Vol. 3, No. 26– December 20, 2004

 

LUMBER DEALERS CRITICIZE SOFTWOOD DUTY 

The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) today criticized the findings of the final US Department of Commerce administrative review that fails to significantly lower the duty rate on softwood lumber imported from Canada. America’s lumber dealers, who must import 34 percent of the lumber demanded by their building customers, have been paying tariffs totaling 28 percent while awaiting the end of the litigation appeals process. The new rates announced today total 21 percent. 

“Today’s Commerce Department announcement is inconsistent with the unanimous NAFTA panel ruling earlier this year, which found that the US failed to prove a ‘threat of injury’ by Canadian imports,” said NLBMDA President Shawn Conrad. “While the reduction will provide modest relief to the consumers of softwood lumber who bear the brunt of this unfair tax, we are disappointed they were not lowered further. 

“With lumber prices at all-time highs, it is time to remove artificial elements from the lumber market and take steps to achieve the free trade of softwood lumber between the US and Canada,” Conrad continued. 

America’s lumber dealers collectively are the largest purchaser of Canadian softwood lumber, and have long worked to achieve free trade in lumber between the two countries. NLBMDA remains optimistic that the legal challenges before NAFTA and the WTO will result in the ultimate repeal of the softwood duties.

 Source: NLBMDA, December 14, 2004. 

MLA EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Train Employees … Serve Customers 

The Basic Materials Estimating School… This is a two-day school designed to teach participants the basic piece-by-piece estimating of building products usually sold in a full-service lumberyard/home center. Students learn the basics of blueprint reading, how to use the LT1 Guidebook for estimating that contains tables, checklists, construction illustrations and estimating reminders; and finally how to estimate a simple house plan piece-by-piece. 

Feb. 14-15 – Wichita, Kan.

Feb. 16-17 – Kansas City, Mo.

March 10-11 – Tulsa, Okla. 

Advanced Materials Estimating School… This advanced piece-by-piece estimating seminar is designed to assist the estimator or outside salesperson/estimator who already knows how to estimate but wants some shortcuts and instructions in multi-pitched roofs, including stick framing and finding wall lengths, floor area, and more complicated house layouts. Students receive the estimating guidebook as part of the class. 

Feb. 18 – Kansas City, Mo. 

Managing Outside Yard Operations… This course is for yard foremen and key personnel supervising the efficient operation of the “outside yard.” Seminar topics include: protecting profit dollars in the yard, customer service in the yard, pre-emptive management and equipment maintenance.  

Feb. 17 – Columbia, Mo.

Feb. 24 – Oklahoma City, Okla. 

Member Pricing: 

Basic Estimating - $425 per person

Advanced Estimating - $300 per person

Yard Foreman Seminar - $310 per person 

Early Bird Discounts available – see registration form for details. 

Complete information and registration forms are available upon request from MLA at 800-747-6529. Or, simply reply to this email and we’ll send complete information today! 

EARLY ACTION ON ASBESTOS? 

Incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) is working to jump-start stalled negotiations on the no-fault compensation fund for victims of asbestos exposure. Since dealers have been targeted by plaintiff attorneys, a fair resolution to the asbestos litigation crisis continues to be an NLBMDA priority. NLBMDA was supportive of efforts to pass the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act, S. 2290, earlier this year. Specter has organized a fresh series of meetings with retired Judge Edward Becker continuing as mediator. Specter plans to hold a hearing in the Judiciary Committee the week of Jan. 10, with a goal of passing legislation by the end of January. 

However, scheduling challenges may slow down Specter’s work on the issue. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) does not plan to begin confirmation hearings on President Bush’s slate of cabinet nominees until new Senators have been sworn in on January 4 – leaving less than three weeks to meet the President’s goal of having the new cabinet confirmed before his inauguration on January 20. With Democrats already promising to be tough on Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzalez, it is possible that hearings will consume a good portion of the Judiciary Committee’s time. 

Source: NLBMDA Advocate, December 2004. 

LUMBER NEWS – QUICK GLIMPSES 

Revised Previous Employer Background Checks… You are required by DOT to collect employment verification information from previous employers for newly hired CDL drivers. For all drivers you hire after October 29, 2004, there is some additional background information that you must collect. You should have background checks on all existing drivers except those employed prior to January 1, 1971. There is no need to go back and change or revise files of existing drivers to meet these new requirements. 

Source: RCI Safety Sentinel, Regulatory Consultants, Inc., September-October 2004

 Canada's Housing Starts Up Nearly 6 Percent for November… North America's housing starts generally remain strong. Canada is the latest to report: Canadian housing starts were up in November by 5.9%, to 238,000 units from October's 225,000. This is the 18th consecutive month in which new home construction in Canada has been above the 200,000 level. New home construction in Canada is on track to reach a 17-year high in 2004.  

Source: LBM Daily, December 9, 2004 

Junk Fax Prevention Act Passes… Late last night before adjourning, the Senate passed S. 2603, the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2004, by unanimous consent.  However, due to some tag-along provisions, including Senator John McCain's “Boxing Bill,” the House was unwilling to accept the Senate-passed bill.  This legislation would have corrected the problems caused by the FCC's decision to alter long-standing regulations governing fax communications between entities with an “established business relationship.” 

The fact that the House did not accept the Senate-passed bill is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the FCC recently delayed the effective date of its new regulations from January 1, 2005 to July 1, 2005.  This will hopefully allow time for the new Congress to pass corrective legislation early next year.  The compromised language in the version that passed the Senate quelled earlier objections raised by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and the House indicated that it would have accepted a clean version of this bill. 

Source: American Society of Association Executives, December 9, 2004 

Wholesale Prices Perk Up… U.S. consumers cheered up in early December, sending potentially good news to retailers during the crucial holiday shopping season, a report showed on December 10. Earlier, the government reported that wholesale prices for November climbed unexpectedly in the wake of mounting energy costs, buttressing the Federal Reserve’s case to push up interest rates and keep inflation at bay. 

The University of Michigan’s December consumer survey rose to 95.7, its highest since August. Wall Street had forecast the index, a closely watched measure of consumer sentiment, at 93.5 against 92.8 in November. “People have reacted to the fact that oil prices have come down and that means they expect things to get better going forward,” said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, NC. 

Source: NAWLA Bulletin, North America Wholesale Lumber Assoc., December 14, 2004. 

November Housing Starts Drop Sharply… The homebuilding sector of the S&P 500 took a beating today as November housing starts decreased 13.1 percent, in the sharpest drop since January 1994, when construction on new homes dropped 17 percent.  

Merrill Lynch economist Ron Wexler was gloomy on the numbers: “November housing starts were much weaker than expected.... This data looks like a clean read, with no hurricane impact. This will engender a weak set of construction spending numbers in the coming months.” 

Source: LBM Daily, December 17, 2004 

CAN-SPAM Act Update 

Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its final regulations on determining the "primary purpose" of a commercial e-mail.  The CAN-SPAM Act, the first federal law placing restrictions on unsolicited commercial e-mail, or spam, in effect since January 1, 2004, required the FTC to issue regulations “defining the relevant criteria to facilitate the determination of the primary purpose of an electronic mail message.”   

The FTC's final regulations are almost identical to the proposed regulations published earlier this year on August 13 in the Federal Register.  

The FTC points out that if the recipient of the message deems the subject line to be an advertisement or promotion, or if the “transactional and relationship” contact is not at the beginning of the message, the message would then still be considered commercial in nature.   

Therefore, the FTC did not grant an exception for such e-mails from the CAN-SPAM regulations.  It is now essential for any organization looking to determine whether e-mails they send are commercial or not to apply the test outlined below. 

In the Federal Register from August 13, the FTC proposed three criteria for determining if an e-mail message's primary purpose is commercial.  These criteria are included in the final regulations published today: 

·  If the e-mail's content solely advertises or promotes a product or service, it would be deemed commercial. 

·  Should the e-mail contain both commercial content and also content that falls under the FTC's “transactional or relationship message” category, which is not deemed commercial by nature, then the e-mail would be considered commercial in nature if either a) the recipient deems from its subject line that the message advertises or promotes a product or service or b) the “transactional or relationship” content is not located at or near the beginning of an e-mail. 

·  If the e-mail contains both commercial and non-commercial content, the e-mail would then be deemed commercial if a) from the subject line the recipient concludes that the e-mail advertises or promotes a product or service or b) if the recipient concludes from the text that the main purpose is to advertise or promote a product or service. 

One new addition included in the final regulations is that any message containing only “transactional or relationship” content will be deemed to have a “transactional or relationship” primary purpose. 

MEMBER NEWS 

Roger Sandquist, long time buyer for McCray Lumber, Overland Park, will retire December 31st after 40 years of working in the industry, the last 33 with McCray (formerly Daniels-McCray) Lumber Co. Congratulations to Roger! 

Irl Eugene Pierce, 78, died Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004, at St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City. He was the co-owner and operator of Pierce Lumber Co. in Tribune since 1983. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Michael Eugene Pierce of Port Neches, Texas, Bruce Wayne Pierce of Tribune; a daughter, Myra Jo Stewart of Tribune; a brother; a sister; six step grandsons; two step granddaughters; and three step great-grandchildren. Memorials may be given to the United Methodist Church or Greeley County Hospital in care of Price & Sons Funeral Home, 322 Second St., Tribune, KS 67879.

 BUSINESS INTERRUPTION 

Your business has been seriously damaged from a recent storm and repairs will take several weeks. Business operations are totally or partly suspended due to the covered loss. Who will pay for extra expenses over and above normal operating expenses to get back into business? What about the net income loss and continuing expenses during the period it takes to restore your business operations? 

Effective risk management before a loss occurs can help you prepare for business interruptions and possibly reduce the costs. However, it may be difficult to accurately estimate how long it will take to get back into business. It often depends on circumstances. Alternate building sites you counted on may not be available. Materials needed to repair your building may take longer than expected to reach you. Even the time of year affects your business income loss and expenses. 

A basic amount of coverage is included in most of Federated’s commercial insurance policies, but several options are also available to provide additional protection. 

Sometimes business owners procrastinate about purchasing business interruption coverage because it is difficult to determine the “right” combination of coverages to give needed protection at a reasonable price. However, neglecting to plan properly for a business interruption can be a serious risk management mistake. 

Source: The Shield, published by Federated Insurance, Winter 2004. 

MLA is proud to endorse…. 

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” – Napoleon Hill