How you can save on delivery costs Gt a,

QUESTION:

"Is there an easy way to determine delivery costs for shingles, wallboard and other materials that must be hand placed at the job?"

ANSWER:

There is an easy way, but most readers won't like the answer and won't believe that it could possibly cost so much. Take your cue locally from the charge made for service calls by tv and appliance companies. In most areas the cost will fall somewhere close to $40. Generally this covers the cost of moving one man and a pick up or panel truck to and from the customer.

From that point on, the cost of the men and equipment per hour, applied against the time involved at the job site, will provide a fairly accurate placement cost. In practical terms, an $80 cost of a delivery stop on low margin, or small sales value, merchandise results in a losing transaction. Hence, many dealers just don't handle wallboard or shingles. Conversely, they get paid or charge for what they do or furnish.

The typical lumber and building material dealer is moving around in a 2Vz ton truck with two men, or with an off loading piece of equipment, in addition to the bigger truck and driver. As a general rule you will be very close to identifying the stop costs involved in hand placement at the job site if you double the service call charge in your trading area.

Questions on delivery costs? Send them to this magazine at 4500 Campus Dr., Suite 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660. Wally LYnch will answer them in future issues. This is your chance to take advantage of his expertise in cutting your delivery costs.

New Honorary Assn. Member

Basil Slavens, Slavens & Sons, Cortez, Co., is the newest honorary member of the Mountain States Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association.

A teacher, he entered the lumber industry in 1926 as a part time clerk and yardman, working during school vacations at Jett Hardware and Lumber Co., Springfield, Co. After working for Jett in Pritchett, Co., and Farley, N.M., he went to California in 1935. In 1939, he returned to open a Jett Lumber and Hardware store in Cortez. He farmed in addition to working in the lumber yard until 1953 when he bought out the Jett family and formed Slavens and Sons. Until 1966 the business included operations in Blanding and Moab, Ut.

In 1971, Slavens incorporated the business and sold it to his son, Dale, reserving the privilege of working as long as he wished. Today at 84, he and his wife, age 78, are still helping out. Dale is president and Gary and Leslie, grandsons, are managers.

"It is our good fortune and privilege to work for and with our children," Slavens says with pride. Elected by fellow lumber and building material dealers in Colorado, New

Medco, Utah, Wyoming and southeast Idaho, Slavens has been a member of the MSLBMDA since 1954. The selection was based on three factors: his contributions to the industry, his contributions to his community and his service to the association.

His activities in Cortez have included serving on the hospital board for 30 years, being a member of the city council, a past president of the Cortez Chamber of Commerce and a past president of the Lions Club. He was recognized as the Citizen of Many Years by the Cortez Chamber of Commerce in 1979.

Roger Wulf, member of the MSLBMDA board of directors and manager of the Boise Cascade yard in Aspen, Co., made the presentation in Cortez.

Other honorary life members of the association are L. A. Stookesberry, Economy Lumber and Hardware, Denver; Bill Lewis, Everitt Lumber, Fort Collins; Herb Hast, Sr., Hast Lumber, Commerce City; Walt Kellogg, Jr., Kellogg Lumber, Denver, and Wilbur Mead. Mead Lumber, Cheyenne, Wy.