Thursday, June 26, 2008

Our Team is THE Best

At least that is my opinion. I think it would be in order to introduce you to some of our key team members. I do not like to refer to them as employees because they do not work for me. They work for themselves and for our customers.

Here we go. Eddie Caldwell is in charge of our IT department and programmer extraordinaire. He is our CTO. Next we have Greg Dykes. Greg does a lot of things, he is sales manager, oversees most warehouse functions and also is on the sales service desk most of the time. Oh, he also keeps our warehouse cat (Jessie) fed. Leanda Seay (everyones go to for answers) keeps our bills paid while backing up sales service. Monica Cunningham, our customer relations and claims analyst and is another back up to sales service. Shirin Rana is our product manager. She fights a never ending battle of keeping products updated on our site as well as backing up sales service. Alicia Metcalf is one of our sales service pros and never complains about anything. Brandi Shelton and Greg Hayes are sales and sales service and both get great customer feedback. Tammy Anderson processes both incoming and outgoing shipments and you guessed it, backs up sales service. Gloria Kirkland is also in accounting. Keeping the check book balanced, the credit cards paid and the IRS happy. Oh, and making calls for me that I don't want to make.

Assisting Shirin with new products and product update are Tiffany Kennedy, Alicia Wnorowski, and Brooke Pacheco. They are responsible for everything from product photos and product specification to making sure our inventory is properly marked and located. In our customer fulfillment department we have Fernando Delgado, Audiel Mondragon, and Jonathan Barrett. They make sure that our shipments are received properly and shipped in a timely fashion.

There you have it. A great group of people. It would be tough to function without any of them.

Mohawk To Raise Hardwood Prices

Press Release From Mohawk:

Dalton, GA, June 26, 2008—Mohawk Industries has announced a price increase on select hardwood products ranging from 3 to 5 percent effective July 14.

A letter announcing the price increase was sent to Mohawk dealers in mid-June.

“Increases in raw materials, transportation, and energy have required this action,” said Bob Leahy, senior vice president, hard surfaces.

Source: Floor Daily

We will post our price changes for Mohawk Hardwood Floors as soon as they come available.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Money is not the only thing Green!

Today I met with manufacturers' reps to consider two green product lines that we currently do not offer. Cork Floors and Bamboo Floors (Well, we have Bamboo, but this line is priced really great). I am meeting with them next week at their corporate showroom to negotiate final pricing and how much inventory I will commit to. At American Carpet Wholesalers, we stock a great deal of the products we sell. Currently, over $1,000,000. We do this for better pricing but also to get the products to our customers as quickly as possible. Usually on an order we have in stock ships the same day.

I will keep you posted as to when the new products are on the website.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Bliss by Beaulieu


Well we finally have started getting the new Bliss by Beaulieu carpet line on our website. Images are coming a bit slow as we have not received our showroom display yet. Hopefully it will arrive soon. We are anxious to start showing the products to our customers.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

More Price Increases Announced

Over the last few days more price increases have been announced. Mohawk Industries and Shaw Industries have announced price increases of 3-5% on their hard surface products (laminate floors, hardwood floors, and tile products). The Congoleum Corporation announced a 3-6% increase on their entire product line which includes items such as DuraCeramic, DuraStone ,Duraplank and sheet vinyl flooring. Kraus Carpets has also announced price increases on their entire product line. Earlier Quick-Step Laminate (Unilin, owned by Mohawk Industries) also announced a price increase. Beaulieu has announced a price increase on their carpet line. And as I am writing this post, I just received notification from Shaw Industries the price increase will apply to their residential carpet and commercial carpet as well. Mohawk inevitably will follow suit. All of these increases take effect mid July.

Keep in mind, we just had all these increases less than 2 months ago. All of this is directly the result of oil prices. I find it very difficult to understand why Congress will not lift the ban on offshore drilling, because it looks like this trend is not going away any time soon.

We at American Carpet Wholesalers as well as some of the other reputable online flooring merchants are doing all we can to keep our prices affordable to the consumer. All the while some of the manufacturers are trying to establish minimum adverised pricing. What's next, minimum selling prices?

Rest assured, if we cannot show you our lowest price, we will certainly tell you and you can always call us for that price. You can also be assured that if a manufacturer establishes a minimum selling price, we will no longer offer their products. It is un-American and defeats the spirit of free enterprise.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Welcome Back Lt. Colonel Dan West

Being a Vietnam Veteran myself, I understand the hardships one faces in a war zone. Being away from family and friends for such a long period is enough, but add enduring a hostile environment and continually watching your back and keeping your head down. Throw in the apathy of the American public toward our military and it becomes even harder.

Dan West is the Southeast Regional Manager for the Congoleum Corporation and a U.S. Army
Reserve Officer. He has just recently returned from a year and a half deployment in Afghanistan. It also hits close to home as my nephew, Army Sgt. Steve Hammontree, is finishing up his third tour in Iraq.

Dan West and Pete Dumenil both manage my relationship with Congoleum and are reponsible for growing my business with Congoleum. Especially the Congoleum DuraCeramic Tile line and the DuraStone Tile line.

Welcome home Dan.
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