Self Storage Industry Eyes Archive Storage Clients

Quick Start Programs Available
Put yourself in the place of the membership chairperson at the Self Storage Association. Your member base is made up of established owners and operators of more than 20,000 facilities, or nearly half of the 45,000 primary self storage facilities in the United States. Your membership has been growing at a meteoric pace over the past years.

As new members enter the industry they eagerly await help from their trade association about how to attract loyal clients. Not surprisingly the Association’s educational seminars have suggested courting archive storage business. As reported in previous editions of Material Handling BIZ, government regulations and litigious courts have fueled an explosive amount of paperwork businesses now need to store.

Now picture yourself as an owner of a self storage facility; how do you know what types of record storage equipment to buy so you can attract clients?

Record Storage Facility Design & Storage Equipment

Countless new and renovated records storage facilities have been completed by Morrison Company for clients using our in-house engineering staff.

Storage Equipment Options

We can provide you with:

• Shelving and racking
• Stairs, ladders, chutes and vertical lifts
• Boxes and record files

No Charge Layout Services

Our FREE services for you are:

• Initial Facility Assessment
• Preliminary Layout Drawings
• Storage Equipment Recommendation
• Final Layout & Installation Drawings
• Permitting, Scheduling and Installation
• Project Management

Planning Software Available: Records Storage System Comparison

A Records Storage Systems Specialist can provide you with business planning software allowing you to develop budgetary figures and a storage system comparison.

Starting out does not need to be scary. A Morrison Company representative can discuss options to grow your as your business changes.

US Chamber of Commerce Lobbying Efforts

Minimum Wage
The 109th Congress is likely to see numerous proposals to increase the federal minimum wage by $1.85 per hour or more. Numerous proposals were introduced in 2004, such as the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would have raised the minimum wage to $7.00 per hour over two years. Although recent efforts to raise the minimum wage have not been successful, the issue remains politically attractive for many members of Congress, and President Bush has expressed support for a wage increase if it is coupled with state flexibility.

As reported in the Washington Post on 8/1/06 – UNRELENTING in their zeal to cut taxes for the richest Americans and unabashed about employing the most cynical of maneuvers to achieve this goal, House Republicans left town this past weekend for their five-week August recess -- after shipping over to the Senate a noxious package that combines an increase in the minimum wage with an outrageous near-repeal of the estate tax and an extension of expiring tax breaks. The House GOP win-win political calculation here is obvious: Marrying a tax break for the rich with a wage hike for the poor dares senators in an election year to cast a vote against increasing the minimum wage. That, combined with some extra goodies, might be enough to get the estate tax cut over the 60-vote Senate hurdle that has so far, fortunately, blocked congressional action. If not, Republican leaders wager, they've at least given nervous House members cover to assert (however insincerely) that they backed a minimum wage increase, only to be stymied by Democrats.

But this is a bad bargain -- unaffordable, unnecessary and, as usual, dishonestly presented. Senators shouldn't be snookered, or intimidated, into going along with it.

Whatever the case for increasing the minimum wage -- and there are points pro and con on that subject -- it doesn't justify nearly eliminating the estate tax. The House measure would raise the minimum wage, which hasn't been increased since 1997, from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 by 2009. According to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, which favors the change, 6.6 million workers would enjoy an average yearly wage increase of about $1,200.

But even assuming that's correct -- and that employers facing higher costs wouldn't respond by cutting jobs -- the benefit pales in comparison with the riches the wealthy would reap by the cut in the estate tax. Assuming that the 2009 exemption of $7 million per couple would be otherwise left in place, according to the Brookings-Urban Institute Tax Policy Center, the estate tax cut would give an estimated 8,200 estates an average tax break of more than $1 million.

The estate tax cut is being peddled as a less-expensive version of one already passed by the House and rebuffed by the Senate. Senators: Don't buy the new model. It's just a gimmick-laden version of the old one. Backers of the cut, which would raise the size of estates free from any tax to $10 million per couple and lower the tax rate on estates under $25 million to the capital gains rate, now 15 percent, argue that it would cost a mere -- $268 billion between 2007 and 2016, $15 billion less than the previous incarnation.

This is misleading on numerous levels. Because the cuts wouldn't actually kick in until 2010, that 10-year estimate is deceptively low, under either the old or new versions. The cost over the long term would be far greater: at least three-quarters of the cost of eliminating the estate tax entirely. From 2012 through 2021, according to estimates by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the new House measure would cost $599 billion or $753 billion if the cost of extra interest payments on the national debt was factored in. And that's a low-ball estimate, because the new measure employs the now-familiar gimmick of phasing in cuts to make costs appear lower; the full effect of the change wouldn't be felt until 2015.

If that's not enough, the House bill includes $38 billion to extend popular expiring tax breaks -- iced with goodies for the timber and mining industries. The $1 billion tax break for the timber industry is designed to entice Democratic senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington State. The mining provision, which has the dual political benefit of putting pressure on West Virginia's Democratic senators to back the package and bolstering endangered mining-state Republicans such as Rick Santorum (Pa.) and Conrad Burns (Mont.), would cost $4 billion over 10 years and shift more of the costs of mine cleanup and retiree health benefits from mining companies to taxpayers. It involves something called the Abandoned Mine Land Fund.

U.S. Chamber Position

The U.S. Chamber will continue to oppose an increase in the minimum wage. However, if such a proposal comes up, there may be companion legislation to help mitigate the adverse effect of a mandated wage increase on businesses, such as targeted reform of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

You Do That?

In-house Design Engineering
According to MHEDA (Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association) there are 400 companies that offer material handling solutions. Although this number may seem high, most do not offer engineering advice. Why is that important?

Think about your last visit to the doctor. What if that meeting was to gain the answer to a troubling pain? Even with healthcare insurance you would have been expected to pay for the knowledge and experience of a professional who had seen similar cases. You probably decided to just stay at home and looked online for a generic answer? Right?

Working with a supplier of material handling equipment that doesn’t have an experienced engineering department makes about the same sense. Looking online and shopping for what appears to be the right solution may save money in the short term, but your long-term prognosis may be grim.

Morrison Company’s engineering team, armed with 35 years of material handling expertise, routinely helps clients think through choices, deciphers government regulations (building codes), presents options that will work when things get shaky (seismic zone design expertise), and prescribes a care plan that will work for their unique circumstances (their integrated material handling solution).

Additionally, just as your family physician must maintain knowledge of current medical trends, Morrison Company engineers are required to actively read and test various products and means to deliver safe and effective material handling solutions.

The commitment to an in-house expertise is the right thing to do for clients. Most material handling distributors rely on their suppliers engineering capability to identify whether the client’s unique need can be met with their product. The flaw using this practice is in the skill set of the engineer. Manufacturers hire engineers to design products not to design an integrated solution using several products.

Additionally, the manufacturing engineers are not tasked to maintain relationships with their end users, meaning as circumstances change in your operation, there will be no engineering advocate to give appropriate advice.

Contact Morrison Company for an assessment of your material handling needs. In-house engineering expertise is provided at no charge and through the guidance of the sales team will develop the right solution to meet your unique material handling needs.

Operations Manager Issues

Documenting Non-Performance
Supervisors who follow a simple set of guidelines can develop good habits and avoid problems in assembling files on staff performance. An employer firing someone on grounds of incompetence may be sued for wrongful dismissal. Defense against such a suit often requires evidence that the employee was indeed incompetent and let go for just cause.

Dismissal without notice is widely regarded today as a serious step generally not justified by one instance of incompetence or misbehavior. Increasing attention is being paid to progressive discipline.

The employee should be told there is a specific problem and given a chance to explain. If the excuse is not satisfactory, the shortcoming or infraction should be recorded in the employee's file. At that time, he or she should be told the consequences of future misbehavior. This process of warnings and recording of shortcomings or infractions is called documentation.

One key use of documentation is to show the reasoning that led to a decision to discipline or dismiss an employee. It is just as important, however, to document good performance. A written record serves as a reminder during a performance review, as justification for promotion or a raise, or as rebuttal to equal employment opportunity complaints involving work performance.

When recording an incident, a supervisor should do more than give an opinion or write statements such as "Alice has not been doing a good job lately." Instead, describe the behavioral evidence that shows the employee is not meeting performance standards.

How much documentation is enough? It's useful to assume someone at the same authority level is going to look at the documentation. That person should be able to reach the same conclusion you did or at least be able to say, "I can see how you concluded that."

Documentation, of course, can be overdone. Use discretion in deciding what to record and how much time to devote to the process. If something unusual occurs, write it down as soon as possible, lest you forget. In entering observations of common occurrences, a weekly or monthly summary of the employee's behavior should suffice.

Documentation can on occasion create problems. When employees realize a file is being maintained, they may feel threatened. Assurances that both positive and negative comments are recorded may not lessen their concern. For this reason, it is important to regularly review the contents of the file with employees. They should not have to speculate about your recorded comments.

Business School Book Review

University of California at Berkeley
Are you a reader? If so this article will feature book reviews by some the county’s best and brightest business school professors. While they’re recommendations may not always be about business, the books do have something to say about perseverance and integrity. This month’s featured professor is Priya Raghubir an assistant professor in marketing at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Priya Raghubir’s favorite books are:

POSITIONING: THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND by Al Ries and Jack Trout

"A strong and simple exposition of the importance of positioning -- of a product, service, place, company, or person! Very readable."

BRAND LEADERSHIP by David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler

"Branding is, if anything, increasing in importance in the new economy, and the hi-tech age. David's new book, building on his earlier Building Strong Brands is one of the best expositions of how a company can recognize, build, and leverage the power of their brands."

BEYOND GREED AND FEAR: UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIORAL FINANCE AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INVESTING by Hersh Shefrin

"The incorporation of basic psychological principles into seemingly 'hard' and 'cold', 'rational' financial decisions is way over due. Hersh's book provides a very readable account of the routes through which human psychology could affect financial decision making -- synthesizing academic research with real world examples to help decision makers understand, and thereby, control biases and errors in their decision making."

Industry Trends

What Goes Into Selecting a Location for a Greenfield DC?
The following article is submitted by Sedlak—providing independent, client-focused distribution consulting services. Find out more at www.jasedlak.com

If your company’s distribution network is (1) growing due to acquisition, (2) becoming more focused due to shift in product offering or (3) just simply “is the way it’s always been,” it’s probably a good time for a formal network optimization analysis.

It’ll be tough. These are the questions you are trying to answer:

• How can we improve customer service?
• How will customer service requirements change over the next five years?
• How can we reduce distribution and shipping or freight costs?
• How are shipping and freight costs expected to change over the next five years?
• Is it even possible to improve customer service and reduce costs?
• Where should our distribution facilities be located?
• What size and configuration should they be?
• How can we create a manageable five-year plan for change that will assure we meet our business goals?
• How will our core business change within the next five years, either due to mergers/acquisitions, new product offerings, labor market or economy shifts?

Consider entering your data into software specifically designed for network modeling. Software tools are extremely effective in modeling several different distribution network scenarios. Engage the services of a third party who already owns a copy of the software to save the expense of purchasing your own version.

Obviously, data crunching with software won’t be enough to give you a go-forward plan. But the analysis of different scenarios will serve as a baseline for evaluating them against your goals. You’ll be able to make network decisions based not only on facts but also on all the things you know about where your business is headed.

The results of a well-executed network analysis are significant savings that begin immediately. You’ll learn a great deal about your internal network, including how to identify ways to work more effectively with trading partners. You’ll also understand what impact changes to cross-docking, vendor-managed inventory and transportation modes have on your operations.

If management is dragging its collective feet about executing an analysis, remind them of ever-increasing fuel and other transportation costs and their current impact on your distribution network. Tell them, “Just like an annual visit to the doctor for a physical, a network optimization analysis on a regular basis is a good idea.”