LaLaLand

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the Corporate offices, where I met up with Brian Turpin, Regional Manager of Las Vegas. Brian and I teamed up to do several jobs, including meeting with vendor reps and training on how to use Resource to track inventory and place orders.
We also helped out at the Inglewood warehouse, assisting with a last minute corporate relocation job and shuttling a truck to a repair yard.
It was really great being able to spend time with Brian and talk through the differences and similarities between our two regions. We were able to resolve a lot of the communication issues we've had, and we both got first hand knowledge of how Inglewood operates.
The conclusion was that everyone has their own way of packaging, selling, setting up their stores, and dealing with clients. The important thing is that this is done in a way that is healthy for the employee, the product, and the customer, and that the job is done professionally and efficiently. As we learned that different methods will still yield the same results, we were able to gain a new respect for each location and understand that even though things are done differently, they are still done correctly. I feel that this was the single most important piece of knowledge I took from this trip. Everyone in our company has a broad range of experience and background. It is beneficial for each of us to see these new methods, and to learn how we can improve our methods while teaching others how to improve theirs. This creates a sort of Gestalt set of rules for packaging that, as the term implies, is greater than the sum of its parts.
I really enjoyed getting to meet everyone at Corporate, and the crew at Inglewood, as well as Geoff in Tarzana, who helped show us the Inventory system.
Thanks to Mark and Goody for a great visit, and I hope to make it down there again soon to sample some of Mark's favorite dive eateries. The man knows his food!
Cheers,
-Bill, Northern California

USPS Shipping

I just made one of my many store visits to the Tarzana store. Just as I was about to leave, a woman came in who was desperately trying to ship a package overnight to Hawaii. When we gave her the rates for UPS and FedEx, she about flipped and said she would do her business elsewhere because she had another quote for about one-half of our prices. We immediately told her we could ship USPS Express mail. The package would arrive the same day as FedEx and UPS, for half the price. With a smile on her face, she pulled out her credit card and filled out the shipping invoice. We now have a new customer that will be coming back to Tarzana!

Norman's rare guitar

Today we got a customer sent to us from Norman's rare guitars to buy a guitar box. Norman's is a legendary vintage guitar store located in Tarzana, California. Norm's has a huge selection of vintage and rare guitars, they were in Wayne's world the scene where Wayne looks at the guitar in the window and says you shall be mine and the scene with No stair way to heaven .. The Employee ASK WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT BOX ...his answerto the clerk was I'm moving to Hawaii ...and you know how that ended ..... a shipment from the one box sale !!!!!!! we should always ask what are you doing with that box ........