Spend your career moving an incalculable number of cans of paint and it’s likely you’ll retire with stories of spills; an independent paint retailer’s messiest lament!
One Bronx morning while working the counter with my father, THE old man noticed that the Benjamin Moore truck which pulled up with a delivery had parked in a pot hole in Broadway's asphalt and was listing badly.
Fearing the truck would capsize, Billy sent me to warn the driver of the road’s condition and suggest that he park his trailer's rear wheel on the sidewalk to level the trialer; a common hack among drivers on the route.
Advice he should have taken.
As was our practice in a store with no forklift, we unloaded the truck by-hand with every deuce, carton and almost every five passed from the trailer to the sidewalk until a lone skid of Super Hide Flat White sat lonely in the trailer's furthest corner.
And highest elevation!
Choosing to use the pallet jack for the first time the Moore's driver pushed down on the handle. THE jack's trivial movement allowing the driver one more moment to think that he knew more about parking on Broadway in the Bronx than Billy Lipton!
Had my father been in the trailer that day, he would have told the driver to lower the jack once the skid started to get away.
Though I doubt he would have listened!
Rather than lowering the jack and letting friction answer his prayers the driver chose to fight gravity, physics and mathematics simultaneously, pulling against the 1200-pound skid as it slid down the floor of the trailer. THE trailer's length leaving enough time for the driver to scream "Catch it!" as the skid slipped his grasp.
And for me to let him know that I wouldn’t be!
If I'd have had a smartphone in my pocket at the time, the video would look like this!
Episode 74
On my podcast this week I was joined by Billie Machain and Veronica Tucci of Billie’s Painting Solutions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
THE pair opened Billie’s Painting Solutions in March of 2022; the 15-months since enough time for the dynamic duo to be named to Behr’s “Women in Paint” list for 2023!
And, to purchase more than $1,000,000 in architectural coatings, which they do primarily from Sherwin-Williams and Home Depot.
Billie and Veronica share their secrets to success, including how they take advantage of opportunities which the government and other large enterprises set aside for women, veteran and minority-owned businesses.
If your business is registered or eligible to be registered as one of these designations this episode is for YOU!
More than just business partners, Billie and Veronica are mother-daughter team whose careers have wormed through both the independent channel and the stores and territories of the Evil Empire.
You can catch THE episode here.
