Gift Rep Sandy

Posts Tagged ‘Huckleberry rakes’

Despite the economic situation, gift items are still selling!!

Just got back from a short trip to north Idaho/Spokane/Wallace/St. Regis to deliver a bunch of huckleberry rake orders.  Believe it or not, gift store buyers are buying gift items for their stores!  Other than huckleberry rakes, I sold some gourmet foods, postcards and personal care products.

I love my trips up north — Folks there are so nice and friendly –  And the scenery is gorgeous!

I started out Thursday morning and headed up Idaho State Highway 95.  Made my first stop to deliver rakes in Coeur d Alene.  Drove another 40 or so miles to Wallace to visit with several accounts/friends there.  Because Wallace is a tourist town, some of the stores were just re-opening for the spring tourist season.  A few changes in Wallace as a couple stores moved and a few closed over the winter.

Delivered a large bunch of huckleberry rakes to my Montana group of customers.  Montana has some great gift shops and I enjoying checking out the many different products when I am in the state.

After my day of stops, I returned to Coeur d Alene and stayed with my friend Kris who owns the Greenbriar Inn and 315 Martinis and Tapas Bar and Restaurant.  Kris and I have been friends and business associates for several years.  Before my health issues, we would spend quiet evenings talking about the gourmet food industry over a glass of wine.  Now days, Kris’s restaurant and bar is hopping with great food and great atmosphere.  If you visit Coeur d Alene, I suggest you stop by the Greenbriar Inn!  Tell Kris Sandy sent you!!

On Friday, I made my last stops in Coeur d Alene and Spokane before heading to the freezer to pick up 20 gallons of frozen huckleberries –  for the local restaurant in Orofino where I live!

Came home just in time to help my husband through a very bad attack of gout!  No fun for him, but at least I got back before things got too far out of hand.

More on starting and working your sales rep business soon ….

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Had a wonderful 4th of July weekend with our friends, Tim and Romana, in Moscow.  Visiting with them is always fun and interesting.  Tim is very engaging — despite the fact that his wife, Romana, has alzheimers.  Sad story especially considering she was a professor at WSU before this disease hit!!  All in all, Tim seems to be handling the situation and Romana seems oblivious to her problems!

Update on huckleberry rakes: We picked up the shipment last week and got all the back-ordered rakes shipped out.  And just in time … We had a record day of orders on Tuesday.  Huckleberry are starting to ripen and folks are getting ready to do some serious picking.  The next couple weeks should be a busy time for us with the huckleberry rakes.  Love those on-line credit card orders that post money to our bank account regularly!!

Update on internet service: After looking high and low for internet service to our home office, we are resigned to sign up for sloooooooooowwwwwwwww dial up service again.  I understand that a new Verizon tower is going to be installed in Orofino which should make their high speed internet service available to us again.  So in the meantime, we are signing up for dial-up to help us, at least, be able to access our webmail and do a few pertinent tasks at our home office.  We will continue to travel downtown, but at least not EVERY day!!

With the 4th of July weekend come and gone, wholesale orders are starting to pick up again!  Received several on-line orders along with some phone orders.  Good news to see gifts selling despite the slow economy.

Once again, I am focusing on being thankful for each small thing we have.  It makes dealing with the set-backs a bit easier!

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Malcolm, my husband, says I am not very good at writing about myself!  No fooling … I can whip up numerous articles on How to do this or that, but ask me to write about my day and  . . . I can’t seem to  . . . remember or come up with anything . . . important to say!!

The last week has been very hectic trying to work out the details to getting and shipping the back-ordered huckleberry rakes.  Ending up making two trips to Spokane to pick up what we needed.  Now we have TWO models of huckleberry picking rakes available for sale.  After picking up the second load of rakes, we shipped all our wholesale and resale backorders!  PHEW!!  Did NOTHING for most of the following day!!

Now, we have found out that our wireless internet provider at our home office has been permanently disabled (long story).  Because we live in the “hinderlands” of rural Idaho, it will be a challenge to find a replacement company that does not want the deed to our Chevy Van to hook up and give us good service.  Thank God, we have a small office downtown where we are able to access the wireless hotspot!!

Despite all of these challenges, I am looking forward to a couple days away at friends of ours home for the 4th of July holiday.  It is times like this that we all need to thankful for the gifts and freedom we have!!

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Our new shipment of huckleberry rakes are currently in stock!

Drove to Spokane on Monday to pick up the pallet load of rakes we had ordered.  Since we are right on the edge on huckleberry season, we were anxious to get this pallet load ready for delivery to our customers.  But, low and behold, we opened the first case to label and deliver and realized the sent us the WRONG RAKES!!  The pickers we are selling have wire tines whereas the new ones have plastic tines.

NOTE: Huckleberry rake with wire tines that we have been selling is pictured on the left.  The Huckleberry rake with the plastic tines is pictured on the right.

The plastic in the “new” model is very thick, stiff and durable, and yet very pliable, so the rakes are well engineered. Spacing between tines is identical to the metal tines.

Both models were field tested two years ago, and any difference in performance with the metal toothed verses the plastic toothed was negligible.

So, since this was not the rakes we ordered, the manufacturer gave us a great deal on this pallet load that we are extending this deal to all of our customers.

Check out our website for details … and happy huckleberry picking!!

(If you are looking for more information on huckleberries, check out my blog:  International Wild Huckleberry Association.)

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I love the weather we are having this year!  Last year, we seemed to have winter all the way into May.  If my memory serves me well, I remember waking up a few mornings in late May to 1-2 inches of snow on the ground!  Not this year!  We’ve had a few rain and thunder storms, but between the storms are some beautiful 80 degree days … You know, the kind that makes you want to sit out in the sunshine all day, have picnics, watch the wildlife and play with the cats!!

Malcolm is currently on a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico giving a talk on Community Kitchens.  He is giving his presentation at  the National RC&D  (Resource Conservation and Development) Conference — an organization he has been involved with for many years.

During his absence, I am working diligently to get some of the tasks accomplished that I cannot normally do while he is here.   For instance, cleaning out my very cluttered office!  Oh joy!!  I’m also working on some of his website product input.  We are featuring Camping Forks made right here in Orofino!  Site is still under construction, but I will have products inputted and photos edited and ready to go by the time he is back late Thursday.

Next week, we are heading to the freight carriers in Spokane to pick up our second pallet load of huckleberry picking rakes.  Need to call several wholesale customers in the Spokane/Coeur d Alene area to see if they need to restock their rakes before the 4th of July weekend!

While Malcolm is gone and into the next weeks, I will be adding a section on this website for several different business tools we use that has made our life easier.  Check back often, for updates to this page.

Oh, the phone is ringing …. see you later!

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It’s Free Fishing Day today in Orofino.  My husband, Malcolm and his oldest daughter, Andrea are out on the Clearwater

Clearwater River near Orofino

River fishing this morning and afternoon.  I can think of a million things I would rather do than sit in the hot sun danging a pole in the water waiting for something to happen … Needless to say, I am NOT a fishman (or fisherwoman!)

The last several days have been busy — Huckleberry season is just around the corner and huckleberry picking rake sales are starting to pick up.   This year is looking like another great huckleberry season, so I suspect we will be busy shipping rakes until fall!  (If you are interested in recipes and interesting facts about huckleberries, check out and subscribe to my blog:  International Wild Huckleberry Association!)

I am also surprised that the wholesale business, which is normally slower in June, is still steady.  I don’t travel much in June, but retail buyers are still contacting me with their orders via the phone, fax and from my website:  Idaho Gifts Wholesale.  Buyers are being more conservative with their orders this year, but I am gratefully for every contact and order I receive.  I really believe that if we can hang on through this economic slump, buying should pick up for the holidays.

Have a great weekend!  It looks like a beautiful one here in north central Idaho!

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One of my very favorite sales trips (and you will probably hear this often because I have some many great gift store buyers!) is to Lochsa Lodge — in the north central mountains of Idaho.

The Lodge is located on Highway 12 — better known as the Lewis & Clark Trail Highway — about 10 miles from the Montana border.  The drive from my home in Orofino to the Lodge is about 2 1/2 hours.  The road is narrow and winds around the mountain side next to the Lochas River, but it is some of the most beautiful river scenery in the state of Idaho!

Calm day on the Lochsa River

I arrived at the Lodge later than  planned.  Road construction slowed me down during the last stretches of the road.  Between road painting  trucks, construction vehicles, and bumpy surface due to the dug up roadway, I arrived late — and right behind a tour bus stopping for lunch!  The Lodge was buzzing with people and activity.  Quite a change from the miles of isolated road between the forest and the white waters of the river!

Lochsa Lodge

My trip to the Lodge is an annual visit in the late spring.  Even though Lochsa Lodge boasts that it is open 365 days a year, the buyer places large orders only once in late spring — so I waited as the staff and the buyer serve lunch to the tour bus riders who had chosen the Lodge for their lunch destination that day.

On my way back down the mountain, I stop at a few other gift shops to take more re-orders.  There is a new buyer at one of my stops, so I spend time explaining who I am and what I gifts items I sell to their store.

Driving back through the construction on the way home is tiring, but all and all, it has been a good day for Gift Rep Sandy!

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