The faces of Emerald Packaging have changed beyond recognition from our founding. White men in shirts and ties ran the factory. They had a firm hold on management. Factory workers weren’t any different. Bookkeeping belonged to the lone woman. She could have run sales as well as or better than any male had she been given training. { read more }
Recently a purchasing manager at a customer opined that our company Emerald Packaging, Inc., must be up for sale. His evidence? I have not been as active since my father’s death in August 2016 and family businesses nearly always sell after the founder dies. { read more }
A few months ago CNN Money called. They asked to do a story about the impact of n and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid we suffered over five years ago. How could I refuse? The new Trump administration had made immigration enforcement one of its main planks. We had an obligation to show what that meant for business. Thanks to what ICE calls an “audit” we lost 10% of our workforce. Most of them had 15 years or more experience with us, so out the door went some of our most accomplished operators and technicians. We’ve never really recovered. New employees, though good, don’t replace the knowledge we lost. Plus as we expanded, that talent wasn’t here to run our new machines. { read more }
I haven’t posted anything since March because for most of that period my father’s deterioration due to metastasized melanoma overwhelmed me. I want to begin again by posting my eulogy (one of four) and my remembrance delivered at a St. Joseph Notre Dame High School financial aid fundraiser. Given that so much of life over these months has been dominated by caring for him and then grieving his death, posting these tribute seems a fitting way back to writing. { read more }
Every so often a bid lands on my desk. It’s either a current customer seeking lower prices or a prospect looking to see if we’ll compete for their business. Whatever the case, it usually means someone asking for bottom dollar, or close. No other qualifications matter. Such exercises drive me nuts. Any company can find someone desperate or dumb enough to buy business. Even we’ve been guilty of such stupidity, always discovering it doesn’t pay. Some customers can’t help themselves. Supplier madness is just too tempting. { read more }
Most of us have vented frustration in an email. Some rant at the recipient like they’d never do in person. A smaller subset stumble badly. We hit “Reply All” when we don’t intend to, write a nastygram or some other uncomplimentary email about a person and hit “Send” only to realize that the person who we are complaining about got the email. Fevered attempts to recall it usually prove fruitless. The unintended recipient either ends up embarrassed or offended. Explanations may or may not salve wounds. But damage lingers. { read more }
This coming week New Hampshire goes to the polls in the first primary of our prolonged election season. Various contenders hope to stamp their ticket as front- runner thanks to their performance. For many months Donald Trump has been my main worry. His demagogic politics, given to demonizing Muslims and Mexicans, clearly puts him outside mainstream cultural traditions. { read more }
It has been many months since I’ve posted anything here. This silence isn’t very smart for me. I really enjoy writing. Not doing it leaves a vacuum inside me. I like putting my thoughts out there, love the creativity of assembling letters on a page, and even find some hint of the Divine when my mind and my hands become one and the words spill out of me. It is an altered state of consciousness, access to part of my brain, my soul, that I have no other way. Not to mention how fun I find it. Nothing I do feels quite like it. { read more }
Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to dine with the executive team of Homegrown Organic Farms, which operates one of the largest organic blueberry operations in the country. I’ve rarely met a more open, honest and intelligent group — and I am not saying that just because they are customers — so passionate about their product. It being our first meal together we spent time swapping stories family and corporate histories. My team, lead by local Xpedx technical sales representative Chris Kampsen then had a chance to learn about the range of new products they hoped to introduce. They asked our help to develop the necessary packaging. { read more }
When my father started Emerald Packaging in 1963 he did so with three partners. Over the years he bought them out, until in 1993 we became a family business. Through the years the second generation slowly jumped on board. My brother came first, about 30 years ago, and took a sales role. My sister followed and entered customer service. I arrived almost 18 years ago after a career in journalism helping in operations. My father ran a tight ship. The business prospered making iceberg lettuce bags back when such things were novelty. He had a good plant management team, which allowed him to focus on sales, strategy and finance. { read more }