know.

What now?

First step, read the suit. Second step, calm down. In America, anyone can sue anyone over anything. Most suits are frivolous, more concerned with a bruised ego over a perceived problem, that a real problem. Step three, call your attorney. You're going to spend some bucks for one hour of advice, which will be: calm down, and write down everything you can think of about the case, and call back in a couple of days.

Step four. Call your insurance broker or agent. Almost all liability suits are covered by your insurance. If you carry liability insurance, and just about all comprehensive business insurance packages include liability, the insurance company is required to defend you in the suit. They will provide the lawyer, work up the defense, and if you loose, pay the suit, up to the limits of the policy. Isn't this easier?

Do not go to any meetings to discuss the suit without your attorney, or the insurance attorney present. If your adversary has gone to the point of filing a suit, they have invested all the money and time with their attorney, and will not settle without money, and usually a pound of flesh.

Yes, it will take some of your time to explain everything to the insurance company lawyer, or your lawyer, but it is worth it. If you don't tell your insurance company within a specified number of days (usually twenty), they don't have to pay the suit. That's right...if you handle this yourself and lose, thinking then you will put this in as a claim, you are going to lose.

The smart route when Mr. Beefy comes to the front door, is to thank him, call your lawyer, call your insurance agent or broker, visit your cousin from Tennessee, Mr. Jack Daniels, and go back to work. Let the pros handle this. All you will do is upset yourself.

At $4 A Gallon, You Have To Read This Blog About Saving Glass In The Glass Industry!

We don't have to watch the news to see $4 a gallon gasoline. Just look at the station on the corner. If you use diesel, you would be happy with $4 a gallon. Who knew?

Many choices here:

• Close the business


• Sell your trucks and work only within a 5 block walking radius of your shop


• Cut your own pay by a couple hundred a week


• Work smart, read on, and you will save money--

You have read the standards, fill your tires, drive under 55, tune the engine and tell your shop drivers to "take it easy". These will work for sure. But here are a few extra thoughts that will help a glass company.

CLEAN OUT YOUR TRUCK--This will save you a ton of money. Just about every glass truck has 20 half-used tubes of sealant, three fogged IG Units, and mirror taken from a job three weeks ago. There is also 32 pounds of fast-food cups and wrappers stuffed under the seat.

For every 100 pounds you take off the truck, on average you will save 2% of your gas cost in a a car, and I guessing 1% in a truck. (from a US Government Pamphlet). http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/energysavings/savegas/flash.html

A glass truck with a couple of filled garbage cans, and the above junk, can easily shed 500 pounds. This can give you 5% better gas mileage. This is free, no special gimmicks. Do this tomorrow. The only complaints will come from the crew who should be maintaining a clean truck anyway! If you are in a cold weather area, next winter remember to get all the snow and ice off the truck. If you only clear the windshield, you are carrying hundreds of extra pounds.

The biggest savings come from reducing the weight you move around, next comes making the truck more aerodynamic. No...you can't get a Ferrari with a side rack, (If you did, I guarantee you a great publicity story), but clean up your rack. When driving with no glass on the rack, place the sticks on the bed of the truck. Presto--better air flow around the truck--better mileage.

Lay out the route for your truck carefully. Most of the glaziers will want to take the streets bordered by coffee shops. Explain to all concerned, that the constant stop and start, stare at shoppers, stop and start, all hurt gas mileage. You will be taking away the fun for the crew...but it is a cruel world.

There is one gas waster that I do recommend. Leave the Air Conditioning on. Let the guys cool off between jobs. They will be more refreshed, will work harder, and in the long run, the company will be better off.

Are you charging a fuel surcharge to your retail customers. You should be. Plumbers and electricians do it, UPS and Fedex do it, Let's Do It, let's recover some costs.

If you follow the above instructions, you will save $ every week. In these economic times, that is important.

Happy Mother's Day, and other Holidays

I know each and every one of you called your mother, or your mother-in-law, or your children called you, or your Aunt Helen. My opinion, seriously, is every day is Mother's Day. It is, kinda like, that's where you came from, and you should never forget family.

Now that I have sounded like a Hallmark Card, let's bring this discussion back to the glass industry. How many of you did something in your showroom acknowledging Mother's Day. True, there is not a lot to tie to our industry, but you could have put up a sign to bring in your mom's picture and get the glass replaced in the frame. Or maybe, let people know the best Mother's Day present would be a new shower! Or you get a greenhouse window installed over the kitchen sink. Or...use your creativity.

Every holiday gives you marketing opportunities in your glass showroom.

It requires thinking ahead to make a display, teach your counter help to discuss the specials and coordinate with your vendors so that what you do sell will be available to install by the holiday date. Usually, you want to work two to three months ahead of each holiday.

It is close now, but what would you do for Memorial Day? Think about what your potential customers are doing for the holiday, and then help them spend money with you to help their celebration of the holiday. Let's see what Memorial Day brings to mind.

• We barbecue and eat on the patio to celebrate the start of summer. So, be ready to sell patio table tops...make sure your tempering supplier has a full stock of aquatex glass. Learn what their stock sizes are. Do you have a radius corner chart to help you measure the tables that customers bring in? (Your tempering supplier should give you one!) Do you have a back-up tempering fabricator just in case? Can you cut your own aquatex to size and bring to your temperer?


• Memorial Day also will bring in pictures to have glass replaced. If you do framing, put up a display with patriotic themes.


• Do you want to give a discount on all auto glass replacement for any active duty military personnel? How about to any guard or reserve members? Aside from good business, you can get some excellent PR by doing this.


• Are you near a military base? As most housing is government owned you probably don't deal with the tenants, but make sure you know the base housing officer.

• How about putting red,white and blue glass in your showroom, showing that glass can come in many colors. This glass can be back-painted, like spandrel, or you can have Lami made from Solutia's Vanceva color pallet. You supplier of tempered or lami can make these samples available. Keep these pieces up through July Fourth. You probably won't sell red, blue or white glass, but your customers will ask questions, and that can lead to sales.

OK, your turn. Look around your shop...can it use a little sprucing up? Where would you put a shower door display? Does your own storefront have hi-performance low-e? Then, do you have a sign explaining what low-e is?

Now that you have read this, start thinking about labor-day!

And The Moral Of The Story Is........

Sometimes we all get so busy we can't make time to learn, to teach, and to smile. Here are two stories that might just remind you to take a moment to appraise a situation, and to remember those that have been there may be helpful to your glass business. This first story was sent to me by Heather Davis, a co-worker from the old Floral Glass. She knew it was fun, and brought forth a good lesson for all of us in business.

"One day I decided to go on a picture-taking safari in Africa, taking my faithful old golden retriever 'Ghost' along for company. One day Ghost started chasing rabbits, and before long discovers he is lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction, with the obvious intention of having lunch.

Old Ghost thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Seeing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones, with his back to the approaching big cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, old Ghosty exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here...."

Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in mid-stride. A look of terror comes over him and slinks away into the trees. "Whew, that was close!" says the leopard. "That old dog nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes, but Ghost sees him heading after the leopard, and figures that something must be up.

The monkey catches up with the leopard, spills the beans, and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"

Now, Ghost sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back, but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't yet seen them. Just when they get close enough to hear, Ghost yells out: "WHERE'S THAT DAMN MONKEY? I SENT HIM OFF AN HOUR AGO TO BRING ME ANOTHER LEOPARD!!!

The moral of the story--of course--Wisdom and skills will overcome poor planning and treachery.

Second Act---

In 1930 there were two shoe manufacturers in New York City. One was old and well established, but here 'established' could be considered stuck in a leathery rut. The other company was on the lookout for new business and trained its employees to be creative.

Both companies sent a salesman to South America, because they heard there was a large population that could buy shoes. A week later the first salesman sent a telegram, "Coming home tomorrow...thirty million people here, none wear shoes, no market for us." The second salesman sent this note "Thirty million people here, none wear shoes...I'm staying here to sell each one of them a pair of shoes!"

Which one do you want working for you...Which type of company are you?

The moral of the story, again...Work smart and hard, you'll get ahead.

The Recession Is Here

It's here. It doesn't matter that Mr. Bush says it isn't. It is. More and more people are losing jobs and many more people are cutting back spending on the fear of losing a job. It is this fear that is rippling through the economy and actually sending us further down the spiral into recession.

So, since this column's purpose is not to spread fear, but to help people and companies in the glass industry, let's see what we can do to help ourselves in the glass industry.

Look at your expenses. Scale back on some of the extras at work like, the new car for yourself and every non-working family member on the payroll. Sounds trite, but remember none of your perks exist without a viable company.

It is hard to reduce benefits or perks that everyone gets, but if you have some that only apply to a selected few, these should go first. If you have one or two people that get 45 hours per week, cut them back to 40 so that more people will work. You should never promise OT as a permanent part of income. It can and will fluctuate. Remind your crew of this every once and a while.

You should look at a hiring freeze. Across the board. When someone leaves, share the workload. This will force you to cross-train, to try giving people more responsibility, and will often help you to find a star in your existing work force. If your employees see you trying hard to control costs, they will pitch-in and help. If you still plan on buying a boat and storing it in the extra garage at your shop, your employees will not work hard to help you containing costs.

STOP! This column just turned negative. Let's save that for another day.

Let's find things that we can do to help ourselves! When people start to spend less, this affects your inventory. You won't sell as many framed mirrors, so let your inventory dwindle down. People will fix things rather than replace with new. You will get more screen and storm door repairs than new ones being built. You will see more repair business of everything, rather than new construction sales. Be prepared to fix wheels on sliders or hinges on shower doors. You will replace more fogged IG units then putting in new windows.

You will have more time on your hands...start looking to doing things in-house rather than buying out. Maybe this is the time to look at making your own simple IG. CRL can set you up easily. You might want to polish shelves yourself. Look to doing your takeoffs in house rather than using an outside drafting service. It is a great time to get to know your vendors better. Since they are going to be looking harder for sales, meet with them to negotiate a fixed price for basic products that benefits you, and guarantees them a reliable customer. As money tightens up, talk with your vendors about cash discounts. Even though interest rates are low again, vendors are looking for quick payments to meet their cash flow. If you have the funds, a 2% discount is the best investment you will ever make.

If your vendor offers bill payment by credit card, take advantage. If your vendor offers no payment incentives, 30-45 days is OK.

Recessions also offer opportunities to hire people who have left other jobs, that ordinarily you couldn't afford to hire. Keep your ear open to scuttlebutt in the industry about who may be available. If you are near an AGC plant, there will be plenty of talent around!

It is also a good time to make the investments you had planned. One glass shop told me the edger he had planned to buy was now 5% lower, as the manufacturer was looking to increase sales. The value of the dollar is in the cellar, increasing purchase prices from overseas. Look to American made machinery, or purchases paid in dollars, with a fixed price.

Consumers are increasing their spending in one area--energy conservation.

Present Low-e on every job you go to...show thermal break aluminum to every building owner, and talk about the special blues, greens and grays in float glass that help reduce heat gain.

It seems that the very rich will still be the very rich. Upsell the expensive shower doors all you can. Be prepared to sell medium price doors on a lot of calls. Have your brag book show many styles of doors, including these mid-priced ones.

Purchasing rules are changing with the 'R' word now. It used to be that you would buy enough of a product to get the large quantity price breaks. While you inventory movement is going to slow down, start buying less.

Look at your insurance costs...if your sales or payroll will be less, insurance costs may go down. Talk to your broker and see how much you can reduce monthly payments.

Look at your competitors who may be really slow, and talk about consolidation. If someone is going out of business, I've found the best think you can buy is their phone number. Inventory usually goes for about 10-15 cents on the dollar, and equipment often is below 10 cents on the dollar.

Remember, things will not be the same for a year or two. Be prepared for change, prepare your employees for change without scaring them, but by being honest, and work as smart and as hard as you can in tough times.

How To Save Big Money on Your Medical Insurance

Here is the easiest money you ever saved. Honest. This week I set up to save $864 annually on medical insurance for my wife and myself. If you work for someone who gives you medical insurance you may save, and if you provide the insurance, you will definitely save.

Here is the simple path to these savings.

This all started last month when I went for my annual physical. Weight and cholesterol both down...the doctor is happy.

Between my wife and myself we take nine prescriptions for a variety of things. None serious, but still recommended by the Doctor. Our medical insurance, provided by my consulting company, covers Elaine and me. We have an average plan, with a drug co-pay of 10/20/40. Which means, we pay $10 for a generic pill, $20 for non-generics, and $40 for the heavy-hitters.

Just after seeing my Doc, I saw a commercial for the $4 drug plan at Wal-Mart. I had seen these commercials before and figured it was just a come-on to get people in the store. But, curiosity prevailed. I went to Wal-Mart's web site, clicked through to the pharmacy, and they listed almost 400 drugs that were on the $4 program. My jaw dropped. 8 out of 9 of our prescriptions were listed. I pay $150 a month on the deductibles, and the insurance pays hundreds of dollars more each month.

Paying just $4 for a prescription just didn't seem right. After all prescriptions cost up to hundreds of dollars a month. Now, I paid $72 for all of my prescriptions, with only one (the $40 drug) having to go through insurance. I saved $78 this month, and every month coming up, and my insurance company will save hundreds each month. The biggest savings is yet to come. Last year my insurance company paid over $3000 for our drugs. This year they will pay under $1000 for the one drug that will be submitted to them.

How much would be saved if each person in your company went to Wal-Mart for their prescriptions? When your insurance broker comes to you, and the plan has laid out thousands less in expenses, you can look to lower premiums, or maybe no increase! This is a no-brainer.

To make it easier, I found out that many other reputable companies have the same $4 plans. Target Stores, for one does this in their in-store pharmacy. My local super market chain does it as well.

They undertake this to drive more business to their store. OK, it will work for me.

If you are a provider of insurance, make a few phone calls. Find out who does this in your area. Encourage your employees to go there. If you paid them the $4, and every one went along, you can only guess how much your premium will be lower in a year, but I bet it will get your attention. If you show your employees how to save money, you win again. If you are in a 'community-rated' plan, where your individual group's experience doesn't change the premium, still encourage your crew to use these discounts. The savings throughout the whole economy will eventually effect all insurance costs!

At the store I went to, they extend this program to pets too! If your pooch or kitty is on a human drug, which is fairly often, they will honor the $4 cost for pet meds as well!!!

I asked the Pharmacist about coverages throughout the country. I was told roughly half of all people take a prescription, with the heavy usage being in the older people. The odds are your medical insurance plan will save, and you will get lower premiums!