Business
news of Irish Jewellery interest at end of December 2006.
Many
Thanks to all You Reporters And to all our Nice Customers! Keep reporting.
Particularly if you have something witty to say, or
an item of interesting information for jewellers. We can all use a laugh or
some new ideas. Enjoy! And thanks for
all the individual Greetings to us here over the Christmas Your kind thoughts are Very Much
Appreciated.
Shown
here at the IJA Annual Christmas Party are Damien Duggan, left, and Michael
Dalton.
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Findings
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One wholesaler reports business about level for the 12
months ended December.
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Hi Johnny,
Sales were good for us
in December, up about 13%. Up about 10% on last 12 months. We are delighted
with that but we think that we can do better in the next 12 months. We
are more competitive now in the raw materials department and we have a brand
new range of wedding rings, fancy and plain. Thanks for all your hard
work on our behalf during the year. Wishing you and yours (and all your
readers) a healthy and happy new year.
Regards Enan (N.N.
Enterprises)
End of
wholesalers
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hi Johnny
I don't think you are getting
my emails so I have requested a read receipt on this one. Anyway Business is
good and we are up about 10% for year end.
Regards
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
East:
One large retailer reports very good business indeed for calendar
2006, brilliant in fact, having been pretty concerned that 2006 might not be so
good. Asked about 2007 they said that
they could not see a good year without the expectation of the SSIA money. However, with the SSIA money, they could see
the prospects of a good year for calendar 2007. Asked to estimate their percentage of sales
for the Christmas period (say the five weeks up to Christmas) they said that about 35% of their
annual sales would be in this period.
Compared to the first 13 weeks of the year when only about 14% of the
annual business was done. Average value
of individual saes was up
about 10-15%, with an
increase in unit sales also. So, one
good year for one good company then.
East:
Thanks for all the news through the year wishing
you and yours a very happy Christmas.
North West:
Greetings
Johnny. We wish you and yours a very happy, prosperous and healthy new year.
Regards
++++++++++++++++
East:
Hi Johnny.
A very happy new year to one and all.
Business was up every month from April on except a lousy October, but
thankfully November was great. December was up by
15% on last year, with watches and rings very good. Yellow gold is
at last making a good show chain was stronger than bracelet.
Kind Regards,
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Midlands:
Johnny
My numbers for the Christmas season are way up, but I think that's more due to
the reduced purchases than the increased sales. I bought about a fifth of last year's order. And it worked quite well.
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North east:
After a slip-up in November we ended up very
happy with December, sales up to closing on Christmas Eve saw us 15% ahead of the Month of December 2005 and a few
good sales over 28th, 29th and 30th gave us a overall
28% lift for the month of December 2006 v 2005.
Diamonds were the big hit, both rings and mixed diamond jewellery – diamond set
watches also played their part.
Watches were up both in numbers and value while overall mixed jewellery came in
with units about the same as last year but higher value.
Glass and gifts lines were the only area down on last year but as this is a
small percentage anyway in December I do not worry about it very much.
So what can we look forward to in 2007 - after stocktake and a hard look at
slow items we will plan our changes re stock mix and any changes re suppliers
for the year ahead - then get the head down and work as hard as possible to
chase and with luck pass as many of 2006 high numbers as we can.
Best Wishes to one and all for good trading in the year ahead, many thanks
again Johnny for all your great efforts in keeping us up-to-date re trends etc
in this wonderful trade of ours.
Regards
++++++++++
Midlands:
Customer reports Christmas business
started looking good early on in December.
Christmas Eve was down but the month as a complete unit was 13%
ahead. The Four months ended December
was 15% up.
East:
One retailer reports that while in
previous years (the “old days”) you get a bit of a rest in the four Spring months
business has now picked up to the point where you can find it difficult to get
a bit of skiing in. If you recognise
yourself remember you are only going through this life once. Make it a good and enjoyable one. And come skiing………there may not be any snow
there in a few years!
South:
Business up about 20% for the month of December.
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West:
Hi Johnny,
Hope this finds you well and relaxed and full of ambition for the new year. Dec proved to be good with all lines moving well. Better Watches were good as was Diamond Jewellery and Silver sold in the same volume as last year. White gold is slowing but there is increasing interest in 18ct jewellery.
The Dec increase was not as good as last years increase but we are happy it helped to lift our year by 12%.
With thanks for your Monthly bulletins and best wishes to you and all the family for the year ahead. From the West.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
South:
Johnny slightly down but I would put this
decline due to a different day ( Christmas day ) as the credit cards were
slower transferring to bank. However it will make Jan up on last year
please God .A very happy and prosperous new year to you and your
Family.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Midlands:
One retailer reports December sales excellent at the start of the
month then a decline. Christmas Eve was
down, possibly because it was a Sunday.
Overall they were 13%
up for December and 15% ahead over the past four months.
++++++++++++++++++
East:.
Hi
Johnny,
We
ended a great year in style finishing 29% up
on last year. Newbridge sales were fantastic and I couldn't care less that
it is not silver. Gifts were slow apart from Newbridge. Waterford was very
poor.
Seiko
were good in the traditional watches and were better than some more exclusive
brands. GUESS and ARMANI led the way for the fashion brands. FOSSIL were the
poorest performers, I am hoping the January sales will help me get rid of my
large stock of them!
We
had some brilliant diamond sales in December with expensive Eternity rings
flying out the door. Definitely the SSIA's helped dramatically. Branded
Jewellery was again strong with ARMANI, and BLUSH very strong.
Kids
Jewellery as always a pain in the ****. No matter what you have in Kids
Jewellery the customer always wants something different!
Altogether
it was a busy month with plenty of Money floating around!
Regards
+++++++++++++++++++
STAR
Letter:
South:
Hi Johnny & a Happy New Year to all at findings Irl.
Sorry for missing the odd review recently, but it was a little busy and I just never got around to it. So Xmas was a cracker, Thank God..
We were up 12% on last Xmas, so we are very happy. November had been quite bad, down quite a lot. I thought I would be happy holding last years figures. Christmas started right from the start of Dec and went right through.
All in all, bringing us up 8% on last year, Yahoo, because 2005 had been our best to date. Now for what’s hot & what’s not.
HOT- Heavy gold bracelet, Heavy gold pendent, Seiko, Rotary, Paul Kennedy. Heavy silver collars. Weddings.
NOT- Cheaper end silver, Sekonda watches.
Now a few comments on the list above. Weddings were brilliant this Xmas handmades doing great for us also. We had eight sets, which is very good for us at that time of the year.
Gold is very much back in our opinion. This is only true though in the dearer end €200 upward. EMARNO pricey gold pendent, I just couldn’t keep in stock.
Silver once again was very big in the €100 to €350.
If I had to give my Xmas in short it would be as follows. Gold back in vogue, better end watches were huge.
On the watch end Rotary were very strong this year. I was happy with that because they had not performed well through out the rest of the year.
I have to say a few words about Seiko. We only started the Seiko brand very recently. But they were our brand of the Xmas. They were just going as quick as Jenson Buttons Honda that they sponsor. Our stand is basically empty. I must admit I was a bit concerned with the structure you featured by Mr Noel Wall on the way Seiko was to be run with the shops, very SMH in its wording and contract negotiation, I thought. But I must say my hats off to Noel & Peter. Firstly the product looks great and excellent product display.
The advertising in magazine and billboard was everywhere, in one of my local shopping centres I believe I counted at least four posters in there. Nice positions at main entrances / exits.
Once again well done, its nice to see a supplier following through on what they say they will do, a few others could do with following the example in my opinion.
That brings me to my only grip on Xmas.
I am a bit P----d off with jewellery suppliers doing the following.
You go to the shows and make your orders. Now there’s a few very different pieces and expensive at that too. So you order them, and they never arrive.???? So you ring and are told their on the way. We didn’t expect such a demand. So you wait and wait, still nothing . Followed by the did you not get them yet.?
Needless to say these pieces did not come. Am I being an ass in thinking
1) Am I the only one this happens to.
2) Is there just an allocated number & given out to the best customers.
What’s worse is then in January they come around for new orders and the bloody things are in the sample ranges again, or two days before Christmas they send you something that looks nothing like what you ordered. This is not an isolated incident, this is the third time in a row this has happened to us. In future wholesalers just come clean and say we cant get them or we have none left, demand was greater that supply they wont be back in to us at this stage. Just remember we are losing a sale, so you are losing a sale.
Believe it or not every sale does count lads...
Well that’s it Johnny take care & talk to you soon.
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South:
Hi Johnny,
Delighted to say we were up 15.50% for December and 11% year on year.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Midlands:
Dear Johnny,
May we Wish you
and yours a Very Happy New Year.
Just for the record we were 10% up in December for the first time this year all
thanks to our Diamond Ring Sales.
Keep up the good work.
P.S.
Sorry to hear
about Norman Tucker.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Midlands again:
Hi Johnny,
Happy New Year to you, and all the family.
As you know I have been very bad at sending you any reports. Will try and do better - you really do a
fantastic job and I have been feeling rather guilty at taking all and making no
contribution. I have another email
address, as this one got hijacked some time ago, you may have got a very rude
message - most of my contacts did.
++++++++++++
North:
Hi Johnny,
Happy new year and may
2007 be as prosperous as 2006.
We had a great December up 14%. Sellers were
:- good diamond rings, watches & white gold & silver
were still strong.
End
of retailers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Fred Godden
died on Christmas Eve. He started his
jewellery life in Hopkins & Hopkins, then Ronfred's, Haney’s (now Glycine),
and finished up in Lawrence’s in Henry St.
Fred is shown here about 4 years ago at the Irish Jewellers Association
Christmas Party.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wish to
buy Irish for Irish wholesaler.
I own a
gift store in Belmar NJ and would like to purchase assorted Irish gifts,
jewellery, clothes, etc for my store please contact me. thank you Viki Devaney.
you can reach me at my e-mail above or 732-681-5550 address is Chix
boutique,809 main St., Belmar, NJ 07719
Footballfella1@aol.com
++++++++++++++++++++
Parental
Leave and Entitlements.
Hi Johnny,
I have a query, perhaps you could clarify it with ISME for me, or perhaps you know the answer yourself.
I have a part time member of staff with a disabled child who is entitled to Parental Leave. From the dept website she is entitled to 14weeks leave, in a minimum of 6 continuous weeks. It is unclear however, if she is entitled to this every year or just for one year. Do you have any further information?
Thanks
Any
ideas anybody??
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PIN NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW)received from a few people.
If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM
machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin number in reverse. For
example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM
recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the
ATM card you placed in the machine.
The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown
to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.
This information was recently broadcasted on TV and it states that
it is seldom used because people don't know it exists. Please pass this along to everyone possible.
Well……………………………
Comments: False, for now. The technology exists which would allow ATM
users to contact police in an emergency by punching in their PIN (personal
identification number) in reverse, but as of this writing it has not yet been
implemented anywhere in the United States.
|
|
Lawmakers in the states of Kansas and
Illinois introduced legislation calling for the institution of reverse-PIN emergency
notification systems (also known under the brand name Safety PIN) in 2004, but
the Kansas bill stalled in committee and the Illinois bill was watered down at
the behest of the banking industry, making the adoption of the technology
purely voluntary -- which it already was.
According to a story published in the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch last year, bankers are opposed to the reverse-PIN
system because of safety concerns. They worry that ATM users might hesitate or
fumble while trying to enter their PINs backwards under duress, possibly
increasing the chances of violence. The banking industry is in favour of
finding a means to protect ATM customers, a member of the American Bankers
Association said, but question whether the reverse-PIN solution is the right
one.
Inventor of PIN number reversal system
says banks 'in denial'
The inventor of Safety PIN, Joseph Zingher,
claims the banking industry is afraid to admit the growing extent of the crime
of ATM robbery. Exact figures are hard to come by because ATM hold-ups are
lumped in with other types of bank robbery in the FBI's annual crime
statistics. Of the 8,000 to 12,000 bank robberies per year counted by the FBI
over the past 15 years, 3,000 to 4,000 (or just over one-third) were ATM
robberies, according to the banking industry. Some crime experts suspect the
figure is actually higher.
Bankers, for their part, insist they do
acknowledge the problem of ATM crime and recommend that customers exercise due
caution and be aware of their surroundings when using automated teller
machines.
+++++++++++++++++++
Some Assay Office News.
Johnny,
Thank you for your e-mail and good
wishes. It is a great honour and privilege to become Chairman of “The
Convention on the Control and Marking of articles of Precious Metals”. I
was elected Chairman at a recent 
meeting in Prague, being purposed by the Austrian
Government and seconded by the British Government, there were thirty five
Governments represented at the meeting. This is a huge vote of confidence in
the Irish Assay Office and demonstrates the high esteem the Irish hallmark and
our technical ability have internationally.
I have offices and a permanent secretarial
staff in Geneva and look forward to the challenges ahead.
Precious metals control has been practiced in
most European countries for hundreds of years. It was originally established to
verify the precious metal content in gold and silver coins; nowadays this
control is mainly applied to jewellery, silverware and watchcases. Due to
ancient traditions and local particularities, every country has developed its
own regulations on precious metals control, with its own finenesses, sampling,
testing, marking and technical requirements. Some countries require a
compulsory control and hallmarking of every article by an independent body;
other countries have a voluntary hallmarking system or require marking by the
manufacturer only.
All these technical and legal requirements hamper the cross border trade of
articles of precious metal. Following lengthy discussions during the 1960's,
the Convention on the Control and Marking of Articles of Precious Metals (the
name was shortened to Hallmarking or Vienna Convention) was signed in Vienna in
November 1972. It entered into force in 1975.
The Convention was signed by the following Members of the European Free Trade
Association (EFTA) at that time: Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom. However, participation in the Hallmarking
Convention was from the start open to other countries having the necessary
arrangements for the assay and marking of articles of precious metals. The
Convention has since been joined by Denmark, Hungary (the latter on 1 March
2006), Ireland, Israel, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania
and Poland. Three other countries are presently in the process of acceding
(Cyprus, Slovak Republic and the Ukraine) while others have shown an interest
(e.g. Bahrain, Canada, China, Croatia, Estonia, France, Greece, India, Italy,
Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan).
I attach a photograph taken at the
recent Convention meeting in Prague of me making a presentation to the outgoing
Chairman Mr. David Evans. [Ronald in dark suit]
I hope the above is of interest.
Regards
Ronald
Ronald W A Le
Bas Assay Master Assay Office Dublin Castle, Dublin 2
Ireland Ph: + 353 1
4751286 Fax: + 353 14783838 email: rlebas@assay.ie
++++++++++++++++++++++
Valuation
pitfalls.
A chap I know sold a diamond ring 8 years ago. Broadly
speaking it was a three stone ring of 70 points with the centre marquise
diamond 55 points and 2 baguettes.
Original price £1,000 reduced from £1.300 in a sale. He gave a written
valuation for £1,300. Over time the ring had been in a few scrapes but Ken had
tidied up the repairs for free as a nice guy.
Recently the girl brought the ring in for a further repair
to a different jeweller 6 miles away and was told that the marquise centre
stone was only 55 points. But the carelessly written valuation stated that the
s2”size” was 70 points. She wanted a 70 point stone fitted instead(it would not
fit of course and it was explained to her that there was a simple typographical
error in the valuation). She was offered
a refund of £1,000(€1,300 today) but angrily refused saying that she actually
liked the ring, it was here engagement ring after all, but she wanted either
the larger stone or compensation. Now it has gone to solicitors, barristers,
small claims court and she is looking for €2,000 compensation for “hurt and
upset and so on” and she gets to keep the ring.
The lesson to be learnt from this, might be that it pays to
check very carefully when giving a valuation that the description is completely
accurate.
If I hear how it all comes out I will get back to you.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Skiing in 2007.
Some of
you may know that skiing is one of the thing I do which I particularly
enjoy. But in recent years I have found
that my hard–man friends have tended to leave me behind. Some of the stuff they went skiing on was
simply too frightened for me to chance it.
Well, some weeks ago I bought the favourite skis of friend Mark
Flood. And paid him €400 for them. I tried them out over this Christmas and
found that they gripped the ice (or rather the icy) very well indeed. Then I decided to give them back and get
the exact same ski but in 148 cm length instead of the 174 cm original size. This week, (the reason for the late News) I
skied for the first time on these new Rossignol B2 Bandit 148 cm skis and they
were magic! Mark brought me to a red slope which turn me out 
to be a “little bit of black
run to start”. And I managed it
great. Later I went to 3330 metres and
skied down more than one hairy slope and had no trouble at all. They grip extremely well on icy slopes (not
sheet ice, of course, although I sailed over piece the size of our living room
for a test and while I could not steer on it I did not fall either and turned
on the softer stuff further on). The
reason I mention this is that I have been skiing on and off for about 40 years
and it is only now, at youth 69, that I realise that I should have bought
better skis years ago.
So, if
you are going skiing and have not yet bought your skis, or if you rent, then
let me suggest that you hire the “EXPERT” or “top quality” skis at twice the
price of the cheapest. They will be
good on ice. This year being “good on
ice” is crucial until, and if, more snow falls.
And if you are
buying please consider the above B2 skis.
And the shorter the better. In
my opinion. I have skied on skis up to
200 (2 metre) and while they are great on fast downhills they are harder to
turn. On ski Sunday yesterday the
racing skies were fully 500 cm higher than the heads of the experts, ideal for
downhill at speeds up to 145 kilometres per hour. My little B2’s have just that one
fault…………………..high speed blasting can give, did once give, a speed wobble. Suggestion for myself……”No blasting!!” …..
otherwise they are perfect. Note that
the shop assistant will probably tell you that these are “women’s skis”. Sooooooooooooooo….! They WORK at helping you turn. Or just try them for a day in
resort. You can always change them for
no extra.
Here is your
editor after a healthy week’s skiing in Alp d’Heuz, France. I show the foto, not to make you jealous,
but to show the size of the skis relative to my height. I am 5 feet 8 inches and the skis just come
to my shoulder. My weight is about 85
kilos, just so you know.
++++++++++++++++++++
Small Claims Court story.
A chap brought his watch back a dozen time in 6
months after purchasing it for a spring bar……….once it was for TWO spring
bars………..how does he get the 2 bars out together?? After a while and in spite of the fact that
my customer kept replacing the spring bars for free the punter decide that he
would give the Small Claims Court a rattle.
In the court the punter presented his case and did my friend. And then my friend and customer had an
idea I placed the punter’s watch and his
own (which after 15 years use looked like customers at 6 months) and asked the
judge to compare them. The judge looked
at the two watches and added his own watch which he said had been given to him
by his wife 35 years previously. The
judges watch was in pristine condition.
“What do you do for a living young sir?” he asked “Studying to be a doctor” was the
rejoinder. And how do you support
yourself while all this study is going on?” asked the judge. I work in Musgraves Cash and Carry”. “And what sort of work does that involve? Do
you have to pull those ruddy great trolleys about?”. “Eh! Yes, Sir”.
Case
Dismissed.
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Johnny,
Please see below recent profile of the
Raymond Weil brand that was in last Sunday’s Business post. Hope you enjoy the
read. May be worth putting in your next
newsletter. Wishing you a great
Christmas.
Greg
Molins:
Raymond
Weil
Swiss-born Raymond Weil,
is considered something of a genius of the craft. The global phenomenon of Raymond Weil, Geneve
was born out of the crisis that struck Swiss watchmaking in the 1970s, when the
international market was flooded with cheaper automatic watches manufactured in
Japan. Eighty-year-old Weil had been working as general manager of Camy Watch
SA. But after the market crashed he decided the only way was up. In 1976 he started his own company, which he
positioned at the high end of the market, in order to appeal to consumers on
the basis of quality and tradition rather than price.
‘‘The Japanese came really strong with quartz,
and two brands flooded the market - Seiko and Citizen - with a product at a
much more affordable price,” ‘‘It was
at the time when the post-war baby boomers had grown up and had started to make
money, then some 54,000 employees in the Swiss watchmaking industry lost their
jobs.” Celebrating his 80th birthday
this year, Raymond Weil has good reason to take stock of his achievements, not
least of which is his multimillion euro, global, luxury watch brand. While other top market brands favour a
glitzy, voguish image, Raymond Weil is a byword for classic elegance and
tradition.
In recent years the brand further refined its position to a more
upmarket price bracket. This year’s
production centres on a handful of specific luxury collections. Raymond Weil is one of the only independent
Swiss watch companies not to have abandoned its family watch-making heritage.
The company now spans three generations. Weil’s son-in-law Olivier Bernheim,
who is president and chief executive of the company, and his grandsons Elie and
Pierre who work at management level.
Running the company as an independent family business is important to
Weil, ‘‘because a family has the same effort and the same targets’’, he
says. ‘‘It’s more challenging than
being part of a group,” adds Bernheim. ‘‘There is no room for any error, but at
the same time we have more room for creativity and innovation. I don’t need to
bother about whether my stock is going up or down.” ‘‘I think the family aspect is also
important for retailers. It plays a big role in Ireland, where we are doing
business mostly with independent retailers.”
Shown on the left are
Patrick Keane, Raymond Weil (80 years young), Gerard Keane.
Weil is not the hands-on
watchmaker he once was, but rather instructs the designers in creating the
watches he envisages.
The Don Giovanni
collection is a thoroughly masculine in appearance, just like Mozart’s operatic
bad boy, who Olivier Bernheim insists is a ‘‘real man’’.
And for the Don
Giovanni-type who likes to dazzle first then strike, the watch is layered with
18 carat gold, natural white mother-of-pearl and high quality Wesselton
diamonds.
He notes that the overall
market for luxury wristwatches in Ireland has grown substantially recently, and
there is a particular appreciation of what he describes as ‘‘quality’’. Five of his 99 limited edition Shine watches
have gone on sale in selected Irish retailers this Christmas. The watch, which
made the A to Z luxury list in the Winter 2006 issue of Time Style &
Design, comes in 18-carat rose gold and retails at €18,000. Two of the five
watches had been sold by the beginning of December.
Shine comes with 109
fully cut diamonds in two designs - one with Arabic numerals and the other a
more classic piece. The patented
bracelets are interchangeable to suit day and formal evening wear. It takes
nine months to produce the watch, with only three diamonds being set per
person, per day. Selective
distribution is key to Raymond Weil’s exclusivity, a marketing technique which
saw the company withdraw from 3,400 outlets in the last four years.
‘‘Pricing is not a
problem today, branding is a problem and you have to be within a network of
retailers which is attractive and is a passport to the type of customer you’re
trying to reach,” says Bernheim.
‘‘Today’s generation is
concerned with brand image and consistency. Within the same shop you could
be mixed with brands that would destroy the image of your own brand, so
selective distribution is more important than anything else.”
Shown on the left
are: Dorothy + Stephen Molins, Emma Barnett + Greg Molins, Sharon + Rodney
Molins.
The links between Raymond
Weil and Ireland go back to the 1950s, when Weil met Alexander Molins, the
founder of Molins & Co, a successful watch and jewellery wholesale business
in Dublin. While the Irish distribution
of Raymond Weil watches continued to expand, Molins remains the sole
distributor of the luxury product. Just
like the Weil family, the Molins have three generations involved in the watch
business. Alexander Molins was Weil’s
first point of contact in Ireland, followed by his sons Stephen and Rodney. In
1999, Rodney’s son Greg joined the company as the sales and marketing manager.
Greg worked previously in the watch department of one of Europe’s oldest
family-run jewellery stores, Weir and Sons in Dublin.
Through the Molins
family, Raymond Weil invested €500,000 in an extensive promotional campaign at
Dublin Airport, which includes the placement of Raymond Weil clocks throughout
the airport.
[Thought
that you would like that story of the Molins family and their interaction with
Raymond Weil. If you have a story that
would bear a wider audience then please send it to me at any time]
+++++++++++++++
It’s a Jewellers Line!
Many moons ago,
like 1965 or so, I used to do a little work with Donald Clarke of
Liverpool.. He used to get watch bracelets
from the East and put them carefully on cards of half a dozen. Then polish them up to remove fingerprints,
clip a little metalised lable around them and pop them into a cello bag. So far, so good. But then Donald had wrap a sheet of tissue
paper around the completed card before putting it into a box. I asked him why we should bother to use the
tissue since the bracelets were well out of harm’s way in the cello bag. “It makes it into a Jeweller’s Line,
Johnny” he said. And today I do the
same thing when I send out an order. Put
the order in little cello bags, an invoice and I put the self-seal bags into a
small piece of tissue paper. (I cut the
huge sheets down to about 7 x 5 inch size thereby making it “A Jewellers
Line”. Thank you Donald.
Same way as
I like to say “Thank You Helen” at the
bottom of an order that comes in by phone or post. It looks nice, costs nothing, and I hope to
make the customer feel good. Maybe
everybody does it. But it is nice. Some years ago Niall used to put on his
compliment slips “In the hurly burly of day to day business life we do not
always take the time to say Thanks. Be
assured that your custom is appreciated.
Yours Sincerely, N S” So I copied the idea!
+++++++++++++++++++
Selling by simply
introducing.
Went
in to my bike chap to buy a front light upgrade for my bike and paid €10 for
it.
It
worked OK but during the next week I saw several of the “other guys” with
really bright flashing white front lights.
So I went back to the bike shop and mentioned it. “Oh, you will need the better one @ €13. Of course I will give you a full allowance on
the one you got last week”. I told him
that it had been fitted and used and so on.
“No problem” was the reply and before you could say Jack Robinson the
new one was up and running (and a lot brighter also). Looking at me he said “Have you seen the new
protective jackets over there ?” he asked.
These were fluorescent yellow and orange jackets with white reflective
tape. Just the thing for digging up the
roads or helping the motorist to see me, particularly coming up to the
Christmas darkness. “€25”. It fitted me and I bought it. Which, to me, is what selling is all
about. Quick and cheerful acceptance
back of not required goods.
Accompanied by the idea that you show the customer new items which they
may not be aware they need or that you have for sale. Some jewellers could take a leaf out of the
bike-man’s book.
+++++++++++++++++++++
A nice little story
…….maybe even
true. One day the boss was watching
as a member of staff approached an elderly gentleman who asked the price of a
nice opal bracelet in the window.
€400. He was happy with the
price and paid for it. While it was
being wrapped the boss strolled over to him and said that he had noticed that
he had bought the nice opal bracelet.
“My wife likes
opals”. Said the elderly
gentleman. “In that case let me show
you something which compliments the bracelet and if you ever buy it for her it
will take her breath away” said the boss.
He produced a magnificent brooch with a really excellent opal surrounded
by nice diamonds. €8.500. And the customer bought that item also.
A week later the
wife, another elderly person, wrote a nice letter to the jeweller saying that
it was the nicest gift her husband had ever given her and thanking the jeweller
for suggesting it. And the lesson we
might learn?? Sometimes there is another and larger sale just waiting for the
right salesperson to complete it.
++++++++++++++++++++
And..
How many times
do you have to ask a customer if they are ready to buy. Apparently in the States twice is the usual
amount of times that a salesperson approaches a customer in a shop to ask if they
would like some information. If as
many as five approaches are made then the number of successful sales goes up
very considerably. A survey has shown
that while as many as two thirds of people who fully intended to buy something
when they entered the shop. But this is
actually reduced to a quarter of people who actually buy in some
situations. If the salesperson had
been a bit more assertive many more sales would have resulted.
++++++++++++++++++++++
* * * C R A F T I R E L A N D * * * M
E M B E R N E W S L E T T E R December 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SHOWCASE IRELAND 2007 - Ireland’s premier international trade fair for crafts, gift, fashion, jewellery and interiors/tabletop is open to trade buyers from January 21 to 24 2007 at the RDS Main Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin.
Up to 10,000 visitors, including 2,000 representing 30 countries worldwide are expected to visit Showcase Ireland, which is organised on behalf of the Crafts Council of Ireland and marketed internationally by Enterprise Ireland. The 600 exhibitors represent all sectors of the crafts and design industries.
Since its foundation, Showcase has become an important business and social
event in the international buyer’s calendar. The key to its success is
innovation and new product development which highlights Irish and other
European countries’ knowledge of consumer demands. Through the numerous
launches taking place, buyers have an opportunity
to source craft, gift, jewellery, fashion, and tabletop products. For further
information click here:
http://www.craftireland.com/news/news_articles.asp?article=117
CraftIreland Member Newsletter is distributed
monthly to all registered trade users of CraftIreland.
Editor Gill Gannon gill@craftireland.com
______________________
Spring Fair, Birmingham 4th to 8th
February 2007.
+++++++++++++++++
Insurance
again.
Hi Everyone,
Firstly I
would like to wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
From the
general consensus the trade had a good Christmas period and we hope that this
trend continues throughout 2007.
Well I’d
like to thank everyone for their positive feedback regarding our last article
and I look forward to meeting up with those I have already spoken to over the
phone.
I thought
I’d give your eyes a rest this month so I have just included another recent
quote from one of our clients about how they felt we handled their claim.
“My claim was in connection with a
lost package sent with An post to the UK in June. When I discovered there was a
problem I notified Gogans.
Everything flowed smoothly from
there. Osg (loss adjuster) were very professional and promptly did all the
necessary preliminary stuff. The only delay (and a long one at that!) was
getting official confirmation from An Post that the package was indeed lost.
Once this came the case was settled within the week
Gogans were fantastic in all their actions!
They were conscientious enough to notify the insurers of a possible lost
package as soon as they were notified. This helped speed up the settlement when
official confirmation came from An Post. They were caring enough to get in
touch to keep abreast of any developments in the case and they were completely
professional throughout, promptly replying or dealing with any queries that I
had.
Altogether a pleasant experience
dealing with an undesirable event!”
As always if
you have any questions or would like to get a quotation please feel free to
contact me on email at: laurahill@gogans.ie
or call me on 01-2990299 or 086-0519701.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The item below is
put to the end because it is very long and if you do not want to print it just
delete this part but I considered that it was thought-provoking.
Subject: TRANS FATS
ARE KILLING YOU!
This is a bit of a long
read, but well worth it. Darn scary too !!!!
Serious health practitioners who run diagnostics on
the people coming to their office will tell you that the U.S. population as a
whole is extremely ill. Much of this involves serious dietary deficiencies,
of the type in which symptoms don't appear for many years. In other cases
the cause is unknown, but it is clear that one or more basic systems are not
functioning properly. So called degenerative diseases are rampant, and
strange sores, rashes, or previously rare symptoms are becoming commonplace.
It seems that if people can manage to get up and go to
work each day, they are telling themselves that they are healthy. This is
simply wishful thinking.
Oddly enough, it is the baby boomers who are the most
healthy when viewed strictly as a group. The younger the group, the
sicker they are. Children our now being seen with degenerative conditions
that you might only expect from the elderly. The answer to this puzzle
lies in the food supply. The baby boomers were the last group whose
parents had some notion of what it meant to eat right, and they are the last
group to eat primarily natural foods during their childhood. This
advantage has stayed with them even today.
Many of today's kids have been eating nothing but
imitation, artificial, or manufactured foods since birth. Check around
your neighborhood and see if you can find out how many little kids are already
on two or three prescriptions for something. As a group they are about to
pay a terrible price for their parents' ignorance, and their government's
betrayal.
The U.S. government and the corporations that run it
have absolutely no interest in your good health, regarding it as a serious
threat to one of the greatest moneymaking (and death-dealing) scams of all
time. Some of the details of this nightmare are beginning to unravel,
though, and despite very heavy censorship of a story taking place in New York
City some details are beginning to emerge. So the news, although
relegated to the back pages of the newspaper with key words deliberately
omitted, is now overtaking us and you need to hear the truth.
DEATH ON THE GROCERY SHELVES
There is a life and death battle taking place - right
now - on the shelves of your local supermarket. And it's your life or
death I'm talking about. We are seeing the culmination of a 60 year
effort by health crusaders you've never heard of, to clean up the American food
supply. The situation is so explosive that all mainstream media sources
that should be covering the fight are instead doing their utmost to hide its
implications. Why? Because the primary reason that Americans have
such incredibly poor health is in danger of being exposed.
It's all about something called "trans
fats", and the New York City agency that oversees restaurants wants to ban
them from the city's eateries. Most people outside of NYC are unaware of
the uproar this has caused, and most of those that have noticed the story are
puzzled over why it is considered a problem. But chefs in the Big Apple
are complaining publicly that they will not be able to prepare their usual
meals because they cannot get uncontaminated ingredients. Others actually
fry some foods in pure trans fats (these come in a brick, rather than a bottle
- ask your local fish and chips restaurant) and have no desire to change, even
though they've literally been killing their customers.
Here's what the general public has being told about
trans fats.
Tiny amounts of common cooking oils convert at high
frying temperatures to a type of fat that is not good for you. McDonalds
was successfully sued over this in California several years ago and had to
agree to make changes in the way they cook their French fries. So far
they have not found an acceptable alternative. In the meantime, for
reasons that are not explained, the government has required that food labels
include the amount of trans fats in foods, and many packages now proudly
proclaim, "Zero Trans Fats". Observant shoppers are assuming
that this must be a good thing, and are beginning to consider it in their
purchasing.
Is the NYC story a tempest in a teapot? Not on
your life. We're talking about one of those huge, dark secrets that
simply could not be revealed because it can turn the whole world upside
down. It's the primary reasons that Americans have such incredibly poor
health, a situation that is just fine with the disease-care industry and the
U.S. government itself, which loses money each day you survive beyond your
retirement date.
Are we talking about tiny amounts? Far from
it. Some products can contain as much as 30 percent trans fats.
Every supermarket in the country contains several tons of trans fats on its
shelves on any given day. Americans are eating trans fats by the carload,
and have been doing so for a very long time. In fact, this story is older
than you might imagine.
Almost a century ago a couple of innovative Cincinnati
candle makers named Procter and Gamble were searching for a cheaper alternative
to the wax that was normally used in candle making. They settled on
cottonseed oil as the cheapest possible base for their new wax. There was
no other use for it and cotton seeds normally ended up in the nearest
landfill. They tracked down a German process that used hydrogen to alter
the molecular form of vegetable oils and obtained U.S. rights to the process in
1909, creating an artificial candle wax that was dirt cheap to produce.
Unfortunately, the market for candles was collapsing
as more and more homes were being supplied with electricity. Searching
for a new way to use their creation, Proctor and Gamble identified a hot
marketing opportunity for an alternative to lard, also called shortening.
At that time all cooking and baking was done with butter, lard, tallow (beef
fat), and the amazingly healthy newcomer, coconut oil. Reducing the
amount of hydrogen caused the artificial wax to turn out soft, very much like a
common form of lard, so in 1911 these future millionaires packed this junk in
cans and sold it as an "all vegetable" food product under the brand
name Crisco. At that time there was no particular reason anyone would
actually want an "all vegetable" product, but they apparently felt it
was a phrase with good marketing potential.
The word trans refers to the transformation of
molecules from their natural form into an entirely new substance. Since
we are talking about something not found in nature it is by definition not fit
for human consumption. The genetic code that governs the human body was
completed many thousands of years ago. Your body has no ability at all to
correctly process any form of food not found in nature, or not part of the
normal human food supply in the far past.
After the success of Crisco the next triumph was the
production of an imitation butter, first called Oleo. Oleo didn't sound
very healthy so a growing industry quickly settled on the name Margarine,
instead. Hydrogenated vegetable oils, now the world's first true
"Franken-food", were also turning out to be a major boon to the
packaged foods industry. Being artificial, these new oils never turned
rancid or lost their basic texture, allowing packaged foods to sit on grocery
shelves for several years without displaying any change in apparent quality.
These were tumultuous times. World War I, the
1920's, Prohibition, the Great Depression and World War Two pretty much
monopolized everyone's attention while these imitation foods achieved a
prominent and permanent place in the American food supply. Vegetable oils
have never had a significant role in human consumption (except perhaps Olive
Oil) but a whole new "edible oils" industry was emerging to take
advantage of the demands of the hydrogenation process for this low cost
feedstock.
It actually took two generations before it became
clear that something had gone badly wrong with American health. By that
time, statistics showed a horrifying rise in the incidence of heart disease,
diabetes and cancer, where these diseases were originally quite rare. And
they were all exploding here, in the USA, and not elsewhere.
In 1900 there were zero recorded deaths from heart
attack (myocardial infarction, or M.I.) in America. In 1950, after forty
years of trans fat consumption, there were 500,000 deaths from heart attack and
American families were in a state of panic.
You can place a graph of these major diseases (right
up to today) over a graph of the introduction and increasing use of
hydrogenated oils, and you will see that they are virtually the same. But
this was not apparent at the time, and people were demanding an Olympian effort
to find a cause for the nation's plummeting health. By the 1960's many
harmful effects of artificial trans fats had been identified, but scientists
working on this line of research discovered that they could not get published -
the fix was in. Several multi-million dollar industries, with Procter and
Gamble in the lead, were more than willing to flex their muscles to prevent
harmful research from gaining any degree of credibility.
In fact, the fabulous profit potential of Franken Fats
was not limited to their originators or to the farmers and refiners who
produced vegetable oils. American "medicine", under the control
of the A.M.A., had also seen it's initial explosive growth during this period,
and much of that growth was fueled by profits from the rising tide of fatal
diseases.
The American Heart Association was founded in 1924 and
like all such associations, was the lobbying group for those who were making
money from the disease. It soon became the first example of what you
might call a "national disease manager". It's mission, which
must be pieced together from its actual activities, was aggressive and
ambitious. First, to hide the actual causes of heart disease (protecting
the food industry) and discourage any attempt to find a cure. Next, to
promote the business of the new guys on the block, the vegetable oil
producers. And third, to promote and control millions of dollars in
research funds. These funds could be used to send research in the wrong
direction, create expensive medical and pharmaceutical products that would
otherwise be unnecessary, and generally line the pockets of everyone involved.
This effort culminated at the moment that the
notorious Framingham, Massachusetts heart study began to run out of
steam. After years of study, researchers could still not find anything
different about the people who were dying of heart attacks and those that
appeared perfectly healthy. High cholesterol levels were noted in many cases,
but they could just as easily be found in an otherwise healthy person.
The data clearly indicated that the researchers were searching in the wrong
direction.
But the opportunity was there to take advantage of a
set of obscure Russian studies involving feeding cholesterol to rabbits, and a
temporary cholesterol-lowering effect from feeding vegetable oil to
humans. This became the foundation of an entirely new theory of heart
disease, unsupported by any actual evidence, called the "lipid
hypothesis". The new theory allowed all the A.H.A. objectives to be
advanced in a single stroke. In 1900, when heart attacks were virtually
unknown, the American diet was dominated by high cholesterol foods and
saturated fats. Yet a new campaign for "healthy diets" and the
demonization of cholesterol, a substance vital to human health (low cholesterol
is a reliable marker for a number of diseases including cancer), would
encourage people to consume greater amounts of vegetable oils and hydrogenated
margarines, while opening up a new market for surprisingly dangerous
cholesterol-lowering drugs which were ready to go and simply waiting in the
wings for their cue. These efforts have had little result in improving
anyone's health, and the much vaunted Low Fat diets have failed to produce any
recognizable benefit at all.
In the meantime, the production of hydrogenated oils
has continued without the slightest pause. In the 1960's the immensely
popular nutrition author Adelle Davis, who would be demonized after her death
by an industry she had helped control, warned her readers to stay clear of
products containing hydrogenated oils because evidence was suggesting that they
were accumulating in the body rather than being passed through as the industry
claimed. However she failed to recognize the vegetable oil scam, and
began recommending increased use of vegetable oils, which would eventually be
recognized as a problem all by themselves.
The distortion of the natural human diet has forced
dramatic changes in the way food is prepared in the U.S. McDonalds
achieved it's fame by marketing French fries that were fried in lard, giving
them a fabulous flavor that was almost impossible to resist. Intense
pressure to use vegetable oils forced them to give up their primary marketing
advantage. Now, under court order to eliminate the trans fats naturally
produced when you fry with unstable oils, they can't go back to lard because
the intense programming of the population against natural fats would force them
to close their doors. Virtually all lard in the U.S. is now plasticized
and hydrogenated anyway, so it can be sold in bricks and not need
refrigeration. From a health standpoint that means the product is no
longer available anyway.
But there are still a few honest scientists around and
true medical research continues, even though much of it has been forced to the
"alternative" medicine venue. An onslaught of adverse reports
during the early 1990's linked imitation fats to heart disease and cancer with
evidence much stronger than was previously available. The case against
hydrogenated fats as the cause of type II diabetes (cell membranes too clogged
to accept insulin) was also accumulating, all leading to increased interest in
the subject world-wide. Currently obscured in all this, is additional
evidence regarding other distortions in the health of people who consume
vegetable oils as their main source of fats, hydrogenated or not.
Vegetable oils actually increase the risk of heart disease, regardless of
everything you've heard.
Then, at the turn of the millennium, an Australian
study reported that people who had consumed no hydrogenated fats for five years
still had the same levels of this Franken food in their bodies that they did to
begin with. Their bodies couldn't get rid of it.
That kind of story can only be suppressed for so long,
and mounting pressure on the FDA from health activists finally produced a
reluctant and luke-warm response. Doing its best to hide the name of the
true culprit, FDA is now requiring the amount of "trans fats" to be
included on food labels, leaving consumers to sink or swim on their own,
depending on their level of awareness. This was the climax of a huge
battle, because food manufacturers insisted that if they were required to disclose
the actual amount of trans fats, there would have to be some government
guideline that suggested what amount was considered safe.
Naturally, huge amounts of money are now flowing
heavily to any institution that wants to research a possible recommendation
implying that trans fats are either good for you, harmless in certain amounts,
or somehow can be made to be good for you in the near future. This is
going to be pure fraud. However it is nothing like the fraud that is
already taking place right now on the supermarket shelf.
While the labeling requirement was under
consideration, the National Academy of Science was asked to assist in
determining allowable levels of "trans fats". Again, don't be
confused by the different name. FDA makes it perfectly clear: "trans
fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil--a process called
hydrogenation."
After reviewing the nightmare list of the known
effects of hydrogenated fats, the National Academy of Science was left with no
escape. Their 2002 report simply states, "There is no safe level of
trans fat consumption." If you don't recognize it, this is the same
language that is applied to known carcinogens. Worse yet, and very
revealing, this report is now four years old.
That's four extra years that we've been feeding this
stuff to our kids in that oh-so-nutritious peanut butter! And spreading
it on our toast after fervent assurances from the American Heart Association
that it was vital to our good health. And speaking of monstrous evil, the
National Heart Association has now decided that it doesn't want to go down with
the ship, and has issued a paper describing hydrogenated fats as harmful; all
the time concealing their role in promoting and protecting them for all these
years.
So here we are on the cusp of what should be a huge
emergency change in the American food supply. But instead, all we have is
one printed line on a label. But what a dilemma this is for U.S. Food
producers! They have to list the amount of an ingredient they deem
essential, while the government has already determined that, for your own
safety, you should not allow even the tiniest amount to pass your lips!
If there were any ethics in the food industry, or the government for that
matter, there are about 40,000 products on the supermarket shelves that would
be gone right now. Instead, the response of a number of large
corporations is simply to lie.
They would rather kill you and your family, just to
sell a few more cases of imitation food and avoid admitting what they've
done. I have no idea what rationale they plan to use to justify this
final insult, but when you look at the labels you'll find that many are
claiming their product contains no trans fats at all, while the ingredient list
clearly states that a hydrogenated vegetable oil is a significant ingredient by
weight. I strongly urge readers to take a little tour down the grocery
isle, and read some labels to learn who their friends are. The lies are
obvious. However it appears that there are legal loopholes in the FDA
rules that are put there specifically to allow them to lie. Well, that's
the history of FDA in a nutshell, isn't it? Only the consumer is harmed,
and in today's world this is a plus if it generates more revenue for anyone higher
up on the food chain.
Cancer, heart disease, diabetes and food
products. Fabulous money makers all. News media recently reported
that the "health care" field, by which they mean the disease-care industry
(medicine/pharmaceuticals/insurance), is now the leading driver of the American
economy. No wonder.
Once the dam is broken, which is happening right now,
you will begin to see articles on the evils of trans fats, and a few will even
tell you to look for the word HYDROGENATED as the only way to know if a product
is not safe for human consumption. The real fun would be to pick up older
articles about trans fats from supposedly well informed sources, and see how
many failed to mention what trans fats actually are, or how much of this poison
Americans have been eating. The new articles will be outside the
"mainstream" media, who are still being paid not to cover the story
at all. In addition to the three killers, heart disease, cancer and
diabetes, you will learn that hydrogenated oils are responsible for excessive
weight gain in virtually everyone, that they actually cause stored fat to
migrate to the abdominal area giving that distinctly pregnant look to so many
Americans. (That's why many good diets seem able to shrink everything but
your gut.) Hydrogenated oils disrupt a number of metabolic and hormonal
systems and the list just goes on and on.
The one thing the media won't tell you is that the
deadly nature of hydrogenated oils has been known for more than half a century
and has been deliberately suppressed. And they'll never tell you that the
disease-care industry is a key player that has knowingly supported the scam
while milking it for every penny they could, in every way conceivable.
Ken Welch
Houston
And if you would like the Home page for Findings Ireland just click here
E.& O. E.
Enjoy the warmer January.