State Of The Economy

CAPPA — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:30:34 +0000

If you have watched even 5 minutes of TV over the last several weeks your know the economy is in trouble. One day the government is loaning $86 billion to AIG to keep it from going under and the next day Washington Mutual is being hailed as the largest bank failure in history. The stock market is going crazy on a daily basis. I have not watched CNN this much since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. I’m sure, like the rest of us, your wondering what’s next and when will this end?

What would we like to know is how the economy is affecting your business… Please click on the link below to take this short 5 question, 1 minute, survey.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228C4ZG5D78

CAPPAChat is not a politically affiliated organization… we don’t endorse candidates and we don’t speculate on politics. However, what we can do is take the information from the survey and provide education to our members that will help us all weather this storm.

If your doing something spectacular in your business and want to share, if you have tips on getting through tough economic times or just want to ask a question that another member might have an answer to, please leave a comment. All you have to do is click on “add comment” below and to the left of this article.

Take A Hike, Ike!

CAPPA — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:20:41 +0000

Natural Disasters effect our business in so many ways. Hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, snow storms, etc… can have major impacts on how we operate from day to day. A really good example is Souvenir in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The factory was pretty much wiped out from flooding in June. These types of disasters can cause wide spread problems with everything from production delays to heartache for the factory workers.

Hurricane Ike is predicted to make landfall, on Saturday, on the Upper Texas Coast. This could mean any number of problems such as: increased shipping costs if any of the refineries are damaged; not to mention in-hands dates being missed from any factories, in that area, that have had to shut down for mandatory evacuations. Additionally, I highly doubt UPS will be making deliveries in Houston, on Friday !

Since we have no control over the weather (b/c believe me, if wishes made it so, Austin would get the rain that we so desperately need) all we can do is be proactive in handling any issues that may come up when these unavoidable natural disasters happen.

Explain to your clients the pitfalls of waiting till the last minute to place orders. Just think of the solutions you could come up with, when unavoidable situations arise, if they actually gave you a months (Hey, even 2 weeks would help) notice!
Most people have a basic understanding about what drives shipping costs. A fellow distributor once told me they always insist the client provide a UPS or FedEx shipping number so there is no question about shipping being marked up. I’m thinking that might be good advice at this moment???
Stay in contact with the factories and/or your rep… knowledge is key in these types of situations. Believe me, they are not any happier about these situations than you are - so they are going to do everything possible to work with you to get your clients order to them on time!

If you anybody has any suggestions on ways to deal with these situations, we would love to hear your comments…

Posted by: Jennifer Brown, 360 Promotions, Austin, TX

CAPPA Chat » Business

State Of The Economy

CAPPAChat is not a politically affiliated organization… we don’t endorse candidates and we don’t speculate on politics. However, what we can do is take the information from the survey and provide education to our members that will help us all weather this storm.

Take A Hike, Ike!