TREATED WOOD Special Issue

This fact-packed issue will include feature stories on :

J u major Texas Pressure treater ./ fire retardant treatment rl educating the consumer J qualitY control

J merchandising oPPortunities in pressure treatment and much, much more.

ADvERfl SERS:

.o this important sPecial issue. Get your message before our 12,750 readers in 13 Southern states. Deadline for the April Pressure Treated Wood Special lssue is March 14. For information, write the ad' dress below or call (collect) (714) 549-8393.

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The results? It is commonplace for Dataline customers to increase gross margins by as much as five percentage poinis and achieve investment payback within eight to ten months of start-up. Isn't it time you, too, became a Dataline''Business Partner"? We promise you a most rewarding exPenence.

! Please send information on the Dataline System 2000.

D Please send information on both systems.

! Please have a Dataline Representative call me.

HARDWAREIHOUSEWARES SPECIAL ISSUE

Telephone, Video Accessories Ring. .Profit Bell

Trafiic Builders for Hardware And Housewares lmports, Warehouse Retailing Change Industry

Fldrida Lumberyard's Innovative Storage QVstem Delivery Pro Finalizes Dealer Survey Results

Western Siding Gives Building Gharacter, Color

Boxwood Dates Back To Biblical Times in Uses

Southern Hardwood Traffic Association Meeting

Dealers Go To Washington To Meet Congressmen

Great Spring Hardware Sale Begins Next Month Industry Biggies To Participate In Seminars

Lx.rjF.i*r,r?.t:.rriir.l.:.r..+,:.+iiili SERV|CES

Publbher David Cutler

Editor Juanita Lowet

Assisbnt Editor Ken SPears

Contributinc Editors

Dwicht Curian' Gage McKinneY

Arr Dircctor Martha EmerY

Strff Ardst Carole Shinn

Circulation Dorothea Creegan

Buildinc Products DiSest is publishd monthli at 45(D CamPus Dr., Suite 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92ffi, ptrone (7i4) 549-8393 by Cutler Publishing, lnc. Advertising rates upon request.

Adyertising Oitices

FROM SOUTHERN €ALIFORNIA: contact Ctrl Ymn, a)5 Oceano Dr., Los Angeles, Ca.9(D49. Call(213)472-3t t3 or (714) 549-8393.

Sf'BSCRIPTIONS

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BI.'ILDING PRODUCTS DIGEST b ot indeoendqttly'owned publico' tion for ihe rctail, wholesle and distibution levels ol the lumber ond buitding supPlY morkets in I3 fuuthem sotes. business a lot more profit-

"Gaining complete control over the whole able. We used to spend days company and the entire inventorv has made us walking aisles and tracking in- a lot more profitable. I don't thin(we could have ventory by hqnp Now it's done done it without the Triad. Now, with over 12,500

MEM0nY,ffili-,Fi"6ltrifi'lems ns'1ock' mvmemorv items that aren't selling well. Our turns have increaseo, too. \ b're up over a full half turn. With one roo. vve re lull halt turn. with one decisions with more current

EDITORI.AL

Put the Pedal to the Metal

I N RESEARCHING and writing the stories for I this special hardware/housewares issue we once aeain were reminded of how much and how fast tfines chanse. We also noted that there are basiis in brisiness that will probably always remain.

The electronic marvels of our age ar€ coming on stronger each year. The capabilities- of the machineJ improve and managers- at all levels are learning *ays to get more and more outplt from these-quick and accurate performers of. the drudgery. Inventory control, pricing,. labeling' invoiiing, receiving, and sales analysis.are. just a samoling of areas in which electronics have made iignificant advances in streamlining operations.

Yet for all ttre microseconds, bytes, bits and software, there is an original pillar of business and commerce still standing straight and true, supporting the whole enterprise-our old friend cuiiomer-service. And, if-anything, it appears to be more important than ever.

Not only on ttre front lines where the retailer

DAVID CUTLER publisher

carries on his never ending bacle to provi& the hiehest possible level of service to his customers' Uui for the wholesaler, the scramble to woo the retaileris ever morc fuantic.Often only the service aspect sets one wholesaler aPart from the other in the eyes of the rctailer. Frequently this is the prime 'ingredient in the transaction that tips the sale from one firm to another.

For all the talk about price, and we certainly don't mean to downgrade its impctarrce' nuny hardware/housewarcs retailers told us that service was the final criterion clinching the sale because in the long nrn the service provided by the wholesaler would allow them to make morc net profit.

As competition stiffens, the costs involved in orovidine various services-not always an easy figure-to precisely evaluate-will surely rise-. Juit as ceriain will be necessity of having that particular service your customer needs at that certain moment.

Damn the costs, go for it!