MLA Lumber Industry News Express
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Here's the new issue of the Mid-America Lumbermens Association online newsletter. We'll send another issue every two weeks to let you know what's happening in the industry, at your MLA, and in the world that affects your business. We welcome your opinions and ideas. If you have information you'd like to share with other members, we'd be happy to include it in our next issue. We welcome both personal and industry-related news - members would love to hear your news and views - so don't hesitate to email us with information.
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Are You Saying Busy When You Really Mean Rushed?
One of the words I am certain you have already used multiple times in 2019 is busy. It’s become the default phrase for explaining many of the mistakes we make in our day. In fact, we use the word as a blanket statement to describe life in general (i.e. “Everyone is just so busy these days!”). I am going on record today to suggest that we are using the wrong word.
Read more
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MLA Scholarship Applications Now Available
The MLA scholarship program continues to be one of the most valued benefits enjoyed by members, their employees, and their children. If you know a deserving high school senior you would like to recommend for a scholarship – either a relative, an employee’s child or someone working in your lumberyard, please take a look at the MLA website and have them apply. The deadline for application is March 15, 2019.
Click here for more information
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Funding Alternatives When Banks Say "No!"
If you’re a typical dealer of windows and doors, you need a $1.5 million line of credit (LOC) for every $10 million in business. Accordingly, if your revenues are $5 million, a $750,000 LOC is what’s required. This level of funding assures you’re not chronically cash hungry, and have funds for early-pay discounts, inventory, strategic investments, or even a recession. Finding a bank is its own challenge, and then there’s an added hurdle: What if the bank says, “No”? Here are some alternative sources of cash.
Read more
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Source: BlueTarp
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Member News
Mason McIntire Obituary…
Mason McIntire, 73, passed away January 18, 2019 in Maryville, Missouri. He was born in St. Joseph on May 23, 1945, one of four children of Harry Lyons and Violet Marie (Holstine) McIntire.
Mason received his BS and Masters of Business Administration from the University of Kansas in 1969. While attending KU, he met Judy Bailey, and they were married in Moline, Illinois on August 10, 1968. They became parents of two daughters.
Mason served in the United States Army while the couple lived in San Antonio, Texas. They also lived in Los Angeles and Kansas City, before moving to Mound City in 1974. Mason owned and operated McIntire Lumber until his retirement in 2014.
Mason served on the MLA Board for a number of years, and was president in 2004-2005.
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Take Caution in Appearing to Advise Employees
“Litigation related to 401(k) plans — which had declined after the Great Recession — has surged again recently. Over 100 new 401(k) complaints were filed in 2016-17, the highest two-year total since 2008-09. A
recent study
explores the causes and potential consequences of this litigation.”
Read more
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Offering a retirement plan to your employees is good business, but also carries some liability. You can reduce your fiduciary responsibility by joining the Mid-America Lumbermens Association Multiple Employer Plan (MEP*) 401(K) retirement savings plan.
The Mid-America Lumbermens Association 401(K) plan may be just the tool you need to get all the advantages of a complete retirement savings plan with a well-diversified portfolio of investment options.
By leveraging the combined buying power of all MLA members, the MLA 401(K) plan provides each adopting employer with its own customizable retirement savings plan at a reduced cost, with the added benefits of a no-hassle plan installation, offloading of fiduciary liabilities, and limited administrative responsibility.
If your business has only a few employees, you may think you’re too small or it’s too expensive to offer a complete 401(K) retirement savings plan. Not so! Companies with as few as two employees can participate in the MLA 401(k) retirement savings plan. Click here for more information – or just contact Bill Male at Tax Favored Benefits: 913-648-5526 or
billm@tfbusa.com
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It costs nothing to ask questions.
Bill Male is a Registered Representative and Investment Advisor Representative offering securities and investment advisory services solely through Ameritas Investment Corp. (AIC). Member FINRA/SIPC, a registered broker/dealer and registered investment advisor. AIC and Tax Favored Benefits, Inc. are not affiliated. Additional products and services may be available through Bill Male or Tax Favored Benefits that are not offered through AIC. Representatives of AIC do not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax advisor or attorney regarding your ci
rcumstances.
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A Complete Guide to Over Dimensional Freight Shipping
In this industry, not all shipments are as simple as a standard crate or a single pallet. Shipping over dimensional freight can be tricky and requires its own set of rules and challenges. One misstep can mean costly fees or delivery delays for your load, and it’s tough to keep up with every state’s legal requirements and restrictions. Being diligent will keep your over dimensional freight transportation running smoothly, and MLA members have a valuable resource in PartnerShip®.
Learn more
about how you need to prepare. Have a tough freight move and don’t know where to start?
Get a competitive quote
today.
This tip is brought to you by PartnerShip®, the company that manages the MLA Shipping Program. For more information or to enroll, email
sales@PartnerShip.com
or call 800-599-2902.
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Lumber News
Eight Places to Look for Hourly Workers…
J
ust like builders and remodelers, the labor crunch is hitting lumberyards hard. Along with the tight market caused by the housing recovery, the pipeline of workers is simply drying up as fewer young people enter the industry, or aren’t aware of it at all, and older workers retire out.
Read more
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Source: LBM Journal, January 23, 2019
The New Versus Resales Gap: Which Way Will it go in 2019?
T
hroughout the late, great, housing recovery, starting in about 2012, the relationship between sales of existing homes and new home sales was expected by many experts to revert to historical norms.
That's what longstanding economic trends tend to do, how they typically behave. One of housing's cannier numbers experts, Bill McBride, author of Calculated Risk, has predicted, from the earliest sparks of sustainable momentum on the new residential construction front through the sputtering, hiccupping, misfiring past six months or so, that the gap separating resales unit volumes from new home sales would narrow.
Read more
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Source: Builder Online, January 29, 2019
NLRB Returns to Traditional Independent Contractor Standard…
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) returned to a traditional standard for determining independent contractor status versus employee status. In doing so, the Board clarified the role that “entrepreneurial opportunity” has in evaluating whether someone is an independent contractor. The decision is a return to the standard used prior to 2014 that weighed 10 factors equally in determining independent contractor status.
Read more
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Source: NLBMDA, February 1, 2019
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While it’s true that a driver’s skills, training, and experience are key to safety on the road, there’s plenty that can be done before a vehicle leaves the garage to help a driver stay safe between Point A and Point B. Make sure all your vehicles are prepared — inside and out — for their intended use before you send employees out into traffic.
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This service provided courtesy of Federated Mutual Insurance Company, your association’s recommended insurer.
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Employee Training that's Just Right, Just Enough and Just in Time
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 1,000 courses on customer service, sales, leadership and more. Want to try a program for yourself?
Click here
to view an example. If you like what you see, contact us for a one-week trial subscription to see the hundreds of available courses.
Learn more
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The Last Word
“The time is always right to do what is right
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”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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