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Vol. 15, No. 16, August 8, 2016
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MLA LINE
Lumber Industry News Express
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Quick Links
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EVENT CALENDAR
October 7-10 - Do it Best Fall Market
Nov. 10-11 - MLA Fall Fling -
Plan to Attend!!
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MLA Associate Members
All Season Bldg. Supply
Allied Building Stores, Inc.
American Wholesale Corp.
Biz Lender - New Member!
Blish-Mize Company
Bluelinx Corporation
BlueTarp Financial Inc.
Boral Light Building Products
BPI - Lbr & Engineered Wood
Builders Material Company
CCM Countertop & Cabinet
Cedar Creek LLC - St. Louis
New Member!
Continental Divide Fence
Dealers Choice Distribution
Delden Mfg. Co., Inc.
Discovery-Based Retail
DMSi Software
Do It Best Corp
ECI Spruce Computer Systems -
New Member!
Epicor Software
Federated Insurance
Forest Products Supply Co.
Frontier Forest Products, Inc.
Great Southern Wood Pres.
Guardian Building Products
Hardman Wholesale Co.
Hawkeye Bldg Dist., Ltd
Hiab USA, Inc.
Hixson Lumber Sales
Huttig Building Products
James Hardie Bldg Products
Klauer Manufacturing Co.
Lumber Merchandising Corp. (LMC) - New Member!
MAX USA Corp.
Metal Sales Mfg. Corp.
Mid-Am Building Supply, Inc.
MiTek Builder Products
Modern Equip. Co., Inc. (MECO Omaha)
Monarch Cement Company
Pennsylvania & Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Ins. Co.
PrimeSource Bldg Products
PWD, Inc.
Rader Solutions - New Member!
Rollex Corp
Schutte Lumber Company
Simpson Strong-tie Co Inc
Tamko Building Products, Inc.
Tax Favored Benefits
Tennison Brothers, Inc.
The Empire Company LLC
Thomas Nielsen Wholesale
Timber Products, Inc.
Treeline Forest Products LLC
USP Structural Connectors
Warrior Building Products
Western Builders Supply, Inc.
Westfall GMC Truck Center
Wingate Sales Solutions, Inc.
Please patronize these companies that support your Association!
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"Never harbor grudges; they sour your stomach and do no harm to anyone else."
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Here's your bi-weekly lumber industry newsletter. We hope you find this quick, responsive format helpful and entertaining. Anytime you have news or views to share with fellow dealers, please don't hesitate to contact us by replying to this newsletter.
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NLBMDA Action Alert!
The House of Representatives and Senate recently appointed negotiators to reach a final agreement on a comprehensive energy bill. NLBMDA supports a provision included in the House-passed version of the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 8) that would define the Department of Energy's (DOE) role in new model energy code development, and guarantees that certain products and technologies are not given preferential treatment.
The Senate version of the energy bill (S. 2012) does not include the NLBMDA-backed building code language.
Please visit NLBMDA's
Legislative Action Center
and write a letter
to your lawmakers asking them to support the "Blackburn-Schrader" provision as part of a final agreement. Your efforts are especially important if you are a constituent to any lawmakers negotiating a final agreement
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If you have questions regarding this issue please contact Ben Gann, NLBMDA's Vice President of Legislative and Political affairs, at
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Are Your Sights Set on Growth?
In a recent article in ProSales, BlueTarp questions some common and often ineffective credit policies, such as early pay discounts.
Scott Simpson, president of BlueTarp, also offers advice on how to manage customers at different risk levels and personalize your collections approach. Learn how to map your customers on a simple profit/risk quadrant and tailor your approach for each customer.
Check out
the article
to understand how it could help .
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Time to Consider the MLA MEP
MLA has offered a "group" MLA 401(k) plan for members for over a year. It is saving participating dealers on their fees and offering a great benefit to reward their loyal employees. If you haven't taken a serious look at this program, now would be a good time. Find out why smart dealers are making the move to the MLA program. Call the MLA Hotline at 800-747-6529, or
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Have You Checked out the MLA Online Campus?
The MLA Online Campus provides you and your employees with high-impact, "real-world" training that develops your leaders, retains your best people and increases your customer loyalty. Each employee has a unique username to access the campus, which houses more than 700 courses on customer service, sales, leadership and more. Want to try a program for yourself?
Click here
to view another one of our popular courses. If you like what you see, contact us for a one-week trial subscription to see the hundreds of available courses.
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Industry Update
Fraud Reminder...
Your MLA was notified this week of a scam going on in the Pacific Northwest.
A company identifying themselves as "Diamond Construct" called and placed an order for a large quantity of Steel Fencing Components. Claiming to be from out of town and doing a local project, they paid by credit card over the phone and arranged for the materials to be picked up by a common carrier.
In this instance, the credit card was processed with no trouble, the materials were picked up, and then a few weeks later the material supplier was notified the materials were purchased with a credit card that had been stolen.
Please remind your sales staff to ask for ID when accepting credit cards from anyone unknown to them - and make sure the names, faces and signatures match the purchaser. When in doubt, call the fraud number for either MasterCard or Visa:
Visa - 800-847-2750 | MC - 800-622-7747.
OSHA delays enforcement of key injury and illness reporting rule...
OSHA's final rule to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses requires employers to inform employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation. It also clarifies the existing implicit requirement that an employer's procedure for reporting work related injuries and illnesses must be reasonable and not deter or discourage employees from reporting, and incorporates the existing statutory prohibition on retaliating against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses. Originally scheduled to be effective August 1, OSHA announced that it will delay enforcement of these provisions until November 1, 2016, "to provide the opportunity to conduct additional outreach to the regulated community." OSHA's final rule is still subject to a legal challenge. With its announcement, OSHA indicated that it is "currently developing educational materials for employers" as well as enforcement guidance for its regional offices.
Source: NLBMDA E-Update, July 25, 2016
The Next Decade...
J
ohn McManus, Hanley Wood's editorial director
, is quick to acknowledge that "innovation is a word that gets abused, certainly overused." And nowhere, he says, do you find more hats and fewer cattle than in housing. "Housing innovation, in many of our minds, is a joke, an oxymoron. Magnate Ara Hovnanian apocryphally (is said to have) said, 'Home building is a 200 year-old industry unimpeded by progress.' It's mostly true, and mostly scary." Hard to admit, but also hard to argue. Hop in your time machine and bring an auto mechanic back from 1966. There won't be a late-model car on the road he can repair. Do the same with a carpenter from 1916-maybe earlier-and he'd feel at home on any jobsite within a month (and be totally hooked on cordless tools).
Read more
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Source: LBM Exec, July 31, 2016
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The Unpleasant Side of Cyberspace
 The Internet connects businesses of all sizes to data networks and computer systems around the world. It also exposes companies to hackers, viruses, and other computer attacks. And,
let's face it, there is no such thing as perfect computer security. Whether by hacker, glitch, or employee error, many businesses will experience a data breach incident at some point.
Read more
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This article provided courtesy of Federated Mutual Insurance Company, your association's recommended insurer.
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