eugene@signmakershc.com

We have been swamped for the past 20 months. Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am that were are so busy. But being busy is one thing, swamped for months on end is another. We can't even catch our breath, don't have time to service trucks, etc. I have people upset with me because I can't get it done quick enough. I'm someone who has always taken great pride in meeting my customers deadlines, and this is driving me crazy. How does everyone else handle this? Do you just let the complaints go in one ear and out the other? Do the best you can and let the chips fall where they may? I could probably stand to add another crew and truck, but it takes a long time for that to pay off. Beside who knows what the future will hold. My luck, before I got everything running smoothly, the economy would die again. Anyone have any suggestions to save my sanity?

I've been taking them to my local UPS Store for several years.

Did some work for them last year, paid okay.

Not sure who made these, but I've seen a lot of them. Dualite used these on the Motel 6 signs. Some of the easiest I've ever refaced.

Had a good year, Numbers not as good as 2012, but not far off. Actually had more orders, but average invoice was down. Think 2014 will be good, but off to a rough start. The weather has just killed us.

try Gemini

It's cold here too. Right at 0 with windchill of -20. Too damned cold to even go outside, forget any kind of work. Good day for reorganizing the shop & trucks.

Richard, He does make a jib winch. You can contact Tim Raymond at 941-256-4165.

Richard I bought a demo model so I got a really great deal. He makes a 5' and 10' model, and depending on the options the cost is between $12,000 & $20,000. I sent Tim my measurements for my boom and he made it to fit. He delivered it to me (it fit perfectly), set it up and trained us on it's use. It is not cheap, but you have to spend money to make money. We do more & more hi-rise work everyday, and it won't take long save in crane fees what I paid for it. I can see it making us much more productive, especially on hi-rise work and big channel letter jobs. Has to be faster to put up patterns, 2 guys can drill at one time, mount, put on faces, etc. I didn't mention in my first post that I also have radio remotes. With both of these options the crane is just like working out of a big bucket truck.

Richard,

Got our first chance today to work our new 10' auto-leveling, rotating work platform by ReachAll Platforms. This thing is Sweeeet! Having the ability to rotate the platform really makes a difference. This attaches to our 23.5 ton crane. We had a 6' wide basket that did not rotate and was gravity leveled. Seems you were always working out of the corner of the basket, never in quite the right position. My guys and I agree that this is going to be a real time saver and save us rental fees for hi-rises that we no longer have to take to the ground to reface. Smooth operation and well built. Will be a lot more efficient when I don't have to remove the basket to get it into my shop. When stowed it extends 20" farther off the rear of the truck than the old basket, so I have to build a bump out on the back wall to accommodate the platform ( I new this going in). I've attached a few photos showing the platform.

This is a problem that just keeps getting worse. I've been in my present location for over 15 years, and until this year, there had only been a couple of instances of someone stealing scrap from behind the building. I've been hit 4 times this year. They stole the 175' welding leads (4/0) off my crane in Jan., and they got scrap worth well over a thousand dollars on two occasions in Jan. Just last month I had a flatbed trailer stolen. It was locked and loaded with the crates from a previous day's job. They shoved the crates off and took the trailer. My insurance covered everything, but what a pain in the ass. My insurance company said if I didn't put in a security system they would raise my rates, so I spent $1500.00 for a good camera system that I had to spend two days installing. It's hard enough to make a decent living these days, without having someone steal what little you manage to accumulate.

try NESCO Equipment Sales. nescorentals.com

Does anyone know what the PMS number is for Chevrolet Blue?

King Architectural Metals

Just received my quote for our medical insurance for 2014, an increase of 84.7%. This is on top of our increase of 2013 that was 40%. I pay 100% of my employee's medical insurance, but don't know if I can afford this any longer. Thanks to Obama my employees are probably going to lose their health insurance. What happened to the "if you like your insurance you can keep it". We like it, just can no longer afford it. I been in business for over 15 years and have been pretty successful, but if Obama keeps helping me I don't know how much longer I can stay profitable or successful. He keeps telling us how he is helping the middle class, I'm middle class, but if he doesn't stop helping me I'll soon be in the poor house. Between the cost of everything going up, and the constant barrage of new regulation, profit is getting harder and harder to come by. Contrary to what our president believes, profit is not a bad thing, and is actually a necessity to stay in business and employee people. Don't get me wrong, there are things the government needs to do, things that need to be regulated, but we've gone way beyond any common sense. The new crane certification rules have cost us a small fortune, and none of what we've spent may even be valid anymore. My greatest fear is having an employee get injured or killed on the job, but I don't think this certification is going to make the jobsite any safer. We require all drivers to be licensed, and that sure hasn't made the roadways any safer. Using good common sense, not taking shortcuts, having your business and your employees best interest at heart would be a lot more effective. I know there are dumbasses out there that don't care, but none of this will stop them. Fine the hell out of them, put them out of business. Just don't regulate and tax the rest of us out of business. I'll get off my soapbox now. Just had to get some of this shit off my chest.

I was called today about franchising service work for YESCO. Anyone else been contacted?

National Gate & Glass

Received a fax this afternoon for a service call at a location 50 miles from me. Request stated they would pay no more than $50.00 per hour for travel, and no more than one hour. Had a $275.00 NTE amount. I wrote DECLINED across the order and faxed it back. Received a call saying the travel rates should not have been on request. Wanted my rates, gave them the rates port to port + fuel charge. Told me they didn't pay port to port. I told them I didn't pay for travel out of my pocket. Who do these clowns think they are that they get to set our rates & terms? Cost me the same per hour for my men, whether they are driving or working, also cost me fuel and time for truck both directions. I'm fed up with these SOB's that want me to work for free, then take forever to pay, and want me to be grateful to work for them. They make more off the service call than we do, and they aren't out anything. I say F**K'em all. If you won't allow me to make money and pay me on time I WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU.

Maybe this is an isolated incidence. I've been doing business with them for over 10 years with never a problem. We all screw up sometimes, I know it happen here at my company. I would never publicly call someone out over a single incident. Shit happens. If it is a recurring problem, then they have it coming. I know I wouldn't want someone to blast me over a single problem.

I've never understood why the better you treat an employee, the more they expect, the more you do for them the more they want. Granted not all employees are this way, but a fair number are. I took my entire staff and their significant other on an all expenses paid 7 day cruise in 2011. One of my employee's complained that he would have rather had the money. Wish I would have known that, he could have stayed at home. This was a bonus, not something I had to do. Just really pissed me off. I'm giving it to you, what the hell are you complaining about. After we got back the slacking off started. Guess he figured that if I could afford to take everyone on a cruise that he should get more money. If I've learned one thing after 15 years in business it is this, I hire based on an attitude & work ethic only. I can teach the skills, but I can't change attitude or work ethic.

I personally think unions have outlived their usefulness. There are all kinds of laws to protect the workers today. If someone doesn't like the pay or benefits, go somewhere else to work. I will not have anyone strong arm me into paying wages or benefits that they think they should get. I've had employees tell me that if they didn't get a certain amount of raise they would walk, I told them, go ahead. I refuse to be held hostage. My employees make above average wages for my area, they have paid insurance (medical, dental, vision, life), they get a vacation bonus every year and they get a Christmas bonus every year ($100.00 for every year of employment and I pay the taxes), they get bonuses every quarter if their department exceeds their sales goal (a percentage of everything over the goal), we provide free coffee and soft drinks. I have never in 15 years laid off an employee, even when I had a really bad year, they got 40 hours every week. In 2011 the company lost $41,000.00, I basically worked for free, one of my employees demanded a $1.00 hour raise, even though he spent most of the year sitting on his ass because there was nothing to do. He said he would walk, I said go ahead. He found out they grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. I was a union member for 30 years in the telecommunications industry. I can't count the number times I've seen workers walk away from an outage because it was lunch time or quitting time, or the guys that had seniority set on their ass because the union protected them. I never did that because I wan't raised that way, I was forced to be in the union if I wanted the job and I resented the union every step of the way. I received a lot of grief over the years because I thought the customers and company deserved the very best I could do at all times, because it made the other workers look bad, I was a BROWN NOSER because I did my job. The worker is the one that determines the quality and the work ethic. The union protects the lazy workers and the malcontents, they will go to the ends of the earth to protect those guys, and run like the wind from a good worker that makes an honest mistake.

Six weeks ago I had 225' of 4/0 stolen from my crane. First time I had anything stolen from my trucks in 15 years of being in business. My trucks are normally kept in the shop, had it sitting out because the shop was full. Someone was watching, took advantage of the opportunity. I was also hit by scrap thieves 3 times in 3 weeks, one was done while I was still at the shop one night, heard a truck with a loud exhaust stop, and went out to investigate, surprised the guy. I got the license plate number, know the guy's name, but cops can't find him. The thieves will steal anything they can find. I'm tired of dealing with low life's that are too sorry to work for a living. I told the cops if I catch a thief they can pick up the sob in a body bag.

Sad day in America. I'm scared of what is going to come about. Those of us that work are going to have to fork over more for those that won't. Still haven't figured out why I'm supposed to work for what I have and also work for those that won't so they can also have what I have. Maybe we should all just quit, get on the government dole, see how long the government lasts.

I guess I should have given this a different name. What I was trying to do is show how some people always want more than they are currently getting and always feel they aren't getting their fair share. Just like in our current tax system, there are people that complain that the rich aren't paying their fair share. A lot of those same complainers aren't paying any income tax, but receiving government benefits, get to drive on roads, send their kids to school, get fire & police protection & etc without paying for it. In my opinion it takes some big balls to complain that the people that are paying taxes aren't paying enough when you don't pay any. It is really easy to spend someone else's money. A truly fair tax would be a flat rate where everyone pays the exact same percentage. An even better plan would be a consumption tax, then if you spend very little and or save, you pay very little tax, if you spend more then you pay more. All that has been done to help the poor in this country over the last 40 years has NOT worked. We have a greater percentage of people considered poor than ever before. We have created a whole class of society that has never worked or intends to ever work that feels entitled to everything that people that work hard for a living has. As the government has taken more & more of what we earn for taxes the people on the bottom have less of their earned income to spend and can no longer survive on their own. They then have to start having help from the government and this problem just keeps getting bigger. The poeple that don't work for a living have too much time on their hands also causing the crime rate to climb. I believe that any able bodied person receiving government assistance should have to work 8 hours a day at somethingl This would cure a lot of things, obesity, poor self esteem, etc. Women on asistance whould also have to be on birth control that they have no control over, if you can't afford to take care of yourself & your family , you should not be able to add to that burden. It amazes me that some of the people getting govenment assistance need my help for basic neccessities, but can afford tattoos, piercings, smokes, alcohol, & drugs and $150 tennis shoes. Before Johnson's Great Society, the local churches and other groups helped the poor, every dollar they collected went to help the poor. With the government we are lucky if 10% of every dollar they collect for the "poor" actually makes it back to the people. Too many hands in the till, a lot of them making big money for jobs that others used to do for free. Before the government got involved these people were helped to find a job and encouraged to work, with an incentive for working. If you didn't try to help yourself they eventually would quit helping you. Now there is no incentive to work, you can do better staying on the government dole. But someday this will all end, there will come time when those footing the bill for all of this will no longer have enough money to fund all of those sucking at the government teat. You don't think that possible, look at Europe, that's where we are headed. As the government takes more & more of what we earn, more & more fall into the poor category and have to start assistance. This is not sustainable. If there is not fundamental change in this country we will cease to exist as a free society, and today we are well on the road to that end.