>From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 02 03:53:15 1996 Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 23:47:27 -0700 From: Jay Will & Linda Farr Subject: Triad's eagle catalog It is pretty cool ... if you've got a half meg to burn on your hard disk. Some problems ... of course the lack of consistency on Cotter descriptions continues to be a big problem. I threatened to bid on the job, but was never given the chance. Triad is getting paid (who knows how much?) to do it, but I haven't seen much progress (descriptions with lower case instead of all UPPER CASE are supposed to be new ones), and haven't been too impressed with what has been done. Not having the promotion field updated is a pain, and it is nasty to have to hit twenty times to get back to a menu, or to look up another number. However, the biggest plus is being able to LOD items quickly. I assume that Triad is fixing the problem with new UPC's locking up POS on items that are already in the triad. Jay Farr jwlfarr@mail.coos.or.us >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 02 18:27:57 1996 Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 15:40:15 -0700 From: Rob Vomund Subject: homeimp.com -- Astroturf purchase & installation We received the message below from a visitor of our homeimp.com industry resource site. The homeowner is looking for information about the purchase and installation of Astroturf. I thought that one of you might have the knowledge to be able to respond to this potential customer. Rob Vomund vomund@ix.netcom.com http://www.homeimp.com ------- Start of forwarded message ------- Date: Thu, 01 Aug 96 22:27:59 -0700 From: Angelo Mastrosimone To: webmaster@homeimp.com Would appreciate information on using astroturf in the construction of a home putting green. I would like to know where I can purchase the material and how it is applied. Angelo ------- End of forwarded message ------- >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Aug 03 00:45:33 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Aug 1996 00:47:38 -0400 From: CHank1@aol.com Subject: Re: Triad's eagle catalog Jay, funny you should mention the POS bar codes lockup. I was talking with Triad today and saying that that is a really big problem for us and they said that it had been reported and may be fixed in the near future. We are a multi store and have a problem if the item is in one store but not the others and we try to add it to the store that does not have it, the cat says "add failed already on file." Also it seems to always use the default department no matter what you have the fields set to. We are wanting it to use the Triad translation for the department like where Cotter is department F, Triad would translate that being the 6th letter of the alpha bit and use department 06. But it is a really nice piece of work like you mentioned for adding new items. It saves a lot of time but I don't think it passed the manuf. part number correctly. I guess there are a few bugs to be worked out, But I think they are on the right road. Take care. Chuck >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Aug 08 09:24:59 1996 Date: Thu, 08 Aug 96 09:21:27 est From: "Kip" Subject: Extended VDT's Has anyone out there experienced putting a VDT or a PC with PC access in the yard, in a lumber yard situation or at a distance of more than 500 feet from the CPU? If you have, I would be interested to hear what if any, problems you had. Kip >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 09 12:40:33 1996 Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 12:43:34 -0400 From: CHank1@aol.com Subject: Triad Hidden gems I case you have not heard, Triad is offering 50.00 for ideas they will tell during traing at the fall market. There is a form to fax your idea to Triad and if they use the idea they will adard you 50.00. The deadline is August 31,1996. The fax number is 510-373-2040 or you can mail your idea to Customer Services Administration MS 1-23 Triad System Corp. 2055 Triad Drive Livermore, CA 94550 Market attendance is not required and don't expect me to pass any of my "gems" onto this forum until the deadline is over just in case you might want to cash in on any of my ideas. Take Care - Chuck Hank >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 09 21:14:23 1996 From: rwm@triad.com (rob miller) Organization: Triad Systems Corporation, 3055 Triad Dr, Livermore, CA 94550 Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996 12:28:58 -0700 Subject: RE: Extended VDT's Kip, as long as you use the normal opto-diff connection (i.e. not through a multiplexer) you can run a terminal up to 2000 feet from the system (we test for that). Rob Miller, Triad Systems ---------- From: Hardlines[SMTP:hardlines@cornells.com] Sent: Thursday, August 08, 1996 6:57 AM To: Multiple recipients of list har Subject: Extended VDT's Has anyone out there experienced putting a VDT or a PC with PC access in the yard, in a lumber yard situation or at a distance of more than 500 feet from the CPU? If you have, I would be interested to hear what if any, problems you had. Kip *************************************************************** Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list for hardware and building materials industry members. Address articles you wish to send to list members to: hardlines@cornells.com To remove your name from the mailing list, send email to listserv@cornells.com with the following line in your message: unsubscribe hardlines firstname lastname For any other questions, send email to postmaster@cornells.com *************************************************************** >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Aug 12 14:05:29 1996 Date: Mon, 12 Aug 96 08:02:34 edt From: "Kip" Subject: Re[2]: Extended VDT's Thanks Rob! ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: RE: Extended VDT's Author: "Hardlines" at INTERNET Date: 8/10/96 6:07 PM Kip, as long as you use the normal opto-diff connection (i.e. not through a multiplexer) you can run a terminal up to 2000 feet from the system (we test for that). Rob Miller, Triad Systems ---------- From: Hardlines[SMTP:hardlines@cornells.com] Sent: Thursday, August 08, 1996 6:57 AM To: Multiple recipients of list har Subject: Extended VDT's Has anyone out there experienced putting a VDT or a PC with PC access in the yard, in a lumber yard situation or at a distance of more than 500 feet from the CPU? If you have, I would be interested to hear what if any, problems you had. Kip *************************************************************** Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list for hardware and building materials industry members. Address articles you wish to send to list members to: hardlines@cornells.com To remove your name from the mailing list, send email to listserv@cornells.com with the following line in your message: unsubscribe hardlines firstname lastname For any other questions, send email to postmaster@cornells.com *************************************************************** *************************************************************** Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list for hardware and building materials industry members. Address articles you wish to send to list members to: hardlines@cornells.com To remove your name from the mailing list, send email to listserv@cornells.com with the following line in your message: unsubscribe hardlines firstname lastname For any other questions, send email to postmaster@cornells.com *************************************************************** >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Aug 13 17:35:11 1996 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 96 16:23:40 CDT From: Derek King Subject: Good bye!! Dear friends, I am now out of college and looking for a job with six years of hardware experience. why am I looking for a job? The store were I am manager is selling out. I have been offered to stay and run the store but have not heard from the buyer yet. Friday is my last day. I turned in my letter two weeks ago because I have been there six years and the last two years have not had a pay raise or bonus. working forty to fifty hours a week and going to school full time is hard, but finally i am out and ready to take on the world (i hope) Well i would like to thank all of you for the advice and the letters. I would also like to thank John for putting this together. I sound like I am leaving the world. Well any way good luck to all you hardware pushers and I do not know but one day I may be back as a owner of a hardware store. Until then so long. Looking for a $100000000000 dollars a year job, Derek King __________________ Hardware Store home phone if you have a job for me that pays $100000000000 a year (205) 467-6520 Serious callers please!!! >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Aug 14 02:18:31 1996 Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 02:20:21 -0400 From: Colehard@aol.com Subject: Re: Good bye!! Hey Derek, If you ever move to San Francisco, let me know. I may have a job or a store for you! Good luck to you. Rick @ Cole Hardware >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Aug 15 21:03:06 1996 Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 21:03:57 -0400 (EDT) X-Sender: rmaed@unix.worldpath.net (unverified) From: BOB AIKEN Subject: MOTORHOME INSURANCE FOR BUSINESS USE Help! If anybody out there has a motorhome used in business I would appreciate knowing who the insurance company is. I am finding it impossible to get business coverage, and I know there are many motorhomes used this way. Thanks in advance, Bob Aiken rmaed@worldpath.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 16 14:54:50 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 14:54:32 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Internet market and the co-ops As the various hardware co-ops set up Internet web pages and dip their toes in the waters of the Internet, interesting questions are starting to appear. Cotter is due to release some sort of policy/rules outline for Internet marketing shortly, and I'm sure Ace, HWI, and the other co-ops are doing the same (any of these dealers see rules on this topic?). What seems to be tough to pin down is how to set up these rules... early indications are that members will be restriced to using the Cotter trademarks only in their "local advertising area". This is a definition that is hard to define... within driving distance seems one way to define this area, but many, many stores ship items mail order or provide services to customers in other towns, states, even countries. And how can one limit an ad to the "local area"? If an ad is run on a large radio station, there will be significant coverage that exceeds any reasonable definition of "local". Ads run on local TV stations sometimes wind up on nationwide television through the magic of cable. Yellow page ads can cover entire states, depending on the size of the community. Members around the country already send out sale flyers that overlap other stores' "local" area of coverage, and there is little the wholesaler can do to prevent this. The Internet seems especially tough to pin down, since there is no easy way to reach a "local advertising area" without an ad being visible to a larger audience. So, it seems that a store could not advertise or promote on the Internet at all without violating any requirement to keep their ads "local". However, restricting ads on the Internet because of some concept of "local" is ultimately flawed due to an existing technology which has already stretched the definition of "local"... the telephone. Any store with a telephone number is accessible to customers around the world. Stores have avoided presenting their products to these customers not because they wanted to stay "local". The cost of reaching these consumers was excessive. How much would it cost to mail circulars to 10 million consumers? How much to advertise 24 hours per day on cable television? How much to present your ad on the Internet 24 hours a day? Stores are not going to the net necessarily to reach the world... it just happens to be a cost effective way to present your store to potential consumers around the clock. (note: for purposes of discussion, I'm using True Value, but insert your co-op in all instances as this discussion is universal) One of the reasons for limiting use of national trademarks is to prevent confusion at the consumer level... who is the real True Value? Is Joe's True Value going to put together a page that will degrade the True Value name? These topics are already addressed in most co-op advertising guidelines... the co-ops usually reserve the right to drop a member if they are not doing business in a way that will "enhance the reputation of the Company and fellow Members" (from Cotter's Trademark Policy). Members must also use the proper versions (color, size) of the trademarks. So, new guidelines are not necessary to address the True Value "image". Getting further into the "real" True Value question, is True Value the office in Chicago? When a consumer thinks that our store is just part of a nationwide chain, and asks "How do I get in touch with your headquarters?", is that good or bad? We have customers who say "I remember when this store was Cornell's, and not True Value"... is that good or bad? (I'm just asking) So, is True Value best represented on the Internet by one web site, presenting a uniform image of a model store, implying some sort of national chain emanating out from a center? Or, could the web be used to present the unique nature of each store, with a search for "True Value" in Alta Vista or Yahoo presenting a consumer with a cross-section of America... Village Hardware, Emporium True Value, Dublin Farms True Value, Cornell's True Value, and more. A centralized www.truevalue.com could be the unifying link, a way to find stores not on the web, a central reference for consumers, suplementing each stores individual web sites. A single True Value web site could never possibly capture the unique strengths of each store. There's only one Wal-Mart on the web... right now independent hardware web sites far outnumber them. Do we want to go one-on-one? Food for thought... before the rules hit the fan. John ************************************************************************* John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster ************************************************************************* >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 16 19:17:52 1996 Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 19:19:12 -0500 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: Internet market and the co-ops John As we saw when congress decided to hastily pass a law trying to "regulate" the internet, it is scary what can happen when people want to regulate what they don't truly understand. The internet, although decades old, is still in its infancy. How can you create "rules" for something that is changing on a daily basis? I hope Cotter, Ace, ServiStar and others have the foresight to work with their dealers' input before taking ANY action of ANY kind. They all talk about being "retailer focused." Well then start from the front lines and work BACKWARDS, not the other way around. Food for thought. --------- Gary --------------------------------- Gary Schwake Director - Store Operations Zettler True Value Stores gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Aug 20 16:21:28 1996 Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 16:21:26 -0400 From: JKSpaur@aol.com Subject: Re: Internet market and the co-ops Dear John, I must agree with your observations on web pages. The more independents represented the better it will be. HWI is introducing web sites for the entire membership along with the 1997 advertising program. These sites will be small and availible in template formats. These sites will not take the place of existing sites,but could be linked together. I would hope this will allow for the unique nature of any of our stores. Jeff Spaur HWI-RDS S. California >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Aug 22 08:24:17 1996 Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 08:23:53 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Sears and OSH For you Northern California independent retailers, how do you see Sears' acquisition of Orchard Supply affecting your business. The press release was rather vague as to whether they will continue to operate as OSH with Sears product or change over to the Sears Hardware Banner. I'm guessing that the OSH name is out and that Sears will certainly find a way to stagnate one of the industry's most innovative and progressive retailers. Food for thought. -------- Gary Schwake Director-Store Operations Zettler True Value Stores gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 23 00:21:46 1996 Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 00:21:44 -0400 From: Colehard@aol.com Subject: Re: Sears and OSH Hi! Regarding the Sears takeover of OSH I am Rick from Cole Hardware in San Francisco. It is my guess that within a year, OSH will be gone, and the Sears Hardware banner will be flown. I think that this is a perfect inroad for Sears into California, with distribution in place etc. I feel that they will probably begin opening smaller stores throughout CA communities sooner than planned as a result. Hopefully, they will screw it up, as they have done in the past, but I am afraid that we must assume that they want to become the Home Depot of hardware stores. We will fight accordingly ... Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 30 13:58:18 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 13:57:18 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Spark plugs for sale We've had auto spark plugs in stock for several years, and have sold very few. Is there anyone on the list interested in possibly taking the stock off our hands for a good deal? I can send a list of Cotter sku's and/or Champion numbers. Thanks! John PS - Feel free to use this list to post overstock merchandise that you might want to get rid of... no junk, but good merchandise that for whatever reason is not selling in your store. PPS - By junk I mean items like the Power Failure Alarm (by SnapIt). It sounds a loud alarm when the power goes off. Great item... not only are you plunged into darkness, but an annoying horn starts blasting to let you know the power went off. PPPS - Have a profitable and safe Labor Day weekend everyone! >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 30 15:28:48 1996 Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 15:28:46 -0400 From: DLWHITTON@aol.com Subject: Re: Spark plugs for sale I'm possibly interested please send the list you mentioned. Thanks Dana Whitton Gulf Breeze True Value dlwhitton@aol.com fax 904.932.0985 >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Aug 30 17:54:15 1996 Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 17:54:13 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Spark plugs for sale John: Gee I am glad to see someone died with those plugs. I gave up on them years ago. Hope all's well. Rick