N95 Masks

CEO Daily Update – 8.11.2020

August 11, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Craig’s Birthday | Wipes are back! | Its time to go camping!

Happy Tuesday!

Welcome to the CablesAndKits CEO daily email. Read more about this email by scrolling to the very bottom.

Happy Birthday to me … happy birthday to me … happy BIIIIIIRRRRRTHHHHHHDAAAAAYYY dear MEEEEEEEE, Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE.

I get the idea that today might be my birthday. To be honest, almost every year I forget about it until the day of or maybe the day before. This year I actually remembered a few times last week. Odd! More below …

From Joe, our friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer:

WIPES!!! We have a very limited supply of Progressive WipesPlus Disinfecting Wipes! With school starting and requesting parents to bring in wipes for the classroom this is a perfect product for you. More serious environments such as a classroom full of young children require a trustworthy disinfecting wipe. These are bleach-free and EPA registered ensuring maximum disinfecting power safely. Whether they’re used for a classroom, kitchen, or office they’re the perfect disinfecting wipe and comparable to big name brands like Clorox.

More 3M N95’s are live on the site as well! Like in the past, these are also in a very limited supply. It’s crazy how much has changed in these past few months. You used to be able to find masks like this in most everyday stores you walked into and now it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. These seem to be the next Clorox and Lysol wipes… Impossible to find! Act fast before they’re gone!

Some thoughts from Craig:

So, I turn 42 today, and let me tell you – time really does fly. On one hand it seems like just yesterday when I started this business. On the other, it seems like an eternity ago. I was 23. The other day my wife and I were going to look at Campers (See below) and we went to a place in Tucker, which is part of the Atlanta burbs. When I first moved here, I lived in the Tucker/Norcross area and worked nearby at a computer component distributor as a sales guy, but that’s another story. Anyway, we drove by the apartment complex I lived in back then and it was like “wow, that was like a lifetime ago!”. It’s funny how some things seem like yesterday and some things seem like eons ago.

Getting older sucks. In the last few years I have had more health issues than ever before. I had a hernia and surgery for it, major back issues (which are now mostly under control, for now, thank the Lord), tendon issues that resulted in weeks on a scooter to stay off my right foot, and of course bowel issues that resulted in a Crohn’s diagnosis that I still deal with daily. The point is that I can personally attest to the fact that getting older causes all sorts of issues! I don’t recommend it. …. Well wait, compared to the alternative I guess I do recommend it.

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CEO Daily Update – 6.11.2020

June 11, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Rest, Star Trek, Webcam and N95 price drops

Top of the Thursday to ya!

You have come to expect random from me by now. There was an episode of Seinfeld about muffin tops. In the episode there was a muffin top store called “Top of the muffin to ya”. That’s what ran through my mind as I was thinking about today’s greeting. Haha. At least I can laugh at myself.

I was sitting here staring at the screen trying to think of what I wanted to write about tonight (you’ll get this tomorrow morning) and was drawing an absolute blank, which caused me to think … I have been realizing over the past couple days that I am slowing down. I have been going 1000 miles an hour for many weeks and can FEEL that I need a break. I don’t want to take a break, but I’ll be better if I take one. This weekend is my daughter’s 7th birthday and we have family and friends coming to town. As a starting place, I will attempt to disconnect for the weekend, starting Friday. We will see what that does to me.

After watching Star Trek The Next Generation growing up, and recently watching Picard and Discovery, I decided to watch the Original Star Trek Series. I am watching tonight as I write this email (I am toward the end of season 2) and I think it is so funny how pronounced William Shatner’s speech pattern is. I googled it just now and found this short video where he briefly talked about it, which is pretty funny.

Here are a few product announcements for today.

Price reduction on our Webcam – I am working on other models/options as well. Stay tuned
https://www.cablesandkits.com/computing/webcams/wc1080p-01/pro-18838/

Price drop on 3M N95 Masks
https://www.cablesandkits.com/mc/face-mask/n95/fam-274/fp-18865/

We have all sorts of new things in the works and will continue to announce them here!

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CEO Daily Update – 6.10.2020

June 10, 2020 by Craig Haynie

TONS of Updates – Happy Hump Day, Lysol Spray, 3M N95 In Stock, Cases of Hand Sanitizer, Nitrile Gloves

Happy Wednesday! HUMP DAAAAAAYYYY (never gets old)

This is the first thing that came to mind when I started this email for some reason (my brain is random):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHxhQPOO2c

What’s your outlook? Is it going to be a bright sunshiny day? 90% is up to you ….

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church….a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”
― Charles Swindoll

CEO Daily Update – 6.4.2020

June 4, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Referrals, Price Gouging, Nitrile Gloves, Clorox Wipes, & N95 Masks

Happy Thursday!

WHAT – A – DAY. We have a monthly Sales and Marketing meeting that goes all day. It was a tiring meeting when we used to do it in person, but now that it is all video it’s even more exhausting. Over 8 hours on video with several other leaders discussing our product lines, and our sales and marketing efforts. I love the meeting, but after 3 hours sleep the night before it was tough. But it is so great to take the time to work ON the business and not just IN it. I encourage you to find the areas of your business that need you to step out/away/back and give it some thought and consideration. If you don’t have some sort of plan, any move is the right move.

Price Gouging – We launched Clorox wipes yesterday and today I received 5-6 emails accusing us of price gouging. Ouch! That’s a first. I tried to explain in yesterday’s email but here goes again … These wipes are “normally” $5-8 per canister in stores. Normally. Like when they have them and the world is not buying every one they can find and picking the shelves clean. Things are not “normal” right now. We are not a Clorox “partner”, and even if we were we would not be getting any inventory, or would be getting very little. The only option we have to buy and sell these wipes is when some enterprising entrepreneur calls us up and says “I own 20,000 of these. I want X dollars. Do you want them?”. I either say yes, and have them available for you at a higher price, or I say no, and don’t. Just because the price is high does not mean we are price gouging. It means that our cost is sky high which is driving up the price. Let me be clear, we are going to make money on every item we sell or we are not going to sell it (donations aside). So we bought some at a high cost, marked them up a reasonable percentage (that is LESS than our standard margin on technology items), and offered them. Just because that price is higher than usual doesn’t mean that we are price gouging. Please hear me! I am absolutely here to serve you.

All that being said, due to the volume of sales today I was able to increase our order quantity significantly and get the cost down, and in turn, get the price down. We want to make money doing business (else why would we do it), but we are going to try to save you money at the same time! In general, if our cost goes down, the price follows. If you have ANY questions, please reach out to me!

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CEO Daily Update – 6.3.2020

June 3, 2020 by Craig Haynie

Clorox Wipes, N95 Masks, New Floor Dispensers, and Business/COVID Updates

Happy Wednesday!

It was a big day yesterday! Lots of product updates (above), and lots of interesting and enlightening conversations (below).

First, about the product updates – As you will see above, we are launching Clorox sanitizing wipes, N95 masks, and Floor Stand Sanitizer dispensers all in the same day. Wheew!! I want to explain a little about how “this works” when it comes to things like Clorox wipes and N95 masks. There is no reliable supply chain for these things right now. I describe what it’s like out there as the Wild Wild West. Market price is literally defined by what someone is willing to sell something for, and what someone else is willing to pay. There are no rules, and you act fast or you miss the opportunity. On certain items like hand sanitizer dispensers or bottle pumps, I get those manufactured and we have some control. With things like Clorox wipes or N95 masks, it is a no holds barred sourcing showdown. I have been offered pallets of gloves before, and took 8 minutes to make up my mind, and by the time I did they were SOLD. It was a LOT of gloves. I was sick. So, things like Clorox wipes or N95 masks are like that. Someone offers them to me, and I either grab them or I don’t.

I am going to explain what you will see on the site for those items. For the Clorox wipes in the bag, the “on order” qty is on the way to us. Every time someone enters an order, that qty goes down. So in general, what you see on order should be available for you to buy. For the Clorox wipes in the canister, I have committed to about 2000 canisters, but there are a total of roughly 20,000 available. What you see on the site is the amount remaining from the 20,000 available. As soon as I send this email and orders start coming in I will gauge how many to buy and lock the PO in. So, that is why I am saying ORDER FAST if you want them. For the N95 masks it’s similar. We have a vendor that has them available and I have written a PO for the full qty and will edit it as necessary once we see the demand.

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