Monday Motivation: Our Blogs First Birthday

Today is the first birthday of the W.L. May Blog. Thank you for your support.

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Kelly's Korner - Post Party

Hey, All,

Well, if I do say so myself, we had an awesome anniversary party at all 4 of our branches last Friday.
Balloons, music, food, prizes and best of all, getting to visit with the people that came to help us celebrate!
Watch our Facebook page for more pics to be added this week!  https://www.facebook.com/wlmaycompany

Swag table from PDX

All the branches had a great time:

Sacramento: 

Boise:

Seattle:

   

We would also like to offer our congratulations to our grand prize winners:

In Boise: Wes Coe's Washer and Dryer, Boise ID
In Seattle: Affordable Appliance Repair, Lake Stevens, WA
In Sacramento: All Pro Appliance Service, Sacramento, CA
In Portland: Mr Appliance of SCC, Camas, WA

Thanks to all the branches and their people for putting on a great day.  My family for all their help.  My fabulous co-chair, Shannon, who did way more work on this than me.  Wesley May and George Thomas for the vision to start a business to help consumers with their appliance repair needs.  Shar Stuart for the terrific boss friend that she is.  And to all our W L May customers that have made the last 90 years a success!  Here's to the next 90!

Have a great week!

Ten Notable Firsts From 1923

1923 Ford Model T
Creative Commons license on image.

1.Time magazine founded. Still being published, Time has grown to have the largest circulation in the world for a weekly newsmagazine.

2.Hockey Night in Canada is first broadcast on the Toronto Star's private station CFCA, making the first hockey broadcast ever. Starting in 1931, the show became a weekly program that still airs on the CBC in Canada.

3.The Walt Disney Company was founded. The company still operates and is a leader in world wide entertainment.

4.Louis Armstrong makes his first recording, "Chimes Blues," with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. Armstrong would have a long and successful career that included a Grammy Lifetime Acheivment Award, inductions into the Grammy and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, and was even featured on a commemorative US Stamp.

5.Yankee Stadium opens its doors in the Bronx, NY. "The House That Ruth Built" continued until 2008, when a a new stadium was opened for the team. The original ball park was demolished in 2010.

6.The first 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race is held, and is won by André Lagache and René Léonard with 128 laps. The race is still held annually, in 2013 the Audi Sport Team Joest wom by covering 348 laps in the 24 hour period.

7.The Hollywood Sign is inaugurated in California (originally reading Hollywoodland). Now siply reading "Hollywood" the sign is as distinctive a landmark as you will find and is still an icon of Southern California.

8.Dometic releases the first commercially available absorption refrigerator in Sweden. In 1925 the company was purchased by Electrolux, still a major manufacturer of household appliances,

9.Vladimir K. Zworykin files his first patent (in the United States) for "television systems". It wasn't until the close of World War II that regular broadcasting led to their widespread adoption.

10.W.L. May Co. opens in Portland, OR, beginning 90 years of service to the appliance repair community. Today, W.L. May serves appliance repair companies all over the Western U.S., by providing OEM parts and supplies with a high level of customer service. The 90th Anniversary is being held today at all of our branches. We hope you can attend.

Kelly's Korner - Paaar-Tay!

Hey, All!

Well, Shannon and I have been very busy planning and getting things ready for the W L May 90th Birthday Party this coming Friday, October 18.  Having just a month to get a plan, stuff ordered and sent out to the branches AND still working our full 8 hours has been an excercise in getting 12 hours of work into 8 lol! 

We will be having balloons, barbeque burgers and prizes, plus a bunch of other fun stuff.  So be sure to stop by, grab a burger and celebrate with us!

 

Have a great week!

 

Friday Fun: We're Having A Party!

Kelly's Korner - Reflections on W L May

Hey, All,

As you may or may not know, W L May is celebrating our 90th year of supplying appliance parts to servicers and retail.  Wow, 90 years! 

As a relative rooky here (only 12 years to some who have over 20 and 30 years) this is so impressive.  How many companies do you know that have been in business that long?  Not a whole lot, and some that have been in business for way long have fallen to changing times.  Remember Montgomery Wards and Woolworth's?  Why do some companies stay in business for a long time and some are a flash in the pan?

I believe the W L May philosophy is the main reason we've been here so long - look, a pump is a pump and a belt is a belt, and you can get them just about anywhere, right?  What makes W L May different is that we CARE about our customers and their business.  We get to know our customers - not just the business - but the people in the company.  What they like to do in their off time, family, special interests - just like anyone does when they make new friends.  Because that's what our customers become - friends.  I have quite a few of mine as Facebook friends, have had dinner/drinks, and just yakked on the phone with them.  Some even have my personal phone number and, on the rare occasion that I am out sick, call and make sure I am ok, been invited to weddings, Christmas parties and have a place to stay in whatever town I'm in.

And W L May hosts OEM and business training sessions, is a liason to the OEM's, and we do our best to keep on fingers on the pulse of the appliance industry as a whole and pass that along.  We maintain this blog site, have a Facebook page and are constantly looking for ways to help our customers run a successful and profitable business. 

So it is not just looking up parts and getting them to you, we run a whole gambit of services for you and your business.  And if you've never dealt with us, give us a call so we can become friends.

Have a great week!

PS:  Keep your eyes peeled - there may be a birthday party in the offing!

Kelly's Korner - Anniversary

Hey, All!

Today I am celebrating my 12th anniversary with W L May!  I have had my share of different jobs in my life and this is the longest I've ever been in one place and I don't plan on leaving.

One of the things that have made this place not just a job, but I feel as if it is my home.  When I took this job I knew absolutely NOTHING about appliance parts.  I've always been up to a challenge and one of my first trainers, Todd Kane, was one of those people with an encyclopedic memory and could look at a part and know what it was, what it did, what the part number was and where it was in the warehouse.  I wanted to be like Todd!  And the fact that some of the older techs thought women belonged in front of appliances to cook and clean for them, not helping to fix them, made me push myself to learn as much as I could.  I am constantly learning every day and it is never boring.

Brad Cantor is another one I have to thank - after my training with Todd at the front counter I was put back in the sales force and Brad trained me in the W L May way of selling appliance parts.  He has been and always will be my go-to person for help - in both as a co-worker and an unofficial big brother that I never had.  Sing on Allman Brothers!

And all the other people here that are as much family as co-workers - we are a family here and we help, argue, support, tease, work and play together as much as my biological family does.  And to my customers that have made me a part of their lives also.

And last, but definately not least, Shar Stuart, for believing in me and welcoming me into the W L May family - supporting me, letting me cry on her shoulder and just being a friend.  I couldn't ask for a better boss if I tried.

So, Happy Anniversay to me and thank you all!

Have a great week!