West coast wholesaler meetings

ITIRST two of the five regional meetf ings that National-American Wholesale Lumbermen's Assn. scheduled for the Pacific Coast this Fall have been held in los Angeles and San Francisco.

In L.A., wholesaler Bill Baugh spoke on the sales recognition program and how recognition for a good job can often be a more powerful motivator than money.

Jack Mulrooney, N-AWLA exec. vp., explained the N-AWLA market questionnaire, how it works and why it can be a helpful, if not a perfect, marketing tool.

Pete NieblinS N-AWLA western mgr., warned that the new sizes of lumber are here and that wholesalers can't avoid them. He counseled all to learn about them and use them to their advantage.

Don Comstock, WWPA, and Walme Gardner, LASC, spoke briefly on the new sizes prior to a question and answer session on the new grading rules,

In San Francisco, changing customers and transportation problems in addition to the above topics dominated the meet.

The group also heard banker Robert H. Hamilton of Crocker-Citizens say that there is no single cause re- sponsible for the current housing slump. Causes lall into 4 categories. (t) high land cost, (2) rising construction costs! (3) rigid, outmoded building codes, (4) ever-increasing property taxes.

If any one of these factors changed, he said, it would do much more than a change in interest rates. A cut from 9/o to 6/o rcduces monthly expense on a home by l|o/os but a reduction in the basic price of a home drops monthly expens€ by 33/o.

Other meetings in N-AWLA'sschedule included'Cottage Grove, Ore., Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.