Suppliers Director Started 1967
The year 1967 started with the approval of a deficit budget. Income was estimated at $29,000 for membership dues and $3,000 for income from investments. Total income $32,000. Against this income they were estimating expenses of $36,550 for a loss of $4,550. No mention is made of how the anticipated deficit will be funded. We can only suppose that the accumulated reserve funds were healthy and that the deficit would come from those.
Work was started on a directory of suppliers, listing them by products that they sold. That same year the “Tenets of CEDA” were apparently translated into French (presumably for the first time) and made available to members in Quebec. It is interesting to note that the Board of Directors decided “new members be instructed in conduct expected of a member.”
One must wonder who was delegated to give the instruction and what precise form it took. And a quaint note was recorded in the minutes of the annual meeting (quaint in language, but not in intent):
“It was stated most seriously that all members should analyze their customers and make sure they are such that the members should be doing business with them and making a profit.”
Today we could say the same thing in much fewer words: check customers’ credit rating before selling to them.
At the same meeting the members recorded the following topics that they wanted the liaison committee to take up with the manufacturers:
• delivery schedules
• service information to the customer
• bypassing the distributor
• marketing technical equipment
Members voiced their concern over product liability, and were advised that “they should check with their own insurance agent where he stands on this matter.” Unclear from wording whether they were suggesting that members ask insurance agents for their opinion on the desirability of coverage, or whether they were suggesting that members should protect their interests by buying coverage if they did not already have same. What is particularly interesting is that members were becoming aware of the nascent consumer protection rules, and were looking to see how exposed they might be to product liability claims.
Concern was voiced about proposed amendments to the Combines Investigation Act. It was stressed that members should know as much as possible about the Act so that “Chairman would know what could not be discussed at meetings.”
Also that year the General Manager received a pay raise to $9500 per year.
CEDA was discussing the possibility of making a recommendation to suppliers about methods of payment. They were encouraged in this endeavor by the fact that the Heating and Air Conditioning Association of Canada had published such a recommendation.
Changes were in the wind. There was a proposal to require companies to be in business at least one year before they could apply to become members of CEDA.
Source: CEDA: Fifty Years of Service – An Historical Review of the Canadian Electrical Distributors Association, 1934 to 1984, Kerrwil Publications. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime if you have great photos, historical anecdotes or perspectives. We would love to hear from you; linegoyette@kerrwil.com.
