SROSource

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.

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Bullying

By Jay Treadway

July 13th, 2009

Two weeks ago, while I was exhibiting at the NASRO national conference, I picked up a bullying brochure at the GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) booth. I’ve been a licensed vendor for that program since 1993 and I’m always interested in what they are doing.

The theme of the NASRO Conference was bullying and the GREAT folks have a brochure outlining how the GREAT Program addresses bullying. They address bullying issues in their elementary, middle school and “Families” curriculum.

Here’s some myths and facts the brochure contained that I found interesting:

• School bullying is only an occasional occurance. False: Forty-two percent of middle school principals reported that student bullying occured on a daily or weekly basis.
• A child is more likely to be cyberbullied by a schoolmate. True: Sixty-two percent said that they had been cyberbullied by another student at school.
• You will know if your child is being bullied online. False: Only 35 percent told their parents about their experience.
• Bullying takes place mostly on the bus or playground. False: Seventy-nine percent said that they were bullied inside the school.
• An acceptable response to bullying behavior is that “boys will be boys.” False: Bullying is detrimental to a child’s well-being and can lead to depression and even to suicide.
• Students want to get involved when they witness bullying. True: Fifty-six percent usually either say or do something to try to stop it.    

The brochure also gave a few websites that you can go to for more information on bullying. Here’s a couple that were interesting:

• National School Safety Center
• National Crime Prevention Council

For more information regading The GREAT Program click here.

As I wrote in my blog on February 16, my bully growing up was Bobby Thomas. He made life at the bus stop miserable for us each day. But it looks like Bobby was small potatoes compared with what is going on now. Too bad.

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Be Like Tiger?

By Jay Treadway

July 8th, 2009

I watched Tiger Woods (Like many of you) win yet another golf tournament this past weekend. It’s becoming the rule rather than the exception of course. Are you tired of it? Maybe a little? But you have to be impressed with somebody that has that kind of focus, determination and consistency.  

Tiger looks serious out there all the time. He really doesn’t look like he’s having fun. I mean, compare him to Anthony Kim who was playing with him Sunday, or even Rocco Mediate. They react outwardly on the course a lot different than Tiger. But does that mean they are any less intense? I’m not sure they are.

I know one thing for sure though. Give me 15 minutes on a golf course with somebody and I can pretty much tell you what they are like. As soon as something goes wrong, a person’s reaction to adversity tells you a lot about them. Do they shrug it off like a walk in the park? Or, do they get red in the face and start throwing clubs? It’s probably something in between those two on most occasions. 

I think there are some similarities in business and golf. The “15 minutes” I referred to above has a similar parallel in business, in my opinion. Most businesses can be very easy to get along with when things are running smoothly. Everybody is happy.

However, as soon as something goes wrong things can change. Whether it’s a order that’s messed-up or something else, it can strain the relationship. I never really feel comfortable with somebody I do business with until there is a problem. How that problem is handled either strengthens or weakens a relationship. It also determines whether I continue to do business with that company.

It is sort of like the old saying: “Once shame on you; twice shame on me.” I try really hard not be be one of those companies that turns people off when things get tough. I’m sure I’ve failed a few times, but overall we do a really good job of making things right. I’m proud of that. I don’t want to be the person in business who is throwing clubs and yelling. Not pretty.

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Traveling Man

By Jay Treadway

July 6th, 2009

 I was a “traveling man” in June. It kind of reminds me of the old Ricky Nelson song by the same name (That’s a 60’s thing for you young folks!). I was in St. Thomas, Kansas City and Baltimore during the month. Summer is a great time to be right here at home in Minnesota, but that didn’t happen. Oh well.

St. Thomas was the location this year of the annual Geiger National Sales Conference. It was a great spot; I had never been there before. I played some golf and enjoyed the nice digs for a few days. I earned this trip because of my sales in 2008. Thanks to all my customers for sending me on this nice trip!

Then I had to fly from St. Thomas directly to Kanas City for the wedding of my nephew. That was a fun weekend. I was able to catch-up with all the “outlaws” on my wife’s side of the family. The ride home involved three adults and two grandchidren, ages 2 and 5. That was interesting as they say.

Baltimore was a business trip to exhibit at the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) annual conference. It was fun to see a lot of my old friends and current customers, as well as old DARE customers. 

Attendance was about 700, down from about 1000 on past years. I gave away 240 stainless water bottles and 432 jotter pads and pens. All of them just happened to have my http://srosource.com website addresson them! The exhibit hall was pretty full with lots of exhibitors. The NASRO folks always put on a good conference and this was no exception. I also got to see a little of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area for the first time. Camden Yards is pretty cool!

“Traveling Man” is not done yet however! I’m off to Phoenix next week for the Geiger “Galleria” attended by hundreds of Geiger reps from around the U.S. We have education sessions one day and a trade show another day. It’s a great event and I’m looking forward to learning a few things as well as catching-up with some of the Geiger folks.

After that it will be good to be home for a while! There’s no place like Minnesota in the summer. Did I mention that before? I guess I did.

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Time To Reflect Part II

By Jay Treadway

June 5th, 2009

Last time I was bragging about my experience. It’s been 22 years since I opened the doors and put out the Treadway Graphics shingle. But my experience pales by comparison to that of the company I merged with in 2006. That company is Geiger Bros. in Lewiston Maine and they were established in 1878! And it’s still a family-owned business today. 

Geiger has been in the top 10 of the promotional products industry since 1963. It’s the largest family owned promotional products business. They also publish the Farmers’ Almanac. The Farmers’ Almanac has been published since 1818! They obviously have weathered a few depressions and recessions in their time!

I’m pleased to be associated with such a fine family-owned business. They run and operate their business much the same way I did Treadway Graphics from 1987 to 2006. There are days when I wish I was totally on my own again. But their are more days when I’m happy I made the switch.

I know my customers are better off with this additional manpower and experience behind me. I’m able to offer better pricing than I could on my own. Plus, with hundreds of employees in Lewiston and around the country there is no problem too big to solve.

Now I just wish more people would order stuff so I could quit reflecting so much and get busy again! Hello, anyone home?

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Time To Reflect

By Jay Treadway

June 3rd, 2009

Since my business has slowed a little this year I’ve had more time to reflect. That’s a pretty good thing, actually. Last year I was so busy I couldn’t do much but try and keep up. Boy, do I wish I had that “problem” now!

Treadway Graphics has been in business since 1987. That’s 22 years of successes and failures; heartaches and joy. I found that you can’t avoid conflict with customers, suppliers and employees forever. If you’re in business long enough you are going to make some people mad at you. But those are the exceptions.

New Kid On The Block

Ever since I introduced the “New Kid On The Block” in my first brochure it’s been a good ride overall. I’ve gained a lot of experience that is very helpful when I deal with my customers today. In addition, I work at this profession full time, not part time, like many others in our industry. Those two things bring a lot of value to my customers every day. 

But trust is the big theme running through what I do. My customers trust me to come through for them. My customers are busy people and they don’t need to have me heap more “issues” on their plates. So I don’t. I do what not everyone else in business does: perform at a high level every day.

There are days when we fail to perform at that high level. It happens to everyone. What’s the most important thing to do in that case? Trash the excuses and make it right. Pretty simple really. But a lot of businesses don’t do that.

So, as I have all this time to reflect, I know a couple of things. Business will get better. And when it does, Treadway Graphics will be there, ready to perform at a high level! 

The “New Kid” is thankful for the great ride the past 22 years!

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