The Associotions Are Wotchdogging the Industry for YOU

Good Business

By RoIf I). Glerum, West Coast Lumbermon's Associetion

There are few recluses or hermits in the world today. Man has always been a joiner, in most instances on a voluntary basis. Sociologists say it is because man is gregarious by nature. Militarists say it is for purposes of protection. Psychologists say it is to give one a feeling of belonging.

Active association members today say it is simply g:ood business'

A trade association is formed to do for its members those things which individual operators, no matter trow large, cannot do for themselves, In the West Coast lumber industry, the problems are ma,ny. In today's dynamic and highly competitive economy, manufacturers of West Coast species are faced with countless new and synthetic basic building materials; state and federal regulations are pouring out of capitol buildings all over the country at an alarming rate; shipping rates to major markets, unless kept competitive, can mean the difference between profit and loss.

Perhaps the best way to explaln the functlons of the West Coast Lumbermen's Assoclation ls break lt ilown lnto lts sevora,l departments, each ono heeded by a speclallst tn hts partlcula,r ffeltl.

The biggest chunk of the Association's yearly revenue goes into national advertising and promotion. This includes full-page ads in national shelter magazines and trade journals, plus dozens of different promotion brochures and booklets, distributed free to consumers, architects, retailers, builders, fanners anrd teachers.

When the F HA announced its gtade-stamping requirement, the

Association immediately undertook a crash advertising and promotion program to ensure full and proper use of the industry's production.

The Assoclation spent $60,000 on this project alone in the first three months of 1960, and lt patd off to the benefit of all lumber producors ln the Douglas ffr roglon.

The sale of "Utility" gtade lumber stayed at a healthy level, and a major depression in that market is nowhere in sight today.

Each yea,r, approxlma,tely 30,000 retall lumber dea,lers recelve a ma,lllng offerlng them a, wlde varlet5r of free merchandlslng aids dlreoted toward tho housewlfe, tho bullder, the farmer or the architect.

In addition to brochures and pamphlets, the Promotion Department has produced three color and sound motion pictures, for showing to schools, businessmen's meetings and service clubs all over the nation.

Working closely with the Advertising and Promotion department is the Technical Service department, sta^tred by licensed engineers schooled in the use and function of wood in engineered construction. This department is in constant contact with tr'HA, VA and building code officials throughout the country, keeping watch on lumber legislation and its effect on the use of West Coast species. Lumber cannot be sold in an area where its use is forbidden by law.

The Technical Service department has produced the nationally known Dougtas Flr Use Boo\ a specification "Bible" so far as architects and eng'ineers are concerned. Association engineers also work closely with the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, in matters of wood research and desiS:n, to get the best possible ratings for West Coast lumber and thus extend its markets.

It is a primary duty of the Association's Tra.frc department to keep West Coast freight rates competitive with those of other areas. For example, today's freight rate on lumber from Eureka to Chicago is $1.40 per hundredweight' It would be $1.73 per hundredweight if it werd not for WCLA's traffic department and other Western traffic groups working with the nation's railroads to keep fair and competitive rates in effect for lumber shipping.

The Association's Public Relations department keeps the names and uses of West Coast lumber in front of the public through a free news service mailing to newspapers, radio and television stations throughout the countrY.

Daily newspapers with a circulation totaling 46,000'000 receive copy plus black-and-white and color photographs for use by their home editors to show their readers unique and attractive ways to use West Coast wood. More than 3,100 weekly newspapers and magazine supplements receive a similar mailing, as do 1'100 TV and radio stations.

The fact that editors and broadcasters regularly use these features is borne out by the countless clippings received by WCLA headquarters in Portland.

The Association maintains an Insurance department to assist member mills on individual or industry problems of fire insurance' The department serves as the insurance watchdog of the lumber industry, aJxd cooperates with insurance groups all over the country to establish reasonable premium rates on wood structures.

Statistics are a major weapon in the lumber industry's battle for favorable legislation by the l'ederal government, the Interstate Commerce Commission and state governments. Without these figures, which are gathered by the Association, no effective presentations on issues deeply a.frecting the lumber industry eould be made to legislative and reg:ulatory bodies.

Teachers and students alike receive instructional and informative material on lumber in general and West Coast wood in particular from the Eiducation department. F'or the students, from elementary through college, the Association produces literature and audio-visual aids to instruct pupils in forestry, conservation, wood useage and even home constmction.

TWo highspots of the educational proS:ram are the more than 500,000 copies of the Association's elementary reader, "Happy

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$tunUur! lLumber @ompilny, llnt.

5UGAR PINE INCENSE

Cedar

8733 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles 46, Co,lii.

Oleqnder 5-7151

Since l9Ol

PONDEROSA PINE WHITE FIR

Town & Country Villoge

Pqlo Alto, Colifornicr

DAvenport 6-969

Representing Pickering Lumber Corp. snd West Side Lumber Co. and other Refiobfe Sources

Llttle Handsaw," which have been distributed to grade-school children nation-wide, aJId the new full color filmstrip, ..The Story of Wost Coast Lumber." This latter item has found immediate aCceptance in 15,000 school libraries and classrooms from coast to coast.

The Education department actively participates in local conservation activities with teacher workshops, demonstrating that lumber comes from a renewable resource. and will be forever available as a building material.

WCLA helps support the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C., which is composed of 16 regional associations, each a specialist in its species. The NLMA devotes most of its time a.rtd money to building code work, to protect the interests of lumber in every city and town in the U.S. Other important activities of the National include the promotion and advertising of wood in general, the monitoring of all federal legislation affecting lumber and the coordination and presenta- tion of problems dealing with the national lumber picture as a whole.

The increasing perplexities of doing business today make it nec_ essary to have a voice in the national picture-to make it possible to speak to 40,000,000 consumers at a time or to address Congress or official agencies on one or more of the numerous problemJfac_ ing the industry. Any company, no matter how small. can make itself heard through active participation in a trade association.

Association membership is not free. But neither is insurance. labor, maintenance or supplies. The Association brings these things to all its members-insurance against competing building prod_ ucts and lumber species; the labor involved in producing anO dis_ tributing the West Coast lumber message to the people of Amer- ica; the maintenance of West Coast shipping rates and Eastern lumber markets; and finally the supplies of thousands of brochures. fllmstrips, technical bulletins and newspapers stories and pictures distributed yearly to lumber users and speciflers.

These are things one buys with an Association membershio. As we say, it's simply good business.

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