Hello and happy new year! Hopefully your holidays were a success, and you got to spend a little time with the family. Personally, we got bonus family time this week, so we had a total of 19 straight days with the kids. I certainly love them, but that’s a lot of days in a row.
A couple quick items to pass on.
First, I just submitted the last of everyone’s Free Goods from last year. We beat last year and a total of $637,871 in free goods were submitted this last year. I know it’s hard to appreciate that number without a point of reference, but that is by far the most in the country for any Patterson territory. I attribute that to everyone ordering doing a great job of hitting their Free Goods and reaching out for special deals. I should have all the 2024 free good reports for offices, beginning next week.
Next, we’re looking forward to a great mastermind mixers event next Thursday sponsored by weave. If you haven’t signed up yet, we’d love to have you for a night of dinner, cocktails, and discussing industry topics and questions in a relaxing format. You can get additional information and register here.
Regarding education this year, we’re working on a lot of good things. If you’ve got anything that you’re interested in, I’m happy to try to put together a program. Please let me know what you might like to learn about.
If you’d like a free fee analysis, OSHA training or CPR reach out and we can get that taken care
of for you.
Finally, I just want to touch on some challenges that we are seeing regarding face masks and gloves. While we’re not looking at any shortages, there are tariffs being implemented where you may see some cost increases. A lot of masks and gloves are not made in these particular places, so you may see wide variances in prices. If you’re interested in trying different gloves or masks, please let me know and I’m happy to get some samples or see what might make more sense for you. Below I’m going to provide the information I’ve been given.
Have a wonderful rest of the week, be safe tomorrow with the weather and reach out if I can help with anything!
Thanks,
Matt
314-497-0272
Gloves and masks
FACE MASKS
The tariff for disposable facemasks from China increased on September 27, 2024 from 7.5% to 25% and will increase again to 50% effective January 1, 2026. Costs for vendors have already increased but most vendors have been hesitant to share a price increase with Patterson and other customers quite yet. All facemasks under the brands Braval and Cranberry are made in China along with Medicom’s Midknight and SafeMask Classics. All Patterson brand, the remaining Medicom, and almost all Crosstex face masks are made in USA.
GLOVES
A new tariff of 50% for medical gloves from China will take effect on January 1, 2025 and will increase to 100% on January 1, 2026. This new tariff has increased the demand for gloves manufactured in countries like Malaysia and Thailand resulting in higher gloves prices driven by higher costs for raw materials, freight, and labor. Most gloves vendors will be increasing prices by 5% – 10% regardless of the country of origin effective January 1, 2025.
