July 2005

PIDA NEWS l PROFIT TOOLS l technology l MEMBER NEWS

Fuel Charges are the Norm Among PIDA Members

A recent survey of PIDA members revealed that fuel surcharges are commonly imposed by pet product distributors in response to ever increasing fuel prices. Eighty-one percent of distributors indicated that they add a fuel surcharge to shipments, up from 68 percent a year ago. Another 11 percent were considering such a move. Only 8% of the respondents reported that they were not currently charging or considering surcharges.

The most common type of surcharge is a flat rate on all shipments (76 percent). Other methods include charging a percentage of the

shipment value; zone based depending on delivery distance; a per-pallet charge; and a sliding scale based on fuel costs.

Congress Preserves Business Relationship Exception for Faxes

On July 9, President Bush signed the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 into law. The legislation restores pre-2003 rules for sending unsolicited commercial faxes thus ending the long running debate over whether a business can send unsolicited advertisement faxes to a recipient with which the business had an "established business relationship."  DETAILS

The Global Pet Expo - The Distributors' Perspective

The unveiling in March of the inaugural Global Pet Expo, sponsored by APPMA and PIDA, was the culmination of nearly three years of negotiations, planning and plain hard work. The APPMA and PIDA Boards, the staffs of both organizations, and the members of the Joint Operating Committee who oversee the show all felt that the combined show would be a winner. But until the doors of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando opened on that warm Sunday morning in mid-March, we held our collective breaths in anticipation. DETAILS

PROFIT TOOLS

Lowering the Bar on A/R

PIDA distributors provide their customers with a wide array of services and do so gladly. There is one important exception to this service profile, though, and that is credit. In most distribution organizations, credit is not viewed as a service, but as a necessary evil. DETAILS

TECHNOLOGY

RFID - A Distribution Perspective

RFID is the latest technology step in Automatic Data Collection (ADC). Radio Frequency IDentification is the natural successor to bar codes as a means of collecting information about products and packages. DETAILS