Land 'n Sea on line ordering

We have sent the user names and passwords to the store managers for the Land 'n Sea on line ordering for Marine parts. We are encouraging you to try this site instead of CC Marine --as there are some VERY INTERESTING things that will happen soon - similar to the eKeystone.

We are also encouraging you to get FACE TIME on the A&I Farm Parts on-line site as well - thanks

Allstream sends letters of rate incraese - maybe not!

Rhonda passed me a letter from Allstream with a HUGE increase from $34 to $53 per business line. I have checked with Larry Domm - our local CFIB ( Cdn Federation of Independent Businesses ) and he assures me this letter is in error and we as long time members in CFIB will not be getting this rate increase.

Salesmen -- ask your customers if they also have this letter - might be a good time to join CFIB if not yet.

say you have 6 business lines x $20/line x 12 months a yr = $1,440 you can save.

#5 wins

KYLE BUSCH WINS AT BRISTOL
Kyle Busch drove the No. 5 CARQUEST Auto Parts / Kelllogg's Chevy to victory Sunday in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In the first NASCAR Nextel Cup race for the Car of Tomorrow, Busch held off Jeff Burton and teammate Jeff Gordon to capture his first NASCAR Nextel Cup win of 2007.

who makes our O2 sesors ??

Ok - quiz time -- who makes the O2 sensors for CARQUEST -- if you said Standard you are way out of date ...and even for those who think they got it right by saying Bosch -- well -- you are now only partially right. CARQUEST has added two additional suppliers - both OEM suppliers -- welcome DENSO and NTK. Denso sensors are in sub-line 4 and NTK are sub-line 5 for line OXY. Watch as the new supply roll in ...so it is ABSOLUTELY - Fit - FORM - FUNCTION - not just close -- EXACT!

Changes have been made automatically in our computer system. Now -- go sell!!!

Group Health Benefits

It is once again renewal time for our group health benefits. Hugo has supplied us with quotes from other companies and we have determined that we will be switching carriers this year. The current company came back with a 12% increase over our current rate. Switching companies will at this point only involve the employees signing the new enrollment forms and confirming the information, Hugo will fill in the forms. The new benefits plan will remain exactly the same as the one we currently have the only change is that the new company will cover eye exams up to $80 every two years. If you have any questions please call me. We are looking for a May 1st switch, so if you have any claims that need to be processed get them in now. Make sure you tell your spouses.

Cruise coming -- April 2008

Tech net cruise is coming for April 2008. The last one quickly set up was a smashing success ( as John Sawatsky from MSJ in Windsor).

The details will be out in Mid April -- BUT the special starts April 1 ( no - I am NOT foolin this time ) ---so the more your accounts buy - the more of the trip will be covered with rebates Salesmen -- start talking with your TECH NET accounts about this. Cruise will be in April 2008 ....watch for details

Payroll

I will be doing payroll on Wednesday the 28th. Please make sure all timesheets and vacation/sick days are sent in before that.

It's a boy!

Congratulations to Colleen and Neil (Pete's Paint) who are celebrating the birth of their second child today.

April 9th Staff Meeting

The staff meeting for April is in Leamington at D&T.

Staff Meeting

Please note that since tonight's staff meeting in Essex has been cancelled that the next meeting of April 9th (Easter Monday) attendance is mandatory. The May 14th staff meeting will be in Essex and the July 9th meeting will also take place in Essex. Mark your calendars now.

who won what ?

Matt asked who won the 57 Chev CARQUEST draw - we are still awaiting those details --in the mean time the long delayed press release for who won the BMW is here --I missed it on the CARQUEST LINK -- of course it is easy to miss stuff on the Cdn version of this link -- can you suck ... yes --I guess I can ... was told it was posted in jan/07

yes - BMW in French - but you get the idea --you didn't win - someone in Houston did.

Who should win the 'Horses Ass" award for the worst parts catalog?

Ryan gave me a good idea -- well--the Oscars are now over-- and your favorite won ( or not ) --so nw we need to move on --- to who has the WORST PARTS CATALOG ( or catalogue - for us Cdn's )

One nomination came from Ryan's mouth even before the idea was hatched-- he is nominating the CARQUEST U-Joint catalog ... it is so bad that we regularly have to double check against Precision ( who so some reason decided to make an understandable parts cat - just to prove it could be done - those guys are such trouble makers ....)

So -- send your nominations to your store manager and he can forward them on to the writer. Like Madona says ...EXPRESS YOURSELF ..... together we can improve CARQUEST catalogs ...err...catalogues .... one at a time.

iPod winner

Ryan e-mails me that the iPod winner for the 2nd draw ( 2 more to go - mid March and end of March )

... the winner is ..... Frank from CA Bailey's --draw was made by Roy from Leamington Chrysler

The first winner ( mid-Feb ) was DB Auto Essex - drawn by Mike Kok from Millers Shell

Keep the web-link orders coming in.....

Wheel Bearings

Sales staff please remember to tell your customers that we had a large price reduction on top line wheel bearings.A lot of them are very close to second line price.Also remember that second line warranty issues are supposed to be fixed when selling on price.I have been telling my customers about this reduction when they call for wheel bearings and any other time while they are waiting on the phone for me to look something up.It is more productive than "how's the weather"!

BATERY CORES

We need to start re-training staff on this rather odd way to handle battery cores effective NOW

When you sell a battery over the counter - please - also billing this EXTRA part number ... BAT CORE. prices at $5.95. Ask the customer to return his old battery to us ( tell him where he can drop the battery and avoid it coming back into the store area ) and bring the bill back as well --and we will give him back as credit (or cash if it was a cash sale ) the core charge. You would refund the part number BAT CORE ... it is different than a normal core that is LINKED to the individual battery part. As your store manager for more details if you mis-understand what I am trying to explain here.

For the time period March 7th thru March 21st- we will have a special -- every battery you sell over the counter that you properly include the the NEW battery core part number - we will credit you with $1.00 ( awh yes -- you knew there would be a downside --didn't you -- and for every battery sold over the counter (all sales NOT to a garage account for re-sale ) we will charge you the core value $5.95 from your extra bonus tally - because that is what our store profit sharing will loose wen you can't or won't remember. Are you game for making an extra $1.00 for EVERY battery you sell March 7th thru March 21 ( just so happens to be the time period the writer is away in Hawaii - btw ) ...sell CARQUEST batteries .... sell quality. I hope so--so get CHARGED UP ON SELLING BATTERIES.

#5 race car

Click here to download full size image -- use it for screen saver or whatever ... enjoy -- --- #5 --- >>> #5 <<<

Meeting date change - for March

PLEASEZZZ note this change - Rhonda brought it to my attention --with so many staff away --we will move the staff meeting to the 3rd week in March -- still at Auto Barn

Mon March 19th - at Auto Barn

D&T WINS AWARD!!!

HARLEY SADLO, the President of MCS PRESSURE WASHERS announced 02/28/2007. D&T Auto Parts has been named their #1 Dealer in ONTARIO for 2006. We should see a plaque in about a month. This also entitles the store manager to an awards dinner in Whistler B.C. (next time I am out that way.)