Mar. 12014

March 1, 2014

►    Some replies to the snow load email we sent out Friday:

From Bruce M.:  “Hi Dennis and the rest of your Great employees, I cleaned mine off for the 2nd time this year last weekend.  I still have the original liner from like 18 years ago.  I always clean it off.  Here’s a picture of how to clean a 33’ Round Pool of rather quickly.”  (We’ll put the photos in the lunchroom.  CRAZY!)

From Dave:  “Folks, This is exactly the type of thing which makes you my favorite “local pool store” even though you are 30 miles from home.  You folks know what you are doing, carry good stuff, and very importantly-you care, and that matters so much in my mind.”

►    We emailed that Snow Load warning to 3700 Reward$ members who we knew owned a pool.  Half of them opened the email.  What I find most interesting is that 62% of them opened it twice.  That tells me they opened it, saw that it was important and complicated, and opened it again when they had time to read it carefully.

►    This week’s advertising and promotions continue from last week:  “Look at the Big Picture”

►    My apologies to Landon, whose birthday was last Sunday, and it missed the News.

►    Happy Birthday to Roz, on Sunday, March 2.

►    We have finalized 2013 financials, and we will fund your Profit Sharing (if you qualify) at 4%.  As usual, we will deposit your SEP IRA around the end of May.

►    Since we have been experiencing periods with no assistant manager on duty, we have changed the responsibilities of the manager on duty during a fire.  If there is no assistant, the manager takes over the duties of the assistant manager, and abandons the duties of the manager.  The Safety Manual and the sheets at the fire extinguishers have been changed to reflect this.

►    We have a type of sale or clearance price tag called a slash tag.  It has a slanted line coming out on the left, that goes over the regular sign.  The purpose of that line (the slash) is to go over the price on the regular sign.  It is supposed to function as if you crossed out the price with a magic marker (Ask an old person, it’s how all sales were done in the olden days).  It partially covers the price.  That’s why it’s slanted.  It’s purpose is not to cover up the description/assembly time/etc. while leaving the price uncovered.

►    From Anne-Marie: I have sent out letters to Seasonal Reward$ people who have either unsubscribed from our email blasts, or their emails have bounced back as undeliverable.  I have made a notation on their customer record in RetailPro, and also changed their email address to ‘SEASONAL SENSE’.  If customers give you their email address and ask to be added back to Seasonal Reward$, you cannot do this at the register.  Do not re-add their email address.  They need to email me at SeasonalRewards@SeasonalStores.com in order for me to resubscribe them on Mail Chimp.  If you have any questions, please see me.

►    From the Reader’s Digest:

All in a Day’s Work: Tear up the lease!  Think it’s easy being a landlord?  Check out these tenant complaints:

–        “My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday, and now she is pregnant.”

–        “I request permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen.”

–        “I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof.  I think it was bad wind the other day that blew them off.”

–        “It’s the dog’s mess that I find hard to swallow.”