Thursday, May 13, 2010
Local News!!
We made the TMJ4 TV news at 4:40pm yesterday!!! We did a set up at the station for their Sales Manager's birthday and they talked about the display and wished him a happy birthday. Very cool. We are working on getting a copy to put on the site and the blog. In the mean time here is a picture of the display.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Website Stuff
Yesterday and today, we made some improvements to our website. The biggest change has been that we now have a customer testimonial page. These are unsolicited comments from some past customers. Check it out here www.special-delivery4u.com/testimonials/
The other two additions to our site are on the navigation bar on the left side. We added links to our Twitter feed & Facebook fan page. Check them out www.special-delivery4u.com
The other two additions to our site are on the navigation bar on the left side. We added links to our Twitter feed & Facebook fan page. Check them out www.special-delivery4u.com
Sunday, January 17, 2010
2010
We are off to a good start in 2010. So far we have had 14 displays this month. Including one stork for a newborn. We love helping to celebrate the birth of a new baby! Looking forward to doing more of those throughout the year.
We redid the website this weekend. We are hoping that it makes it easier for our site visitors to view. If you have any comments on the website please send us an e-mail to service "@" Special-Delivery4U.com Don't forget to remove the quotes and spaces.
We are going to be purchasing all of the inventory from a company in Ohio in February. When we go to pick up the inventory we plan on getting together with some other owners out there for lunch. It should be a fun time!!
We redid the website this weekend. We are hoping that it makes it easier for our site visitors to view. If you have any comments on the website please send us an e-mail to service "@" Special-Delivery4U.com Don't forget to remove the quotes and spaces.
We are going to be purchasing all of the inventory from a company in Ohio in February. When we go to pick up the inventory we plan on getting together with some other owners out there for lunch. It should be a fun time!!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Two new signs.
When we first purchased the business we had an old man sign and an old woman sign that were made out of wood. They were super heavy so we decided to discontinue them. Recently we were able to design our own old man sign and old woman sign with the help of Evan at Flamingo Factory. These are much nicer than the old heavy wooden ones.
The really great thing about these signs is they can be used for some many different occasions. They are not limited to birthdays. Want to tell your Dad "Happy Retirement"? The old man sign can do it!
The really great thing about these signs is they can be used for some many different occasions. They are not limited to birthdays. Want to tell your Dad "Happy Retirement"? The old man sign can do it!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Flamingo socks
We found some really cool Flamingo socks thanks to SockGrams on Twitter. Thought you would all like to see them. http://sockgrams.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_13&products_id=18
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Madison Wisconsin's Official Bird
On September 1st, 2009 the Madison, Wisconsin City Council voted 15-4 to recognize the plastic pink flamingo as the official city bird. I too wondered why and went on a fact finding mission of sorts. Here is what I learned.
In the late 70's at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Jim Mallon and Stu D. Baker became the founding members of the Pail and Shovel Party. In 1978, they ran for student council. One of their campaign promises was to convert the school's budget into pennies which would be spread on Library Mall for students to collect with pails and shovels. They were elected. The pair were responsible for many pranks at the school at the expense of the student government's budget. One of these pranks involved planting 1008 pink flamingos on Bascom Hill in the fall of 1979.
In April of this year, the Wisconsin Historical Museum's Odd Wisconsin exhibit was commemorating the 30th anniversary of the prank with pink flamingo sunglasses for visitors. Doug Moe, a writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote a piece on the museum's exhibit and thought is was a good time to propose making the pink flamingo Madison's official bird. In fact Moe had proposed the same thing in 2006 when the company that created the pink flamingo announced it was closing. Apparently this time Ald. Marsha Rummel thought the idea was worthwhile. She was the sponsor of the resolution. After 5 minutes of debate a vote was held and the pink flamingo won!
UW-Madison student Joan O’Donnell snacks on Bascom Hill surrounded by 1,008 plastic flamingos Sept. 5, 1979.
In the late 70's at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Jim Mallon and Stu D. Baker became the founding members of the Pail and Shovel Party. In 1978, they ran for student council. One of their campaign promises was to convert the school's budget into pennies which would be spread on Library Mall for students to collect with pails and shovels. They were elected. The pair were responsible for many pranks at the school at the expense of the student government's budget. One of these pranks involved planting 1008 pink flamingos on Bascom Hill in the fall of 1979.
In April of this year, the Wisconsin Historical Museum's Odd Wisconsin exhibit was commemorating the 30th anniversary of the prank with pink flamingo sunglasses for visitors. Doug Moe, a writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote a piece on the museum's exhibit and thought is was a good time to propose making the pink flamingo Madison's official bird. In fact Moe had proposed the same thing in 2006 when the company that created the pink flamingo announced it was closing. Apparently this time Ald. Marsha Rummel thought the idea was worthwhile. She was the sponsor of the resolution. After 5 minutes of debate a vote was held and the pink flamingo won!
UW-Madison student Joan O’Donnell snacks on Bascom Hill surrounded by 1,008 plastic flamingos Sept. 5, 1979.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Lawn Greetings going strong in tough economic times.
We have all heard on the news how bad the economy is and maybe even some of you have been affected by it but there are some industries that are still enjoying growth. One of those is the Lawn Greeting industry. The Lawn Greetings industry is defined as small businesses which help their customers celebrate various occasions and events by renting displays that are set up in a recipient’s yard. The displays vary greatly from giant wooden character signs and small "critter" signs, as they are referred to in the industry, to a wide array of elements for decorating a front yard such as 3D plastic or 2D wood and coroplast characters/shapes that include from the most popular, plastic pink flamingos, to the more obscure, plastic cows or over the hill themes, to the more traditional, stork signs for announcing births.
A recent discussion on the Lawn Greeting Association forums shows that the industry is still growing despite the economic downturn. Seven of the eight companies that commented on the discussion said that they were pleased with the number of deliveries they were doing. Tom of Special-Delivery 4 U in Muskego, Wisconsin mentioned seeing a 25% growth in sales for May compared to May 2008 with an additional 20% in June 2009. Janice of Front Yard Friends in Chesapeake, Virgina said "We had 30 yards in one night plus all of the pick ups from the night before ( 22). I honestly don't remember doing that many before but maybe we did." Cindi from Coastal Yard Cards in Sussex County, Delaware reports a 50% increase in sales for the month of June 2009 compared to last year at the same time. She thinks a new improved website helped with sales traffic. "A good web presence and search engine results are a key factor to getting your business out to the public". Cindi also says that while it is difficult in her area to spread the word about Lawn Greetings due to being the only business of it's kind in more than half of the state, she thinks once people actually see what Coastal Yard Cards offers, they absolutely love it and want to order a rental for their next occasion !
Not only is the industry seeing record sales, there are new companies starting up. Cheryl of Monkey In My Pocket Designs Yard Celebrations in Dutchess County, New York said "I have only been open for about a month so I don't have any of last year's figures to compare but I rented out 26 displays for May and I already have 32 orders for the month of June."
Even companies that specialize in birth announcements are doing well according to Amy of Special Deliveries in Pleasanton, California. She says "I am busier than I have ever been before. I don't have numbers, but for the last couple of months I have been doing 2-3 rentals a week (all mine are 1 week rentals)."
There are a little more than 840,000 people celebrating a birthday everyday of the year in the United States. In addition to that there are anniversaries, engagements, weddings, births & graduations throughout the year. Each one of those special occasions is a chance for a Lawn Greeting company to rent a display. It's really no wonder why the Lawn Greeting industry is still going strong and even growing in these tough economic times.
A recent discussion on the Lawn Greeting Association forums shows that the industry is still growing despite the economic downturn. Seven of the eight companies that commented on the discussion said that they were pleased with the number of deliveries they were doing. Tom of Special-Delivery 4 U in Muskego, Wisconsin mentioned seeing a 25% growth in sales for May compared to May 2008 with an additional 20% in June 2009. Janice of Front Yard Friends in Chesapeake, Virgina said "We had 30 yards in one night plus all of the pick ups from the night before ( 22). I honestly don't remember doing that many before but maybe we did." Cindi from Coastal Yard Cards in Sussex County, Delaware reports a 50% increase in sales for the month of June 2009 compared to last year at the same time. She thinks a new improved website helped with sales traffic. "A good web presence and search engine results are a key factor to getting your business out to the public". Cindi also says that while it is difficult in her area to spread the word about Lawn Greetings due to being the only business of it's kind in more than half of the state, she thinks once people actually see what Coastal Yard Cards offers, they absolutely love it and want to order a rental for their next occasion !
Not only is the industry seeing record sales, there are new companies starting up. Cheryl of Monkey In My Pocket Designs Yard Celebrations in Dutchess County, New York said "I have only been open for about a month so I don't have any of last year's figures to compare but I rented out 26 displays for May and I already have 32 orders for the month of June."
Even companies that specialize in birth announcements are doing well according to Amy of Special Deliveries in Pleasanton, California. She says "I am busier than I have ever been before. I don't have numbers, but for the last couple of months I have been doing 2-3 rentals a week (all mine are 1 week rentals)."
There are a little more than 840,000 people celebrating a birthday everyday of the year in the United States. In addition to that there are anniversaries, engagements, weddings, births & graduations throughout the year. Each one of those special occasions is a chance for a Lawn Greeting company to rent a display. It's really no wonder why the Lawn Greeting industry is still going strong and even growing in these tough economic times.
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