Quantum Newsprint hosted by Bill Sjoblom

More SAFE Feedback

I have a couple more stories from SAFE to share with you:

The need: My partner has leukemia. The medicine that she is supposed to take everyday which has chemo in it costs $400. We cannot afford it right now. I am currently working almost every Saturday to try to get all the bills paid and to get her medicine. I really would appreciate some help to buy her chemo medicine.

SAFE awarded $400.

The response: Thank you so much for that! It means a lot to both of us. We are very grateful. We will be able to buy her medicine now thanks to you guys.

 

The need: My father is losing his battle with liver cancer. Doctors told us that he could be with us another week, so we are now looking to raise funds for funeral expenses. Unfortunately, my wife just got laid off 3 weeks ago and my mom stopped working to take care of my dad. So a lot is riding on me to come up with $9,000 that we calculate it will cost to put my dad to rest. So please find it in your heart to help me and my family through this painful process.

SAFE awarded $500 maximum.

The response: I just wanted to thank all the people who participate in the SAFE program that helped me out this past weekend. My dad lost his battle with cancer on Sunday a week ago and we were faced with scrambling around trying to come up with money to pay for my dad's funeral costs. Soon after I told a few QS co-workers about my dad, I received some text responses suggesting that I apply to SAFE for help. I hesitated to apply, I felt embarrassed to ask but I finally did. Within a few days, I received $500 from QS. To many this may not seem like a lot of money, but it helped us in many ways. I felt like I work for a company that goes beyond to help out it's employees. My mom started to cry because of the fact that someone she didn't know was helping out. We laid my dad to rest this past Sunday and we had over 200 people show up to my dad's burial. It was one of the most painful days that my family and I have gone through. Thank you for all of your help.

News From Our Clients

QS client, Tom Thumb, based in Crestview, FL, is expanding into the Memphis market by purchasing 7 stores. QS will provide audit services to these locations. We already have some business in this market and are looking to expand our work here.

Bruce Earhart, VP of Marketing for Handee Marts in Pittsburgh is retiring on June 30, 2012. He spent 30 years with Handee Marts filling almost every role in the company from district manager to food service manager to buyer, to category manager. He plays the guitar on the weekends with a blues band. He also enjoys fishing and anything in the great outdoors.

SAFE Provides a Lifeline

I know I just posted a blog about SAFE but I wanted to share with you some of the feedback we have received recently from QS folks that were given funds from our SAFE project. Many of you currently contribute to SAFE and I wanted you to hear the positive impact you are making in the lives of your friends and co-workers.

The need: My daughter has a chronic illness that has been in remission for almost 2 years. Over the Memorial Day weekend she had a flare up and is no longer in remission. In the last three weeks I have spent over $250 in doctors co-pays and medicine. Because very few children have her illness I have to travel more than 350 miles round trip to see a specialist. Plus I have to miss work each time I go. My job with QS is all that my daughter and I have to live on. I am asking for your help with these medical expenses and to offset the pay I lose when I have to take her to the doctor.

SAFE awarded $500 maximum.

The response: I saw your email yesterday telling me that the money from SAFE was on the way. I was so touched that I could not reply then. I want to thank you and everyone who contributes to SAFE. You have no idea how much this eases my mind. I don't feel that saying thank you is enough, but it is all I can do. You all will never know how much you helped.

The need: There was a bad storm on Friday and that made a tree fall on to our home. Currently I am the only person working and there are seven of us in the house. So after paying bills with my last paycheck, I have just enough to cover gas for the next two weeks for work. I am asking for $425 to have an insured and licensed individual to come and remove the tree. Thankfully there does not appear to be any serious damage to my home but the tree is large and much too dangerous for us to remove ourselves.

SAFE awarded $425.

The response: Thank you sooo much! I just called the tree service and they will be out tomorrow to remove it. Thank you again! You are a life saver!

The need: Due to unknown reasons, the water pipes in my home keep exploding. The first happened three weeks ago which we were able to repair. The following week the water line to my water heater blew apart leaving me without water for three days. I had to replace pipes and rework part of the floor. There is a new leak today. Now it looks like I will have to replace all of the pipes in my home. I have already taken all the money from my HSA account in order to help pay for the other repairs and now I have no way to finance the repairs that I need to do.

Safe awarded $500 maximum.

The response: It has just been crazy. I have had pipes leak before but never like this. I greatly appreciate the fact that we have the SAFE program. And I would like to thank those that gave money to help out. This has really helped with some of the stress this mess is causing.

If you are not currently contributing to SAFE, please consider signing up now!

Bahia Honda State Park

Last week I was on vacation in Florida and had the opportunity to visit Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys. It is located 37 miles from Key West and is quite simply one of most beautiful parks in the country!

The park is located on an 524 acre island that is virtually uninhabited. In 1992 the beach was awarded "best beach in the US" by Dr. Beach. You can rent snorkeling equipment and kayaks. There is tent camping directly on the beach and even 3 cabins to rent.

Have you been to Bahia Honda? Tell us about your experience!

SAFE Awards $42,362 to QS Employees!

Do you know about the Support and Assistance For Employees (SAFE) program? It was started in February of 2005 and since that time the program has awarded $42,362 to QS employees that have experienced some type of unforecasted hardship or emergency.

Do you remember why we started SAFE? It was in response to an unprecedented hurricane season in 2004 in which the state of Florida was hit with four hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne) and one tropical storm (Bonnie). Many of our people in Florida suffered damage to their homes and all of them lost work days as stores were cancelled. We got a lot of calls and emails fromQS employees in the rest of the company asking "How can we help the QS people in Florida?"

So we started SAFE which provides an opportunity for every QS employee to contribute a few dollars each payperiod toward a fund that is used to help other employees in a time of hardship. It is totally voluntary but right now we have 41 people contributing $126 each pay period. In 20010 we awarded $4325 and this year we have already paid out $5745.

If you would like to participate in SAFE, you will find more information and a sign-up form on QNet. Just click on "reports and forms" and look for "SAFE Pledge and Application." There is also a form to apply for SAFE funds if you have experienced an unforeseen hardship. We have found that people in need at times are reluctant to ask for help so you can even submit a request for someone in your division that is in need. Awards are currently limited to $500 per employee per year. You do not have to contribute to be eligible for an award.

This is a great way to help your friends and peers at QS...I strongly urge you to sign up for a small contribution to SAFE.

If any of you have benefited from SAFE, it would be great to hear your story.

Guest Blog: Carmen Gutierrez - How to Rebuild Your Division Sales!

With the recent loss of 7-Eleven business, many of our Division Managers are faced with the need to rebuild the business in their division. I thought it would be helpful to hear from our veteran Division Manager in Riverside, Carmen Gutierrez who did just that after we lost the BP business in September of 2009. Thanks, Carmen for sharing your journey!

"Rays of sun as the storm begins to wither” Randy said on Bill’s blog referring to the optimism he’s feeling about the future of QS after the loss of 7/11 business.

September 2009 is a date that I will never forget. It’s the time that we lost the BP business. Several divisions were affected and lost so many good people as well. The Riverside division was one of the most affected ones, Riverside alone lost 180 stores.

I was confused, angry, worried, sad, and very…very… discouraged. I was thinking that there was no future for us without our #1 client, but time proved me wrong.

How do you rebuild your division? How do you bring sales to rebuild your division? How did Riverside go back to being the largest division in QS within a year after the big loss?

Thirty-five percent of Riverside’s businesses is with clients with 1 to 10 stores. These clients were added with lots of perseverance, great client relationships and positive attitude.

Here are a few steps that we took to make it happen:

• Send out thank you letters to your owners and managers for being able to work with them. Let them know that you are still available to do audits for them. Follow up with a call or email to make it clear that you are able to give them audit service and that you can work with them to see if there is other information that they might be interested in.
• Once you pick up some audits send out another letter stating that owners and managers are doing audits on their own and are pleased with the continued service that QS has always given them.
• Referrals…referrals…referrals...one sale will lead to another, make contact with BC, FBC (supervisors and market managers), I even got a couple of realtors that I met in Change Over audits, and they call me when they need an auditing service.
• Keep constant contact with future clients by attending Franchisee’s meetings.
• Be adaptable to your client’s needs even if you have to do small sacrifices, they will appreciate and will keep you in mind for future business.

I read a quote once which read, “When it’s obvious the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” I truly believe that we are all great achievers with the ability
to bounce back from situations like this.

Be positive, always keep a winning attitude and remember that when you are down the only other direction is up. Your division will grow, all you need to do is taking the first step and get
started now!

Beer on Tap at Sunoco!

Perhaps the next big idea in convenience stores may be selling beer on tap. No, they aren't operating a bar in the store, but instead customers are filling up "growlers" which are jug-like seal able containers (64 ounces) that are usually refillable.

In Western New York (Buffalo), Sunoco has launched a Craft Beer Exchange in 12 APlus convenience stores. It is still in the testing phase but the results seem promising. They each offer 12 craft beers from local breweries.

One advantage is that it takes a few minutes to pour a gallon of draft beer and this means the customer usually picks up a few other items as well.

Do you have any convenience stores in your area offering beer on tap? If so, tell us about it!

NACS Show in Chicago is...Overwhelming?

This past week I flew to Chicago for a day to visit the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) annual convention. It's been a few years since I attended and it's easy to forget how big these convention and trade show is. Here are some interesting facts:

• More than 22,000 people attended from 50 different countries
• The exhibit space covered 375,000 square feet...that is the size of almost 8 football fields!
• There were 1300 companies exhibiting including a record 5 inventory services
• There was a huge continent of convenience store operators from Brazil - had to be several hundred. Most of them were wearing AM/PM shirts
• The exhibits were open 6 hours a day on Sunday and Monday and 4 1/2 hours on Tuesday for a total of 16 1/2 hours.

It's easy to get overwhelmed in such a large convention! QS had a 10x10 booth - 100 square feet! We were able to talk with quite a few clients and prospects but it is a crazy environment! I tried to walk most of the exhibition floor but gave up after three hours or so...I don't think I saw even half of the vendors.

I want to thank Barrett, Randy and Pat who worked the show for QS. It is really grueling work.

Square

All of you weekend entrepreneurs out there...have you heard about Square? It is a (relatively) new credit card processing system that allows pretty much any smart phone to swipe credit cards and take payments from customers. I recently got one for a student business I volunteer with. With have three or four sales a year and Square allows us to "join the big time" by accepting credit cards.

Basically, you sign up for an account and they send you the little card reader (for free) that plugs into your smart phone. You download the app on your phone and you are ready to start accepting credit cards. The payments are made to your bank account in one to two days. The fee is 2.75% with no minimum and you pay a little more to process payments without swiping a card.

I have read that it is very popular with flea market vendors, taxi drivers and small retailers. Here are a couple of reviews - New York Times and Entrepreneur Magazine.

I am wondering if this might help QS accept payment for small dealer accounts at some point?

New DM Promotions!

We have quite an impressive list of new Division Managers at QS! Please join me in congratulating each of the following:

• Tampa, FL - Paula W.
• Hartford, CT - Matt A.
• Huntington, WV - Patrina S.
• Jackson, MS - Jessica J.
• Roanoke, VA - Chad N.
• Dover, DE - Pam B.
• Tupelo, MS - Rob M.
• Richmond, VA - Chris S.

All of these folks will be attending a New DM workshop in Columbus on October 20-22. I plan to get some pictures and learn a little more about each of them while they are here. We are so fortunate to have this talented group on board with us!

Larry and Georgann from Tampa have moved to Gulfport to provide us with a strong foundation for our service to Pantry, Clark and Sprint. Thanks!