Early Birds, April 14, 2022

Early Birds, April 14, 2022

Dan Kennelly – Some containers finally came in this week and staff is flying through the processing..

Dan also reminded the group of the book Red Notice by Bill Browder which detailed Putin’s lawlessness and money laundering among several other “sins” of note. He’s back with a new book called Freezing Order, which at least on the service and from Dan’s recommendation might be every bit as good (and appalling) as the first. Locally you can pick it up at Pages in Kensington, or Shelf Life Books on 4^th Street SW, and, of course, the library if you don’t mind waiting. The link to order and pick up at Pages is https://pageskensington.com/item/rPCoGQ_-yAUaM9RPXY3uLA. They had 9 in stock with more on order as I was writing out the minutes.

Sean Baylis – had busy week working on a new partnership with another advisor in Canmore. Sean was learning about some of the clients and meeting them when possible.

Markets continue to fluctuate, but had a great day before the meeting. The market’s reacting to earnings and financials rather than news. This is typical of April in most years and it looks like a positive earnings season, and couple of months.

Quick note on interest rates: with the half-basis point rise in interest rates in Canada, they’re likely to continue to go up in the US. More big hikes are forecast for Canada.

Matt Dart – Matt told us a while ago he was taking advantage of a City of Calgary roofing replacement incentive program. Matt applied back in February and hasn’t heard back yet and is hearing the program may have run out of allotted cash. So, $3,000 he was hoping to put toward that roof may have just gone up in smoke.

Brad Pachal – continues to contend with long lead times causing delays and difficulties with accurate estimates and quotes. He’s become adept and conscious of the need to pre-order far ahead. He just pre-ordered plumbing that he needs for a job in September. Part of the problem right now is that with every job, every single part of a job is playing out unpredictably: price, supply, and time. He’s responded by becoming a better project manager. One of the difficulties for small independents like Brad is where you store materials when you pre-order and they actually arrive. The solution? The homeowner’s place as opposed to pricey warehouse space.

Jim Bladon – is not expecting interest rate rises to slow things down. At least not just this one. He anticipates more spikes may do the trick, but not sure how many or how much will have the dampening effect the Bank of Canada is looking for. 

Jim was one of many who showed up at very well attended Pierre Poilievre rally at Spruce Meadows. Momentum is definitely in his camp.

Naturally, Jim had his eyes on the tarp auction as a gauge for the state of Calgary’s economy. The Stampede declared it successful with a variety of new factors in play having amassed $2.1M. It was actually beyond expectations, but still below the all-time best of $4.1M.

Then Jim floored the Birds with this news very diplomatically delivered: GMC is no longer the sponsor of the Rangeland Derby. The short version of the long story is that the pleather-wearing animal lovers in Ontario and Quebec applied concerted pressure and threatened to withdraw thousands of planned GMC truck purchases if they sponsored the event this year. GMC caved. The Alberta Dealer associations picked up the mantle until the Ontario puppet master told them that it was a national decision and they could NOT sponsor the Derby.   

How does this end (other than Ford getting a WHOLE LOT of new Western Canadian customers?), well, now it’s the COWBOYS Rangeland Derby and their already massive tent on the grounds will double in size.

In any case, there were plenty of changes to the Derby and the tarp auction, most positive. Tickets to the Chucks are going like hot cakes via the Stampede’s web site.

Tony Fisher – continued the sorry saga of shipping and logistics that several Birds have authored this year by noting that it now costs upwards of $9,000 for a truckload of gear vs. the old price of $4500.

SML Entertainment competes with Amazon, and notes that although largely unnoticed, they no longer offer the same large savings their market power had allowed them to pass on to customers. They increased prices across the entire product line AND added a fuel surcharge to delivery prices.

Tony’s wife Lynne is a HUGE baseball fan, and so Tony spends a bit of time with the grand old game too. One of the interesting notes he passed on is the increased use of tech. The example Tony shared was catchers can now send electronic signals to pitchers. 

According to the story here: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2022/04/06/sign-of-times-mlb-gives-ok-to-electronic-pitch-calling/, it goes like this:

“MLB is providing each team with three transmitters, 10 receivers and a charging case for the PitchCom Pitcher Catcher Communication Device. It is available in English and Spanish.

“A maximum of five receivers and one transmitter may be in any use at any given time,” MLB wrote in a five-page memorandum Tuesday to general managers, assistant GMs, managers and equipment managers, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

A catcher has nine choices on his wristband device: “four seam high inside, curve hi middle, slider hi outside, change mid inside, sinker middle, cutter mid out, splitter low inside, knuckle lo middle, two seam low outside.”

A thin band tucked inside a cap allows the audio to be heard at an adjustable level, envisioned to be used by pitchers, second baseman, shortstops and center fielders.

“When changing pitchers, the manager shall provide a receiver to the replacement pitcher,” the memo said.

Receivers and transmitters can be used only on the field and may not be operated during games in clubhouses, dugouts or bullpens.

“Signals communicated via PitchCom may only be given by the catcher in the game. Signals may not be sent from the dugout, bullpen, a different player in the field, or anywhere else,” the memo said. “Clubs are responsible for their PitchCom devices. Any club that loses a transmitter or receiver will be charged a replacement fee of $5,000 per unit.”

BUT, the other night the device wasn’t working so the catcher resorted to signals, only the pitcher COULDN’T REMEMBER THEM!

Ian Campbell – the trend of independent audiology businesses being bought up continues. Within the last year, it’s resulted in only a handful of independents remaining. As a result, he’s finding that they’re slammed since patients are often referred to them or find them because they prefer to support local.

Although they’re busy at work inflation is affecting Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology, as it’s affected other Birds businesses including SML, Barbecues Galore, Builder One (Brad’s business), Right Voice Communications (Paul’s company) and Hixie Electric among others. 

Brett Bain – commented on the GMC story. His brother-in-law was the rodeo manager for RAM. RAM has also backed away from Rangeland Derby. After Fiat bought Chrysler, with a lot of Europeans who find rodeo abhorrent, the order was given. 

Brent also relayed the story of a friend, an older farmer with back issues waiting for two years to see a specialist. He ended up going to Puerto Vallarta. Service and care was five-star! A tout of the hospital made it look like a five-star hotel. That includes the food. No jello and ice cream or rewarmed Swanson TV dinners for the cartels, thank you very much.

Tony Fisher – whose son used to live in Mexico chimed in with the story that while the fathers or grandfathers (transcription trouble) were waiting for the grandson’s birth – so they weren’t even patients – they were offered a steak dinner at the hospital while they waited for the baby to be born.

Then Brett continued with the story of his and Vicki’s long-postponed kitchen reno project. It is impossible at the moment to get trades. They can’t even get their hardwood floor taken care of before June. They can’t even get a quote for the island.

As part of the preparation for the project, Vicki went into a cupboard place. There was ONE customer in the showroom and a couple of service people. She stood and waited for 15 minutes, wasn’t even so she left. Not one to give up easily, she went back but experienced exactly the same thing. Not even acknowledgment.

Andy Lockhart – gave the Birds the epilogue to his grandson’s hockey Provincial Championship story. A bunch of parents agitating for rings and team photos at $400 and $200 respectively.

Andy’s following the inquiry into the shootings in Nova Scotia and noted that according to one source, the commission website lists at least 36 staff: quite the gravy train. The CBC estimates that the inquiry had cost $13M before the hearings had even started.

On Twitter as a political campaign and information platform: Andy noted that Erin O’Toole’s former campaign staff head detailed that only 15% of Canadians are on Twitter, so despite all the noise, no party should base anything on it. It’s become a lazy way to get incomplete public opinion from the loudest voices, and we know those are the voices of the tail wagging the dog. The dog in this is a two-headed beast with a remarkable family resemblance to the Singh and Trudeaus.

Funny note via the National Post: the self-important mask martyrs are as annoying as the anti-maskers.

Andy also passed on the news about Dhaliwal Homes getting into hot water. To be specific, they face 51 charges for building code violations including building without a permit. That issue specifically is bad news for homeowners who are on the hook for inspection and post-inspection costs if there are any violations since they’re not covered. The story in the Calgary Herald has more: https://calgaryherald.com/business/dhaliwal-homes-ltd-faces-51-charges-for-building-code-violations.