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lf you sell into the West, or any part of it, we can help you get acrosg you r rhessage.

The Merchant Magazlne covers all 13 Western states. Founded in 1922, it has been the listened to voice of the industry in the West for more than six decades. Our longevity also proves we can get an advertiser's message to the important trade factors better than any other medium. And at the right price.

Our paid circulation is nearly 5,000; a remarkable vote of confidence as these industry influentials also receive at least four or five free magazines monthly. The Merchant's paidcirculation tells you clearly which magazine Westerners read.

The Merchant's unique blend of news, merchandising and marketing informa' tion, salted with personal news and notes and seasoned to the Westemers' taste reaches an audience of home centers, home improvement centers and lumber dealers as well as the wholesalers, distributors and jobbers that back them up. The Merchant, incidentally, is the sister publication of Building Products Digest.

You can count on reaching the market in the West through The Merchant Magazine. Call today, you'll be glad you did.

New Trend In Home Building

Dealers should be on the look out for a tie-in promotion with builders doing what a Dallas-Fort Worth, Tx., builder has come up witha home designed to meet the needs of first time buyers with handyman skills.

The two story home of 1,700 sq. ft. has a living room, kitchen, dining room, master bedroom and bath on the first floor. The second floor has a bedroom and bath and about 450 feet of unfinished space.

Instead of the $6,000 it would cost to have the builder finish the space, the homeowner can finish it himself for about $2,000 with materials purchased from local retailers.

Hardwood

(Continued from page 14) the convention postponed indefinitely a ban on veneer exports from Indonesia. As a result of Suresh Srivastava, chairman, and other members of the IHPA veneer committee meeting with representatives of the Indonesian delegation led by Gani Abu, ministry of forestry, clarification of regulations on the export of veneer was achieved. remodelers. How can retailers meet their needs?

In brief, a strict export ban will be imposed on all veneers with a moisture content of more than l29o; up to 20Vo of the total shipments of a mill can be facelback veneer of standard sizes and varieties; export of slice veneer of more exotic woods such as ebony, sonokeling and sonokembang as well as special utilization of veneer of lesser known varieties will be encouraged; 2-ply plywood blanks export will be permitted.

In other business conducted during the convention, C. W. Robinson, chairman and c.e.o. of Robinson Lumber Co., New Orleans, La., was installed as president. Harry Buckley, Pat Brown Lumber Co., Rowayton, Ct., is the new senior vice president and president elect; L. Russell Haan, Plywood Panels, Inc., New Orleans, treasurer.

Regional vice presidents are Keith Johnson, Tumac Lumber Co., Inc., Portland, Or., region l; Roy Polatchek, Capital Woods International, Fountain Valley, Ca., region 2; Roy Benton, Overseas Hardwood Co., Mobile, Al., region 3; John Andl, Mitsubishi International Corp., New York, N.Y., region 4; Michael P.

O'Shea, O'Shea Lumber Co., Cockeysville, Md., region 5.

Close to 4O0 delegates, importers, producers, shippers, port authority representatives and spouses attended the 29th convention. Reports from functioning committees were given and the holding of new sessions on sawn timber and end uses were initiated.

The fourth international forest products exhibition, World of Wood '85, was a big attraction, receiving heavy attendance and interest. Eight countries were represented with Chile and Papua New Guinea joining for the first time Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Peru and the Philippines. The Republic of Korea claimed the most representatives with 30 people present.

The 30th annual IHPA convention will be held March 3-8, 1986, at the Waiohia Resort on Kauai. Hi.

The best way, obviously, is to have the products they need available within 48 hours at the maximum. And retailers should offer as much variety as possible within a product line. If the product is a tub, offer right and left hand options and an array of colors.

Also, they might offer some sort of discount on packages of materials for any given project and possibly a line of credit. If contractors can get most of what they need in one place they can spend more time on site or selling their skills.

Most successful stores already do these things for their contractor trade because this is what works.

Q: When you talk about availability, do you think it best to inventory or to rely on special orders?

Bathrooms

(Continued from page 10) would think to go to a home center for design advice.

However, it might be wise for a retailer to become familiar with one or two reputable remodelers in his market. Perhaps they could work out some sort of referral fee. Sears Roebuck has done this successfully for years with roofing, insulating and other contractors.

Q: Let's talk about small builders/

It's a big issue. But I must say I'm always surprised when I hear about home center chains that build their own 200,000 sq. ft. central warehouses just so they can bypass the wholesalers' slim markups.

Especially with relatively slow-turn, bulky items such as bathing fixtures, it makes much better sense to me for a retailer to hook up with a wholesaling firm that has branches near the retail outlets. They could work out a discount structure with the wholesaler and attract a sizeable number of small builders and remodelers with the promise of ready availability while avoiding the headaches of inventory altogether.

Ti m ber Prod ucls Inspection, lnc.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INSPECTION AND QUALITV CONTROL SER. vtcEs FoR ALL wooD pBoDucrs, AND ALL -spEctEs, tncruolnG GRADEMARKTNG oF LUMBER UNDER THE ALsc pRocBAM, eunlrv unnxnrG oF TREATED LUMBER UND_ER I{E 4!rypB ?RoGRAM, nno euiunr coNTRot,. euAlrry MARKTNG pRocRAMs FoR FIRE nernnonnr rneAiEb q99D-IEq99ES, AND BUrlplNG LOGS. SERVTCES TNCLUDE rMtNrNG, QUAI.J. TY_qqNr roRtNG, CERTTF|C/$!ON, SAMPLING, RETNSPECTTON, Sprctricirron WRITING AND/OR CLARIFICATION AND CONSULTATION ON LUMBER (TNEATED/UNINEATED), TRUSSES. PLYWOOD. POLES. CROSS TIES^ FINGER. gsF4rE p I u-_uE_E4rED_),_ TRUSSES, pLywOOD, pol.Es, cRoss rrEs, JOIM, LAMINATED STOCK, AND BUILDING LOGS.