Sunday, January 13, 2013

Harmful Practice


Right at the start of the year I was alerted once again to the depressing practice of suppliers selling direct to contractors thereby cutting out the glazier.  This is something that is not healthy for our industry on so many levels and it needs to stop.  I think sometimes companies do things in acts of desperation, but this latest rash of direct selling does not fall in that category.  In my early days growing up in this industry when a supplier sold direct, they were faced with a version of frontier justice in that the local industry shunned them.  Now for some reason it’s more accepted, and that is insane. Hopefully this latest batch of wrong-headed selling will slow and retreat and not gain because if it does, it surely will not be good for anyone in the end.

Elsewhere…

--  Why I like Twitter, part 378.  This past week I was unable to attend the BETEC conference.  Yet, I missed nothing thanks to live “tweeting” by Glass Magazine’s Katy Devlin. (Then the wrap up article too)  Twitter really is a great way to stay up on info and Katy did a great job- as always.

--  So the Dodge Momentum Index was up … again I remain hopeful.  And as for the ABI, they got some mainstream love from the folks at the Wall Street Journal.  This article ran before the holidays and really played up the positive nature of the last few months.

--  I really like the agenda that IGMA has laid out for their conference next month.  Kudos to David Cooper and Marg Webb for putting that one together- good speakers and subject matter to be covered.

--  Other than the above...a pretty slow week in our industry news wise- which was needed after the heavy news flow in week one of this new year.

--  Book of the week… if you grew up during the birth of MTV, then the book I just read is absolutely a must.  The book’s title is “I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution” and it’s an oral history that is simply fantastic.  I LOVED MTV as I grew up, and reading it just brought back tons of memories- and also sent me scurrying to Youtube to look up the videos again as they were mentioned in the book. The inside stories were amazing too.

--  Also during the holidays I was able to check another item off my “Sports Bucket List” and that was getting to see LeBron James play in person.  He was spectacular to watch- just owned the court.  Still not as good as Michael Jordan but the game has changed, and seeing him in person gave me new perspective on how good James really is.

--  Still on the list?  See a hockey game in Edmonton and Toronto, go to Wimbledon, see The Masters, and the World Cup…. Among others… hey may as well shoot high right?

--  Last, did any of you catch the controversy from “Wheel of Fortune” that hit over the holidays?  I guess if you don’t annunciate just perfectly you can be buzzed as wrong.  That happened in a horrible way in this videoclip and you just shake your head for this poor gal, who is by the way a part of our military and deserved better.  Plus I think she actually said it close enough even with her accent to be accepted.

LINKS of the WEEK

--  This story will make your stomach turn.  Foreclosed houses are bad enough, but how about the twist of the “Zombie Title” – Unreal.

--  I am not a Facebook guy and this story is another reason why I am not.

--  A new weight loss system.  Yeah I may have to try that…

VIDEO of the WEEK

Great video of game winning shot in 8th grade hoops.  Just wild….no urgency, pure flair.

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