"Wetmore store is doing well. ... since the charter team work we‘ve seen good results:...We have created several charters to bring payroll under control. This has worked very well indeed. ...

The charter work started to take root about six weeks ago, and since then payroll has come down (and), is still dropping... This is great! Too many changes to mention have been implemented through this work, but the bottom line is I am very confident that we will now gain firm control of payroll.

The buying department is working a charter around two issues: inventory turns and profit margin. Even before they finished their initial reports, we started to see improvements in both areas, especially turns. ... The inventory is healthier than it has ever been. Especially significant is that the "sale tunnel" load is steadily shrinking as a result of various charter-inspired efforts. ...The buyers are implementing changes that will definitely result in fewer inventory going into the tunnel at the end of the selling season. It looks to me like the inventory will be in very good shape a year from now. An all the while margins have actually been a little higher than has been the case for the past few years.

The charter concept is working very well. Without exception every charter we‘ve implemented has produced a positive outcome, and among the staff at large there has been complete buy-in to this way of problem solving. Most everyone now hopes they get to participate in a charter."

Dave Baker
Owner