4 minute read
ffie -NAE TETIEN
VVhat's Going On .
The members of the Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California were pleased to welcome into memb_ership during the month oJ December: Campbell Lumber Company, Campbell-E. M. Arends, owner, and Pacific Lumber Company, Santa*Cruz-Fenner Angel, owner.
Merchandising was the keynote of many firms during the holiday seas-on in a succesiful bid for a -higher percent-age of the consumer gift dollar. It was only a few short y-ears ago that members of the industry first recognized that-many_ of the items carried in their-regular inventory would make ideal gifts, and many progrEssive industry merchandisers have successfully educated- their customeri in this direction.
Progress Lumber Company, Redwood City, had a very handsome exterior displav in keepine wit6'the holidav theme Tom Smith and his associatei at Minton Lumbir Company, Mountain View, expressed the yuletide spirit with. a tastefully dbcorated retail store accentuated b1 the traditional tree . Old St. Nick appeared in many seisonally decorated windows but in few was he more gaily replesen-ted {ran -by the mechanical Santa appearing in tlie Freedom Lumber Company window decoiated bi phvtis Espindola ( a woman's iou6h perhaps l) . . Dolan"s of Sacramento was very well visited by the gift-conscious consumer, as was Steiner's, also of Sacramento . -Bob Butcher, who recently took over the management reins of San Lorenzo Lumber Company, erected in eye-catching holiday theme display on the roof of his warehouse.
Without a doubt,. many strategically located building materials dealers are demonstrating the irofitability of supplementing the contractor business with -a successful consumer trade'
The Lma Round Table
There has long been a need within our industry for a continuing fo5u-m to provide dealers with an opportunity to exchange information and ideas among other- industry members. In many cases, if a dealer could but discuss his particular problem in an open and frank manner with a group of other experienced lumbermen, he could determine how others in the industry have successfullv handled a similar difficult situation. ihis is often the caie inasmuch as the problems facing the industry are not new in character but only in degree and clitnate.-
In recognition.of the need for such a forum and in the belief that the c.umulative knowledge of experienced retail lumbermen can provide the industry wittr its best source of counsel, the officers and direciors of the Lumber Merchants Association inaugurated the ..LMA ROUND
TABLE."
Every other month, twenty LMA members will be invited to two one-day sessions of the LMA Round Table (held a month. apait; to informally and frankly discuss operating practicei and to exchange-ideas with ofher retail lumber merchants regarding credits, cash discounts and collections, methods of - cuiting operating costs, profit- pakllg store items-in fact, any operating procedure will be discussed in which sufficient interest -is- indicated. At the conclusion of the discussion surrounding each topic, the presiding Association officer, who serves as moderator of the .program, summarizes the pertinent points of the discussion.
To encourage a free flow of discussion and thereby dev.elop as m-uch pra_ctical infor:mation as possible, the par- ticipants of each Round Table session are invited fiom various non-conflicting marketing areas. This method of inviting Round Table members serves a secondary purpose 9f stimulating increased discussion in that it prqvidis a broqder geographical range of business climat6s -and situations.
The second LMA ROUND TABLE session. which was recently held in San Francisco, was attended bv the following dealers;
R.OUND TABTE R,OSTER
FRANK BAXLEY
Brry-Wrighr Lunbor Go. Porr.will., Cdllf.
IIOYD BITIENBENDER r. T. BRANSON ilclrorc Lumbcr Gompony Ooklond, Colif. rES TEY
Bificnbcndcr lbr, Co. Ukioh, Colif.
Sonto Cruz Lunbcr Co.
Sanlo €rur, Collf.
GHARIES CROSS, St. Trvckoc-Tohoc Lba Co.
Tohoc City, Colif.
DrcK cRoss Cros tumbcr Compony llcrccd, Colif.
ARTHUN HANSON
Gcncrol lbr. & Supply Co. Berkcloy, Colif.
FRANK WATSON lofoycfic
So. Ciry tbr. & Supply €o.
5o. Son Froncirco, Calif.
ARTIN SPECI(ERI, JR. Spcckcrt lurnbcr Compony lloryrvillc, Collf.
CTAN HrcKg l{ickr lunbcr Gompony Solinor, Golif.
HENRY HUIE|T North Boy lunbcr Co.
Cortc llcdorc, Calif.
TOII JACO83EN, JR.
Sun Vollcy Lumbcr Co.
FRANK KOTEY lodi, Golif.
Hornc Buildorr Supply Co.
CART IRAVIS
Wllnors, lnc.
3on Jore, Golif.
TAIION NINE
Morion ilinc lumbcr Go.
Frcmo, Calif.
EDWARDS i,IETCAIF lhc King Lunbcr Co. w. H. scorT llrrnrr lumber €o.
Bnkcnficld, Collf.
Pclo Alto, Colif.
DAVE WIGHI
O'Ncill Lbr. Compcny
Rcdwood Ciry, Colif.
_fY.n+ was the opinion of the information developed at the LMA Round Table by those who attended? Foll6wing are some of the comments received by Jack Pomeroy, moderator of the session:
_
"V"-ry valuable'' "f wish every dealer had an op- portunity to sit in on these sessions, at least twice -a ygar" "I have already implemented several of the ideas developed during the meetings" "Highly unr-que---should be continued" "One can no longer find the answers by himself . the Round Table s-ession_s certainly prbvide a rare opportunity to learn profitable ideas."-
._{! Ai;s^o_c!q!to" prlrgrarys, like the qecently inaugurated "LMA ROUND TABLE," are developed bec-ause of"a need existing within the industry for a paiticular type of information or service. In facL any program will b6 developed in which sufficient members - aie interested-for the Association's only reason for being is to aid its membersthe retail lumber dealer.
IHPA Schedules Annuol Meeting At Sonta Borborq, Jonuory 3l
_ The Imported Hardwood Plywood Association, Inc., San Francisco, will hold its annual membership meetins. Ianuary 3l-February 1, at the Santa Barbara-Biltmord'hbtel in that centralized city for both the NoCal and SoCal members.. Registratlon and a get-together will start the previous evening, Jan. 30.
Business will include election of officers and directors and appointme-nt of committees, reports of the past year,s activities, and formulation of plans and policies foi the coming year. A guest speaker will keynote the afternoon session-, announces Gordon D, Ingraham, managing secretary, World Trade Center, Ferry-Building, San'Frincisco.
" Babe, that there's what I call a SOUND FOANDATION J " observed Paul Bunyan as he delicately lifted up the old house with his pinkie. The Blue Ox grunted. "See them mudsills, girders an' posts? Been settin' there 25 years in the damp an' dark, supportin' 50,000 pounds o' house-an' not a trace o' rot or termites anywhere. Sound as the day they was cut...Babe, sure as you're true blue, that's BAXCO Pressure Treated Foundation Lumberil< ."
BAXCO pressure treated' FOUNDATION LUMBER
* \7hat else, Paul? For the past 25 years
BAXCO pressure treated Foundation Lumber has been safeguarding thousands of '$7'estern homes against termites and wood-rot. Pressure treatment locks in the chemical protection for keeps. And when you figure, Paul, that just one repair bill, caused by rot or termites, can run into hundreds of dollars-well, why take a chance ? Especially since BAXCO Pressure Treated Foundation Lurnber adds so little to the total building cost-just a few dollars.
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