Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
I see both sides of the equation doog, and that's why debating issues of who's right or wrong is moot right now. I believe many here understand growth needs to accelerate to save the ship, and they have placed their wager believing it will happen. There are others such as yourself who don't belive it will happen in time to save the ship, and refrained from placing a wager based on their beliefs. In the end, someone will be right. If it's not me, I have no problem accepting my loses and moving on, but I don't need folks telling me the game is over when there is still time left on the clock.
The GSA contract can be huge going forward, but I believe there is tremendous potential that was touched on in one of Eric's blogs yesterday that was never mentioned on the board. We all become affixed to the business model of X number of stores selling x number of bottles per/day, per/wk. or per/mo to achieve profitability. We all know that the model is set up on an average regardless of how that's accomplished. The point I'm getting at involves the large retailers which carry 1000+. Given the versitility of 1000+ it could basically be stocked in multiple locations in these retailers (paint, auto, cleaning, flooring, ect. Naturally the product will have to prove itself to retailers and consumers, but once the brand is established the potential exist. In other words, in the smaller hardware stores where it would only be stocked in one location limits the visibility because it targets a particular consumer sector. If it could become stocked in multiple locations in larger retailers, it would be like adding several smaller locations within this one retailer.
One last post before I have to run.
You have been claiming this for years, and my answer has always been the same. Get the locations secured, then begin to push for sell-through. This is what is currently underway now, and has been demonstrated yy the new advertising material, cd's, merchandising material, ect... which have been released this year. You are correct in stating that sales will have to increase multiple times in current locations to acheive profitability, and that's what the company is currently working on. The reason for the new racks being installed, looping video advertising, ect...
BUT
Todays developements completely change that line of thinking though. It may or may not materialize fast, but last week it would take hundreds of thousands of consumers to to find out about, and purchase bottles of 1000+ for the company to succeed. After today, it only takes a few customers to find out about, and purchase massive quantities at one time for the company to succeed.
Just something to think about "D". The game is still the same, but the players have changed.
If you read the post from last night maybe you would see the speculative points of interest I'm refering too. Transparency has turned this into a show me the proof issue.
I have no idea how familar you are with GSA bid issues, but for those who may not understand I'll explain.
There is a specified dollar amount which controls the manner in which a contract may be awarded.
1) Under a certain dollar amount it can be awarded/purchased without any bid process at all.
2) Under a higher doller amount it can be awarded to the lowest bidder, and only 3 bid solicitations notices are required to be sent by procurement department.
3) Over a certain dollar amount the bid must be publically solicited to all approved vendors/contractors, and remain advertised for a certain amount of time, pending contract award.
So, given those facts I see this as an update which was requested from a shareholder on that particular bid solitication. The only thing to speculate on in that statement is whether:
1) All bids were too high which increased the total dollar value into the next tier of the bid process. Thus a new solicitation process is required.
2) The amount of product requested in the first bid proposal has been increased, which resulted in the dollar value also being increased beyond the solitication limits.
Either way, I see it as information detailing an answer to the question which was asked.
Oct 20
Shareholder Question: GSA
Uncategorizedby Eric Lehner
.QUESTION
Eric, congratulations on the G.S.A. approval, great work. When should we hear about the 6,340 gals of 1000+ that the two military bases are interested in, are possibly other orders?Thanks again.
ANSWER
It would not be wise of the company to set out in detail what it is doing, specifically, in every aspect of this relationship, both for reasons of confidentiality of our customer and the reality that this is a competitive environment. My disclosure of that item was in the spirit of putting the size of opportunities into context, and the fact that it was our first bid in the new environment. We proceeded with the bid, prior to official notification, because we believed that our activation would be ready in time – and that turned out to be the case. The evolution of this particular bid is that the dollar size of the opportunity was increased to a higher requirement, with a rescheduling of the closing date. Accordingly, that situation is still dynamic. It should not be inferred that we will be successful in that particular bid. We may, or may not. The point is that we are now in the game. The purchase volume of products in this category is substantial, and continuous. I doubt very much that a terrific product, both in terms of performance and value, will be ignored. It will find its niches, and grow from there. That’s the way the world works. The special advantage in military circles is that performance matters, communications are efficient, service quality is recognized and the consumption in this setting is mandated. The military appreciates order, and that includes maintenance, and that includes cleaning, constantly. High value assets need to be in good shape, always.
In the meantime, the formal Award Letter sets out much to be done, in terms of procedural alignment between the two organizations, to get started. It’s a very healthy relationship. The GSA wants its vendors to be successful marketing to its client agencies. That’s because the GSA views that as having done its job well, bringing relevant products into the system. GSA personnel deals with a cross section of vendors and attitudes vary amongst these vendors. The GSA personnel, in our case, made a point of noting that they appreciate our approach to things. They noted that “You get it”. We make a point of understanding the reasons for things. They would not have bothered listing us if they did not feel that we have what it takes to thrive in the system. We do not intend to let them down.
P.S. And yes, we have already begun to engage with additional opportunities within the system.
.
I don't now, nor ever have I expected anything from you. I could care less whether you assist the company and it's advancement or not. They have done a pretty good job of opening doors to this point without it, and I'm sure they will continue pushing forward without it. You are correct about me working for the government in the past, and several people have had products for quite a while now. I have no problem helping the company, and hope all shareholders do well in the future....but's that's just me.
I agree, and that's one way of looking at it, but the other way is....You can't sell a product at Lowes, Home Depot, The US government, ect... if you don't have approval or product on the shelves. Can't put the cart before the horse right?
As my post last night pointed out, since Eric began becoming transparent he removed the ability for much speculation. This is a real growing company, and at some point in time it will be followed on fundamentals alone. The ability for great things to happen are looking much better, but it's still a show me the money stock as far as the investment community is concerned.
Yep, we have a CEO who has recently added a great deal to his list of accomplishments:
Product In:
Walmart Canada
Lowes Canada
Home Depot Canada
Lowes test stores in US
Home Depot .com
Duane Reade (walgreens subsiduary)
Do-it-Best US
Lancaster Distribution
And many others
So, I doubt he feels the need of proving his ability to run the company to any message board poster lol.
Haha, yea right. Been a smoke screen all along as expected.
I see it different than both of you lol. I think it is the approval/listing he is refering too, and nothing to do with the bid placed for the two military facilities
Oct 18
Shareholder Question: Duane Reade
Uncategorizedby Eric Lehner
.QUESTION
Something I was wondering. are the pocket paks and brochures still going to be handed out at strategic locations as was originally planned for the Duane Reade roll-out?
ANSWER
The next merchandising event will be the deployment of 50 Brand Ambassadors in the busiest stores with a special stains before/after presentation that is already “done” to respect the “New York minute” context. These are busy settings and people are rushed for time. We have already taken this into account and have been developing a clever premise that serves as the “hook” when seconds matter. Naturally we are working with pre-qualified, pre-approved local personnel on a project basis to ensure that the cost-benefit of the excercise is sensible.
.
Oct 18
Shareholder Question: GSA
Uncategorizedby Eric Lehner
.QUESTION
When you said a decision was delayed 3 weeks, was that 3 weeks from 10/1 or 3 weeks from now? Thanks.
ANSWER
October 1st. It appears from correspondence received today, that the decision has been made and that it is what we have been waiting for. We are awaiting a specific form of official notice, prior to treating the GSA approval as a completed process. Only when we have that very specific formal notice in hand, do we have the basis to make a formal announcement.
.
Rarely does anyone ever walk into any store for the sole purpose of buying items located in, or near the impulse buying section lol. Thus the reason for being called impulse buys.
I agree, as important as the news could potentially develope into in the future (given Walgreens is their parent company) many people have never heard or understand the significants of Duane Reade. To me, the location of New York City and Manhatten is as equally important as the retailer involved.
Contrary to popular belief, Eric doesn't control the timing of the release of shares to the public market. He only controls the relese of shares to the financers or debt converter, and once in their hands it's pretty much out of his control. He releases news of relavent events (in his opinion) via the news wires as events happen, and it's up to those in control of the shares to determine whether they will take advantage of the increase in volume due to the news. This has been the case for quite some time here, and as bad as it disrupts any type of momo, it does remove the shares from the hands of those willing to dump at discounted prices.
It means the DTCC has placed a chill or partial chill on electronic trading of WDRP. If it's a partial chill it may or may not ever show up on the list. This can be done for various reasons, but when Penson stops clearing trades in a particular security Zecco places buying restrictions on it.
No need for me to read them again lol, it looks as though you may need to read them again. Eric could have already gotten the decision from GSA, but not the approval to publically disclose it until the determination of SBA is complete. As stated in my other post, if Winning Brands doesn't fall within the guidelines of a small business as determined by the SBA (which they will) they would be prohibited from bidding on contracts that fall under small business set asides.
The ability to already submitt bids for GSA contracts (per blog) and now having the SBA involved generally tips the hand that approval will happen. So there was no BS as you called earlier.
These post are completely absured, and it's aparent you have no idea how GSA contracts, or the approval process works. IMO the only reason the SBA has now become involed is because GSA has informally approved Winning Brands and it's submitted products. SBA is now requesting information to be sure Winning Brands falls within the guidelines of bidding on certain contracts.
The US government sets aside many many millions of dollars worth of contracts each year which can only be bid on by companies that are considered "small business". In other words, once a vendor is on the contract solicitation list with GSA, they will recieve bid notices on every contract which falls within their product line. The exception is, any contract which is set aside for small businesses will only be solicited to the companies that fall within the SBA guidelines.
So in my opinion, Winning Brands basically has been approved for a GSA listing, and GSA is now determining if Winning Brands will qualify for bid solicitations for all contracts, including SBA set aside contracts. What other reasons would SBA be involved in the process.
I believe you are on base with part of the post, and off base with part of your post.
The US government does like to see what positive impact approving new products/vendors could have on the US work force. Given the fact that 1000+ is manufactured in the US is a plus, but there is also wharehousing jobs and storage fees paid in the US, US transportation companies to move product, and possibly a US distributor. Don't forget the fact that Lowes was approved for GSA distribution this year, meaning that government agencies can buy products directly through Lowes if they are GSA approved products.
This approval may or may not happen, but if it does it could become a double win for Winning Brands (GSA and Lowes) in the coming year.
http://media.lowes.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3031
Well he certainly couldn't use the George Washington "Never Tell A Lie" link. Haha
So, are we supposed to be brain dead enough to believe the Zecco and TD Ameritrade buying restrictions have no influence on the current lack of bid support, and the reasons for the falling share price and lack of bid support is all due to you pulling your support. That's a funny one there.
The end of September and the month of October has been/going to be a busy time for Eric. It's possible that these other issues were/are of more importance than releasing preliminay numbers.
Houston Wine Festival
Canadian Government Procurement Approval
TD Ameritrade Issues
DTCC Issues
Home Hardware Fall Market
Do-it-Best Buyers Show
Hardwareindustry.com innitiative
Sam's Road Show
Duane Reade Activation
and many other unknown things I'm sure!!!!!!
In my opinion he's had a fully plate the last month or so, but differing opinions is the reason for message boards I suppose.
I also find the TDameritrade issue very strange. It's not uncommon for broker/dealers to restrict internet trading of certain issues for reasons unknown to us, but they will generally accept buy orders placed via the phone. What I find troubling about this situation is the problems WNBD has faced thus far has to do with brokers who clear through Penson ( due to DTCC eligibility), and this problem only affects the sell side of the trades to date. So, the restrictions that TDameritrade has impossed on buy orders is very odd especially when they seem to have no problems with clearing your sale order.
Friday, a friend of mine was placing a buy order through Zecco but the order kept getting rejected. He finally called Zecco, and was told that WNBD was placed on the DTCC list that morning (which was a lie, because we know others were told they were on the list weeks ago) and that buy orders for WNBD could be placed by phone only, but he was also warned that he could face substantial charges for clearing when he decides to sell his WNBD stock. This is the situation that has been discussed on the board about brokers that clear through Penson. This is "not" the case with the issues coming from TDameritrade, and something seems to be fishy about the situation, because they don't mind you selling your position, but don't want to allow others the ability to buy them lol.
NEW BLOG
Sep 27
Lancaster starts moving again.
Uncategorizedby Eric Lehner
.During the Lancaster restucturing, there was a pause in store listings growth. Now with the restucturing behind it, Lancaster serviced store counts are starting to grow again. Today’s report from Lancaster features 14 new locations in the following cities, taken from an alpha store list:
RONKONKOMA NY
NEW YORK NY
FORT LEE NJ
TAMPA FL
WESTLAND MI
BROOKLYN NY
BROOKLYN (Second New Location) NY
LITTLE CHUTE WI
PRATTVILLE AL
BROOKLYN
(Third New Location) NY
IDAHO FALLS ID
QUARRYVILLE PA
MADISON IN
OXFORD AL
.
Why do you and others post that the share price needs to be higher for sec registration approval? The share price has no bearing on sec approval for WNBD to become registered and fully compliant. They can also raise in the fully reporting market tiers withing the otcbb without any minimum share price requirements. Only if they ever try to uplist to amex or higher is there a minimum share price required, and that won't be happening anytime in the forseeable future. IMO
http://www.sec.gov/answers/regis33.htm
Every post you made today is diluter this diluter that....gotta pay salaries and perks, share structure is sinking the ship... I'm am in no way comparing WNBD to these two power houses other than the share structure, but just for giggles why don't you check out the diluted, sinking ship share structure of Procter and Gambel, and Johnson and Johnson. Kinda funny that there share structure is larger than Winning Brands. As I stated, I'm not comparing WNBD to these multi billion dollar companies, because they will never come close to that type of revenue, but they should produce a nice return on investment when they become successful and profitable. Patience is a virtue with this one.
Doog, would ya mind posting some links to the post you are refering too? I've been here a long time, and I must have missed all the post in regards to TheHardwareIndustry.com
MTPR Just needs volume to explode!!!! Nice news this morning
MTPR nice news this morning!!!!
Here is another task I used 1000+ on during this project. I sent this testimony to Eric last week in case he wanted to post it on facebook or the product specific site.
My remodeling project:
I am in the process of remodeling a house, and replacing all the flooring. The kitchen, utility room, and both bathrooms have linoleum flooring (approx. 350 sq. ft.) that needed to be removed before installing ceramic tile. As I began tearing out the old (approx. 20 yrs.) linoleum flooring, the top vinyl coating seperated from the paper felt backing which was glued to the concrete slab. About 85% of the paper felt backing was left stuck to the floor, and was going to have to be scraped clean before installing the tile. I began scraping using a sharpened 6" putty knife, and a small razor scraper. After a long 6 hours of scraping I had only cleaned a section about 6' x 8' and I knew at this pace it would take forever to complete this task. I decided to go to Lowe's to see if they had any special tools or advice they could give me. I asked the flooring manager what tools or advice he could give me to speed the process up, and help get the paper felt and glue off the floor. He said, if I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question I wouldn't need to work anymore. He did show me a special scraper that's used for this task, but said it just takes alot of time and elbow grease to get the paper and glue off. He also said if there were spots that just wouldn't come clean that I could pour some acetone on them, and let it sit for 12-14 hours, then I should be able to get it clean. This morning I began using that special scraper, and it was much easier on the hands, but really didn't remove the paper and glue any better that what I was using already. I had a couple of quarts of 1000+ with me, and decided I would apply some to a small section to see if it would help any at all. I applied a generous amount at full strength, and used a paint brush to spread it around covering about a 3' x 3' section. I waited about 10 minutes before I tried to scrap the floor. I was absolutly amazed how the paper felt and glue began rolling up in front of the scraper. I can't say it was a miracle, because it did still take some elbow grease, but in 8 hours today I was able to complete the kitchen, the utility room, and one of the bathrooms. So, without the use of 1000+ yesterday I was able to clean about 50 sq. ft. in 6 hours, and using 1000+ today I was able to clean about 250 sq. ft. in 8 hours. This may not qualify as a miracle, but it was definately amazing how well the product worked, and the hours and hours of scraping it saved me.
My non-scientific test of 1000+ ability to extend the life of paint brushes:
Several weeks ago I began remodeling the inside of a house top to bottom. I purchased (2) 2-1/2 inch Purdy brushes for the trim and cut-in painting. I used one of the brushes, and my son (who used to paint for a living) used the other. On all of the items listed below we applied 1 coat of Kilz primer, 3 coats of ultra gloss white latex, and all cut-in work was 2 coats of latex. The brushes were used 6-8 hours per day (with breaks included lol) for 5/6 days respectively. Every evening I washed both brushes myself using water on my sons brush, and 1000+ on my brush. In the mornings before starting to paint, the bristles on my brush were noticably softer and much more flexable. At the end of day (5) the bristles on his brush were seperating too bad to paint any molding, so it hit the trash can while my brush finished the painting work on day (6) and still has plenty of life remaining for the rest of the trim when the tile work is complete. In this un-scientific test it is aparent to me that using 1000+ definately extends the life of the brushes substantialy.
29 door casings (3 coats of ultra gloss latex + primer)
2 archways (3 coats of ultra gloss latex + primer)
approx. 300 feet of base boards (3 coats of ultra gloss latex + primer)
approx. 340 feet of crown molding (3 coats of ultra gloss latex + primer)
cut-in around all door casings and trim molding (2 coats latex + primer)
It was an order I placed Monday.
I'm not sure why they told you WNBD is on the non-dtc-eligible list through zecco. I didn't try to buy today, but did have an order fill yesterday through them. I just looked at the current list available on Zecco's site, and WNBD is not on the list. They may have made a mistake in telling you they are, because they aren't listed.
I assume Lorne Kelly was compensated for his trip and time, given he is a full time employee of the company. To the best of my knowledge, no other employees or shareholders participated in any of the meetings or demonstrations here along the coast, so therefore I assume nobody other than Lorne was compensated for his work.
He has absolutely no clue what happened during the time of the oil spill, and has no clue what is currently going on today. I can assure you that winning colours was distributed and used by emergency responders in several cities along the MS Gulf Coast, and is still being used by many of them to this date.
Maybe you need to comprehend the post you are responding too before becoming so defensive. My post stated "I don't doubt that you were able to trade" but I will say those who use broker/dealers who clear through Penson are playing with fire. There are many articles that address this issue, and some of them state the fees may not be noticed/deducted from your account until weeks after settlement date. Good Luck and happy trading.
I don't doubt that at all, that was an email I recieved from zecco Friday afternoon. There has been talk on Penson clearing issues for awhile now, but that was the first written confrimation I have recieved.