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Treadway Graphics - Serving the law enforcement market since 1991.
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Skeletons
By Jay Treadway
February 26th, 2010
Wow! When I blogged about Tiger Woods in July and August last year I never expected what would happen a short 6 months later! How the mightly have fallen.
It makes me reflect on what I was trying to say back then. I was feeling a little sheepish about comparing our company to Tiger. Wanting to be the ”Best of the Best” still is true for Treadway Graphics and for Tiger Woods. Tiger’s wandering “off course” when he was “off the course” is where I think we part ways.
The second blog was about how companies react when things don’t go right. The true test of the characrter a company lies in how they react when things go wrong; how they fix the problem. It’s not when things are running smoothly. I think our company has a great track record the past 25 years when things are going right and when things are going wrong. This appears to be Tiger’s first real “character” test. I wish him well. He has a lot of repair work to do. And the whole world is watching.
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Smart Choices
By Jay Treadway
February 24th, 2010
When we designed the Smart choices program 7 years ago we really didn’t know where it would take us. We had just lost our license for the D.A.R.E. Program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education and Training) that we had held for 11 years. It wasn’t our fault, it was simply something that happens to you in business. It was traumatic nonetheless.
We thought we would design our own program with products and logos to “compete” with the D.A.R.E. Program. Our message was centered around three primary designs that had a resist drugs and violence theme. We came up with a Smart Choices design, a “HERO” design and an UP2ME design. The HERO design was an acronym for “Helping Everyone Realize Options.” The most popular by far has been the UP2ME design shown below. We have many products available on our website store with all these designs.
But the most interesting part has been where it has taken us. Yes, we do sell some of these products to D.A.R.E. officers. However, most of our sales have come from officers doing other programs conducted locally in their schools. We have incorporated some of our Smart Choices designs into products for programs like S.T.A.R.S. in Arizona, R.O.A.R. in New Jersey and Too Good ForDrugs in Illinios, among others.
The basic message of the Up2ME design can be used for a lot of applications. Indeed, it has been used in many applications the past 7 years by our customers. We still call these designs our “Smart Choices” designs, but in fact UP2Me has been the clear winner. Funny how it works out. Designing the UP2ME logo was a Smart Choice in the end!
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New Products
By Jay Treadway
February 11th, 2010
When you get new stuff in life it’s usually fun. Except times like when you get socks for Christmas from your Aunt Laura! Or that stupid bunny suit Ralphie got from his aunt in the movie “Christmas Story.” The same applies to business, most of the time. This week Treadway Graphics is publishing and mailing our new 2010 GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) catalog.
I don’t think we have any “socks” in our new catalog, but my customers will be the ultimate judge of that. Here’s a brief recap of the new stuff we’re putting out there for 2010:
20 Oz. Neon Bottles: Here’s a great bottle at a great price point! This bottles sells for only $ .99 for 500 or more!
Nylon Backpack: We’ve brought back our popular nylon drawstring backpack! This 13 x 16.5 backpack sells for less than $2.00 in quantities of 400 or more.
Sports Backpack: A low cost substitute for the traditional backpack. This 14.5 x 17 backpack sells for $4.00 in quantities of 100 or more.
Ruled Notebook: We’ve taken the ruled notebook from our best selling school kit and we’re offering it as a separate item.
Vienna Pens & Sets: A great looking pen with a laser-engraved logo and gift box selling for under $2.00! The pen and pencil set sells for under $4.00!
Scented Highlighters: The same scented highlighters we’ve been selling you for years! Now they are available in our catalog.
Frosted Stick Pens: A great stick pen selling for under $ .30 and available in five assorted colors.
Neon Ballpoint Pens: Here’s a fun item selling for under $ .50! It’s a retractable pen in five neon colors.
Neon Erasers: We’ve found a great value with this 1.5 x 1.25 eraser in four neon colors. These erasers sells for less than $ .25 each!
Dog Tags: We’ve finally added this poopular item to our cataog. It’s laser-engraved aluminum and comes in four colors.
LED Flashing Light: Here’s a great safety item that attaches easily to a bag or clothing with the clip on the back.
Retro Clock: Here’s a fun teacher or appreciation gift. Gift boxed and selling for under $4.00!
USB Flash Drive: This flash drive is a whopping 2GB size! And it sells for under $14.00; under $12.00 for quantites over 50!
Awareness Bracelets: Now we’re offering one of our most popular items in a new color: teal and black swirl! Very distinctive design!
All of these items can be viewed on our website store anytime.
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2010 Is Offically Here
By Jay Treadway
February 10th, 2010
It’s always a “GREAT” feeling when a new catalog is done! Our 2010 GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) catalog is being printed and mailed this week. It’s exciting to offer many new items and then sit back and see who “salutes.” Some are busts and some are successes. Always a fun time.
Reductions in budgets by police departments and schools the past few years have hurt our business. But, we keep our chins up and continue to be aggressive! Unlike some of our competition, we stock a lot of merchandise 365 days a year. That costs money but we feel it’s the best way to serve all of the GREAT community. Some customers want to buy things right off the shelf in quantites of one or more; some want things customized with their department or school name. We appreciate all of this business.
Our competition that just wants the bigger orders is not truly serving the GREAT officer or the GREAT Program. I don’t think they are being responsible licensed vendors. But that’s just my opinion.
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Postage Stamps
By Jay Treadway
October 6th, 2009
I’m a sucker for the positive mental attitude stuff. Napoleon Hill, Zig Zigler, W. Clement Stone; all the old guys. They had a lot to teach us then and they still do today. I saw this one today in an email I get from Jeffrey Gitomer each week. I like his stuff as well. Here’s what he had in his weekly email newsletter that came originally from Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich):
The most interesting thing about a postage stamp is the persistence with which it sticks to its job.
The tiny, insignificant postage stamp is a good example of what it is possible to achieve if you stick with the job until it is finished. Inconspicuously stuck on the corner of the envelope, it provides the impetus to keep moving until the entire packet reaches its ultimate destination. The influence you may have upon your company, your church, your family, or any organization is incalculable if you have the persistence to pursue your goal until you achieve it. It is an absolute certainty that you will encounter obstacles in any worthwhile endeavor. When you do, remember the inconsequential little postage stamp and stick with the job until it is finished.
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Product Safety: The Focus is on Children
By Jay Treadway
September 24th, 2009
Being part of a larger organization has it’s advatanges. Since 2006 Treadway Graphics has been associated with Geiger, a company that is headquartered in Maine. Geiger has hundreds of sales reps around the country and publishes the Farmers’ Almanac.
Wayne Greenberg is a Geiger rep in Florida and he has become an expert in the product safety issues that are concerning a lot of people in our industry. Last week Wayne updated all of us with the following:
I have been watching the issue of product safety, the directives of the Consumer Products Safety Information Act (CPSIA), and the actions of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). What a challenging minefield? I want to share what I have observed, what many of our suppliers are doing, and what problems this creates for us.
The critical issue revolves around our products and their relationship to children. Basically, special safety regs kick in when promotional products and kids are put in the same sentence. These requirements include testing, special labeling and higher standards regarding how the products are made (e.g. lead content).
The rules come into play when:
1. A product is likely to be used by a child 12 and under, or
2. A product is specifically designed for use by a child 12 and under, and/or
3. A product is decorated with a logo that makes it intended for a child.
Taken individually, these elements are confusing enough. Taken together, they encompass perhaps 2/3 of the products in our industry. And the CPSC has moved the target several times over the past 6 months, with each move making it more difficult for us to interpret.
You might think that a supplier could avoid expensive testing and legal liability by labeling their products as “not primarily designed for Children 12 and under” or “not for use by a child 12 and under.” Even though some companies might do this, they still need to consider the following 4 “pillars” in determining if a given product falls under the child safety regs:
1. A statement by a manufacturer about the intended use of such product, including a label on such product if such statement is reasonable.
2. Whether the product is represented in its packaging, display, promotion, or advertising as appropriate for use by children 12 years of age or younger.
3. Whether the product is commonly recognized by consumers as being intended for use by a child 12 years of age or younger.
Commentary: This brings a little common sense to a determination. A product like a coffee mug or inexpensive watch that might be used by people of all ages does not necessarily become a regulated child’s product.
4. The Age Determination Guidelines issued by the CPSC staff in September 2002 and any successor to such guidelines.
Commentary: The CPSC can and does “age grade” a product. If using the guidelines an expert determines a product “grades out” to be for 6 to 10 year olds, it is a child’s product.
A product liability issue pulls in every one in the supply chain, including our customers. It is up to us to know who the product recipient will be and who beyond that will ultimately use the product.
Thanks to Wayne and others in the Geiger organization we are doing a lot to make sure the products we sell do not cause issues for our customers. As you can see by the product safety page on the Geiger website we are determined to make sure the products we sell our customers are safe.
I feel a little better knowing there are people in my company dedicated to making sure the products we sell are safe for children. Most of my customers deal directly with kids; and many of those kids are under 12. I want my customers to know that we are working diligently behind the scenes to insure they receive only safe products for their kids.
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Ducks & Eagles
By Jay Treadway
September 22nd, 2009
I saw the story below again last week in our weekly Geiger newsletter. It was submitted by one of the other Geiger sales reps. I’ve read this article by Harvey Mackay several times through the years. It’s still a great story. I think it applies to everyone, not just business people. I hope you enjoy it!
One day Harvey was at the airport waiting for a cab When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.
He handed Harvey a laminated card and said: “I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.”
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment…
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside.
Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” Harvey said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I ‘ll take a Diet Coke.”
Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, ime, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”
As they were pulling away, Wally handed Harvey another laminated card that said “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.
Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day.
He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts…
“Tell me, Wally,” an amazed Harvey asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”
“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.
“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”
Wally was phenomenal. He made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about us?
Smile and the whole world smiles with you. The ball is in our hands! A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Let us do good to all people.
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar. Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.
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Undeniable Success
By Jay Treadway
August 6th, 2009
I have Google Alerts set-up for several topics that I’m interested tracking on a regular basis. One of topics I track is “School Resource Officer.” This past week an article that was published recently in the The Florida Times-Union came across my radar. It highlighted a program started in Duval County (Florida) this past school year that was deemed to be an “undeniable” success.
I thought the program was simple, yet surprisingly effective. The program uses school resource officers that are already in place in the schools. So the program really doesn’t have any “out of pocket” costs per sea. The idea is to match-up SRO officers with troubled kids one-on-one.
The program is a first-year initiative called Project Safe Students in Schools that paired poor-behaving students with school resource officers. The results the first year have been dramatic. Students arrests during the 2008-09 school year were down 24 percent. Arrests for battery were down 28 percent and drug arrests were down a whopping 47 percent!
Not only were arrests down but all of the students in this program finished the school year! Pretty impressive.
A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office in Duval County said “The results are undeniable. The objective is to work with these students when they’re making poor decisions early on, so they can improve their behavior and so that they can get a good education and graduate – and in doing so it keeps the schools safer.”
Each resource officer met with his or her students a minimum of three times during the student’s first month in the program. I think that’s pretty doable for most SRO officers in the schools. Even if they just met with a few kids it would be better than nothing.
Sometimes we just need to do the little things like Project Safe Students in Schools to have a big effect in our communities. Think of the reduced financial cost to society during the lifetime of just one of these kids who turns themselves around. That financial number alone would be huge. But more importantly, it makes our schools safer and the affected kids’ lives much more productive. Good stuff.
To read the whole article click here.
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Be Like Tiger? (Part II)
By Jay Treadway
August 4th, 2009
Tiger Woods has done it again. This past weekend he won his 69th tournament in just over 10 years on tour! He now only follows Sam Sneed and Jack Nicklaus on the all-time wins list. And, he’s done it much faster than the other two. Seven years faster than Nicklaus and eight years faster than Sneed. Remarkable stuff.
So, as far as golf goes, there is Tiger up here and everyone else down there. No doubt about it. Since 2006 he has won 21 of 39 tournaments he has played. His skills are remarkable. He plays with essentially the same clubs and balls as everyone else, but he wins over 50% of the time! I play golf so I know how hard it is to accomplish what he has done.
I think what Tiger has done has a parallel in business. We at Treadway Graphics/Geiger try every day to be the best at what we do. In our case, we sell essentially the same merchandise as a lot of other people. Everybody knows that. However, we try real hard to make sure that this is the only similarity we have with our competitors.
Isn’t that what we all want? To be like Tiger? The best of the best? I know I do. Whether you’re a police man, teacher, businessman or student you should try to be the best you can be. In business, if you’re not the best, you’re just one of the rest. That’s a big hill to climb and some days we fail and fall down that hill a short distance. But the next day we pick ourselves up and continue the climb.
I hope my customers would say that Treadway Graphics/Geiger “is up here and the others are down there.” That would be very satisfying. We try to be the best of the best, just like Tiger. I’m sure you want to do the same. Good luck to you (and me)!
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Real Heros
By Jay Treadway
July 29th, 2009
The column below has been making the rounds this week on the internet. It was written back in 2004 by Ben Stein. I think it’s making the rounds now because someone thought the subject was a good thing to reflect on from time to time. I agree. Since most of my customers are police officers I thought it was even more appropriate.
How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today’s World?
I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.
How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today’s world, if by a ’star’ we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.
They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit , Iraq . He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.
A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad . He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.
A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordinance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.
The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.
We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.
I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton’s is a big subject.
There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament…the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.
Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.
I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin…or Martin Mull or Fred Willard–or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.
But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister’s help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.
This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York . I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.
