Well, I finally did it...1095 lifetime Marriott nights...3 years of staying in Marriott Hotels...
Name: Gary Cohen
Account number: xxxxxxxxx
Member Level: Platinum
Total Membership Nights: 1,095
I am definitely headed for more...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wal Mart
I consider myself a student of retail...actually a student of business. I like to say that I have a degree from the University of the Street.
The biggest company in the world is Wal Mart.
How did Wal Mart get to be the biggest company in the world? By supplying consumers with what they want to buy at affordable prices.
Now, Wal Mart today is a very different company than the one Sam Walton started years ago. And lately, their "same store sales" - which is how retailers measure how their stores are doing - have declined in the US.
Why is that?
Well, before I answer, I need to say...I have my hands full running my own business without trying to help Wal Mart's business :). However, I will try.
Lately, it seems, Wal Mart has strayed from the things that made them famous...namely, offering brand name, quality products at prices consumers can afford. Now, instead of giving consumers what they want - the stuff they have been buying - they are stocking what they think consumers should buy...
In my opinion, that is a mistake.
If "my" local store - and I'm not just referring to Wal Mart here - stops carrying the products I am buying, I am going to shop elsewhere. Apparently, that is what is happening.
Just because they are the world's largest corporation doesn't mean they are immune to making mistakes. Years ago, A&P, a grocery chain on the east coast, was so dominant, they had to sign a consent decree with the Federal government now to use their monopoly power. And K Mart used ti be far larger than Wal Mart....but neither of those companies is anything close to what they were decades ago.
It's very humbling to realize that tastes are fickle...today's hero can be tomorrow's loser.
For us, it boils down to something I tell the manufacturers we work with: We are a buying agent for our customers and their customers. We are constantly looking to sell quality organic food and non-food products...based on what our customers tell us they want. Anyone who forgets that basic philosophy is headed for trouble. And as the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
The biggest company in the world is Wal Mart.
How did Wal Mart get to be the biggest company in the world? By supplying consumers with what they want to buy at affordable prices.
Now, Wal Mart today is a very different company than the one Sam Walton started years ago. And lately, their "same store sales" - which is how retailers measure how their stores are doing - have declined in the US.
Why is that?
Well, before I answer, I need to say...I have my hands full running my own business without trying to help Wal Mart's business :). However, I will try.
Lately, it seems, Wal Mart has strayed from the things that made them famous...namely, offering brand name, quality products at prices consumers can afford. Now, instead of giving consumers what they want - the stuff they have been buying - they are stocking what they think consumers should buy...
In my opinion, that is a mistake.
If "my" local store - and I'm not just referring to Wal Mart here - stops carrying the products I am buying, I am going to shop elsewhere. Apparently, that is what is happening.
Just because they are the world's largest corporation doesn't mean they are immune to making mistakes. Years ago, A&P, a grocery chain on the east coast, was so dominant, they had to sign a consent decree with the Federal government now to use their monopoly power. And K Mart used ti be far larger than Wal Mart....but neither of those companies is anything close to what they were decades ago.
It's very humbling to realize that tastes are fickle...today's hero can be tomorrow's loser.
For us, it boils down to something I tell the manufacturers we work with: We are a buying agent for our customers and their customers. We are constantly looking to sell quality organic food and non-food products...based on what our customers tell us they want. Anyone who forgets that basic philosophy is headed for trouble. And as the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Distribution, Trucking
I don't remember where I first heard it, but I adopted the slogan as my own...
"You can eliminate the distributor, but you can't eliminate the cost of distribution."
Meaning, there is a cost to getting a product from manufacturer to consumer...
Most products are sold by distributors. They purchase from a few or a few thousand different manufacturers, and they sell those products to hundreds or thousands of different accounts.
We sell our products to about 25 different distributors in the natural, specialty, pet food and retailer buying group "channels." Our goal in working with these distributors, is for them, and their customers, to purchase and sell our products to consumers.
We also work with one - count 'em, one - buying club...though we hope to do more business with buying clubs in the future.
Distributors as a necessary evil. We couldn't possibly sell all of our products to every retail account directly...and there is a cost involved in creating those sales. We do our best to try and minimize those costs to keep our products priced competitively.
We are rolling out some new products....more on that next time
"You can eliminate the distributor, but you can't eliminate the cost of distribution."
Meaning, there is a cost to getting a product from manufacturer to consumer...
Most products are sold by distributors. They purchase from a few or a few thousand different manufacturers, and they sell those products to hundreds or thousands of different accounts.
We sell our products to about 25 different distributors in the natural, specialty, pet food and retailer buying group "channels." Our goal in working with these distributors, is for them, and their customers, to purchase and sell our products to consumers.
We also work with one - count 'em, one - buying club...though we hope to do more business with buying clubs in the future.
Distributors as a necessary evil. We couldn't possibly sell all of our products to every retail account directly...and there is a cost involved in creating those sales. We do our best to try and minimize those costs to keep our products priced competitively.
We are rolling out some new products....more on that next time
Friday, November 12, 2010
News story - Tower Falls the Wrong Way
News story: Tower Falls The Wrong Way
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111100896.html
I never did well in science in school.
As a senior in high school, I had to take Physics, because I needed 2 years of science. I couldn't bring myself to disect a frog so I didn't take biology, so I took chemistry and physics.
Well, I didn't do well in physics.
I remember some of the problems we worked on: if a train is approaching going 100 miles an hour, how soon after it passes will you hear the whistle?
But the one I liked the best:
If a bulldozer is pulling on a tree with 150 pounds of pressure and a 65 degree angle, and another bulldozer is on the other side of the tree, pulling with 125 pounds of pressure and a 75 degree angle, which way will the tree fall?
My answer - I don't know - I'd look in the Yellow Pages for an engineer (when I was in high school there was no Google). But I knew for sure I wasn't going to say, well, I am an expert at Physics, and I know - for sure - that the tree is going to fall THAT WAY!!!! And to prove it, i will stand under the tree on the other side!!!
Well, it looks like even engineers can get it wrong...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/11/AR2010111100896.html
I never did well in science in school.
As a senior in high school, I had to take Physics, because I needed 2 years of science. I couldn't bring myself to disect a frog so I didn't take biology, so I took chemistry and physics.
Well, I didn't do well in physics.
I remember some of the problems we worked on: if a train is approaching going 100 miles an hour, how soon after it passes will you hear the whistle?
But the one I liked the best:
If a bulldozer is pulling on a tree with 150 pounds of pressure and a 65 degree angle, and another bulldozer is on the other side of the tree, pulling with 125 pounds of pressure and a 75 degree angle, which way will the tree fall?
My answer - I don't know - I'd look in the Yellow Pages for an engineer (when I was in high school there was no Google). But I knew for sure I wasn't going to say, well, I am an expert at Physics, and I know - for sure - that the tree is going to fall THAT WAY!!!! And to prove it, i will stand under the tree on the other side!!!
Well, it looks like even engineers can get it wrong...
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
BPA
It's been awhile since I have posted about BPA - Bisphenol A - so I thought I would do an update.
It is certainly the topic that I get the most consumer emails on.
I do have a little good news to report.
It seems like the can industry is moving towards using alternatives.
For the longest time, our canners - relying on information from the can industry - said "there is nothing wrong with BPA." When I would get these emails from my suppliers, I would write back and say "you are on the wrong side of the issue...you need to be looking at alternatives."
Of course, in reality, it isn't that simple.
The can manufacturers turn out - I don't know - hundreds of thousands of cans per day...maybe millions...all coated with BPA.
The canners themselves have huge warehouses - millions of square feet that I have walked through. Right now, with the harvest over, they have filled, unlabeled cans of tomatoes, corn and other vegetables. Then during the year, as they ship out product to the customers, they start buying empty cans to put in the warehouses, in anticipation of next year's crop.
In other words, none of these can manufacturers have the capability to produce a year's worth of cans in a week or two before next year's harvest. They are making cans year round.
So where are we at today?
A consumer wrote to me this morning "...Is there someplace I can go to find information on putting pressure on the can manufacturers? Do I just need to be hassling my grocers, or are they at the mercy of their distributors..."
The can manufacturers are the ones in the middle. They have heard, loud and clear, that they need to start using alternatives to BPA. We have been told that a certain percentage of our Organic Tomato cans are BPA free...maybe 20%. We were also told that we can't order product to come in with BPA free cans...that it is going to take a year for the old cans to work their way through the system.
As to putting pressure on the can industry....it isn't just us - the organic folk - that want BPA free cans. They are hearing it from Wal Mart and the other big guys. The main difference, though, is we are telling our suppliers that they can increase our cost to cover the BPA free cans. Wal Mart and the other big guys? I can't speak for them...but Wal Mart didn't get to the size they are at by saying to their suppliers, "sure, go ahead and raise your prices to us..." if you know what I mean.
The canners themselves have produced - and put into their production sample rooms - cans without BPA. They want to be able to look at year old cans of beans, two year old cans of beans, and see if they maintain the same shelf life as they had with cans with BPA.
And that is an update as of today
It is certainly the topic that I get the most consumer emails on.
I do have a little good news to report.
It seems like the can industry is moving towards using alternatives.
For the longest time, our canners - relying on information from the can industry - said "there is nothing wrong with BPA." When I would get these emails from my suppliers, I would write back and say "you are on the wrong side of the issue...you need to be looking at alternatives."
Of course, in reality, it isn't that simple.
The can manufacturers turn out - I don't know - hundreds of thousands of cans per day...maybe millions...all coated with BPA.
The canners themselves have huge warehouses - millions of square feet that I have walked through. Right now, with the harvest over, they have filled, unlabeled cans of tomatoes, corn and other vegetables. Then during the year, as they ship out product to the customers, they start buying empty cans to put in the warehouses, in anticipation of next year's crop.
In other words, none of these can manufacturers have the capability to produce a year's worth of cans in a week or two before next year's harvest. They are making cans year round.
So where are we at today?
A consumer wrote to me this morning "...Is there someplace I can go to find information on putting pressure on the can manufacturers? Do I just need to be hassling my grocers, or are they at the mercy of their distributors..."
The can manufacturers are the ones in the middle. They have heard, loud and clear, that they need to start using alternatives to BPA. We have been told that a certain percentage of our Organic Tomato cans are BPA free...maybe 20%. We were also told that we can't order product to come in with BPA free cans...that it is going to take a year for the old cans to work their way through the system.
As to putting pressure on the can industry....it isn't just us - the organic folk - that want BPA free cans. They are hearing it from Wal Mart and the other big guys. The main difference, though, is we are telling our suppliers that they can increase our cost to cover the BPA free cans. Wal Mart and the other big guys? I can't speak for them...but Wal Mart didn't get to the size they are at by saying to their suppliers, "sure, go ahead and raise your prices to us..." if you know what I mean.
The canners themselves have produced - and put into their production sample rooms - cans without BPA. They want to be able to look at year old cans of beans, two year old cans of beans, and see if they maintain the same shelf life as they had with cans with BPA.
And that is an update as of today
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Mentally preparing for getting an iPhone...
I am getting ready to get an iPhone...so I have been surfing and came across the following...not quite about the iPhone but interesting nonetheless...
From WiseGeek:
"Stewardesses" is perhaps the longest common word that can be typoed with only your left hand. If you consider more obscure words, however, you'll find that "aftercataracts" and "tesseradecades," are the longest words at 14 characters. Using only your right hand, the longest word you can type is "lollipop" but if you permit the use of dashes, then "Johnny-Jump-Up" — a type of flower — becomes the longest word you can type with only the right hand. Other words that you can type only with your left hand are "retweet," "gazette," "eraser," and "seatbelt." Other right hand words include "homonym," "unholy," "polyp," and "monopoly."
Other word oddities:
The longest word that you can type with alternating hands is "leptothricosis," which is an obsolete term for those diseases caused by the bacteria Leptothrix.
The only two English words with three consecutive sets of double letters are "bookkeeping" and "bookkeeper."
"Queueing" is the only word with five consecutive vowels; the word with the most consonants in a row is "latchstring."
I always liked homonyms :)....
From WiseGeek:
"Stewardesses" is perhaps the longest common word that can be typoed with only your left hand. If you consider more obscure words, however, you'll find that "aftercataracts" and "tesseradecades," are the longest words at 14 characters. Using only your right hand, the longest word you can type is "lollipop" but if you permit the use of dashes, then "Johnny-Jump-Up" — a type of flower — becomes the longest word you can type with only the right hand. Other words that you can type only with your left hand are "retweet," "gazette," "eraser," and "seatbelt." Other right hand words include "homonym," "unholy," "polyp," and "monopoly."
Other word oddities:The longest word that you can type with alternating hands is "leptothricosis," which is an obsolete term for those diseases caused by the bacteria Leptothrix.
The only two English words with three consecutive sets of double letters are "bookkeeping" and "bookkeeper."
"Queueing" is the only word with five consecutive vowels; the word with the most consonants in a row is "latchstring."
I always liked homonyms :)....
Monday, September 20, 2010
News Headline and Comment
I saw a headline this morning: "Michigan Announces $25 Million Settlement for Alleged Price Fixing Conspiracy."
Nobody is ever going to accuse our company of price fixing!
We have worked for 10 years to lower the price of natural and organic foods.
I remember when I started my natural food distributing business back in the late 70s. There were 4 large natural food distributors in Los Angeles. They all worked on the exact same 25% profit margin. They all had the exact same discount structure. The only difference in their pricing, was one of them rounded their prices to the nearest half or whole cent, and the others charged the exact price (.333 cents for something versus rounding to .335).
My goal then - as it is now - is to sell our products at a small profit. We don't look at other companies' pricing and say, "wow, we could charge double the price like they do." We have been the discounters, the renegades, the people that "ruin the industry's profit margins" - and we're proud of it.
Nobody is ever going to accuse our company of price fixing!
We have worked for 10 years to lower the price of natural and organic foods.
I remember when I started my natural food distributing business back in the late 70s. There were 4 large natural food distributors in Los Angeles. They all worked on the exact same 25% profit margin. They all had the exact same discount structure. The only difference in their pricing, was one of them rounded their prices to the nearest half or whole cent, and the others charged the exact price (.333 cents for something versus rounding to .335).
My goal then - as it is now - is to sell our products at a small profit. We don't look at other companies' pricing and say, "wow, we could charge double the price like they do." We have been the discounters, the renegades, the people that "ruin the industry's profit margins" - and we're proud of it.
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