Subject: clarification on issues
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 17:26:02 +0930
From: "Grant Mitchell"
To:
Cc:


"Sam",

I was disappointed that you were not prepared to discuss your issues, as you may find that at Salmat we do not have the mentality and business approach that you obviously assume we have.

I would expect that if you were discontent with the way you were treated as a Salmat Distributor and didn't receive the appropriate attention from Salmat's contracted Area Representative (as your email suggests), you would have elevated your concerns to the Salmat office and Management without reverting to sniper attacks through our clients.
I am discontented with the way you treat ALL personel, including clients. I have never suggested there was any problem with any Area Representative, the problem lies with people like you.
What the hell is a sniper attack through a client?

In all your correspondence you mention 'Salmat gets nasty towards us...', 'Salmat tells us to count houses...' - are you confusing Salmat with a contracted Area Representative, as the views of some individual Area Representatives do not reflect the views held by Salmat Management or myself. We cannot correct situations if we are not aware of them.
You're the South Australian Manager for letterbox deliveries, you're supposed to be in charge here! According to the disclaimer on your emails, your opinion doesn't reflect the views of Salmat either, so how could you possibly correct anything.

Below, I have listed points on some of the issues you raised which I had planned to discuss with you. Quite often emails are left to personal interpretation, which may be misleading.

- Salmat always attempts to be transparent with its clients informing them of our methods of operation, and the points you raised had already previously been made known to clients. You have actually acted as a confirmation source for them.
Then you should be very happy and so should your clients that I contact.

- A major concern is your attitude towards 'dumping' product without advising anyone for a substantial amount of time. It is always difficult when people retain information and are acting unethically, as you are.
The catalogues are delivered to my door, I then deliver them in the time period stated on the contract and in whatever manner I see fit in accordance with the conditions of the contract. I have been 'dumping' leftover catalogues for years simply because no-one from Salmat has ever bothered to collect any, there is no mention within the contract of what I am supposed to do with any that are left over and you make no arrangements for their collection. Why don't you arrange to collect your clients leftover advertising material? I don't consider it unethical to tell your clients that I always have some of their catalogues left over, you won't collect them and I don't have any use for them!

- There have not been any issues raised from your emails to which Salmat has been unable to respond. Basically, we have had to further clarify our processes due to many assumptions from yourself, which caused confusion.
What assumptions? What problems did you have to clarify? I have only stated what I know for fact.

- Salmat adheres to the Distribution Standards Board (DSB) Code of Practice and publicises this fact to clients, and a copy is provided to the field. This Code of Practice maintains standards of privacy, industry performance, cooperation with local authorities and compliance with the Environmental Protection Authority's (EPA) guidelines.
You are also supposed to provide all new walkers with a copy of the code, plus any updates, which has never happened to me or many others.

- Rates and quantities are reviewed biannually and Area Representatives are asked for their input on any areas which require more or less stock, along with rate increase recommendations. Salmat does not conduct blanket approaches where rates are concerned, as most Distributors are on different rates due to location, area, size of properties and different terrains - this is why rates are assessed individually.
The biannual quantity review comes about when deliverers like me count the letterboxes. There have NEVER been any rate increases in the past several years, but there have been reductions!

- Quantities per area are not based on even hundreds, as per your comment. In fact, less than 10% of sections are a factor of one hundred - sections have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 in some cases.
I didn't say they were, the problem comes in when you divide bundles and don't count them accurately before delivery.

We have independent people conducting section audits to assess quantities required and make the relevant changes, which are then automatically adjusted at our biannual update periods. I assume if your area is overstated we have not audited it at this stage.
In the areas I have walked for there has NEVER been a change in quantities in the past several years. Therefore if you do audit areas you do it no less than every 6 years. Which company does do the independant audit?

- Salmat requests overs to be returned, as if one Distributor has more catalogues than necessary, another may not have enough and we utilise overs to cover for these shortages. Obviously, with people deliberately hiding overstated areas, there is little we can do until an independent audit identifies this. Clients are aware there is a component of overs at times and these are returned on request. Also, you are correct in your statement that we do not want Distributors disposing of them, as they can be utilised and are respected by Salmat staff as the clients' property.
A few problems here: If you delivered the correct amount to everyone then the problem of unders or overs wouldn't exist! I am only paid to deliver catalogues, not run around returning leftovers. Clients should be aware that there are overs ALL of the time. If you value your client's property then why don't you have an independant count of all areas and arrange to pick up any leftovers?

- You stated you are not paid to return overs. Your contracts are returned for payment and overs are normally actioned at the same time, therefore there are no extra costs involved.
I've already explained this, you expect everyone to return leftovers at their expense because you won't pay anyone to collect them. So much for you respecting your client's property.

- The incentive prizes we offered in June have been drawn and details were forwarded to the winners first (if you haven't heard, obviously you were unsuccessful). The full listing of successful incentive recipients has been forwarded to all Area Representatives and a notation sent out this week (2 -3 July 2003) advising all unsuccessful Distributors.
It has taken you about 4 weeks to notify everone of something you promised just under 4 weeks ago. As of this week (1 July) none of the Area Supervisors I have spoken to have heard anything about anyone receiving any money, or even a list of who won.

- Yes, we were conducting a survey last week for Salmat's reference and to verify data received from our Area Representatives. I advised KWP/Harris Scarfe we were conducting this survey, which would be provided to them for further details on when their catalgoues "hit the letterboxes". This had been planned and tabled prior to being aware of your initial email. We have received a great deal of assistance from the field with this survey and there are only a few who declined to answer our questions - I assume one of them is yourself.
That really was a farce, you asked everyone to write down the time that they delivered their catalogues. You're not really gullible enough to believe that the times everyone wrote are correct, are you?

- Salmat's National office only received one email from you, being at 9: 21pm on 25 June 2003. I sent an email to you on 26 June 2003 at 6:00pm requesting contact to discuss your concerns.
Since there are no contact email addresses on your website, 3 weeks earlier I sent an email through your web email form, but nobody bothered to answer it.

- It is quite concerning if you don't wish to discuss these issues and come to a mutual solution (ie a win/win situation), then why raise them? If it is your desire to attempt to lose business for Salmat then if you are successful, you are taking work away from many other Distributors and indeed yourself.
This isn't a war, there's nothing to win. How could I possibly lose business for Salmat if you are as honest with you customers as you say you are.

I still believe we need to discuss the issues at hand in order to achieve an outcome all parties desire.

Grant Mitchell
STATE MANAGER SA
Letterbox Delivery Services
ph: (08) 8443 8500
fax: (08) 8351 8654
mob: 0413 186 609
email: [email protected]