Replies to post #2293 on General Stock Ideas

[haysaw]

These owners cap their salaries at 3 1/2 x's the lowest-wage of their employees--just one example of responsible and reasonable management/ownership:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129887096&m=130011297

Oregon Herb Company Smells Of Success

by RACHAEL MCDONALD
September 21, 2010

What started out as a quirky little home-based, mail-order company more than 20 years ago is now the nation's second-largest distributor of organic dried herbs. Mountain Rose Herbs has been growing and thriving, despite the recession.

On first encounter, it's the company's smell — not its success — that's noteworthy. The company packages dried herbs, spices and essential oils and mails them out to more than one-quarter of a million customers.

"If you can imagine the aroma of [700] to 800 different botanicals condensed into one overpowering cannonball," says co-owner Shawn Donnille, "and it literally permeates clothing, fabric, fiber, paper, books — everything that we have in our offices here in our clothing."

'A Certain Moral Character'

Donnille wears a black T-shirt, black pants and black nonleather boots. His long hair hangs in a thin braid down his back. The tattooed former environmental activist is credited with much of the vision behind Mountain Rose's success. But even he isn't sure what the secret to its growth has been.

"I don't know how we pulled that one off. I really don't. I mean, I have my suppositions," he says.

People are choosier about how to spend their money when times are tight, Donnille says, "and I think that in the last two years ... we've earned their trust."

Mike Russo, a professor at the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon in Eugene, agrees.

"There's a certain moral character to the recession that we've been through, and so customers are looking for companies with which they can identify morally and philosophically," he says, "and I think that that's drawn a lot of customers to Mountain Rose."

Mountain Rose is serious about doing business differently. That difference shows up not only in their products, which are all certified organic by federal and state standards, but also in the way they treat their staff.

The company recently moved into a larger building in Eugene. Their customer service area buzzes with activity: Employees on headsets chat with customers and tap on computer keyboards.

Starting pay here is 30 percent above Oregon's minimum wage, around $11 an hour. That might not seem like much, but for Southern Oregon it's pretty good. In addition, co-owners Donnille and Julie Bailey limit their incomes.

"We've capped our pay at 3.5 times entry-level pay, which is a fair and honest living for us, which is all we really want," Donnille says.

The company is also zero-waste.

They recycle nearly everything — even paper towels. Used paper towels go to a local industrial recycling facility. They also contribute $75,000 annually to local nonprofits.

Changing The Rules

A quirky business like Mountain Rose Herbs works well in a college town like Eugene, Russo says.

"If you look around, there's plenty of unusual companies that are able to do business in their own way. And so, to some extent, they can make their own rules," he says.

And they're making up rules that even fly in the face of the business mantra, "growth is good". Donnille says the company has been growing too fast: 30 to 35 percent for the past several years.

"It's too much. It really is too much, and we're trying to figure out a way to reach a more level state of homeostasis, where ... the growth is stable. And we're thinking that 15 percent might be good," he says.

Now, Mountain Rose Herbs has the challenge of maintaining its success without losing its unusual values.

[ombowstring]

food, thanks for your thoughtful post. It is indeed good food for thought.

I do want to say a few more things to you about religion. Yes, I understand how a pre-teen might get false ideas about God because of the actions of perverted, pedophile "priests". But these guys are more like devils than priests. Surely as an adult now you can understand that a number of pedophiles got themselves ordained as Catholic priests with the express purpose of raping young boys and girls under the cover of their cloaks. I've got news for you -- Satan has invaded the Catholic Church. There were many evil Popes in the history of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the Church hierarchy has stressed the Catholic Church as much or more than the gospel of Jesus Christ in their teachings. Don't blame God or Jesus for these mistakes. It is evil human nature.

I disagree with you about GM. Were not the bailouts loans to be repaid to the government? You wouldn't have saved all those jobs, and the jobs of the people who work for the parts' suppliers, GM dealers, etc., by extending a loan to GM ? Doesn't the government own GM stock? If they're smart enough, they'll hold the stock until they can actually turn a profit by selling it. I don't think anyone would have stepped in and taken over GM's factories. And letting GM fail is not letting due process take its course. So, do I think the country is better off by saving GM or letting it fail? I come down heavily on the side of bailing GM out.

"my argument is that government involvement in business at any level is criminal" Government is inextricably involved with business through tax policy and other laws. Governments have major influence on the affairs of businesses. Maybe you might benefit from President Obama's initiatives for small businesses. You're just spouting and adhering to a political philosophy without regard to real world implications. Joseph, given complete control over the affairs of Egypt by Pharoah because of the wisdom he had demonstrated, took care of the people during the seven years of severe famine. He did not tell them to fend for themselves.

"I can't very well distribute every last dime of profit in order to satisfy the needs of every disloyal employee." I'm not saying that. And why do you say "every disloyal employee"?

So maybe your business isn't very profitable and you have to do what you can to keep the doors open. But "a government that recklessly prints money then taxes a small business owner at a higher rate"... Do you make more than $250,000 a year? Even if the tax cuts aren't extended, we're only talking about slightly higher tax rates. Printing dollars may facilitate the way out of this economic mess. Add a few trillion of fiat currency and the world is still going to flock to the US dollar.

I have a lot of sympathy for those on the lower rungs of the employment ladder. I think that in many cases, if not most, they work harder than the management and other white collar workers in their same companies do who are paid more money than they are. How would you like to get up at 4:00 a.m. and load trash on to a stinky garbage truck 5 or 6 days a week? How would you like to be lowered into a coal mine and spend 8-10 hours a day there? I could go on and on, but strangely, the higher you work your way up the totem pole, the easier your job gets in many, many cases.

I'm asking for $200,000, $1,000,000, $10,000,000, and $50,000,000 to appear on the home page of www.ombowstring.com so I can show rich people what to do with their money. There are homeless shelters in many cities and towns, but there are no places for the homeless to go during the day so they have to endure the elements, rain, snow, cold and heat. I'd like to rent/build centers and furnish them with comforatable chairs and couches, computers, TV's, pool tables, card tables, etc., to give these poor people shelter and something to do during the day. Provide job counseling, training, and contact employers to help them get jobs. It may very well be their own faults that they became homeless, but Jesus said to give to the poor unconditionally. It doesn't matter why they are poor.

"I take my work home with me seven days a week." You really should take one day a week as a Sabbath Day.

"I created the concept of my business, established the credit to purchase the property and equipment through hard work and diligence, and manage its efficiency to maintain profitability on a daily basis by wearing the hats of 10 different people." You love it, though. Would you change places with one of your dishwashers?

Paul McCartney and John Lennon created a concept, too, more so, John -- called The Beatles. And they worked hard at it, too. It's being a good steward of what you have that counts in the Judgment Day, I believe.