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Letter to the Editor

Do the Math

Did story problems in math class make your eyes cross and your palms sweat? Do you still have nightmares about the “Two Trains” scenario? You remember - it goes something like this:

Two trains leave Chicago at the same time going in opposite directions. Train A is heading to New York at 45 miles per hour. Train B, destined for San Francisco, is chugging along at 60 miles per hour. Which train will arrive at its destination first?

Computations were difficult enough already, but various ifs, ands, and buts added into the problem often sent students fleeing from the classroom. Bits of additional information, like station stops, detours, and speed changes along the train routes did have to be considered into the problem’s equation. Other facts, like the color of each caboose, or the names of the conductors, although serving to make the story a more interesting read, were just distractions.

Good problem solvers must first of all decide what the problem is, and how to resolve the issue to arrive at a goal - the best solution. Then, they must focus on logically determining what factors to plug into which equation to give them the outcome they want.

Anyway, this long preamble, hopefully, will encourage you to study our feature this month. If an important goal for your business is to have more cash - and who could possibly object to more cash? - get your pencils ready and plug your numbers into our worksheets. You will come up with some answers that will favorably impact your bottom line.

Our TrendLine results this month suggest that collision repair facility owners, at least those who responded to our survey, have decided to keep employee benefit packages in their shop equation. In 2005, a little over one-fourth of respondents were experimenting with not offering a benefit package to employees. This year, as in 2004, 100 percent of shop owners participating in the TrendLine offer benefit packages.

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