Chamber of Commerce recommendations

Last year I was permitted to address the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. I presented a number of new ideas. I haven't seen any of the implemented as offered. It is interesting that Angeli's at least has been issuing coupons for cents off for gasoline purchased at the Holiday Gas Station in Iron River.

Outline for Bill Vajk's discussion with the
Board of Directors of the
Iron County Chamber of Commerce
on 28 June 2007

TITLE:Economic Recovery Initiatives for Iron County:



Improve Tourism:

On December 4, 2006, I first presented a trolley system plan for Iron River combined with a Children's Railway to the City of Iron River. Attached is a very recent reply from Michigan Technical University offering their participation in all phases of a trolley project which is designed to attract tourism as well as provide local transportation for our residents. Details can be found at www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river. If you need more information or printed copies of the pertinent materials please contact me. I ask this board as well as the entire merchant population to pressure the Iron River City Council to undertake this initiative.

Dan Baumgartner prepared a map for a proposed transportation system including other towns in Iron County. Personally I think it is a good idea. I will put a copy of Dan's map on the web page listed above in the next few days.


Assist New Startups in Iron County:

It is clear that new startups have a very difficult time financially. As a businessman I urge the Iron County Chamber of Commerce to extend the first year of membership in the Chamber free to new startups. This should help new startups integrate into the business community by welcoming them without financial pain to either the Chamber of the new business. My current business in Iron County is over a year old and would not qualify for a free membership, nor do I ask this for myself.


Recapture Local Resident Sales:

There are two distinct aspects involved.

First-- Dissatisfaction:

I have had some significantly bad experiences with local service businesses. I will briefly describe one of them that had to do with automobile service. I left a Jeep with a local shop for several weeks while they tried to figure out why the engine would arbitrarily stop running even at highway speeds, leaving me without power steering and power brakes, a dangerous situation.

The day came that they said it is fixed, come pick it up. I paid their fees and drove it towards home.

I live about 8 miles west of town. The car quit seven miles out and refused to start again. It had always restarted before.

I called the shop and had them tow it in to be fixed. I had already spent $600 on fixing a problem that had not yet been fixed. They changed out a few more parts to the tune of another $200. I was completely aghast because when I picked up the vehicle they charged me for the tow. They refused to stand behind their work.

Not only that, but the problem was still not fixed.

I hate to work on cars. But I bought a $76 part, replaced it, and finally fixed the problem myself.

Needless to say, I take all my automotive work out of town now, despite the fact that there are plenty of businesses around Iron County doing this work.

The solution to such flight of business based on bad experience is to create our own Better Business Bureau to handle such complaints. I urge the Chamber of Commerce to create and operate such an entity in order to provide assurances to residents that complaints against local businesses will be addressed fairly and impartially without having to resort to hiring an attorney to institute civil suit.


Second-- Pricing:

It is obvious that merchants in Iron County cannot roll back prices to compete with the Big Box competition 6o miles and further away. However, with a bit if creative marketing the Chamber should be able to roll back some of the purchase dollars that flee Iron County by capturing the imagination of a significant segment of the local population.

I give as an example some of the wildly popular fads that happened during my lifetime. Let's start with something completely useless, the "pet rock." It was just a rock with a cute set of instructions that captured the imagination of the American public. It was completely useless. Not so useless but also wildly popular were Davie Crockett outfits, hula hoops, anodized aluminum tumblers, and a myriad of others.

I recommend what I am calling "The Chamber Card."

The card could be issued looking like a credit card. The purpose is to get a 2% discount at participating Chamber businesses. The money would not be a cash discount, but would be placed, at the time of the purchase transaction into an account in the user's name. The money would accumulate through the year and be available only for purchases from participating merchants between November 15 and the end of the year. Any money remaining in the account would roll over into the next year.

The account would draw no interest. The interest that that money earns would be used to offset the management expenses experienced with whichever bank provides the relevant services.

The purpose of this initiative is to convince local residents to buy from Iron County merchants instead of going out of town. The 2% reduction in price that the merchant experiences will be offset by increased sales resulting from this program. It will also serve to retain Christmas sales in the county instead of having people go elsewhere.
If you prefer, this card could be called the Iron County Christmas Club.

There is already a 2% discount available to anyone who purchases gasoline at the Holiday gas station in Iron River (or anywhere else, for that matter.) Holiday accepts Menards cards. Menards offers a 2% discount on all purchases on their cards, redeemable by purchase at any Menards store. This new initiative would allow other petroleum retailers to compete with Holiday while having the greater advantage of being able to spend the proceeds at any participating merchant.

Frankly, like the man or hate him, what works for the entrepreneur John Menard can work even better for Iron County.