Future of The Environmental Services Industry

Environmental Industry: Deflation or Inflation - Which Will It Be?  I continue to believe that the American people have a love-hate relationship with inflation. They hate inflation but love everything that causes it.  -  William E. Simon "It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours."  -  President Harry S. Truman Inflation Wikipedia defines  inflation  as " A rise in the general   level of prices   of goods and services in an   economy   over a period of time.    When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services." I noticed the price of disposable gloves go went up  about $1 per box in the last year and the price of sampling tubing has gone up about $0.02 per foot.   I could pull out my old "Economics 101" book from my years at Western Michigan University (now about 28 years old) and go through th...

All the Other Skills Needed "The Americas Cup is a race of management, money, technology, teamwork and, last and incidentally, sailing."   -Bill Kock The quote above is applicable to many other  circumstances, sporting events and business situations.  Successful Engineers, Geologists and other Scientists often become Managers or Owners and spend more time dealing with personnel, management and financial issues than they do dealing with the science of their industry. Being a good sailor doesn't mean you're going to win races. As the quote says above, it takes management, money, technology and teamwork.  You can't sail most race boats alone and you can't run most successful businesses alone.  I've been repeatedly reminded of the reality and meaning of this quote lately as I and our race team have been getting prepared for the Chicago to  Mackinaw   Island Sail Boat race starting this Saturday.    Our team has put in thousands of ...

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Logistics---How-Projects-are-Won-and-Lost.html?soid=1102448208446&aid=9Zztk7tiV5A

Software Update "Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for  improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to  manage the change that is inevitable." -  William Pollard "Yea Cloud!" -  Windows 7 Commercial In our last newsletter we mentioned that we would be  upgrading our software.  Well....we did it and I think you are going to like it.  We still have many ways that we are going to improve it even more, but for now we are pretty happy with what we have.   I think it will always be a work in progress, as I'm pretty sure technology is not going to slow down anytime soon.   Check it out for yourself by going to  www.sampleserve.com .  The login ID and password are right there on the front page. What will it do for you? It will allow you to see your results in multiple formats (maps, tables, graphs, etc..) and to evaluate your results compared to various state clean-up...

The book  "Future Shock" , written by Alvin Toffler  was released for publishing 40 years ago this month (in 1970). The main thesis of the book is that millions of otherwise psychologically normal people will experience an abrupt collision with the future. Regularly educated citizens will fall victim to the disease of "change". Unable to keep up with the supercharged pace of technological and social change, many people will become disconnected and suffer from "shattering stress and disorientation". A docudrama by Orson Wells in 1972 (see it on YouTube  here  ) outlined the book in dramatic fashion, as only Orson Wells could do. I watched the video again the other day and remembered seeing it back when I was a kid and being concerned about  "Future Shock" . It was funny watching it again and seeing the things they predicted for the future. Some things they got right...they predicted big things for the "computer". No mention of "...

"To know the true reality of yourself, you must be aware not only of your conscious thoughts, but also of your unconscious prejudices, bias and habits."   - Unknown Author   Part of the development of any sampling strategy is the evaluation of the scientific benefit of the collection of each potential sample to be collected.  The scientific benefit of each sample collected should be evaluated against the cost to collect that sample.  A "cost benefit analysis" is performed (or should be) for each sample collected and for every parameter proposed.  Now, this "analysis" doesn't have to be in the form of a formal document prepared for each sample detailed down to the penny the value of the data collected. It can be as simple as a mental exercise using one's best professional judgment as to which samples make the most sense and provide the most useful data without sampling everywhere for everything as if cost was not an issue.  Financial limitations sh...

Downsize, Reinvent or Shut it Down Downsize, reinvent or shut it down? These are very difficult but very real propositions for many small business owners and managers throughout the country right now.  None of these propositions is comfortable.  Make the revenue cover overhead expenses and payroll. Not easy, especially when revenue is shrinking and forecasting your shrinking revenue is difficult at best.  Then what's this talk of a double dip recession?  What is a double dip recession anyway?  That's all we need is more bad news.  Then ......the waiting to get paid........the waiting to get paid is the worst.  Your employees, for some reason, don't like to wait to get paid.  For most companies these days, "forcing" profitability requires downsizing and reinventing your business. I use the term "forcing" because that's what describes what has to happen.  Forcing it. It's making it happen regardless of the pressure against it.  You nee...