Forest Products

Serving 13 Southern states

PUBLISHER David Culler (dcrtler@ioc.net)

SENIOR EDITOR David Koenig (dkoenig @ ioc.net)

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave DelVal (ddelval@ioc.ne$

CONTRIBIfiNG EDITORS Dwight Cunan, Gage McKinney, Earl Moore

ADSALES MANAGER Chuck Casey

ART DIRECTOR Martha Emery

STAFF ARTIST Chas. Balun

CIRCULATION Autumn Schwanke

How to Advertise

Contact our adyedlslng ofllces lor rates:

U.S.A.: Chuck Casey, 4500 Campus Drive, Suile 480, Ne',vporl Beadr, Ca. 92660-1872, Ptnne (9f9) 852-lgg0 Fax 949€52.0231 ll{IERNEt ADS: David Culler, www.hdlding. produc'ts.com. Phone (949) 852-1990 Fax '949-852{231

How to Subscribe

Call Autumn at (949) 852-1990 or send a dreck for he following amount to Buildittg Producls Digesl,4500 Campus Drive, Suite,180, Neuport Beadr, Ca. 926601872:

U.S.A.: One year (12 lssues), $25 Two yean, $41

Three yearc, $55 FOREIGN (Pet yeu paid h advanca h US tun&): Sudace-Canada or Mexico, $37 Oher couniri€s, $45 Ak ntEs also available.

Single copies, $3 + shipplng

Back issues lwtnn waitote), $4.50 + shipping

CHANGE OF ADDRESS Send address label from recenl issue if possible, new address and nine.digil zip code.

No Substitutions, Please

Along with the well-documented trend of companies consolidating into fewer entities, has come a parallel, though less noticed trend. Companies that once sold a single species or dealt in only a handful of products have now expanded their inventories to include a wide range of goods and products, some of which would once have been considered heresy.

Redwood and cedar are good examples. In the past, specialty distributors handled either one or the other. Then some began to handle both. Then high-end Douglas fir items were added. Today, we see far fewer such specialists. Indeed, given the current shortages of redwood, wholesalers and distributors that once disdained competing products have now enthusiastically embraced all manner of products.

Softwood people now sell hardwood. Formerly pure wood sellers now peddle composite items made of wood fiber and lord knows what else. Many sell building products that are not forest products at all. Rather they are made of steel, rubber, plastic, aluminum, you name it.

Sales people who once emphatically stressed the superiority of redwood, for example, now carefully point out the features and benefits of competing products that they just happen now to have in inventory. Their committed customers of the past listen and try the new offerings. If the performance of the new products is there, customers usually make the leap of faith and accept what they formerly didn't want. Sometimes you hear, "Well, I really wanted (you fill in the blank), but if you simply can't procure it, I guess this will have to do." This kind of remark can often be followed by a dissertation on how the world is going to hell. But the bottom line is they buy the product.

The smartest of the distributors and wholesalers realized years ago that certain familiar products wouldn't always be available in adequate quantities and that the move into additional inventory items was inevitable.

They made the move, brought the customers along and are better off today for having done so.