Tom Mertz isn’t one to dwell on the past, but the founder, President and CEO of TradeNet Publishing, Inc., can recall a time when he was calling on businesses to sell magnetic dry erase memo boards and then cranking them out on the kitchen table of an Iowa farmhouse. The year was 1986.
See what’s happened in 30 years.
From that rather innocuous beginning, TradeNet Publishing rapidly became a major national supplier of erasable boards and refrigerator magnets. We are new based in Gardner, Kansas, on the outskirts of Kansas City. We have 130 employees, each who plays a critical role in TradeNet’s ongoing success in offering an extensive line of Your Message Your Way® printed promotional products.
TradeNet has revised its logo for 2016 to recognize 30 years of helping bring success to the distributors of the promotional products industry. We’re looking forward to more decades of helping deliver “Your Message Your Way.”
TradeNet is always dedicated to the continued success of its distributor partners serving the promotional products industry. We take pride in providing customers what they need, when they need it, on time and on budget. It’s very important to us that we provide superior customer service and quality products and thus enable our distributors to fulfill their promise to clients.
If you as a distributor feel we’ve accomplished this goal, that we’ve consistently exceeded your expectations, we’d be delighted to receive your support for the PPAI Supplier Star Competition, an honor that recognizes PPAI Supplier companies for excellence in customer service and product and decorating quality.
To vote for us for this prestigious honor, simply visit awards.ppai.org.
Thanks in advance for your support and for allowing us to be your partner in business in success.
TradeNet has the Windy City on its trade show schedule
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July 14 will be here sooner than you think. That’s the start of this year’s ASI Show at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. TradeNet will be an exhibitor when the show floor opens on Wednesday and Thursday, July 15-16. Be sure to make Booth 1616 a scheduled stop. We’ll have lots of sample Your Message Your Way® products and marketing materials for you to put to good use.
We also notice NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is the ASI Chicago keynote speaker on the morning of July 16. Perhaps TradeNet should make sure to have a supply of Denver Bronco magnetic schedules in the booth!
Scott featured in magazine’s “Day-in-the-life” article
PPB Magazine — one of the top publications serving the promotional products industry — has offered up a day in the life of one of TradeNet’s finest in its May 2015 issue. Scott Perry, Director of Pre-Production Services, was the focus in one of the magazine’s ongoing series about key people in the industry.
Thanks to PPB for bringing to everyone’s attention a TradeNet manager who fully ascribes to the value customer service brings to all TradeNet products. The article is a fun read and we at TradeNet even learned a few things about Scott.
TradeNet continues to reach out to distributors at national shows
Hundreds of samples representing the Your Message Your Way® line of products await at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Attendees to the 2015 ASI Show Dallas will have an opportunity to get their hands on those products at TradeNet Booth 1412.
Here’s what you’ll find when you visit with TradeNet’s Scott Perry and Steve Hale at ASI Dallas:
2015 Your Message Your Way® product catalogs.
The handy and compact new “Specials” catalog. It’s easy to deliver and makes it easier to sell.
New products: Presentation Folders, Large Notebooks, Roll Stickers.
Web-to-Print demonstrations.
Learn how to include direct mail products in your inventory.
TradeNet is among the first to achieve ‘Product Safety Aware’ status in the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) Product Safety Awareness Program in 2015. This means TradeNet has met or exceeded the PPAI product safety training and education requirements.
Maintaining this status is an ongoing effort at TradeNet. The company has demonstrated its commitment to product safety by actively engaging its workforce and adopting a corporate culture prioritizing product safety compliance training and a commitment to continuing education. Three TradeNet managers recently completed certification training as required: Dustin Griffin, Production Manager; Scott Perry, Director of Pre-Production Services; and Steve Hale, Director of Marketing.
“Meeting the evolving product safety compliance expectations of the promotional products industry requires regulatory knowledge and an ongoing commitment at TradeNet,” said Tom Mertz, President and CEO. “We are proud to establish a proactive leadership position in the industry through our commitment to PPAI’s ‘Product Safety Aware’ compliance program. Product Safety Awareness gives us a strong competitive edge and increases the value in the client-supplier relationship. It’s a win-win for both of us.”
PPAI is considered a leader in the development of training and education programs meant to enhance safety programs in the promotional products industry. The Association is the world’s largest and oldest not-for-profit trade association for the $18.5 billion promotional products industry with more than 50 years of professional development and certification.
There’s always excitement for the first industry trade show of the year. TradeNet is right in the mix.
Scott Perry and Michelle Beaver are ready to greet visitors to TradeNet Booth #2032 at the ASI SHOW taking place this week in Orlando.
The 2015 ASI Show Orlando opened today (1/5) at the Orange County Convention Center. TradeNet is once again an exhibitor at this kick-off show. Our 30-foot booth is filled with samples and marketing materials. Scott Perry, Director of Pre-Production Services, and Michelle Beaver, Customer Service Representative, are on hand to greet and meet and answer questions. The booth is equipped with large monitors so Scott and Michelle can demonstrate TradeNet’s time- and money-saving online design tool.
We hope Orlando SHOW attendees take time to visit the TradeNet booth. You’ll be warmly welcomed and are assured of coming away with great selling ideas for 2015.
(Next stop: PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, Jan. 11-15.)
Ordered your 2015 Your Message Your Way® by TradeNet catalog? CLICK HERE NOW!
With 16 scrumptious apple dishes entered in the competition, just about everyone was treated to an apple-ishous treat.
APPLE WINNERS — Scott Perry congratulates AppleFest 2 winners, from left, Kim Cash, Emily Eslick and Debbie Evans.
Supplied with apples from Cider Hill Family Orchard, the renowned chefs of TradeNet prepared an array of pies, dumplings, tarts, cakes, crisps and such as part of a judged competition. A panel of six judges had the difficult — if not enjoyably filling — task of ranking the 16 entries in what’s been dubbed TradeNet AppleFest. Each and every entry was delicious. TradeNet employees can vouch for that, because once the judging was completed, there were still plenty of samples for all to taste.
This is the second year for AppleFest. Scott Perry, TradeNet’s Director of Pre-Production Services, has a direct connection with the Cider Hill Family Orchard in Kansas City, Kan., and last year offered up apples. The Customer Service team took things a step further and created a competition. Now that AppleFest 2 has been declared a success, looks like this will be an annual tradition when the fall apple season rolls around.
AppleFest 2 winners:
1st — Debbie Evans, Customer Service (Caramel Apple Cheesecake)
2nd— Kim Cash, Mail Services (Grand Girls Fresh Apple Cake)
3rd— Emily Eslick, Assembly (Apple Crisp)
Rumor has it the Cider Hill Orchard is getting ready to start selling pumpkins. Another competition, perhaps?
Wes Cromer worked in Assembly and then as a shift supervisor when he joined the TradeNet team in 1989. But when it was discovered Wes had a unique talent, his role changed. Wes, it seems, has a knack for catching typos and order entry errors before products went into production. Wes became TradeNet’s first full-time proofer, a position he kept for more than 15 years.
TradeNet President & CEO Tom Mertz, right, congratulates Wes Cromer for his 25 years with the company.
Wes has now been with TradeNet for 25 years, the past seven in the Order Entry department. He’s seen the company add employees, expand its production capabilities, move into expanded facilities and embrace new technologies. He seems to have gotten past the fact that when he was first promoted to proofreader, his desk was sandwiched between the presses and the lamination equipment in a busy shop.
“I owe a lot to TradeNet and have really enjoyed working here,” Wes said when being recognized for his years of service to the company. Wes was honored this week at a monthly all-employee meeting. Other than President & CEO Tom Mertz, Wes has worked longer at TradeNet than any other current employee.
Co-workers know Wes to be friendly, helpful and professional… and still with that knack for catching mistakes early. When Wes isn’t working, he enjoys a hobby-turned-business as a landscape photographer. He also is a cyclist and runner.
Thanks, Wes! And congratulations on 25 years with TradeNet!
And excitement!
TradeNet Online 