October News Tsunami

THE POINT OF TSUNAMI IS EVERYTHING.  ACTUAL NEWS IS FINE, BUT WE'RE LOOKING FOR SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST ACTUAL NEWS.  HIP REPLACEMENTS, BATHROOM REMODELS, SECOND HOME PURCHASES, YOUR NEWS IS OUR NEWS.  
THIS IS THE NEWS TSUNAMI, AND WE HAVE CHECKED OUR STANDARDS AT THE DOOR.

• Almo distribution, kicking through the burning wreckage of what once was Oakton, has come up with a 125 year old family heirloom.  Almo will be the distributor for Bertazzoni in the great open spaces of America's Midwest (northern IL, IN, KY, SD, ND, MI, MN, OH, WV, and WI)
• Appliance Dealer, Boston Appliance's V.P. Christian Jason reports that he was wed to Katie on June 16th.  We await Katie's confirmation of said nuptials.
• U-Line Quality Manager Andy Doberstein in his weekly review of Work in Progress inventory, reports that he and his wife will be the proud parents of a baby boy in January.  Tell us about pride when he uses brillo to wash your car.
• BSH reports a slew of promotions:
  • Effective September 1, Scot Brown has been promoted to Sr. VP of Sales with no change in responsibilities.
  • Effective October 1, Michael Murphy has been promoted to GM Retail Sales (retail and key regional accounts) reporting to Scot Brown
  • Effective October 1, Holger Fietz will succeed Michael Bohn as Dir of Brand Marketing responsible for all BSH brands in all channels reporting to Bob Carlson.
• At the Nationwide West show, Electrolux ICON was said to be selling off its remaining inventory of Dacor pro ranges.
  • Our tipster says that Electrolux is now building its own dual fuel ranges, and sourcing aggressively priced Chinese-made all-gas units from NXR.
  • At least one of Electrolux's new All-gas dealer floor displays was removed to rectify fit and finish issues.
  • NOTE:  A 2nd anonymous tipster claims to be in the Dacor factory, and that though they "stopped making them for quite a while", they "are building E-lux dual fuels as fast as they can" now.
  • We wonder which is correct, or if Electrolux suffered a production Snafu, requiring Dacor's full court press to build them out of their troubles.
• On October 10th, Vent-a-Hood and 17 of its distributors from the US and Canada met in the Black Hills of South Dakota in order to communicate with and gain wisdom from our deceased ancestors.
• Whirlpool sent notices dated September 25 which canceled a significant number of Whirlpool dealers.  Our sources reported to us that Whirlpool canceled all dealers with annual purchases less than $50,000 effective December 31, 2007, and that this follows Whirlpool's moves earlier in the year eliminating all direct support to dealers not meeting annual purchase requirements of $300K to $400K.  (call center ordering only).  How did actual news get into the Tsunami?
  • CORRECTION 1:  Whirlpool canceled dealers with annual purchases less than $25,000 not $50,000
  • CORRECTION 2:  Direct Support Cutoff applied to dealers buying less than $250,000 per year not $300 - $400K.
• There is a rumor of a 5% price increase effective the 1st of the year for GE, Whirlpool and Frigidaire.  This is strictly unconfirmed, single source rumor, awaiting you, the proud members of our ad-Vice-squad to confirm, correct, or deny.
  • Boston area dealer reports receiving notice of GE price rise of 5% effective January 7.
• NY Dealer reports Miele has a 4-5% price increase effective November 1.
• From Michael's Appliance in Middleton, NY
  • Salesman Chris Walsh will be getting married on November 10th. 
  • Gifts can be sent to: Michael's Appliances Center, 585 East Main Street, Middletown, NY 10940
  • Salesman Neil Gooler has postponed his wedding until November of next year.
  • Sales Manager Frank Dragone has just purchased a new car.  A nice 2003 Toyota.
    Mazel tov Frank, your mother must be very proud.  Neil and Chris, you are on your own.
• AGA reported October 19 that it has entered into an agreement to sell its commercial equipment division to Italian food service equipment manufacturer Ali SpA for north of $500 million.
• It has been reported that effective October 20, DCS has dropped its UMRP pricing by 4%, while only dropping its dealer pricing by 2.5%.  Our tipster believes that DCS is trying to improve their pricing position vis-à-vis NXR, Capital, Jenn-Air and Monogram (the later two manufactured by DCS) in the next-best-thing-to-Viking/Wolf/Dacor category. 
• The sale of Appliance Canada to Leon's Appliance has seemingly hit a snag.  Originally scheduled to close Sept 30, it has now moved to Nov 15th or 30th.  The tipster completely understands that this is soft ohhh so soft news that may not mean anything......but the tipster also knows that this fits perfectly into the Tsunami.  If only he had his hip replaced too.
  UPDATE Jan 2, 2008:  Leon's completes purchase of Appliance Canada
• Pennsylvania Dealer reports:  "Whirlpool Corporation announced today that since they will soon control 99.8% of the market, the rantings of the Appliance Advisor will soon be irrelevant.  A company media person said: "While the Appliance Advisor may have been topical at one time, we at Whirlpool have determined that the best source for information regarding the industry is us, since for all intents and purposes, we are the industry..."
  The Advisor Responds:  Are not our rules for news lenient enough this fine and unseasonably warm October that we need to stoop to fantasy.
  Count 1:  Whirlpool has only one direction to go from here, and up is not one of the options.  
  Count 2:  This publication will "soon be irrelevant"...............We are currently relevant???
  Certainly Pennsylvania Dealer must have something ......hmmm, shall we say, factual, which we can add to the crest of this wave, or are we asking too much?
• Mabe of Mexico, partially owned by GE, made a bid to purchase Costa Rican appliance maker Atlas Eléctrica, reports Appliance News.  Why do we care you ask?  Atlas is the supplier to the Petters' Group of Sunbeam brand major appliances ....and that little connection you will only find on ApplianceAdvisor.com.
• Dacor to raise prices 7% effective January 1, 2008.  Our tipster also reports that Sunwest Distribution raised prices on Viking in their territory, while Kimball did not.
  • 2nd Tipster reports that Lakeview Distribution is increasing their Viking pricing effective December 1.
  • 2nd Tipster reports again that Lakeview Distribution has adjusted the date of increase to January 1.
• Dan Nichols of Dan Nichols Design, Inc reports:
  • Had a few rear irregularly formed molars filled and sealed.  The problem a side effect of the 1970's fad to "get more fluoride into your kid"
  • Celebrated 2nd anniversary with his wife Lisa on September 16.
  • Rented a jump house for 1 year old daughter's 1st birthday.  Dan, isn't the whole world a jump house when you're 1?
  • Oh, and by the way Dan Nichols Design Inc, signed an exclusive design agreement with Outdoor Concepts Inc, a S.California maker of high-end BBQ.
• Pennsylvania Dealer reports again
  • Schaedel Distribution cancels one Penn dealer for UMRP violations related to Viking.
• More Real News Again
  Indesit, the manufacturer of Ariston brand appliances met with many of its Ariston distributors in hopes of reaching an agreement for a continued growing business.  It has been reported to us that Indesit has met service concerns, but has so far not agreed to invest marketing money into the market.  Indesit has further canceled all terms, requiring that distributors pre-pay containers coming from Italy....which is many pegs below the luxurious terms they were getting from Ultra 8.  
  Is Ariston dead in North America?  The answer is somewhere between "Yes" and "Most Probably".
• The major appliance brands Fratelli, DeLonghi, Caldera and Verona marketed by Eurochef will be distributed by Jeffrey's Distribution of the Kansas City area.
• James Montgomery of Keidel Appliances in Cincinnati reports that he and his wife found two kittens on the side of the road and are planning to keep them.  His 7yr old daughter named them Ki-Ki and Peanut.  NOTE:  We have the pictures........and they do look like kittens
• Pacific Sales of California showed LG the door.......into the store, and has put LG in all 17 of its locations.  Our tipster characterizes the LG entry as only possible under Pacific Sales' new Best Buy ownership.  The tipster also rates this a solid kick in Whirlpool's tokhes.
• October 25, Newton Iowa:  After 100 years of appliance production, the last Washer and Dryer reached the end of the Maytag assembly line.  The last production facility in Newton has been shuttered.  Newton is being removed from the Rand McNally maps.  Whirlpool is shifting production to less expensive non-union plants.  LG seems to be doing fine though.
  
  With the strike of the 12th bell, the Tsunami has passed.