Goals For 2008

Did you know people who write down their goals achieve them 90% of the time, and if they tell someone it jumps to almost 100%!

Did you set any goals for 2008? Did you tell anyone?

Here are my goals for 2008:

Company:

• Become Carbon Neutral
• Hold our first Eco Expo tradeshow for customers and suppliers
• Continue our growth of greater than 15% yearly
• Have four staff parties/events this year
• Upgrade our computers and servers to the best possible systems
• Launch Costless ToGo Costco Home Delivery across Canada
• Double sales in our Printing Business

Personal:

• Work with BC Children’s Hospital and create a memorable new event that will help our Wholesale and Retail Committee exceed $4,000,000 in donations.
• Disneyland with our kids (1st time)
• “Be there in the moment” with our kids and just enjoy them growing up.
• A “no kids” holiday to just about anywhere
• Learn Salsa and Swing Dancing (just took our first class)

Well, my goals are out there, so now it’s time to make them happen.

I stress to our staff that goal setting is important and so, so powerful. All our staff is involved in a daily 2-minute “Huddle” and set goals and overcome roadblocks. This work experience has carried over to their personal life and most staff have set their own Company and Personal Goals for 2008.

I hope all their goals come true.

Calvin

A Christmas Get-Together

Last Saturday my wife Sandy and I hosted our staff at our home. At Costless Express we have our main Christmas Party in February once all the holiday hub bub dies down. So this was a chance for staff and families to gather and meet in a informal setting. It was great to have a chance to reconnect with what I call "our support group".

You see, the families of our staff are just as important to our continued success as our staff themselves. They too make sacrifices - like when our designer Erin pulled a 20 hour all nighter to meet our 2008 catalogue deadline -there was Dave to support her, make her a bath and whip up some breakfast. Or Darrin our controller when he travels for business - there's his wife Sharon to step in and care for both of their children 24/7. Or Alecia who stepped into cover a co worker on the night shift for two weeks. She works days and I know that is a tough transition for her and her family. RESPECT to all!!

We run 24 hours a day, so several of our staff are working untraditional hours and don't get the time to spend with their families as much as they might like. A BIG THANK YOU to all our staff and their families. You are all the best!

Our staff open house was a huge success with over 50 staff and families visiting and of course......eating!

Everyone is looking forward to our "Adult" Party in February. We have had some legendary ones in the past and I know this year will be no exception.

I must send a special thanks to Sandy and my boys for their support. I couldn't ask for a more supporting and loving family.

Calvin

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