YEARS Of Lumber Handling ln

WAYNE GARDNER executive vice president

THe holiday season has passed. The I tree ornaments have been put away. The New Year's resolutions have been tried and forgotten. The bowl games are now sweet memories and it's time to get back to reality.

During the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas a lot of shopping was done. Fortunately or unfortunately some of it was done at the "warehouse" type operations. The group with the big advertising dollar that constantly assaults our ears and eyes with advertising copy telling how inexpensive their merchandise is in comparison to other stores and what great places they are to shop. I must admit to being victimized by their advertising hoopla at times and from the size of the crowds, many, many other people are as well.

Are we bargain hunters, curiosity seekers, enthralled with large amounts of dusty merchandise in various states of disarray, are we looking for sensationalism or are we just masochistic? What group psychology works on us to attract us to those types of stores?

Prior to Christmas I found myself looking in the plumbing department for an item for a friend. The shelf items were dust laden, the boxes broken. Since I was looking for a higher quality item, and none was readily visible, I had to take a number and wait for a service representative to help me. Although it was only five numbers down from that being serviced, it entailed a 15 minute wait. When my turn came, I asked, "Any higher quality?"

This question really threw the clerk. His expression told me that no one ever asks for better quality - only lower prices. He finally said, "No." I thanked him and left.

I then went to the local lumber yard. They did carry three different quality levels in the item I wanted. The stack was not dusty. The boxes were not crushed. And would you believe itthe price was the same as I would have paid for a lesser quality item down the street at the big advertiser.

Our New Year's resolution should be to inform our customers and potential customers that we do, in fact, give service and offer quality at a price that's commensurate with what they get. The customer can shop in pleasant surroundings, not have to trip over boxes in the aisles, not have to buy dusty merchandise, have a customer service representative who is knowledgeable and willing to help with a question, all at the right price.

As I look at customers in the "mass merchandiser," and this includes clothing as well as building materials, it seems to me that most of them are walking along with a blank look, totally confused by the piles of merchandise, and would really like to be helped. But they certainly aren't going to get it at the discount center or whatever name you choose to call it by. Not even mentioned are the long checkout lines or the long lines at the return merchandise counter.

Let's not try to emulate the high volume, low price (?) operation. Let's study the good examples in our industry and there are a lot of them. That's reality.

Let that be your New Year's resolution. lt will pay good dividends throughout the entire year. Happy New Year.

GARY L. SMITH executive vice president

As evPloYERS, you are all painFlfully aware, by now, that health insurance costs have risen dramatically within the last year, giving you only a briefrespite since the liability crisis ofthe recent past. This combines with workers compensation rates that never stop spiraling, having risen over 40% in lumberyard classifications in under two years. As pressure for additional mandated benefits at the federal and state levels increase, insurance costs are outstripping increases in virtually all other areas of doing business.

Many of us in the association business rankle at the idea that some of our members only think of us as their insurance carriers, but that may still be one of the most helpful things we do for your business. What we don't communicate enough, particularly to those not participating in our association insurance