Labor Day!!!!

Strict rule of retail: Pound your customers with promotions on any three day holiday. Look it up. We have President's Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day (seems ironic), Columbus Day and Veterans Day. Car dealers are notorious for the best sale of the year on that particular weekend.

So are appliance stores. I am still on vacation, but I am willing to bet there are 20% off sales at Sears, Best Buy, Lowe's and HD. They are smart. However, this great promotion is generated by rebates.

Have a look at these packages before and after rebates from September 1-6...

Bosch: $2999 to $3199 after Labor Day

Frigidaire (oddly enough their rebates start at 20% off): $1999 to $2399 after Labor Day

GE: $2499 to $2999 after Labor Day

September Washer

Why is this $599 ($649 before rebate) washer now $399??

Because it is being discontinued....Is that good or bad? I liked it at $699. Closeouts are rare these days, during the recession companies from the local store to the Fortune 500 reduced inventories.

If you are buying appliances and are looking to save money:

1. Rebates...track them. They can be huge at certain times of the year.

2. Closeouts...Appliances typically do not change much, and who really will know the difference.

3. Scratch/dent...Some of these purveyors are less than reputable. Never buy any products with functional damage or scratches on any place other than the sides.

Dont Jump

I walked into Yale on Friday and found:

This is in addition to the rebate programs already active for Frigidaire. In other words, some Frigidaire products are way more than 10% off through July 31.

Then again, almost every company has a rebate program, even the venerable brands like Sub/Wolf are offering up to $2500. Even Miele, famous for saying nein, is offering free dishwasher installs and extended warranties.

So when stores are advertising 10 or 20%, in effect the offer is for a rebate program offered by everyone.

Stainless Application

I kind of like these Saturday non sequitors or somewhat unrelated posts to appliances and lighting.

Doors always seem to dirty in this store. So many people touching them, boxes hitting them, etc. So why not change them to this?

Same with the banisters.

This post seems way out there, so let me show you an actual useful product. Have a look at this light.

This is actually one canopy, which can support several different lighting options. Its great if you only have one electrical source and need light in many different areas. You can vary the actual height and quantity of the lights.

Happy Memorial Day

I am off this weekend, but Memorial Day is a traditional sale day for retailers...or so you would think.

I see a lot of 20% offs, etc. My only question is: 20% off what?

Look at the bottom of the order/quotation. What is the point of buying anything 20% off if it is still higher than a store selling it cheaper every day?

Have a good holiday.

How to Light Your Kitchen...Part 4

To review, the other 3 components of a light plan:

Task Lighting: Track, recessed and undercounter lighting designed as the backbone of your lighting plan.

Accent: Designed to highlight objects

Decorative: Chandeliers and wall sconces designed to personalize the space. Decorative adds light, but is secondary to task for overall illumination.

This brings us to a forgotten, yet important element of your plan, Ambient lighting. Ambient provides pleasant(weak word, but I am just returned from the red eye), environmental lighting. It has been called the "roaring fire" by lighting designers.

I prefer to call it "uplighting" or fixtures, which light the ceiling. Pendants and semi-flushes can provide ambient lighting...Cove lighting. can achieve the same result as well

Let me show you a few applications...



You are confused? Just remember a pendant, for example, can provide decorative and ambient functions.

How to Light a Kitchen Part 3: Accent

Why am I spending so much time in the kitchen? When you watch TV in the living room or go to sleep in the bedroom, you are shutting the light down or off. Kitchens and baths are a different story and really the only true task applications in your house.

As the kitchen has become all encompassing to include the living space, there are many opportunities for different types of light. You may have artwork on the walls, pottery on a counter or crystal in a cabinet, which you would like to highlight. Accent lighting provides this function.

For example, Next time you are in a nice hotel and see a beautiful flower arrangement, look up. It will most certainly be highlighted by accent lghting. The most common accent lights (for now) are pinhole recessed, which looks like this(they can be smaller)...




Or track lighting




They both utilize a low voltage bulb, which is slightly whiter than an incandescent. This whiter light is great accent lighting. Crate and Barrel utilizes this light commercially better than anyone, especially glassware.

Off today...will respond to questions Monday.

Lighting a Kitchen Part 2: Decorative

So we have our task lighting, which is the most important. Most consumers, however, would believe the chandelier or decorative element is the most crucial. This is partly true, because decorative personalizes the space, but task lighting lights it.

Most people think otherwise. The old way was to size light, which was 24 inches off the table and 12 inches less in diameter. With islands and penisulas being the rage, finding a fixture with those specifications is not easy.

Forget convention, I am writing this at home. My chandelier is 36 inches off the table and way smaller. I think it fits the space. But here are some other ideas. Remember what I have said previously...Have fun with this.

Applications











We may as well show off a bit...Have a look at some new stuff.



Accent lighting is tomorrow. Then I am on vacation. We will finish and amalgamate a plan next week.

How To Light Your Space...Kitchens

Ok, now how do you light a kitchen?

This is a much hard question, because lighting is not direct replacement like appliances. There is so much more to proper illumination as well. First, there are 4 sources of illumination: Task, decorative, accent and ambient. I will cover task today, and the other three in separate posts.

Task is general illumination or backbone of any lighting plan and is most commonly track, recessed and under-cabinet lighting. I will provide the basic framework for a lighting plan. Ceiling height, angles, stud locations, etc. can alter the standard.

Basic recessed placement is 18 to 24 inches off the cabinet or at the edge of the counter. Place them 4-5 feet apart.





Couple of aesthetic tips: Use a 4-5 inch can rather than a 6 inch and for kitchens buy the white trim (industry term for decorative).

Second important part is the under-cabinet lighting. Typically an under-cabinet light is available in 7,16,24,30 and 37 inches. This type of task application will illuminate the shaded part of your counters and provide accent lighting as well.





Sample of one of our lighted kitchens....Don't worry in the next couple of weeks, you will be able to engineer your own lighting plan.

The Increasing Power Of Social Media

I have previously written about this before, but social media has become much more important even in the last 6 months. Here is a test: How many over 40 somethings are now texting or posting on Linkedin or Facebook. Its not just for the kids anymore.

I have to respect the power, and truthfully it is a concern, threat or opportunity for anyone running a business today. We have 22 salespeople, 7 delivery vehicles and 17 service vans. Odds are a client will be unhappy at some point. We have worked on service, service recovery and immediate response to any bad postings. Constructive criticism can only help (if you can take it).

It will change the way you will buy appliances. In home improvement, there are three social media sites worth checking out:

1. Angies List..There are at present 66 reviews of Yale on this site. It is geared towards home improvement and requires a small fee to join. Well worth the cost

2. Yelp: Geared towards shopping with a younger, hippier audience, this is a fun site

3. Citysearch: Another shopping site similar to Yelp


Typically you see the negative, but look for patterns in mistakes. For shoppers, this is a good indication of your overall sales experience.

Extended Warranties

I find extended warranties interesting. Then again, I have a strange sense of humor. These slips of insurance really run the gamut of consumer emotion. From people who think it is expensive(which it can be) and a waste of dough to customers who are irate for not buying one and having to pay for service.

Here is the skinny: If a company does not have a service department, do not buy it ever. I don't care if they return a portion of your dough after the contract expiration. The contract is worth nothing, and the seller is banking on breakage and non redemption. We spend 10,000 per month in contract redemptions. The rough percentage is 20-25%, but when you need service...the average call is more expensive than the contract.

Skinny Part 2: Be very wary of third party contracts. Often times, a dealer will hand you a contract, which is backed by a warranty provider. I have a healthy respect for most of my competitors...But in this case, run the name through the Better Business Bureau. The results can be shocking.

Skinny part 3: Do not be oversold and do not overpay. You should pay $150-$250 for a basic appliance and $250-350 for a professional piece...Some of the rates can be outrageous. Look for ancillary benefits, refrigerators can have a food loss guarantee. (ours is $250)

And remember...it is your decision.

How To Buy Appliances..Part 7

This is really not all that difficult...Its easy if you know what you want. Much harder when you have no idea. How about a novel idea? Lets stay under your budget, pick desirable items and as an added bonus, not lose your mind.

1. Establish a budget. You will stick to it.

2. What pieces do you really want. Is it a SubZero, stainless steel appliances, slide in range?

3. Rebates. I hate to say it, but $500 in rebates would sway my loyalties between similar items.

So lets say you have no idea:

4. Start at the range. There are more tough choices than any other product.





5. Refrigerator next, once again the most difficult dimensionally.





6. Dishwasher and over the range microwave should match the other two pieces.









If you stay within the same brand, there are numerous budget saving rebates. I am not partial to side by sides, but this Bosch package has a whopping $1350 in rebates...I can learn to love it for that type of money.

Handle This...

So Whirlpool is Maytag, GE Cafe is GE Profile (in some cases), Bosch, Thermador and Gaggenau can also be similar. Here is the one uniform feature difference...

The Handle





Quick suggestion to save you money: Forget the brand, buy the least expensive yet similar model. Unless of course you did not like the style of the handle.

Breaking Up Is Hard (And Expensive) To Do

Great tune. Happy Monday, I guess.

Let us presume that you will be planning/consummating or otherwise considering a remodel, renovation or new construction. Let us state further that your budget has been cut.

If you want a seriously different piece of advice guaranteed (not in a telemarketer type of way) to save you some dough, then do not split your appliances.

A single wall oven, which is defined as a stove without burners in a wall, is $700-1800 on average. A very good freestanding range with burners will cost less.

Have a look at a pictorial:

The GE Profile single wall oven with digital LED controls $2289





The GE Gas stove with convection, 17,000 BTU burner and griddle $1299

Come On

You can almost sense the desperation in the retail community. As I have written previously, the offer that the product is free if the retailer cannot match the price is at best bizarre...Then again so are promises of $500 back or 15% or whatever

At the same time, you have a very real chance of losing your money at a faltering store if you are placing a deposit on a significant item for future delivery

Protect yourself with some simple steps:

A. I will not shop anywhere without a personal recommendation from a friend/expert or very positive social media posts: Look at Yelp, Citysearch, AngiesList for aggregate posts

B. Empty stores are usually empty for a reason

C. I question a price that is way lower as it usually means there are hidden fees somewhere else. People make this mistake when choosing contractors and then become slammed with change order increases

D. I love the phone. Call the company. Look for return calls, etc. Think your contractor will wait on the phone for more than 2 minutes....Think again

E. Maybe its just me, but dirty, unkempt stores are a precursor to lousy service later

Be careful out there.....

How to Buy Decorative Lighting

Lets look at the traditional, yet contemporary fixture...Notice anything different, beside the color and style.



Look again.



It has no arms. Probably about 30% like this fixture, 50% do not and 20% are ambivalent. That's the beauty of decorative lighting or any other product of fashion. Chandeliers are only part of a lighting plan, and the other elements task, accent and ambient are the real illuminators.

So as I have posted before, buy what you like...You can mix styles, colors even sizes (to a point)...Its all personal taste.

Lintless

So you are buying, thinking of buying or have purchased a new dryer. New dryers with the moisture sensors will save you a ton of money, but how about replacing the duct. The duct is that slinky looking thing in back of the dryer.



That duct probably has a number of years of lint inside, which can decrease the efficiency. Lint can also be ignited at worst case.


How much to buy and install this little package of prevention?...about $30

Your Choice...Seriously

I will occasionally work on the sales floor to sharpen my dwindling skills. What I would buy seems to be the question Du jour. So lets look at this GE Advantium as a case in point.



The GE Advantium will cook 4 times faster than a regular oven. It has simple preset cooking programs, so it is easy to operate....My question to you (and you to yourself)

Would you use it? (assuming it fits)


If the answer is no, then spend $300 less for a simple microwave.


If yes, does it fall within you budget...If not, look above.


If yes, certainly consider it. (don't worry, we will show you how to use it)

The Future is Not Now

Buying products like cars, appliances and lighting is tough currently without question. These products need service and/or maintenance in the future. The problem is to ascertain which store will actually be in business in the future. You certainly want that dealer or provider in business 5 years later. Appliances have a rate of repair roughly 18-20% in the first year. You want someone invested in the sale to actually facilitate the repair process.

Some telltale signs of store problems:

1. Bankruptcy: Chapter 11 allows for reorganisation, but what retailer has ever reorganized.
2. Lack of Inventory: Possibly shut off from vendors due to nonpayment.
3. Old displays: Not enough money to reinvest.
4. No sales help or inexperienced help: Paying less for labor is a sign of financial problems (this is not fast food.)
5 Missed deliveries or commitments: Once again, the retailer probably does not have enough credit to pay for the merchandise.

Small tip: Do not buy an extended service agreement from any teetering retailer. Wait a year and contact the manufacturer directly. You will pay more, but at least service problems will be rectified.

Integrate

Before you buy that stainless kitchen consider integrating or hiding the unit. It is an interesting understated look, and can now be carried through all the products except for cooking.


Have a look: