At my end, while overall sales for the month were down somewhat from
Dec. last year…my ending cash position is much healthier than the
last two xmas’s. I’ll start the year with almost no lingering
inventory payables. That’s a first. Whether its because I bought the
right amount and timed it well or whether sales only lived up to
fresh merchandise is a good question that deserves analysis. But we
make our living on the bottom line so that’s what I’m focused on.
The infamously sarcastic Ralph had a saying, “The harder I work, the
behinder I get”. I have to admit that’s been me for the last couple
of decades…work my butt off to build the top number only to ask at
the end, “Well, where’s mine?” In the more distant past I’ve had
total sales figures that make recent numbers look puny. But since the
dog just shared my filet mignon I have to just say, “So what?”
The business is changing. Well its always changing but these are
definitely even more challenging times. There’s no longer room for
"that’s the way we’ve always done it", and they way we’ve always
done it was concentrating solely on total sales. The trick is how to
do it next. I think I’m on to something, we’ll see.
Could just be the single malt talkin though.