One guy who gained plenty of popularity in
the woods, especially around.logging camps,
is the old-time traveling salesman, who has just about.become
extinct. In his regular column, Bill Moore pays recognition to these.stalwart
chaps, especially Jack Monahan.
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customer, and the good fellowship would
flow as the order was being written up.
Well, the day of these men is near past and now instead we have the
salesmen who cover the camps by aircraft, car, or fast boat. They are
primarily the same type of men, quite dedicated to their trade, and
most often having a very pleasing character. A new or old joke or two,
and a “How are you fixed for blades” – grader blades
these days – not Gillette. One can’t help but enjoy the
good salesman. They can bring a lift to a troubled day in the woods
when the logs don’t come just right.
....Take Monahan for one, known as Jack,
and known by loggers up and down this coast. I’ve known Jack,
and known by loggers up and down this coast. I’ve known Jack Monahan
for 25 years and I’ve yet to know of the time this man couldn’t
deliver to the logger a good product, with good back up, and always
be welcomed back for a second sale. I don’t think you could find,
anywhere in this forest around us, a man more dedicated to producing.
And this industry is a better industry for the attention that guys like
Monahan give us.
....I remember the Christmas eve at 5 in
the afternoon when logger Jeppy Hol phoned Jack from Port Hardy and
wanted 2 dozen chokers on the old Union boat that night at 8. He got
‘em too! Or the time Harry McQillan wanted a steel tower mounted
on a steel sled to be skidded around in the bush as a cold-decker. He
got it, and it worked! When Jack at one time sold used wire rope, there
were a lot of small loggers up and down the
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....There are a lot of people doing a lot
of things to bring the trees from the forest around us to the market place.
There are executive loggers and managers laying plans for forest companies,
that sell the end product of trees around this old globe.
....I wouldn’t be surprised, espe-cially
with the soft market these days, to find them burning the midnight oil
on plans to ship pulp and 2x4’s to the Moon and Mars when the shuttle
service begins.
....There are thousands of woods loggers
and mill men doing their shifts to cut and produce the materials that
will build the houses, print the newspapers and keep the products moving.
Add to these the forestry people of the government, the teachers of forestry
students, the builders of forestry machinery and, I suppose, even the
grocers and merchants who feed, clothe and supply this giant industry.
....Someone said the forest industry is in
danger of dropping to number two, like Avis. Well, stop all the people
from, and associated with, this industry, and I’ll show you a totally
crippled B.C. Let the tourist industry top that if it wants to be number
one. Don’t get me wrong, I sort of like tourists, but lets keep
the perspective.
....Now there are all these people in the
forest, or near it, or a part of it, and yet there is one type of individual
who has always contributed so much, but, I’ll be darned if I see
him being mentioned in the honor rolls when the backs are being slapped.
I refer to the salesman of the machines and goods that allow us to move
the logs from the stump to the water.
....Here is a unique and rather dedicated
man, and I speak of the
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old-timers at this business, not the come and go ones. They still have
to earn their stripes. I’d like to talk about these men of sales.
I’ve known a lot of them, and I believe their contribution to
our productivity often gets overlooked.
....How do they contribute? Well, let’s
see. They roam about in the forests, the camps, the offices, and they
are in close touch with the men in charge. They have something to sell,
be it iron or plastic, and they find out what we need and they supply
us. Maybe a log-loader with a new slack-puller, or a power saw with
a lighter weight – or perhaps a dozer boat with a better push.
There’s a lot of these men and they know their stuff, and they
pass it on to us so that we can better watch that immortal word –
“cost.”
....And cost is the by-word in camps and
mills these days. I always find it a pleasure to see a knowledgeable
salesman come to camp to discuss his product, and to batter around some
ideas. Nowadays many of them fly about the coast in small float-type
aircraft. Their by-word is service and they generally have a pretty
good grasp of what is going on in the different places they visit.
....When I think of these sales experts
I am often reminded of the men known as “travelers” who
used to cover their territory in the old days on the good ship Maquinna,
on the west coast of Van-couver Island. There would be a meat man, a
Mc & Mc man, a Malkin man and one or two others. At every stop the
good ship made the “travelers” would always be out at the
gangplank or the lower hatch to talk to logging or fishing customers
and take an order.
....They would possibly have with them
a small bottle of warmth for the
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