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plantexpert.com
NEWS
JULY - AUGUST 2000
| Changes |
This is my ninth year as a
wholesale nursery representative. In that time I have stayed in more than 1000 hotel
rooms, eaten 2500-3000 meals away from home, driven a couple hundred thousand miles on
sales calls, and taken about 500 plane flights.
There have been new cars, different hotels, varying air schedules, and I seldom eat
fast food these days. But, overall these things have remained relatively constant.
There have been technology advances, however, that have forever changed us all. I
used to spend endless hours plotting business locations on paper maps. Now I type in the
address and a map appears on the computer screen ready for my portable printer. Very
affordable digital cameras allow me to email plant photos to interested customers. A
digital camera can even be attached to a Palm Pilot.
"No roam, no long distance" was finally too much for even me to resist
and I broke down and purchased a cell phone and 1000 minutes a month service. Overall, my
phone costs went down! Nextel has replaced Motorola as the 2 way
radio of choice among landscape contractors.
Over 9 years Microsoft has made constant improvements on an often frustrating to
use product line. But the family of Microsoft products has made me 100x more productive. I
guess the Justice Department uses Macintosh products .... yea, right. Success breeds
jealousy.
Daily I communicate with my customers or suppliers over the internet. Now a fax
seems slow. Soon Delta Airlines will have wireless internet ready waiting areas at major
airports. LaptopLane, an airport store offering computer hookup, charge 38 cents per
minute. This allows one to check and send email for only a few bucks. Even some budget
Holiday Inn Express hotels offer free high speed internet access.
What is the bottom line? Change is a constant. If you're not moving forward you're
falling behind. Are you moving forward? |
| Weather
update |
| Can anyone in the nursery
business talk for more than 10 minutes without bringing up the weather? I doubt it. Rain,
heat, and the sun determine much of our success or failure. Things were looking dry earlier in the season but what
a great growing season we are experiencing. From Saginaw, MI to Louisville, KY the rains
are very timely. I have even heard a few people complain because it is keeping them from
field and landscape work. Careful guys ... remember last year?
Many growers have a full season of growth on
their plants and it is only July. Several growers have remarked that they are going to
have a better crop this year than with their liners that have been in the ground for 2
years. Ponds are filling and groundwater levels are up.
We are due for a great growing season. |
| Keep
up to date |
| I have been adding pages to
plantexpert.com to make the site more interesting and helpful. Are you surfing around to
see the new additions? Click on New! when you stop
in and see the latest major changes to plantexpert.com. Check back often. I usually have
several pages "in the works" for future updates. |
| Plant
photos |
| Do you need high quality industry
related photos for catalogs, web pages or advertising? Register at plantcafe.com.
Exciting things are taking place every day to make this site a reality. Currently, the
website doesn't reflect what is coming. Be paitent .... it should be worth the wait! We
will revamp the plantcafe.com website a little
later in the year. Register now so we can keep you informed. |
| Gas update |
| I have been paying over $30.00
for a tank of gas. In the greater Detroit area I paid close to $2.50 gallon last month.
When I got down to Fort Wayne $1.75 looked like a bargain! Now prices are coming down and
today gas was only $1.36. When the dust settles I don't think we will find that the oil
companies are to blame. Just more government regulations costing us more and
making our lives better? |
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