California Here We Come

Welcome to San Francisco

San Francisco, Here We Come:

I have an interesting story about how far we are willing to go to service our customers….

One of our customers, a retail pretzel brand (Pretzel Maker), needed 2000 t-shirts for an event. While this sounds like the perfect order, the details soon brought perspiration to our brows.

Revelation 1: The T-shirts would be needed to be completed In ONE week. Ohhhhkay, we can figure that out… two days to receive the blanks and 24 hour printing shifts…

Revelation 2: Each white T-shirt was to have a design with 7 colors on the back and 3 colors on the front. But, the design wouldn’t be approved until the day the blanks arrived…

Revelation 3: The customer was on a very tight budget for this event. We would have to re-design a bit to reduce the number of colors and setups in the print in order to make it work within the budget and not lose our “shirts”.

Revelation 4: Once we got to the halfway point, we find out that the shirts are needed, not in Salt Lake where we are printing them, but in San Francisco. Yes, as in CALIFORNIA.

The budget did not allow for overnight shipping, or even 2nd day shipping, (which was the latest option available for the shirts to reach the venue in time) so we checked into trucking companies and trains…

All of our options were exhausted, but we were not going to tell this good customer “no”. So, we rented a U-Haul trailer, hooked it up and hauled them ourselves. Took turns driving and arrived on location with some time to spare (about 45 minutes).

The REALLY SUPER GOOD part of the story is this: we brought our daughter, Sierra and our niece BreckLee with us and made it a weekend vacation.

We visited old war ships and had a very nice veteran teach us all about the weapons. Visited the Golden Gate Bridge and relaxed on a pier. We giggled, sang and laughed the whole time!

Both of the girls are teens now, (Brecklee is 17 and Sierra is 13) but they both remember this trip as a great time, even though it was only 4 days (total with driving) and we were supposed to be “working”.

We are thankful to our customers for providing us with many opportunities over the years to teach our children about customer service (optimism), dedication (resilience) and hard work (fun)!

A Customer Gives Kudos To Master Brands!

You are best in service, best in response, and great products. Thanks for the support.

Kevin Mullowney
Sales Director, U.S. & Mexico Products
Boart Longyear, Inc.

Boart Longyear Logo

Hotel Uniforms Add Credibility

Ever notice that the nicest hotels always have the best uniforms. Now uniforms in hotels is nothing new, but you can always tell the class and the service level of the hotel simply by the uniforms they wear. Notice the extra effort that 5 star hotels put in to their support staff. From the bellhops to the valet there is usually a sense of royalty portrayed by those uniforms.

Here’s an article that only bolsters the point that I just made:
From Security Uniforms – Outfit Your Hotel Security in Style

Any hotel that wishes to look professional will need to invest in work uniforms for its staff. Security uniforms are one of the types that you’ll want to have for any security guards that you hire. You can choose from formal or informal shirts, with or without uniform pants. Hospitality uniforms for your concierges are also important and should be included in the hotel uniforms budget. Of course, your housekeepers will each need a housekeeping uniform, as well. Security Uniforms Most hotels that are of any decent size will have some security detail to handle rowdy guests and any other potential problems that can come up. Depending on the safety of the area, you may wish to have a couple of guards patrolling the parking lot to keep the vehicles secure, as well as several within the hotel. In most cases, you will want your security personnel to be readily identified, so using work uniforms that make them stand out as the ones to go to in case of trouble is useful. Security uniforms come in a range of styles, from a police style shirt with a badge holder, to the bright safety jackets that are ideal for parking lot security. For the more formal styles, dark uniform pants with a stylish blazer provide a great, formal look that is suitable to any high end hotel. If your guards wear badges, be sure that you choose work uniforms that are designed with a space for the badge to hang or, in the case of a blazer, store away for easy access in an inner pocket. Other Hotel Uniforms There are a number of other hospitality uniforms that can be used in a hotel. One of the most common ones we see among hotel uniforms are those used in housekeeping. A housekeeping uniform identifies the maids and lets visitors know who to talk to when they need extra towels, etc. It also allows for instant identification when a housekeeper knocks on the door of any room. As with security uniforms, there are a wide range of options for your housekeeping uniform. If comfort is the main concern, look at polo shirts with the hotel logo embroidered on them, along with comfortable slacks or even jeans. Some hotels will prefer to go more formal with black skirts and blouses with a half apron, but there are plenty of other options, as well. Don’t forget your front desk. The men and women who attend guests directly should also have a hotel uniform. Usually this will be a little more formal since they are there to impress the guests. Uniform pants for men, with skirts or slacks for women are ideal, and a dress shirt or blouse with the hotel logo custom embroidered on the chest or collar can add a special touch. A professional uniform, combined with a friendly and helpful attitude will help make a great impression and you’ll find that guests will be more willing to return and even to recommend your hotel to their friends and business associates. If you want your hotel to be taken seriously, you’ll want to invest in work uniforms for the various positions. Security uniforms, uniform pants, hospitality uniforms and other types of hotel uniforms should all be considered. To add a little something extra, have the hotel’s logo embroidered on the housekeeping uniform and the shirts used by the concierges. It’s the little details like this that really say something about the professionalism of a company and you can take full advantage of this. Impress your guests, give your staff a sense of pride . . . all with the right work uniforms.