Dees Stribling

Different kinds of catalogers should have different customer service policies, according to Timothy Holody, COO of Seta Corp., which markets through the Palm Beach Jewelry catalog and ships 1.5 million to 2 million units of jewelry a year to customers. “But whatever your policies are, they have to be set up in such a way that you can measure their effectiveness, and their impact on your bottom line.” Holody’s presentation at the recent National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment in Schaumburg, Ill., was a case study, “A Real World Look at Customer Service Policies,” which focused on how Palm Beach Jewelry handles various customers

Operations and fulfillment “is about people, not systems,” began Bruce Breckbill, vice president of sales for Lehman’s, a Kidron, Ohio-based cataloger of non-electric appliances and household goods, during a session at last week’s National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment in Schauburg, Ill. “Think of it this way: Good people can overcome and modify bad systems sometimes, but good systems with bad people [are] crap.” Breckbill’s presentation focused on four critical areas for O&F managers: * getting the right people, * understanding employees, * making them feel valued and, * fostering self-awareness. 1. “Getting the right people should be simple, but of course, it isn’t,” he said. “The key is

Published rates have spiked throughout the parcel industry, and will impact the bottom line of any cataloger who ships goods through any of the major parcel carriers. But according to Tim Sailor, founder/president of Long Beach, Calif.-based Navigo Consulting Group, the impact doesn’t have to be negative. Despite recent rate hikes, catalog/multichannel shippers still can cut good deals if they play their cards right. “Shippers don’t have the advantage now, since carriers are incentivized to sell their services at the highest possible cost,” Sailor said during a session at last week’s National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment in Schaumburg, Ill. Recent rate