VIDEO: Architects one-on-one

Katy Devlin, Glass Magazine’s commercial glass and metals editor, interviewed several architects on film during the AIA Convention in Boston to learn about the state of the industry and hear what the design community wants from glass and glazing. Watch the video.

Read news from the convention in the May 20 issue of e-glass weekly.

The best of Boston swag

—By Katy Devlin, commercial glass & metals editor

The swanky swag bags of lavish jewels, cutting-edge gadgets and trip vouchers from the Hollywood awards shows can easily top $40,000 in value (celebs must pay taxes on these high-priced “gifts” since an IRS cracked down in 2006, according to E! Online).

While there were a few flat-screen TV and iPod giveaways, as well as a car raffle during the AIA Convention last week, the giveaways on the tradeshow floor were markedly less glamorous than this year’s Oscars. Even so, free is free, and many of the more than 20,000 attendees came home with packed bags of their Boston swag.

Of course, there was an ample selection of lanyards and pens and bags (oh my!), in addition to the expected edible goodies—mints, Jolly Ranchers, chocolates and popcorn. But, in my walk amid the about 800 exhibitor booths, some swag items really caught my eye.

Officials from Edgetech IG, Cambridge, Ohio, took a traditional giveaway and upgraded it with its “Predator Pen.” Thanks to Joe Erb, product manager at Edgetech, for helping us catch the pen in action.



Thermique Technologies, Chicago, provided one of the most popular giveaway items at the show—a plastic construction document tube. One of the other high-demand items was the perpetually filled bowl of Bayer Aspirin packages from Sheffield-Plastics, Sheffield, Mass.

Our booth neighbor, the American Architectural Manufacturers Association, Schaumburg, Ill., handed out tape measures, very popular among the architectural crowd. While Linetec, Wausau, Wis., handed out yo-yos, very popular among the Glass Magazine crowd.

Apple Cookie & Chocolate Co., Turtle Creek, Pa., provided one of the more unique swag treats—solid chocolate molded into hard hats, hammers and other construction-related shapes. Stuffed animals were a popular gift, including the Dalmatians from Schott, Elmsford, N.Y. And many companies also gave green. Edgetech, Weyerhaeuser Co., Federal Way, Wash., and several other companies gave trees to plant.

My personal favorite swag item was the fine pair of glasses from Arkema Inc., Philadelphia. Now, be honest, who looks better, Amanda Behnke, the NGA publication department’s special projects coordinator, or me?

Higher prices and customer satisfaction are not mutually exclusive

—By Jenni Chase, editor, AutoGlass Magazine

With the cost of everything from gasoline to coffee to stamps on the rise, the thought of spending money on retail glass services may be less than appealing to many of today’s consumers. Let’s face it, it’s more fun to spend that economic stimulus check on a new TV than a shower door.

But before you lower prices in an attempt to attract customers, consider the following statement from the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan: “Quality plays a more important role in satisfying customers than price in almost all … industries. Price promotions can be an effective short-term approach to improving [customer] satisfaction, but price cutting is almost never sustainable in the long term.”

Companies that focus on quality tend to fare better over time in the American Customer Satisfaction Index than companies that focus on price, according to the research center.

And it’s OK to charge a premium for that quality service. Higher prices and customer satisfaction are not mutually exclusive.

Take supermarkets, for example. Food prices rose at twice the rate of overall inflation in 2007, yet customer satisfaction with supermarkets reached its highest level in 14 years, according to the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index results.

On the flip side, low-price provider Wal-Mart saw customer satisfaction rates slip to an all-time low in fourth quarter 2007, trailing all other department and discount chains in the ACSI, said Professor Claes Fornell, NQRC director, in his fourth quarter commentary.

“With quality lagging, low price in town is not enough to keep Wal-Mart in the middle of the pack in customer satisfaction," Fornell says.

“As customer satisfaction improves, the demand curve shifts upward, making room for more pricing power," he explains. "It is not that higher prices lead to higher satisfaction, but higher satisfaction makes it possible to charge higher prices."

Prices on the rise for aluminum, glass, PVB, milk, coffee, stamps …

—By Katy Devlin, commercial glass and metals editor, Glass Magazine

Officials from Wawa, the 24-hour convenience store that oft served as my temple for midnight cravings during college, upped its coffee prices by 6 cents, according to a May 2 Associated Press report. The cause: rising gas price.

According to the Energy Information Administration, gas prices on April 28 were at about $3.60, up 62 cents compared to last year. Diesel fuel, at $4.18, was up $1.37.

Stamp costs will increase to 42 cents, with fuel costs also to blame, right along with grocery prices—milk prices are up 26 percent and egg prices 40 percent since last year, according to a March 9 article from The Boston Globe.

I finally got over the sticker shock of seeing prices at the pump top $2, then $3 and now at times $4, and now it’s started with my coffee, my stamps, my milk and my eggs, too. Don’t even get me going on the jumps in my subway fares and Zipcar rates.

The industry has been feeling price increases for even longer than I’ve suffered my 6-cent bump in coffee costs. The first three issues of e-glass weekly in June 2006 all contained articles about pricing. Click here for the e-glass weekly archives. Aluminum, in particular, has been on a price rollercoaster.

Mike Petersen, president of Petersen Aluminum in Chicago, told me last week he worries customers will start looking for alternatives because of the high cost for aluminum products; prices for aluminum on the London Metal Exchange have spiked 21 percent since the start of the year. But he added that prices for those alternatives are also on the rise. “Vinyl has gone up just as much,” he said. Read an article in this week’s e-glass weekly to learn more about rising aluminum costs.

The industry has also seen glass prices and fuel surcharges rise, right along with related products including PVB.

How high can gas prices go? And what impact will we feel from the falling dollar?

While these questions are worrisome, the scariest thing about these price increases is that I’ve started saying things like: “Why, when I was a kid, I could go to the movies for $4, send a letter for 25 cents and fill up my parents’ Ford Escort wagon for $10.”