Najla's Notes

UPS Announces 2010 Shipping Rates

UPS, an ASI affiliate, has announced it will raise its air and ground freight rates by an average of 4.9% in 2010. The company also plans to adjust its fuel surcharge tables, pledging to avoid the dramatic spikes in air freight costs that have reached 35% this year. The 2010 rate changes will go into effect on January 4.

For 2009, UPS hiked rates 5.9%, the largest jump in eight years. Slowed by the recession, UPS's domestic business has dropped off considerably, while the company has faced higher costs for labor, health care and pensions. In October, UPS reported its third quarter profits fell 43% to $549 million as revenue decreased 15% to $11.2 billion. "I'm encouraged by the signs of economic recovery that are becoming apparent, although we still have a long way to go," said Scott Davis, UPS chairman and CEO. "We are managing operations well, while controlling costs and maintaining excellent service."

While UPS intends to increase rates, its chief rival, FedEx, is taking similar steps. As part of its annual hike, FedEx will increase its air shipping rates by 3.9% in 2010. FedEx has not announced its rates for ground shipments or SmartPost packages.

Handpicked shoes by monthly subscription

I came across this article and thought it was a terrific idea for those who love new shoes- I am a barefoot kind of girl, but used to love wearing heels when I was younger and working for someone else (gotta admit, it might be fun to join and get back in to a bit of fashion).

Springwise Newsletter - October 22  -- Hard on the heels—so to speak—of our story about Hipstery comes news of a like-minded contender in the world of shoes. Where Hipstery relieves consumers of the burden of choice and picks its t-shirts for them, ShoeDazzle does much the same for shoes, but on a recurring, monthly basis.

Users of Los Angeles-based ShoeDazzle begin by taking a fashion survey, the results of which are used to guide the company's personalized shoe selections. Each month, ShoeDazzle's personal stylists then send the user an email with five new shoe choices, handpicked to suit her personality and fashion preferences. The user simply logs into the site to select the pair she wants, and it gets shipped out for free. Monthly membership costs USD 39, which covers the shoes and shipping. Members can skip a month's selections, in which case they won't be charged; they can also return or exchange shoes they don't like.

ShoeDazzle currently ships only within the United States and Canada, but it's a safe bet that fashion-minded consumers in other parts of the world would also appreciate some monthly shopping guidance, for shoes, clothes or accessories. Website: www.shoedazzle.com

Spotted by: Judy McRae

Cool Tool to Help with Shipping

Catching up on my reading and I came across a neat idea from our postal service. The US Postal Service has created a new augmented reality web tool, called the Virtual Box Simulator, to promote the fact that priority Mail Flat Rate boxes can make shipping easier. With the tool, consumers can hold an object in front of a webcam to create a 3D hologram and determine the appropriate Flat Rate box for shipping items. Then the user can select various boxes to see how they compare to the size of the item they want to ship. - This is all part of the “A Simpler Way to Ship” campaign site at PriorityMail.com - This sounds like a great way to get the right box for shipping your holiday gift items to your loved ones everywhere.

Fresh from the Beach - The Gift Book

I am slightly refreshed from a whirlwind weekend away at the beach. I sat in the sun too long and my face is now totally red and peeling which is not normal for me. I am olive skinned and normally do not burn. Anyway, the trip energized me and this week we have been working on our mailings and getting all the holiday gift items up on the websites.

 

We did hire a few people from Odesk to work on the websites and I must say things are moving right along. In one week we had 3 databases created and updated. It’s exciting to see all the new products coming in. It’s a lot like Christmas when the catalogs start arriving with all the new fall and winter holiday business gift ideas. We love to see the new products and we love to hear when our customers get excited about getting their RED Books. This is really called the The GIFT BOOK, but to our customers, because of the faux red leather cover and the gold imprint it is the “RED Book” and the most exciting book of the year. All I can equate this too is the excitement children feel when they get the toy catalogs from Toys R Us, just before a visit to Santa.  By the end of this month, we will be getting calls with squeals of delight!

Employee Wellness

I was just listening to a webinar with guest speaker Diane Darling  She was discussing effective networking for companies whose employees are worn out from the economy and are trying to figure out how to do their jobs and keep their jobs. She teaches the employees how to network internally so they can get along better, know who in the company they can go talk to if they have a question and how to approach these individuals. Her discussion helps the company figure out what the real cost is of losing people, or having an employee on-line for two hours trying to figure out an answer to a problem when they could have spent 5 minutes going down the hall to get that answer. 
 

Another way to figure out your cost of doing business is by how much you are spending on health insurance, time lost from work due to illness etc. Just like internal networking to keep your business humming along, you also need to ensure that your employees are at their best. Putting together a wellness program and rewarding employees that embrace the program will allow your company to see a decrease in sick days and possibly a lower health insurance bill  in the long run.

Follow this link to read the full article on Tips on How to Plan a Wellness Program

Tips on How to Plan a Family Reunion

We recently added a new article to our News/Info page. Here is a small excerpt from “Tips on how to put together a family reunion:”  

What if you were asked to organize a family reunion? Where would you start? When should you start?

1.     Ask for other family members to help with planning activities and choosing the time and place. Get the word out - let others know you're planning a family reunion event. Give family members plenty of notice. If your family is spread out over the U.S or abroad, planning one to two years in advance will allow attendees to plan vacation time or make adjustments in scheduling.

2.     Assign each member of your newly formed reunion committee a specific task and hold them responsible. Plan on purchasing commemorative items imprinted with the family name and date of the event.

These two tips are the most important part of planning your event. You need to get the commitment of other family members to help make your event special, and to tell other family members about the event. You can still send out invitations, but I know from experience that some family members might need to be dragged to a family reunion, especially if they only get one vacation per year and they are not excited about the venue.  So make sure to recruit family members that have clout with other family members.

Each of the additional six tips gives a more elaborate explanation, suggested activities and keepsakes to remind family members of what a great time they had at the event. If you would like to read the full article you can read it at this link http://www.ceshoppes.com/Newsletters/FamilyReunionPlanning.asp  After reading the article you may have other suggestions you would like to add to help our readers and we would love to hear them!

 

We found someone to help with the data!

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working with Odesk and looking for someone to help convert data from our vendors so we can get it in to our web shoppes more easily. We placed the ad and then waited. We had quite a few applicants for the job. Some from the U.S., some not. We looked over everyones past performance scores, evaluated their reference comments, took into consideration their knowledge of the task and narrowed down our selection.

Last week we sent our candidates a snipet of the spreadsheets that we receive from our vendors and a copy of the structure they need to fit it in when they make the conversions. We asked each candidate to evaluate and give us their best estimate of how long they thought each conversion would take, we have over 50, and how they would go about making that conversion. Since DJ is the techie in our office, he speaks that language.  - We have finally selected our candidate and will be providing them with their first set of records. If this goes well we will turn over more records to be converted. Lets cross our fingers!

More about hiring programmers

In the meantime, DJ interviewed a programmer last week here at home. They talked a lot about building an engine to help us convert the data we get from our suppliers more easily.  This sounds like a fabulous idea and I hope the quote comes out within reason. We have so many new websites we want to create to help our customers find promotional products and corporate gifts easier.

Hiring Someone Sight Unseen

Today I am working on adding new products to the web shoppes. It is very easy to find new vendors and I have about 10 whose products would compliment what we have already in our shoppes. I decided to go to odesk.com to see if I can find an experienced person that I will not have to spend time interviewing and can just jump right in and get the job done. I heard about them in one of the hundreds of business magazines I subscribe to and we have been talking about getting help to increase products and to convert the databases we received from our vendors. So here goes!

 

It is a very daunting task. There are literally hundreds of people from all over the world that have many technical talents. Now my job is to sift through these and find someone to add the first vendor and see how we go from there. I will keep you posted.

Promotional Towels- FAQ

Over the weekend my boys went swimming in our backyard pool. I never really looked at all of the towels we have accumulated over the years until now. Last week we began training our staff about the differences in beach towels because so many of our customers are purchasing promotional towels for their events and they were asking a lot of questions.

Beach towels are great for swim teams, school fundraisers, company picnics, beach outings and any other summer event you can think of. We get a lot of questions from those that are tasked to purchase the beach towels for their event. Many have no idea why some towels cost more than others and some can’t figure out why it cost so much to put more than 1 or 2 colors on a towel. 

To solve this, we have put together a sort of cheat sheet. This page explains the towel types, terry loop vs velour, screen printed vs. fiber reactive towels in a clean cut, user friendly form that everyone can understand. If you are in charge or know of someone in your company that will be tasked to order your summer promotional items and they want to know more about beach towels visit our FAQ on towel decoration or call one of our trained staff.