Friday, March 30, 2012

Maybe it's turning around

Everyone knows the carpet industry has been hammered by the on-going recession. Speaking to Kemp Harr of Floor Focus Magazine, a good source of information, Dixie Group's CEO Dan Frierson says 2011 was the first profitable year since the down turn began in 2008. Dixie Group's Income was $1,466,000, or $0.12 per share.

In their press release Mr. Frierson said, "Since the bottom of the downturn in 2009, Dixie’s sales are up 33% while the industry is up less than 5%. This is further evidence that the luxury end of the market is returning faster than the overall soft floorcovering market. For 2011, Dixie’s total carpet sales were up about 15% while the industry was up in the low single digits."

Congratulations to Mr. Frierson and his entire organization. They are one of the "good guys" of the carpet industry and deserve every bit of this good news.

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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Thanks Angie

Bane-Clene’s service company in Indianapolis has, for the ninth time, received Angie’s List "Super Service Award" for 2011. It's presented to those who consistently maintain a superior service rating. Fewer than 5% of the businesses rated on Angie’s List are eligible for this award, and even fewer than that actually receive it. Ratings are established by Angie's patrons.

Angie’s List, headquartered in Indianapolis, is the fastest growing consumer organization in the world. More than 500,000 members in 125 major cities submit more than 30,000 reports every month. You can't buy your way on this list. The customer of a service describes their project and grades the company’s response time, prices and quality of workmanship.

The management and employees at Bane Clene are extremely proud and grateful for this prestigious award and extend our sincere appreciation along with our pledge to continue to earn the trust of Angie’s List and its many loyal patrons.




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Monday, March 26, 2012

You don't have to join a club

After a travel schedule that included dealing with airlines and rental cars, I've just about had it with having to join a club or have a membership card to get treated better or worse than my fellow travelers. It suddenly occurred to me that a customer of Bane-Clene® doesn't have to pay anything extra, jump through any hoops or join a club to get special treatment.

There are no bronze, silver, gold or platinum rated memberships at Bane-Clene. Every customer is treated the same. We only have one class of customer ..... AAA, #1, First Class! You don’t have to belong to a club or pay anything extra to be treated well. It's old fashioned thinking, but the customer is our BOSS.

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Friday, March 23, 2012

History lesson (The big bust of '29)

Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking Committee at the time, said this: "The great depression was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence. International bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair so that they might emerge as rulers of us all."

The manager of Lehman Brothers in 1929 had this to say: "Actually, it was a calculated shearing of the public by the world money powers triggered by the planned sudden shortage of call money in the New York money market."

Insiders like Rockefeller and Morgan got out of the market ahead of the crash. Joe Kennedy, a favored insider, saw his fortune grow from $4 Million in 1929 (which was mostly made boot legging) to $100 million by 1935. The great depression made a few folks very rich. The players may have changed and the uniforms are different, but the team owners are the same.

History books say the crash of '29 was the result of over-speculation. The real culprit was the Federal Reserve Bank which increased the money supply by 62% between 1923 and 1929. Does this remind you of anything that's happening right now? Get ready for the fleecing!

As Casey Stengal, the famous old baseball manager, would say, "You can look it up!"

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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Here's another scam

You really can tell it's from a foreign source by the language interpretation. Don't click on a link in any similar e-mail. The BBB will not contact you via e-mail.

Attention: Owner/Manager

Here with the Better Business Bureau informs you that we have been sent a complaint (ID 92835411) from one of your customers in regard to their dealership with you. Please open the COMPLAINT REPORT below to find the details on this case and suggest us about your opinion as soon as possible. We hope to hear from you very soon.

Sincerely,

Katherine Schulte

Dispute Counselor, Better Business Bureau

Council of Better Business Bureaus

4200 Wilson Blvd, Suite 800

Arlington, VA 22203 1838

Phone: 1 (703) 276.0100

Fax: 1 (703) 525.8277

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Monday, March 19, 2012

Advertising award

The Academy Awards from Hollywood made me think we should have awards in our industry for advertising. It's our nearest thing to show business. As an instructor at Bane-Clene® Institute, part of my job is to watch how others in advertising practice their craft. I'm astonished by the stupidity of most television commercials. Probably an insurance company or a big bank would take the "Dumbest Commercial" prize if there was such an award.

In our industry in years past, I've focused on the most negative and damaging ads and given them our "Kool-Aid®" award in recognition for "Bad Ad of the Year." Twenty years ago, I was threatened with a law suit by a large corporation over the award. Five years later, a cleaner from West Virginia threatened me, too. Neither came to fruition because the awards were deserved.

Of course, there are the usual Bait & Switch ads that will always be with us, and a few negative ones. But most ads in our business recently have been very sensible and we should be proud of our advertising leaders. There have been more positive ads that deserve recognition than I can ever remember. If we had an award for current advertising, the nominees would be:

  • Stanley Steemer® for their "conventional series" of residential television commercials.
  • ServPro® for their "animated series" of commercials for fire and water restoration.
  • ServiceMaster® for the "most realism" in a television commercial.

  • And the winner would be ServiceMaster.

Stanley Steemer and ServPro ran well-produced television commercials on regular schedules which is the accepted way of generating sales. But ServiceMaster takes the prize for managing to be seen on national TV in a premier auto racing event. Their truck, logo and all, was in the blazing crash scene at NASCAR’s Daytona 500. Congratulations to ServiceMaster.

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Friday, March 16, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We're often asked about the origin of our little leprechaun. In 1969, my wife and I were on vacation in Florida and sent a St. Patrick's Day card featuring a leprechaun to her folks in Philadelphia. When we arrived back in Indianapolis, the exact card was in our mailbox.

At first we thought her folks had sent the card back to us that we had sent to them. It was the identical card but it was addressed, signed and postmarked in Philadelphia the very same day that we had mailed their card from Florida.

We'd been looking for a cartoon type character for our new residential carpet cleaning business and this seemed to be a good omen. A commercial artist sketched a leprechaun, we liked it and named him "Jimmie" after Elizabeth's father. Jimmie's been mighty good to us all these years.

Tomorrow is a special day, not just for the Irish, but for all of us at Bane-Clene. Elizabeth's father, who passed away in 1986, was our home-grown Leprechaun. Jimmie attended conventions and other events dressed in his high hat and green suit. We miss him.

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Unemployment numbers explained by Bud Abbott (A) and Lou Costello (C)

C: What's the unemployment rate in America?

     A: These are terrible times. It's almost 9%.

C: That many people are out of work, huh?

     A: No, there are 18% out of work.

C: You just said 9%.

     A: 9% are unemployed.

C: Right 9% are out of work.

     A: No, that's 18%.

C: Okay, so it's 18% unemployed.

     A: No, that's 9%.

C: Wait a minute. Is it 9% or 18%?

     A: 9% are unemployed. 18% are out of work.

C: If you're out of work you ARE unemployed.

     A: You have to look for work to be unemployed.

C: BUT THEY'RE OUT OF WORK!

     A: No, Someone who doesn't look for work, can't be counted with those who look for work. It just wouldn't be fair.

C: Fair to who?

     A: To the unemployed.

C: But they're ALL out of work.

     A: No, the unemployed are actively looking for work. Those who are out of work stopped looking for work so they're no longer in the ranks of the unemployed.

C: So if you're off the unemployment dole, that would count as less unemployment?

     A: Unemployment would go down. Absolutely!

C: The unemployment goes down because you quit looking for work?

     A: Absolutely it goes down. That's how you get to 9%. Otherwise it would be 18%. You don't want to read about 18% unemployment do ya?

C: That would be frightening.

     A: Yes it would.

C: Wait, that means there's two ways to bring unemployment down. It goes down if someone either gets a job or stops looking for work.

     A: Bingo.

C: So to bring unemployment down, the easiest way is to just stop looking for work.

     A: Now you're beginning to think like a government economist.

C: I don't even know what I just said!

And now you understand why unemployment figures are improving!

Thanks to Bob Quinn, former 3-term Mayor of Pacific Grove, CA., for sending me this one!

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Monday, March 12, 2012

8.3%, 8.7%, 9.9%, 12.4%, 21.3% ?????

Every Thursday the Labor Department releases the weekly number of new applications for unemployment compensation. The talking heads get really excited when it's under 400,000. Assuming the government knows how many checks they write, that means nearly a half million people have lost their job every week for the past three years. That's exciting?

But, the real surprise came when I heard how Labor Department officials validate the precise unemployment percentage that is published once every month. For example, in February the number was 8.3%. Are you ready for this? They randomly call people on the phone and ask if they have a job. Our official unemployment number is the result of a phone poll. Exciting?

Here's another reason why 8.3% or any other number they post is suspect. The Labor Department doesn't consider anyone as being unemployed when their unemployment compensation has run out and they've stopped looking for work. I'm going to publish a spoof on Wednesday about how Bud Abbott and Lou Costello* would discuss our unemployment situation.

* For you youngsters, Abbott and Costello are famous for the "Who's on first?" comedy routine.

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Friday, March 09, 2012

Little things mean a lot

An e-mail last month asked: Why do you still use that ugly old aluminum wand when stainless steel is much more durable and better looking, too?

Good question! Most of us have seen the vacuum cleaner hucksters on TV suspending a bowling ball at the end of a vacuum cleaner hose. The smooth ball seals against the hose and no air passes. It's an impressive demonstration but meaningless in the real world of carpet cleaning.

Vacuum does not move water. Air velocity created by vacuum moves the recovered water from the carpet to the holding tank in the truck. The more LFPM* of air, the better the recovery. The material a cleaning head (wand) is made of plays an important part in successful extraction cleaning.

The irregular contour and porosity of aluminum in a cleaning head is a bonus that allows more air to pass than one constructed of a very smooth metal. Porous aluminum also provides a gentle, natural agitation and this scrubbing effect helps release dirt particles from fibers into the air stream.

*Lineal feet per minute

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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Look out for new taxes

Not only is the federal government broke, but most states are in the same shape. Only a few have a balanced budget, so naturally they are looking for ways to raise money. One of the most popular ideas is collecting taxes on internet sales. States estimate their loss is more than $20 billion this year alone.

Most sales tax states have a "Use Tax" and residents are required to declare the sales tax for online purchases. Because retailers don't collect them, they seldom pay. More than a dozen states have legislation that requires online retailers to collect sales taxes and there is similar legislation pending in 10 more states.

Brick and mortar retailers contend exempting online purchases from sales taxes gives online retailers an unfair advantage. New legislation introduced in Washington would give states the authority to require online retailers to collect state sales taxes, as long as they make the collection process easier. That's the problem.

The Supreme Court has ruled that states can't require online retailers to collect sales taxes unless there is a physical presence in the state. Most have interpreted that to mean they have a distribution center in the state. All of the above hints that we're headed for a VAT (value added tax) similar to that in the UK.

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Monday, March 05, 2012

Carbon monoxide*

Nearly every week there is an incident like this one that hurts everyone in the industry from carpet cleaners to manufacturers . A newspaper in Rochester, Minnesota, reported that the mother of three children was alerted to the danger of carbon monoxide by a detection device and called the fire department. On arrival firefighters measured 40 parts per million of carbon monoxide in the air inside her home.

Investigation revealed a carpet cleaner had been there earlier that day operating a gasoline powered cleaning machine in an attached garage. The garage door was open but the door to the house was left ajar (probably for the hose run) which allowed exhaust fumes to enter. This is not an indictment of any cleaning equipment nor is it the fault of any manufacturer. It is directly attributable to an incompetent operator.

Instead of testing cleaning equipment and chemicals, CRI and other industry associations, schools and trade publications should launch a safety campaign warning inept operators of this danger. Industry standards should prevent such a conceivable disaster from occurring. Potential carpet customers reading these stories conclude that carpet cleaning is dangerous and that's bad for carpet makers, retailers, installers and cleaners.

* To my "Industry Guru" critic... Note this is not a picture of a burning truck.

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Friday, March 02, 2012

History lesson (War profiteers)

International banks like to lend to governments that borrow more money than individuals or businesses. Governments are considered a sure thing because they can tax citizens to pay interest and repay loans. Some governments even allow bankers to dictate national policy in return for favoring them with loans. Nothing generates government borrowing faster than a war.

The Rothchild banking interests financed both sides of the Franco/Prussian War and our Civil War in the 1860s. In 1902, a Rothchild associate, Paul Warburg, emigrated from Germany and married into the powerful banking family of Kuhn, Loeb and Company. He joined an elite group including Bernard Baruch, the Rockefellers, J. P. Morgan and other predecessors of today's New York banking elite.

Warburg's group helped split the Republican ticket in 1912 by financing Teddy Roosevelt and his "Progressive" independent party run which cinched Woodrow Wilson's election. These greedy Progressives backed Wilson because they wanted a profitable war to finance. Ironically, Wilson ran on an anti-war agenda and campaigned against war. Have you heard the term "Progressive" recently? Has there been war talk lately?

America had an isolationist, anti-war sentiment in 1912. In 1916, Winston Churchill ordered a report on what American opinion would be on entering the war in Europe if a ship were sunk carrying American passengers. Germany even took out ads in New York papers warning of the consequences of passenger ships carrying arms and munitions to England.

In spite of the warnings, the Lusitania sunk in only eighteen minutes after being struck by one German torpedo. The thickening plot reveals that she was running at reduced speed under direct orders from her home office and was loaded with munitions. Do you think that could have been a set-up to get America into the war?

As Casey Stengal, the famous old baseball manager, would say, "You can look it up!"

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