First, who am I? Not really anybody in the big picture here. I'm not a rep or an inventor like Reg and Paul or David. I can't speak to how this effects their livelihood. I wouldn't dare. It's not my place. What I will say is that Nick called me at 8pm(est) just to see if I had any questions and to hear how I feel. He said he could identify with me as a customer as I spend my disposable income on tree gear because I love what I do. Just the fact a retailer would reach out to me is tops in my book. I'm not in the circle with them. I'm not a free gear guy and the only item I have ever tested is the ABR Radius ring(two thumbs up for that invention BTW). I don't get major stuff regularly with my orders from Luke's floor and I have never been to JAMBO. Having said that, I will not try to convince anyone this is the rite move or it's justified or that I feel completely at ease and everything is gonna be ok. I can't because I don't know anymore than anyone else does. What I can say is that Luke and Nick trust Tripp. They have put love into this treestuff thing and feel secure that Tripp isn't going to ruin what we the customers empowered them to build. They believe this is a good thing and the consumer will not feel any drastic ill effects of the merger. I have trusted a lot of my money to Luke and Nick. The fact someone would call me of all people, makes me trust them still. I truly hope nothing changes. I truly hope the plan unfolds so everyone benefits and nobody gets hurt in the deal. I still stand by the fact that Sherrill has something to prove to me. Maybe they just need to disprove my skepticism of them. Either way treestuff is still treestuff until proven otherwise in my book.
One of the things we talked about was the 33 people that work at treestuff. All the management books call benefits and pay hygiene issues. The people who write the books contest that salary and benefits alone don't keep any employee at a job. The work environment it a bigger factor than anything. Now keep in mind ts employees had no benefits. They may be young but eventually we all (should) come to the realization that if we don't do something with our careers we will have nothing when we retire. We'll be a burden on our children and families because social security is a drop in the bucket. Someday the awesome kid(kid to me) that does all my splicing is gonna move on because he needs medical, dental, life, and a retirement. That loss of a motivated employee is gonna catch up with ts sooner or later. Look at the guys you hire. If you don't invest in them as employees you will get the same guys off craigslist over and over. Look at what Royce offers. He probably gets a quality employee and keeps them for a long time. All the training and investment with them won't walk out the door because they get married or have a kid and need a safety net. My long winded point is through this exchange, all 33 of those people who's names we may not know, who pack our boxes and splice our ropes are going to have a safety net. Insurance, retirement, benefits. That's an aspect that never crossed my mind. It's really huge if you think about it. What if every item went up by $10 to be able to provide benefits to the employees? Would you pay it and not be upset? I'm undecided myself. This deal allows that investment to happen without the cost being driven down to the consumer.
Again, not a sales pitch. Not a call to arms to support treestuff. You make you're own decisions as you should. I personally am impressed that I got a phone call out of the blue. I also felt the need to share some of the conversation we had. I never thought about the people who work at treestuff. Just never crossed my mind. I'm not starting a debate as I am not the person to debate with. I'm just a consumer like the rest of you. I stayed with ts because of the customer experience. This is a prime example of what I value as a customer experience. Contact, personal contact, like hey I know your name kind of contact. Made me feel important and in the end isn't that the goal of any service, to make the customer feel important? Nobody blew smoke up my ass and truth be told, the next quarter sales numbers will show what kind of effect this has had on ts. My message to Tripp and Sean, don't screw up a good thing! Do us, the consumer rite and eventually we will see you are true to your word. That 30 minute phone call went a long way in my book. Remember too, I'm not a player in the tree world. I'm just a guy who likes to shop.
Take your shots as you like but remember, as I've said several times, I'm not suggesting what you should do. I'm just sharing my experience. It truly is MY experience. My dollar as its your dollar to spend where you see fit. Before you kick the shit out of me, please reread what I've written and hear what I'm saying. I'm certain there will be some who think I've drunk the cool aide. It's not the case but even if I have, so what. If it makes me happy then screw it. Thanks for tuning in.
