Saint Nick Visits Sport BC

Last night was the annual Christmas gathering for Sport BC, the amateur sports association in British Columbia. KidSport is the charitable arm of Sport BC and a charity Costless Express has supported for years.

Last night I stopped in to present a donation from Costless Express to KidSport and was able to personally pass off our cheque to good old Saint Nick himself! The money donated will be used to assist underprivileged children play sports. All kids deserve a chance to play sports regardless of their economic situation, and KidSport assists with paying dues, travel costs and equipment.

Assisting children in making sports accessible is very near and dear to my heart. As a child in a single parent home, we didn’t have much money growing up. I played goal in Port Moody hockey for 8 years because the equipment was supplied at no cost for goalies. Being able to play hockey was paramount in my development as a child. I learned discipline, teamwork, competitiveness and how to lose gracefully and still feel good about myself. I loved Hockey! They are still some of my best memories as a child.

Sports are as important as academics in my opinion during a child’s early school years. It gives a sense of belonging and pushes children to build character that will define them in their future. Sports also keep children too busy to get into trouble. “Idle hands are the work of the Devil,” my mother says.

Great work Sport BC and KidSport!
From all of us at Costless Express, Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2008.

Calvin

United Nations International Volunteer Day

Today is United Nations International Volunteer Day. I received a lovely email from my good friends at BC Children’s Hospital thanking me for the support over the past year.

For 2008 I have been invited to join the Children’s Hospital Wholesale and Retail Council. Last year this group was responsible for organizing and raising $3.1 million and includes notable companies such as Costco, Overwaitea Food Group and Sleep Country Canada. The council’s goal is to work with the wholesale and retail community in BC and help companies organize fund raising initiatives that will support BCCH.

It is quite an honor to contribute my time to such a great organization and to work with some fantastic people. A few weeks ago I attended the first meeting and was happy to see the group of 9 people was quite informal. We all met early in the morning at the Sleep Country Store at Metrotown and held the meeting sitting on the edge of some very comfortable mattresses. The 2-hour meeting was fast paced and the talent in the room was incredible, this group knows how to get thing done quickly and efficiently. This year our council is looking to launch a new signature event. Keep an eye out and we will launch something soon. It’ll be Great!

Again this year Costless Express will also be involved in JEANS DAY, contributing the snacks and beverages for the kick off BBQ’s downtown and at the hospital on April 24th, 2008. Last year, we had over 2000 attendees in the rain dancing to Nearly Neil while he sung Forever In Blue Jeans. Have a look at my April 26, 2007 Calvin’s Corner entry. Please click on the Jeans Day link and get involved with your company if you are not already, it’s a great event and we raised just over $1 million dollars.

Calvin

Measuring Up To Carbon Neutrality

Meeting Peter Frost last week really has me excited to become Carbon Neutral. I announced our intentions to our staff Monday and there were resounding cheers of approval.

Over the weekend I spent a fair amount of time learning about CO2 emissions, Global Warming, Carbon Footprints and how Costless Express can become a Carbon Neutral company.

Yesterday I connected with THE CARBON NEUTRAL COMPANY in London. The call didn’t start out as smoothly as I was expecting. They immediately interviewed me for about 20 minutes to gauge our commitment level. There are only about 1000 companies currently that are Carbon Neutral Certified and can adhere to the strict yearly guidelines.

Gladly, Costless Express was already doing a lot of the right things, and our value proposition to our customers of single sourcing was quite interesting to them. “If your customer can have all their supplies delivered with just one order, that really saves on the amount of trucks on the road and the emissions they would produce. We like that.” was their response.

To move forward, we will need to submit a full assessment and detailed report of our Green House Gas Emissions. I will need to hire an independent science partner to advise and measure Costless Express’ yearly carbon output. There are only about 3 companies in the world authorized to do this report. They will advise us of our emissions, create emissions reduction programs and submit their report to The Carbon Neutral Company for consideration of becoming Certified Carbon Neutral. There are some significant costs and time commitments at this stage. No turning back now!

I’ll be keeping everyone updated to the progress.

Please visit http://www.carbonneutral.com/ to learn about our environment and how everyone can make a difference – we only have one planet, lets take care of it.

Calvin

Costless Express is Going Carbon Neutral!

Last week I was in Toronto on business and met a very interesting person named Peter Frost. He was a guest speaker at the conference I was attending and is world renowned for his forward thinking on educating businesses about social responsibility and the environment.

Since I could not stay for his presentation the next morning I invited him to dinner with my controller Darrin and another business owner. We were all very interested to hear what he had to say and we weren’t disappointed. Peter spent over four hours discussing how our company can make a difference in the global environment by managing our Carbon Footprint and offsetting our CO2 emissions. Peter was amazing and his ideas have given Costless Express an exciting direction for the future.

I have always managed Costless Express with environmental sensitivity. We use plastic totes instead of boxes, recycle, 50% of our staff take public transit, we use and sell recycled products and on and on. What I found out is that there is so much more we could be doing to reduce our company’s impact on the environment. Peter was excited about our single source concept where we can offer our customers ALL their supplies in one delivery. You see, our truck can deliver what it could take ten other suppliers to deliver and this reduces the carbon footprint of that customers order, causes less traffic congestion and less emission. Our customers need only order from us and we are helping the environment. That was nice to hear from him but he suggested we really push ourselves as a company and strive for the top company ranking of being a CARBON NEUTRAL COMPANY.

I made a commitment at the dinner table that Costless Express will become a Carbon Neutral Company by April 22, 2008 – Earth Day.

Now it’s time to see what I’m in for!

Calvin

Our New Items For 2008!

This is my favorite time of year at Costless Express. Our 2008 Catalogue is completed and off to the presses. Now, it's time to bring in all the new and exciting items for our catalogue launch!

Just last week, we had our coffee and tea shipments arrive. It was Christmas a bit early for me as I went to the warehouse to see the shipments arrive. It was satisfying to see the product cycle complete. From finding a supplier, negotiating prices, adding the products to the catalogue and receiving our first shipment—all that's left to do is ship the new items out to customers.

I know our customers will enjoy our new 2008 Catalogue. We listened to our customers' feedback and added some exciting new items and categories, such as:

• More healthy snack choices
• More environmentally friendly items
• More Buy More & Save pricing
• Focus pages on your favorite items like Starbucks, Tazo, Stash and more
• Free hand soap and Purell dispensers
• Health and Wellness program
• Over 4500 new items

I'm excited to show all our customers our new catalogue and products. Keep an eye on our website: we'll add new items online before the catalogues arrive!

Calvin

Our War Room

Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time!

Recently, we completed our 2008 Catalogue. With over 1100 pages of products, it really is a massive project. Our catalogue is now off to be printed, and we hope to see the finished product in December.

I'm sure everyone has been involved in large projects with deadlines. How do you stay organized? At Costless, we have our "War Room," and we plaster the walls with whiteboards and calendars. We are a visual group, and we like to see and feel the project.

The best part about our War Room is that it's where all our new product samples are kept and photographed. Once a new product is shot, we sample the product. Hey, someone's got to do it!

A large project can be so overwhelming when looked at in its entirety, but when a broken down into mini projects, it seems manageable. My advice to our marketing team has always been "One bite at a time!"

Calvin

Spread the Word, Not the Germs!

Flu season is fast approaching, and if your business is anything like ours, when one prson gets sick, we all feel it in one way or another.

This year at Costless Express, we partnered with Purell to combat absenteeism in our workplace with our first Health and Wellness Committee. Our goal is to combat germs in the workplace and reduce the spread of viruses that cause the staff to get sick.

If you have not heard of Purell, it's an instant, alcohol-based hand sanitizer that kills 99.9% of the most common germs that may make you sick, without the need for soap or water. It's an easy way to keep your hands clean and fight the spread of germs without having to leave your desk!

Recently we were asked by one of our customers to assist them in launching a Wellness Program in their 300 seat call centre. We gladly launched a program that included wall dispensers, desk dispensers, phone wipes and posters—all for free. We even brought along a cake with the wording "Spread the Word, Not the Germs" to help kick off the campaign. Thanks to our Call Centre lead Kathie Jenson for the nifty words and setting up the program!

Comprehensive studies on workplace wellness and cleanliness have shown dramatic results in the lowering of company absenteeism due to illness. Read and learn more about how FedEx lowered their numbers by 25%!

If your company would like some help in setting up a Workplace Wellness program for your staff, please give your fantastic account rep a call!

Calvin