Vendor Road Trip - Day 23, August 8, 2008

We are finally headed East for the long homeward leg. My first vendor stop was Edmo, a pilot supply wholesaler, and this was the first time on my trip that I basically got stood up. I had talked to my rep earlier in the week to remind him I was coming by today and all seem set. When I showed up I asked if he was around. No, I was told, he took the day off. Yikes, I was a bit taken aback by this. Nobody seemed to know what to do with me until one of the secretaries called another rep, Jeff. Jeff came out to say hi and asked me if I had the new catalog. I said no I didn’t, so he took me back to the warehouse, handed me a copy and then walked me back to the entrance with a “thanks for coming by” and left me to go back to his office. After three weeks of meeting with Vendors, each of which has taken the time to talk business, explain upcoming products, discuss how they can help me to grow, give me a tour of their facilities, introduce me to other employees that I talk with and more, it was really shocking to get such a cold shoulder here at Edmo. It did not leave me with the impression that they really care about their retailers and I’ll think twice before expanding the range of items I carry from them.