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Bill Fishman

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

11650 lberia Place more if they get a little more. Smart San Diego, Ca. 92128 retailers make sure their value comes through the newsprint in both copy and illustration if they're promoting a step-up item. They cover their bases by listing doors are again popular with installed remodeling. So is the continental look in kitchen cabinets.

The year of the change: Our 1982 Chain Store Age DirectorY of Home Centers & Hardwore Chalns just arrived. The number of revisions make interesting statistics.

Top management must dictate the parameters for allowing manufacturer's promotional material on the sales floor. Store managers and department managers must then exercise the discipline at the store level.

Buzzwords: "Value" is being used more frequently than "price'' in the consumer's vocabulary. They'll pay a little imize the advertising expenditures.

Millwork is hol.' Replacement windows are selling well-especially insulated glass replacement units. Retailers report good results with a replacement window and door promotion.

I'VE VISITED a few home centers re- "others from $-!" to show that I cently that could greatly improve their it's not a cheapy item with a heavy markoperation if they removed the pollution up!Sellingthebenefitswhenwritingcopy of manufacturer's signs, pennants and about the features is another way to marxoversized headers. The visual glut completely destroyed what could be neat, well displayed stores. Manufacturer's signing and displays hid complete departments and their conflicting colors and graphics destroyed the concepts originally conceived by the store's designer.

Panels ore up-ceilings are down: Our clients tell us that high end paneling is selling again, but it's the low end of the ceiling tile that's moving. No one has been able to explain this phenomenon.

Skylishts and microwaves for remodelerc: Remodeling companies are reporting a boom in the installation of skylights and microwave ovens. French

Stores Mogazine's top 100: Stores Magazine, published by the National Retail Merchants Association, just listed the top volume specialty stores which carried one or just a few lines of merchandise traditionally found in department stores. They excluded such operations as supermarkets, drug stores, discount stores, catalog stores, paint stores and "lumber oriented" home centers. Those home centers that were included fared very well, however. Lowe's was third behind the leader Radio Shack (with a reported

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LZEYNOTE speaker at our convenRtion in Seattle, Wa., Nov. 13-16, will be Slade Gorton, U.S. Senator from Washington, one of the most highly regarded freshman members of the Senate.

"How to Run a Promotion" will be staged by Carl G. DIl, an experienced and successful building materials dealer. A panel from the Young Westerners Club will discuss "Getting Your Employees Involved in Profit Making."

Edward R. McMillan, senior v.p.-chief economist, Rainier National Bank, Seattle, will be a luncheon speaker discussing the economy. W.C. Dieruf, Jr., has been scheduled to present a seminar, "The Successful Management of an Independent Business."

An up-dated list of material available from the WBMA Learning Resource Center Library has been prepared. It includes training aids, audio/visuals, home study courses, manuals, etc. There is a great deal of useful and valuable information in this library. Store owners and personnel are urged to use it.

Medical costs appear to be increasing at a rate of over 20v/o per year while the inflation rate for all costs of living is considerably less. This plus other factors has resulted in reports by many plans of insurance rate increases of over 4090. If you have experienced large increases in your plan, you may want to compare it with one of WBMA's plans. Our best plan (major medical-$50 deductible, 9090 pay) is $35.95 per month for employee only and $131.02 for the employee and entire family. Our second plan (major medical-$250 deductible, 8090 pay) is $26.49 for the employee only and $92.97 for the employee and entire family. For more complete details, please call the WBMA office. Also, for your information, our weekly time loss benefits have been up-graded. Two plans are available: $150 per week level plan, and $350 - $250 - $150 per week for executives, key personnel and others respectively. Both plans pay up to 26 weeks per disability, and the cost is 38c per month per $10 of benefit. o Do you have accounts which divulge only unaudited figures and give you incomplete financial statements? a Do you get postdated checks? o Havethere been judgments brought by other creditors against any of your accounts? o Are your customers selling their receivables to third parties? o Are they failing to take advantage of discounts for early paYment? o Is there considerable turnover at your customer's office? a Are you getting increasing inquiries about your customer's creditworthiness? a Are customer's plants and equiPment showing signs of neglect? o Are you getting sudden, unusually large orders? (This may indicate that the party has been cut off by other suppliers, probably not without good reason') o Have the customer's credit ratings been lowered by the agencies?

If you can answer "yes'' to any of the following, you could have considerable weakness in your accounts receivable.

Lumber Hauling Trend Reverses

Reversing a trend of increased shipments of Western lumber by truck, the railroads carried 42.5c/o of the lumber shipped from the West in the first half of 1982. This represents an increase of l.7s/o over l98l and the first time the railroads have increased their share since 1967.

Trucks slipped 0.990 from l98l totals to 53.790 while waterborne dropped from 4.690 in 1981 to 3.8q0.

Calling the shift to rails a strong endorsement by Western sawmills of the recent competitive pricing moves by rail carriers, Jim Manning, director of transportation for the Western Wood Products Association, said "Hopefully, the days are over of the railroads taking their Western lumber customers for granted, by passing on one percentage rate hike after another.

"The gains made by the railroads are even more significant when you consider the marketplace is demanding smaller, quicker shipments, which the trucks should be able to handle better. It will be interesting to see what competitive response, if any, the truckers will have to this," he added.

Small Companies & Computers

Outside service bureaus usually can handle a small company's computer needs for under a $1000 amonth if there is no need for unusual or special procedures and reports. It usually costs less than working with an inhouse computer.

Economy Keeps Workers Working

Has the employee absentee rate gone down in your company? Nationd figures show that employees are present and accounted for more now than in 1978 and 1979. Possible fear of dismissal into a dismal job market could be an explanation.

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Masonite's New Offspring

The recent spin-off of Masonite Corporation timberlands and mills to a new company owned bY Masonite stockholders is not expected to materiaily affect the supply of forest products from their Western lands for several years, according to company spokesmen.

Unlike their Southern proPerties, which lend themselves to being sold piecemeal because of the fragmented nature of the firm's facilities in that area, the Western properties would more likely be sold intact to a single buyer. The presently depressed state of the forest products business presents no current buyers and so-called natural resource stocks are now generally out of favor with the investment community.

The western properties consist of 106,000 acres of timberlands; aPproximately 97,000 acres in Mendocino County and 8,700 in Sonoma County. There are two mills: one in Calpella and one in Cloverdale, Ca. The operations in the West are expected to run 2-3 Years without depleting the value of the timberlands. The Northern California timberlands are professionally managed for long range forestry goals and are considered one of the country's best examples of forest management. Of a total 1,458,000,000 board feet of timber, 949,000,(X)0 is in redwood.

The decision to sell off the Masonite assets is believed to have been triggered by a desire by Masonite management to avoid an unwelcome corporate suitor, attracted bY the currently low valuation of the lands and mills. The company also has stated that the lands produced a higher quality wood than was needed for their hardboard manufacturing operations.

The value of the lands has been severely depressed this year. In May, the book value of all the Masonite lands was put at $39.8 million, a mere 7 .Ss/o of its appraised value.

Timber Realization Company is the name of the limited partnershiP established to hold and eventually sell the properties. lts units were proportionately divided among Masonite shareholders and three Masonite board members direct the limited partnership. It has in turn contracted

The Merchant Magazine with a management companY, Woodland Services Co., to operate and find buyers for the proPerties. It anticipates achieving its goal of selfliquidation for the benefit of its shareholders by 1987.

NAWLA's Regional Meetings

North American Wholesale Lumber Associatron has scheduled 19 regional meetings this fall.

This annual "grass roots" aPproach to the membershiP of NAWLA will be under the chairmanship of E.R'"Al" Slaughter, Slaughter Brothers Inc., Dallas, Tx., lst v.p. of the association.

"This year's schedule runs eight consecutive weeks ending in Atlanta on Nov. 18," reports Slaughter. Regional chairmen are develoPing programs of particular interest to members in each region.

Meetings include Oct. 10, Portland, Or.; (Jct. 20, Eugene, Or.; Oct. 21, Seattle, Wa.; Nov. 3, San Francisco, Ca.; Nov. 4, Los Angeles, Ca.

When dealers compare computer systems their overwhelming choice is Dataline.

The underlying reason is that Dataline understands the complexities of vour business. We speak gour Ianguaje. Direct, results-oriented dealer language.

_ Unique among computer companies, Dataline'has speci-alized'for ouer eieven years in designing only programs to meet the special needs of building supply and home center customers. We start by helping you ask the right questions, by exploring ttie various aspects of your business. by identifyinj problems and opportunities. Only $en.!o we begin applying the flexibility of a Lratallne svstem.

And we don't stop there. Working with your staff, we make sure that every program is running smoothlg, efficientlA, profitablg.

The results? lt is commonplace for Dataline users to reduce inventory levels by as much as 757", double product turnover rates, double collection of finance charqes and increase gross margins by as mucl'ias 5 percentage points (and sometimes more).

It is also commonplace for dealers to achieve payback on investment within eioht months of operational startup.

A California dealer uncovered all the answers he needed when 45 of our customers responded to his inquiries. He now relies on his own Dataline System.

Shouldn't you be considering a Dataline Computer System, too?

Send for the complete Dataline storyJust fill in this coupon and mail today: D n Please send me Dataline literature. n Please have a Dataline representative call me.