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July 3, 2008 "Girl POWER!" was the call I heard from the warehouse
today. I had just announced we were hiring another addition to our
purchasing department - Marcia who will start August 18. During the day, Alecia, Sharon, Tina and Chrissy run a tight ship
in the warehouse receiving and stocking, while Sandy, Wendy and
Marcia will run the purchasing and vendor operations in the back
office.
June 20 , 2008
WOW! I couldn't wait to see Nordstrom's spectacular service. My wife shopped around, and in short order found something to purchase. She had been given a Nordstrom gift card and was finally able to use it, since there were no stores in Canada. Unfortunately, while making a purchase using the gift card, the teller accidentally blanked out the balance on the card, and it was now reading as empty. The teller was not sure what happened, and we assumed there possibly was no actual amount on the card. We left the store disappointed the card did not work. As we went back to our hotel, I called the support 1-800 number on the back of the card and the customer service person assured me the money WAS on the card and had been debited to the store. So we now had no purchase, and they had our money. This is where the service fell apart. The phone operator said I needed to go back to the store and explain the issue - she could not help me. I called the store and spoke to the manager who assured me they would look into it and call back the next day. 3 times people at Nordstrom called - once from the "Data Center" in Colorado - to let me know they were looking into it. After a day of wasted time and cell charges, the manager offered to mail me a new card in 5-7 days once they were sure the money cleared their system - whatever that meant. Humm, how hard can this be? We just wanted our money back on the card, so we could spend it while we were in Seattle. I decided to stick to my guns, and after complaining to manager after manager, I finally reached someone who was able to make a decision. At this stage, I wanted cash back, and no more gift cards. The manager agreed, and asked us to come over to the store. We said we would be there at a certain time, but when we arrived... she was on a 1 hour lunch! In the end, we received our cash from the gift card, and walked over to Banana Republic and spent it. Tough luck this time, Nordstrom. Time to take some customer service lessons from the small shops in Pike Place Market! (Read my June 19th entry below) Calvin
The first step was for them at Pike Place Fish was to decide who
we wanted to be. In the words of John Yokoyama: “In one of
our early Pike Place Fish meetings with Jim (our coach from bizFutures),
we began an inquiry into "Who do we want to be? We wanted to
create a new future for ourselves. One of the young kids working
for John said, “Hey! Let's be World Famous!” At first
he thought, “World Famous…what a stupid thing to say!”
But the more they talked about it, the more they all got excited
about being World Famous. So they committed to it. They added “World
Famous” to their logo and had it printed on the shipping boxes.
Amazing how things turned out! June 11 , 2008 Staples buys Corporate Express. The "paper clip wars" was what Wall Street called it. How does this affect Costless Express? After running this company for almost 20 years, I can tell you, it's great news! Whenever a large competitor makes massive changes in their organization, our company grows in market share. We pick up new customers, and also add new employees that find themselves squeezed out during the merger. Also, the cost of our products usually go down in price. Really! 
Here's why. It is expected that there will be significant vendor rationalization with the two companies, which could leave some vendors badly needing the business from the independent channel. I will be assessing the vendor strengths with Staples and Corporate Express, and will be actively approaching the "fall out" vendors. What does this merger mean for you, the customer? It shows you are very smart to have chosen Costless as your supplier. No drama, just consistent fantastic customer service, and products at the lowest prices. We beat Staples prices, day in and out. If you didn't know about our price guarantee, then ask your sales rep to do a cost comparison. You'll be amazed at our catalogue prices vs. Staples. Click here to see a few comparisons we've done: Fun Fact: Every time we steal a Staples customer, we run over and whack the Staples Button: "THAT WAS EASY!" It sure was :-) Click the link below to read the full story: What a weekend! It was a busy time at the BC Children's Hospital Miracle Weekend. The end total raised was an amazing $15,607,607.
It was an amazing experience to see the effort and coordination
from everyone to pull off this incredible event. Watch for some fun things Costless will be doing over the next year to raise money for the (NEW!!!) Hospital. Calvin
May 29, 2008
His name is Robin Ross from Costco Wholesale, and his crimes are being too aggressive with his wit and silver tongue. Actually Robin was at the Port Coquitlam Costco, locked up in a makeshift jail until he raised $4,000 for BC Children's Hospital. I have known Robin for years, and when he rang me to come bail him out, I couldn't resist stopping in to see Robin actually standing still for any period of time. He recently was promoted to the Costco head office in Issaquah, Washington to run something important for the corporation, we're still not too sure what. We just know that when you fly on the Costco jet with the CEO, then you must be important. Robin was the one who invited me to sit on the Retail Wholesale Council for BC Children's Hospital, and I am grateful for the opportunity. He was in town for the big Miracle Weekend fund raiser that the hospital and Global TV put on each year. Although we email each other, it was great seeing Robin in person again. I offered him a choice of a Costco hot dog, or a nice donation to bail him out. He choose well, and met his goal. All the best! Calvin May 23, 2008
I'm happy to say the response has been exceptional, with over 190 new customers in the past few weeks. Welcome to all! Our staff does a fantastic job of tracking all sorts of statistics in our business, and I wanted to know the main reason customers were joining Costless Express. All new customers to us come from a competitor, since businesses will always buy office supplies. It is just a question of from whom do the buy from. During a brief meeting, my sales staff explained there were several factors as to why customers switch to Costless Express. Factors such as our environmental position as Carbon Neutral, being local and BC owned for 18 years and more. But the number one factor, unanimously, was our prices. Customers love our low prices. But there was more. It was us showing them proof they will save money in a cost comparison that the new customers enjoyed the most. When a customer switches suppliers, they want to know they made the right decision, so we have a program where we will take a customers top 10 items they have been purchasing from their current supplier, and match them up with our Costless prices. We show them how much they will save, and offer alternative items to save them even more. We also give the customer a free one pound bag of Starbucks Coffee as a thank you for their time. Once we show customers our prices and they get to experience our fantastic customer service, I see why we have so many new customers.
Thanks so much to all our old and new customers, we promise to never
take your business for granted. May 14, 2008 We
try hard to differentiate ourselves from our impersonal big box
competition. How we do that is with long lasting real life relationships
with our customers. Customers get to know us, and we get to know
them over years of service. Some customers we have had for 18 years!
We get to know the names of their children, their pets and their
personal ordering preferences. I love seeing our sales people read
their caller ID on their phone and answer the call with the customer's
name. Thats a relationship! Here it is: On My Last Day What can I say? My colleagues and friends For it has been a pleasure working with you, And now as I move on, I wish you all well. Good luck! (THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE CAKE!!!) Jenny May 8, 2008
Calvin
May 1, 2008
KEEP ON RECYCLING! Calvin
April
27, 2008
April 23, 2008
Our flyer has 16 pages of eco and healthy products, such as recycled paper, eco-friendly cleaners, and tasty, healthy juices and fresh fruits. All the flyer products are found in our large catalogue, but I think customers like seeing what we offer that is healthy and eco-friendly. The highlight for me has to be the back cover of the flyer. It shows a neat diagram of why Costless is the eco-friendly choice for ordering office supplies. Thanks to Erin, our graphic designer, for a very engaging diagram. Erin, you always do great work! Respect! Calvin
April 22 , 2008 Happy Earth Day Savings!
I lowered our 30% recycled paper from a great price of $39.99 per case to an incredible $29.99 per case. Our recycled single fold towel went from $29.99 to a crazy price of $19.99. I wanted to spotlight a few recycled items and have customers try something new, and think about recycled products as an alternative. We sell over 2500 recycled products, so have a look in our catalogue, or call your fantastic account manager. I hope you took advantage of our sale! Calvin
Earlier this year, our company set a very lofty goal of being Canada's first carbon neutral office supplier. Today on Earth Day, we met that goal! Costless Express is now a Carbon Neutral Company.
I wanted to spotlight Alison Cretney, Magdalena Szpala and Michelle Bonner at EcoTrust Canada. They were exceptional, supportive, educational and very professional in how they ran the workshop. Calvin
April
20, 2008
March 12 , 2008
March 2, 2008
It was a last minute decision for us to have a booth in the show. Kudos to our staff for pulling together on such short notice. Our booth theme focused on 100% recycled copy paper. We had over 40 paper boxes at the show and every single one came back empty. We sold a single ream for $5.00, and 3 reams for $10.00. Our booth was very popular, as people commented having a tough time locating quality 100% recycled paper. Our paper is also Green-E Certified, which means the actual mill the paper is made runs on clean energy. Something that did not go unnoticed on the crowds.
Sometimes it's quality not quantity, and that was the case for Vancouver's first Green Living Show. Calvin
March 1, 2008 Time for our Staff Christmas Party!
Today was a busy day, juggling the Green Living Show and our annual staff Christmas Party. We traditionally have our Christmas party in late February for a few reasons. First, we decided there are too many parties and people are too busy in December. Second, February does not have a stat holiday, and can be quite the dreary month. Finally, our suppliers usually are able to donate better prizes for our staff games in February. Most suppliers are flooded with prize requests at Christmas from their customers. Our staff loves the timing of our party and looks forward to it every year. I wanted to tell you about our yearly "IRON MAN AWARDS" we have during the staff party. Here is how it works. Any staff member who does not call in sick once for the full year wins Ironman! The prize is a plaque and $100.00. Any staff who can make it two years in a row receive $200.00 and if they go three or more it jumps to $400! I was pleased to hand out 5 Ironman Awards tonight. Two were for $400! The party was full games with memorable prizes like helicopter flights, airline flights, golf bags, kitchen appliances, movie tickets and the always present golf balls and golf shirts. Special thanks to our staff for juggling time between the Green Living Show and preparing the party. Well done and very memorable! All I can take credit for is paying the bill. Calvin
February 15, 2008 I
saw a funny thing our sales staff did today. The
customer received half their order, late and broken. We used a courier
instead of our own driver, and that was where things went down hill. In
our office was a 10 pound giant Chupa Chup Sucker a supplier gave
us as a gift. The sales department took the sucker, made up a card
that said "Sorry Our Service Sucked!". Then proceeded
to get our entire company to sign the card while explaining what
had happened to this customer and the service we did not deliver.
By the time the card was signed, all our staff knew what the problems
were and how to circumvent them in the future. Calvin
February 8, 2008 After
meeting Robert Safrata from Novex on January 28th, I reviewed all
my notes from the meeting. He was a wealth of information about
all things ECO. I am very dedicated to changing Costless Express
to a Carbon Neutral Company.
Blizzard 2008!
And
a general all round kudos to the remaining staff and customers.
Thanks for making BLIZZARD 2008 one for the books!
January 28 , 2008
I left the meeting with some clear direction, new contacts and a knowing that although we are doing all the right stuff, there is an almost limitless amount more we could be doing as a company as individuals and as a planet. The great news is, these past few years feel like a real tipping point in environmental awareness. If our little company can make big changes, what are the big companies like Staples, Grand & Toy, and Corporate Express doing? I hope it's a thousand times as much! Calvin
January 18 , 2008
Sport BC sold wristbands for $2.00 that allows you to wear your favorite sports gear to work. All proceeds go to KidSport Charity. At Costless Express we are a pretty crazy bunch already, so a chance to dress up was right up our alley. There were lots of Hockey and Football Jerseys, yoga outfits, Baseball gear and a full jogging suit à la retro 70’s look. To get the morning rolling, I showed up in full snow gear with SNOW SHOES. Everyone thought it was hilarious, and even more funny was when I wanted to take it off a few hours later and the staff objected. Luckily, they showed mercy, and I worked the remainder of the day in a torque and ski goggles. It was a great time. Calvin
January 17 , 2008 This morning I went to the BC Children’s Hospital kick off breakfast for the 21st annual Miracle Weekend. This year, it will be a two-day celebration held over May 31st and June 1st. As part of the Wholesale and Retail Council, our group was there to represent. As I looked around the room, I was impressed to see the amount of people who are a part of making a weekend like this come together. There were senior people from Global TV across the board to people who manage the catering, parking, and phone systems during the event, to name a few. They asked for a show of hands for how long people had been involved – 25 – 10 – 5, each time they counted hundreds of hands went up. This is my second year so, under 5 years you had some stripes to earn they said jokingly.
At our table, we were honored to sit with Amanda and her mother. Amanda is a recent patient at the hospital and continues to get the care she needs for her ongoing medical problems. She was quite the brave young girl, and made us all realize why we are a part of such a worthwhile cause.
At the end of the breakfast, the goal for this year's Miracle Weekend was unveiled: $14,730,000. I hope you can all watch and contribute is some way. Volunteers are always needed, too. Calvin
January 9, 2008
David is hired to speak on several topics for large companies and when he said he was becoming more involved on the topic of Global Warming and Carbon Emissions I was ecstatic. We had a great discussion, chatting about the Al Gore movie An Inconvenient Truth. David also is a close friend with Robert Safrada the CEO of NOVEX COURIERS and offered to introduce up together. NOVEX is the leading courier company in Canada for environmental responsibility. I am looking forward to meeting him. Thanks Dave! I
suggest for anyone wanting to learn more about global warming, to
watch An Inconvenient Truth. I can see why Al Gore received a Nobel
Prize. Go to http://www.algore.com/
to learn more.
January 1, 2008
Did you know people who write down their goals achieve them 90% of the time, and if they tell someone it jumps to almost 100%! Did you set any goals for 2008? Did you tell anyone? Here are my goals for 2008: Company:
Personal:
Well, my goals are out there, so now it’s time to make them happen. I stress to our staff that goal setting is important and so, so powerful. All our staff is involved in a daily 2-minute “Huddle” and set goals and overcome roadblocks. This work experience has carried over to their personal life and most staff have set their own Company and Personal Goals for 2008. I hope all their goals come true. Calvin
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Today
we released our first, highly anticipated Green Catalogue.
Some
of you who know the history of Costless Express will know I actually
started the company delivering furniture and appliances for Costco
Wholesale. After ten years and 30,000 home deliveries later, I turned
Costless Express into the Internet and Catalogue retailer we are
today. 
Right
on the heels of some World Famous Pike Place Market service during
my Seattle trip, I was quite taken aback by some poor service at
Nordstrom's. 
Today,
Friday and Saturday, I am in Seattle. I drove down with my wife
for a meeting with Starbucks, and I decided to stay for a few days
extra. 
I
love visiting 
The
show on Global TV Saturday night started out with the presentation
of our Retail and Wholesale cheque. It was great television, as
Steve Darling rode on the side board of one of our Costless Express
Trucks wearing a super hero cape as we drove into camera view (that's
me driving). 
On
the side of the truck was a huge cheque for $3,527,022!
This
money was raised through out the year from all sorts of fund raising
efforts. The main supporters included Costco, Overwaitea Food Group,
Thrifty Foods, Best Buy and more.
My other highlight was sitting on the Miracle Maker phone panel
and raising money on live TV. This was my second year, and it was
a privilege to be hand-picked to raise money for the hospital. Sitting
on the panel was my friend Robin Ross from Costco, Glen Antonuk
from Sleep Country, and others. We really had a great time, and
raised some good money towards the weekend's total.
I
received a call today from a dear friend. He was in jail! 
Recently
we sent out 55,000 flyers to businesses in the lower mainland.
If
you have ever received a letter from a lawyer, you know whatever's
in the envelope is probably not good.
During
my research on water bottles for the April 27th Calvin's Corner
I found some interesting ECO info on the bottles. Consumers seem
to feel torn that these bottles are bad for the environment. Here
is some stats to help "quench your thirst" for knowledge.
Sunday,
and here I am in Denver waiting for my connecting flight from Dallas,
Texas to Vancouver. Sandy, Darrin and I were at a conference on
our company software. I was sipping a bottle of water, and started
thinking about the recent news on the chemical BPA that is found
in some plastics. Was this one of the unhealthy bottles? What is
the story here, and how does it effect our customers? 
You
will soon see one of our 
I
wanted to celebrate Costless Express going Carbon Neutral, so we
held a super sale on a few recycled products for our customers.
Happy
Earth Day!
Darrin
and I attended our final Ecotrust Canada workshop and purchased
our first carbon offsets. Costless Express will continue to lower
its CO2 emissions each year, and our goal over the next
12 months is to remove 40 tonnes from our carbon footprint.
After
visiting the EPIC show today I met up with my great friend Peter
Frost. If you recall in my 
We had a great dinner at Morton's Chop House downtown (fantastic
service, but that's another story) and Peter filled me in on where
the industry is heading. He says it was a real tipping point year
for Eco awareness in business all over the globe, but was specifically
impressed with the knowledge and commitment Canadian businesses
have continued to show. We discussed Costless Express going Carbon
Neutral on Earth Day at the graduation of our EcoTrust 3 month workshop
on Carbon Neutral companies. He had not heard of another Canadian
Office Supply company being Carbon Neutral - so we could be the
leader. 
Today
I went to see George Metrakos, the executive director of 
Yesterday
Darrin and myself attended our first of three workshops hosted by
EcoTrust Canada. The course is three months long, and we meet once
each month to learn how to measure our carbon footprint and reduce
our footprint. 
We
left with homework on measuring our carbon emissions, and we are
to collect the data and enter it into the EcoTrust calculator to
determine the amount of tons of CO2 our company is emitting
per year. 
Today
is the last day of the 
In
our booth we also showcased some of our over 2500 recycled office
supplies, cleaning products and janitorial paper supplies. I had
several new potential customers comment that they were specifically
at the show looking for a single source supplier who had recycled
products. All in all the show was a bit long, spread out over three
full days so the crowds were fairly soft in the evenings but the
quality of attendees was exceptional, well educated and environmentally
conscious.
Today,
I went to a meeting at one of the school districts we sell supplies
to. Over 30 schools attended, and the main topic was healthy foods.
Costless Express was invited to show what new healthy snacks and
beverages were available for the schools to sell in replacement
of the current fare.
The customer was not thrilled, nor was our account manager. In the
end, it was all sorted out and the customer was happy, but our sales
department wanted to let the customer know we are much better than
that. Sales felt the service the customer received "really
sucked". This is where they really got creative. 
One
group I decided to contact from my notes was 
The
three month workgroup was a very reasonable $1000 so I signed up
Costless Express. To my surprise, only 12 companies have actually
completed the Workgroup and interest was still quite low. I'm sure
that will change as word spreads about their reasonable and quality
services.
Hey,
its just snow! Ok, ok..... no jokes, this snow really does effect
our staff and customers. Instead of writing a sob story here, I
wanted to write about the BIG KUDOS we give in our daily staff huddles.
Over the past two days, everyone has been handing out BIG KUDOS
left right and center to other staff, and my note book has a full
page of above and beyond staff! Here they are:
Today
I met with Robert Safrata, the CEO of NOVEX Couriers. Robert has
been the high energy driving force behind the ongoing success of
this famous Eco friendly company. Robert has met with the Premier
(off to a meeting again tonight), done public speaking to thousands,
and has been trained by Al Gore. I knew this meeting would be informative,
and help Costless Express improve on our Eco initiative we have
embarked on for 2008. 
Robert and one of his managers, Andrew Kronquist, gave me a tour
of their facility, followed by a very informative boardroom session.
I could see right away that Novex was a responsible company, run
by some very intelligent people. Their "triple bottom line"
philosophy (People, Planet, Profits), recycling, composting and
electric vehicles had me writing notes. Great stuff!
Today
is the first annual Corporate KIDSPORT DAY! 
The
theme this year is BE A SUPER HERO and the senior board at the hospital
wore orange super hero capes to draw awareness and roll out the
new look. Of course there was a few laughs and jokes about “where’s
the tights”.
During
the breakfast, there were videos of recent patient stories and a
few words from doctors. At times you could see a few people wiping
tears from their eyes, myself included. 
Today
I was at an EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) function with my friend
David Chalk. I have high respect for David as he is one of the most
successful and recognized technologists in Canada. He can be seen
on TV, Air Canada Flights and in numerous magazines including my
favorite, the COSTCO Connection.
Become
Carbon Neutral
Work
with BC Children’s Hospital and create a memorable new event
that will help our Wholesale and Retail Committee exceed $4,000,000
in donations.
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