Hello,

For the past 13-years I’ve been working in the school furniture market. I started in this industry as a product manager for a national school furniture catalog. My job was to find products with the best potential profit margin. Products were measured by Profit Per Inch of space that was taken up on a given catalog page. Manufacturers who best knew how to crank out product, got the most space.

As product manager I heard pitches from all the leading school furniture manufacturers. From California, TX, Florida, to NJ and so on, there are hundreds of companies manufacturing products for schools.

One of the main things I learned was the fact logistics plays a role. It was no coincidence that a customer in Rhode Island had freight damage when ordering product that came from CA or TX.

As a result, I started my own company focusing on shipping points. Most often, the closer the better. Better freight cost, less damage, better for the environment, better.

In the world of school furniture bids, approved specifications have been hammered out through the years. For instance, a school district looking for a chair legally has to get competitive bids. The bid document spells out the approved specifications such as gauge of steel, thickness of plastic, etc.

Games are played with writing of the specification but that’s a different blog. The point is, many products in the school market are essentially the same. If that’s the case—and it is, then going regional makes even more sense. If all else is equal, why wouldn’t schools buy products made in-state?

So, when buying school furniture, ask 1. where is the shipping point? 2. find out if you can get the same product from a closer shipping point. I know you can.