Happy Thanksgiving: Here's The Waiver Your Guests Should Sign.

Happy Turkey Day.

Be thankful.

And have your guests sign off on this document, before they enter your abode.




Click to email me.

The Game Continues - Big Copier Players Battle for 3 Point Business: Sign on To Be Premier Purchasing Partners' Whipping Boy

You're perched in a crowded lobby waiting for the appointment you landed two weeks ago.

Next to you is your Sales Manager, on your lap, your Pitch Book.

Across the lobby, a large, disheveled man is torturing the circa 1950's plastic chair; a desperate example of the ultimate carpet sales person.

Next to him, a hot little number with what appears to be floor covering samples by her side.(resilient)

A thought flashes through your mind as the receptionist calls your name, "thank goodness I sell output solutions and not floor wax..."

The dirty secret?

You are all waiting to pitch the same person.

Good Luck with that.

Announcements, from the "wire":

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - (Business Wire) Premier Purchasing Partners, LP, today announced new agreements for flooring carpet and resilient.

New agreements for carpet have been awarded to J+J/Invision of Dalton, Ga.; Mannington Commercial of Calhoun, Ga.; Masland Commercial Inc. of Mobile, Ala.; Mohawk Industries of Marietta, Ga.; Shaw Industries Inc. of Dalton, Ga.; and Tandus US Inc. of Dalton, Ga.

New agreements for resilient have been awarded to Amtico International of Atlanta; Armstrong World Industries Inc. of Lancaster, Pa.; Mannington Commercial of Calhoun, Ga.; Mohawk Industries of Marietta, Ga.; and Shaw Industries Inc. of Dalton, Ga.

Premier Purchasing Partners has signed supply contracts with Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. and Ricoh Americas Corp., both of New Jersey, and Connecticut-based Xerox Corp.

Under the agreements, the companies will supply printers, copiers and facsimile machines to members of the Premier health-care alliance.

Premier Purchasing Partners is a unit of Premier Inc., the largest health-care purchasing alliance in the United States. The parent company recently announced it would make Charlotte its corporate home, moving its headquarters from San Diego and adding 300 jobs here over the next five years.

Premier currently employs 750 in Charlotte.

The company represents 2,200 nonprofit hospitals, including Carolinas HealthCare System, Gaston Memorial Hospital and Stanly Regional Medical Cente.

Go Copiers!
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You and I both know that somewhere in the bowels of Konica Minolta, Ricoh or Xerox, some poor schmoe is "high five'n" another schmoe, congratulating each other on "landing the Premier deal" - you just know it.

Pity the newbie-rep who gets to respond to the RFP.

HP Profits UP 14%, IPG Revenues Decline 15% but Profit Remains Steady

Fresh after last weeks stunning numbers, Canon Down 54%, Ricoh Down 69%, Xerox Down 50% - Profits? We Don't Need No Stinkin Profits..., HP and IPG, make the scene in a relatively rosey manner.

If by "rosey", you mean a 15% decline in revenue...


From the transcript, Catherine A. Lesjak - HP Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer:

"...Turning to imaging and printing, IPG continues to deliver over $4 billion in operating profit annually with Q4 operating profit totalling $1.2 billion or 18.1% of revenue. In Q4, revenue improved 14% sequentially to $6.5 billion as printer demand begins to pick up. We are reinvigorating the core business by driving adoption in high page output areas such as wireless printing, office jet pro, and multi-function printers.

In addition, we are driving growth in long-term, high value annuity businesses such as managed print services and retail publishing. We have been expanding our retail publishing pilot with Walmart. We have begun to deploy our self-service photo kiosks at Walmart and this win, coupled with other major retail publishing wins such as Kesko, Duane Reid and K-Mart Australia represents a significant proof point in IPG's scaling of its contractual businesses.

Operationally, IPG is in much shape as it enters 2010.

It has made significant progress in its cost structure, inventory management, and overall operational rigor. These improvements give us capacity to invest in unit placements while maintaining industry leading profitability. Going forward into Q1, we expect to have double-digit unit growth while at the same time delivering operating profit in the range of 15% to 17% as we outlined at our analyst meeting in September..."
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Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue declined 15% to $6.5 billion.

Supplies revenue was down 8% while Commercial hardware revenue and Consumer hardware revenue declined 32% and 17%, respectively.

Printer unit shipments decreased 20%, with Commercial printer hardware units down 38%and Consumer printer hardware units down 14%.

Operating profit was $1.2 billion, or 18.1% of revenue, versus $1.2 billion, or 15.3%of revenue, in the prior-year period.

So, it looks like even with a 32% decrease in revenu(Commercial hardware), Operating profit remained steady at $1.2b compared to $1.2b last year.

Further investigation reveals that HP experienced a 8% increase in services revenue and HP Financial increased 5%.


Good review here.