Recently\u00a0I was looking for plastic bags. \u00a0We want to try a new merchandising idea and plastic bags are part of the\u00a0equation.<\/p>\n
A quick search of the web turned up a few likely looking\u00a0candidates, the one on top is a\u00a0nationally\u00a0known company who supplies all sorts of packing and warehouse materials.<\/p>\n
I gave them a call and spoke with a customer service rep. \u00a0 She could tell me the size of the bags but she knew little more than what was on the website. \u00a0 I told here I had already\u00a0checked\u00a0the site but she went on as if I had not said a word.<\/p>\n
When she was finished reading the description to me I asked about samples. \u00a0I was told no samples were\u00a0available\u00a0however I did have the option to buy a box of bags and return them if they were not what I was looking for. \u00a0This is not my idea of great customer service.<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, a month of so ago we were looking for shrink closures for deli containers. \u00a0I called one company and they wanted me to send them a container so they could be sure the band fit correctly. \u00a0I guess they did not trust me to try the band myself. \u00a0Their price seemed a bit high too so we asked around and contacted a company who also sells and manufactures the same bands. \u00a0The customer service\/sales person was happy to send samples and the price was 1\/10th of what the first company quoted.<\/p>\n
I guess I should have known, and I have learned time and time again it is usually better to deal with the manufacture, if\u00a0possible. \u00a0In both cases I was able to find a manufacture who would sell direct and they were happy to send samples and\u00a0literature\u00a0for our approval. \u00a0And the price was much better buying direct.<\/p>\n
The moral is, be\u00a0persistent. \u00a0It is so easy to search the Internet\u00a0compared\u00a0to spending \u00a0many hours at the\u00a0library\u00a0looking up info and suppliers in the Thomas Register. \u00a0The \u00a0best supplier may not be on the first page of the search. \u00a0And use several search\u00a0companies. \u00a0Just because one company is the big deal does not mean they are the end all of information. \u00a0 Try the other \u00a0guys.<\/p>\n
And ask around. \u00a0It pays to\u00a0develop\u00a0a network of helpful people to solve supply issues.<\/p>\n
Lastly, work with companies who are\u00a0genuinely\u00a0interested in helping you out. \u00a0They know that you may not be a big buyer now but you may someday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently\u00a0I was looking for plastic bags. \u00a0We want to try a new merchandising idea and plastic bags are part of the\u00a0equation. A quick search of the web turned up a few likely looking\u00a0candidates, the one on top is a\u00a0nationally\u00a0known company who supplies all sorts of packing and warehouse materials. I gave them a call and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsandcraftsnetwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}