~RCMP’s annual CounterAttack i . °-hicles: this year’ than ‘last year, - focal ‘police: laid ‘more’ impaired “yi = "driving charges; meted out mote —; a Aout Suspensions and issued more written warnings than last year. with being over the legal:blood . “alcohol. limit, most , of. them ue ‘caught i in the police roadblocks inst ° “drunk drivers. The figure for 1987 was 14. - The results of the ‘Terrace “program: ‘are in, ‘and despite oo “having checked 1 ,000 fewer. ve- Sixteen drivers were charged - ae - that are the. most: visible feature . “ofthe Dec. 8 - Jan. 3 blitz The: ‘number of 24-hour li- ‘previous year. Written warnings | a - totalled 385, “up from 149 during ‘the 1987 campaign, ; . There were no fatal collisions. or r people killed during either... J: — . The- 1988 CounterAttack oa Fe period saw Tio. collisions | that a -Were. attributed to. ‘alcohol con- L -Sumption.. In 1987 there: were : four. .. The ‘number : of: collisions in - which alcohol was not‘a factor, however, - escalated dramatical- ly. There were 14 collisions that involved’ injuries to 21 ‘people ed and 69 property’ damage acci- dents. Adverse ‘weather and road conditions muy have been. to blame. || pRoapeneck eure, In 1987 five people were in- : | - “cense suspensions issued came to } peop jured in three collisions.and 37 33, compared to 15. for ee | Business Beat - Getting to know who -your customers are An awareness of consumer | psychology, which we discussed in the preceding column, is one of the founda- tion stones upon which retail promotion and advertising are built. The other is knowing who your customers are. by your product, price, market, location and competition. Let’s look briefly at . a = by Phil Hartl, @ Product: If your product is women’s Manager, Terrace wear, your customers will obviously be. h Ey Baron Business women. But what.women? If you are ho: _ evelopment Bank: i en. of means, If you are specializing in high fashion, they'll be _ 7 _ women with a strong sense of style. - i _. "'@ Price: Product and price usually g0 together: the better the: q . quality of product, the higher the price. But the good retail “That, too; is reflected in price ¢ and helps determine who the i; 7. :eustomers will be. _« Market: Market is the number of people who want what you. _——aa “are selling. The size of market relates to the kind of needs you ~ satisfy. If you are satisfying such basic needs as food.and | a - clothing, it will be a larger market than if you are only ststyne 7 i ‘luxury needs, Your’ customers, for the most Part, will be dif- _ ferent, too. ‘@ Location: Location is at least as important as product i in Ho determining who your customers are. Location and product must ai - be compatible. You won’t have many: customers for top-of-tine a ‘ products in the center-city slum. : _.. @ Competition: Suppose you respond to existing competition’ il - with: better service. Your customers will be those who appreciate fo, . + Service and are prepared to pay a little more for it. Suppose you . respond with lower prices. You'll have a different type of | stOmer altogether. .. In-summary, you relate your product to the type of customer - you want and who will come into your shop. Your location, i in | . “tam, must be related to the product and thée.customer. ~ _ While product, price, market, location and competition all help F ’ determine who your customers. will be, they do so in broad terms | average-age of customers, their typical lifestyles, their-income- a range ‘and buying habits. _. +» The retailer can learn this in various ways: ‘by personal. obser- il - yation-and consulting other retailers; by studying census and - .” other statistical information available from government and . . private business, trade and other organizations, and from sup- pliers Much can be learned about customers by taking every Oppor-— _tunity to talk to them when they’re in the shop or out in the. community, A customer file for keeping track of names, ad- ; dresses, individual preferences and other relevant. information i is - also extremely useful. The retailer needs this information in starting a business, It will -determine what is sold, at what price and from what location. The need for it is continuous in devising ways by, which-to bro- _ mote services and advertise merchandise. - We'll begin our discussion of. retail | fromation. with our next column. are cs wteeh . Mae ee Soa Who your customers are is determined © a each, remembering that each affects or is ’ ns affected by the others to varying extents. -|- carrying expensive lines, they’ll be wom- yee | H ' business sells more than just the product — it also sells service: °° — only. A successful retailer needs to know more: for example, the - [December 8 ; January 3. ‘property ‘daninge accidents. : . This year 1,440 vehicles were checkéd,. -down from 2,487 last ‘year. Cst. Ewen’ Harvie,. the ’ Terrace RCMP crime. preven- tion and comimunity relations — . officer, says the higher. number of charges and. suspensions this - year may be due to roadblocks | “set up on residential streets. Most of the checkpoints in 1987 were on main traffic arteries. ~ ‘The detection rate, Harvie said, went. up this year to one impaired charge.for every. 90 vehicles checked. In 1987 it was one per 196 vehicles. During all of 1988 Terrace RCMP laid 323 impaired driving charges, up substantially from the 1987 figure of 260. - Comput talk an ‘ _ requiring extensive use of a calculator, Sane odie ne eee . Do | really need a computer around here? . ae _ In this day and age of rapid proliferation of computers i in oe 1 : ‘| small businesses, the average newcomer is often in danger of be- a ing stampeded into getting a computer before he/she or his/her a ~. business is really ready. for it. The worst ‘horror stories of com- © ~~ if ‘puter problems. and difficulties usually can be traced back to this : i common occurrence, . - The. first thing one should. do when thinking of introducing computers into an office for the first time is to assess what - - aspects of the office work can be improved. by use of a computer. One need not be an expert systems analyst to_do this assessment. Simply make up 4 basic list of office and. business activities as follows: . 1. Preparation o of simple memos and letters. 2, Preparation of extensive reports and proposals. ae 3. Preparation of projections, estimates, budgets or other i items’ ae 4. Preparation of flyers, bulletins, newsletters. 5. Bookkeeping and accounting. 6. Inventory and sales management. 7. Other information-related tasks. . an In other words, all one does is classify how one currently uses |. paper, pen, calculator and typewriter. If from the above you decide that only activities 1, 2 and 3 apply to your business, then‘ all you will initially need, should you decide to computerize, is a word processing program and a spreadsheet program (or in many cases an integrated program which includes both word processing and spreadsheet capabilities). If three or more of the above apply to your business, then & aol ‘computer may be able to help you. oo : Next week — options on getting started, » ; from gpnerations. " . its 10 year history. Contact—K.V. Comish | . - 14) 878-1316 ; : HAPPY NEW YEAR. _ To REPAP SHAREHOLDERS ° “REPAPDIRECTORSINCREASE.. |S QUARTERLY DIVIDEND 40 si‘(#;S(CédéizYX _ BASED ON POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR 1989 : Strong markets and a positive 1989 outlook for Repap's two major products, bleached softwood market pulp and coated paper, resulted in the Board of Directors of Repap Enterprises Corporation, Inc. voting to increase the regular quarterly dividend from $0.05 to $0.07 per voting share, an increase of 40% over the 1988 dividend level. Repap Is now realizing the benefits of increased profits and cash flow from the expansion — and modernization program it has carried out during the last four years. In pursuing its goal of becoming the most cost-effective integrated producer of coated paper in the world, Repap has invested CDN $1 billion in new state-of-the-art paper-making assets. In addition, the - - Corporation has invested CDN $250 million in pulp capacity. - Since Repap first became a public corporation two years ago, It has raised $290 million in new equity, $225 million in debt financings net of repayments and $350 million in cash flow ’ At year end 1988, the Corporation’ s total assets surpassed $2 billion for the first time in The newly completed US $300 million M7 coated freesheat paper operation in Wisconsin has exceeded Its start-up plan, and is now producing premium coated sheets and rolis: On the’ last day of 1988, the new complex produced 830 tons of coated paper, while the total Midtec . ‘mill achieved a record production of 1,641 tons for the 24 hour period ending December 31, 1988. _ Inaddition, a new daily production record of 1,600 metric.tons was achiaved at the Company's Skeena pulp operations in British Columbia on December 15, 1988, demonstrating that the recently completed $80 miltion modernization was yielding positive results. The first tull year of benefits will be realized in 1989. __ Financing arrangements for the new $495 million coated paper mill project being constructed - by Miramichi Paper Partnership were finalized in December. Scheduled for completion in the fall of 1989, the coated paper mill will have an annual capacity of 250,000 short tons. Repap Sales Inc. will be responsible for marketing the medium weight paper produced by an: the Partnership's coated paper mill which will complement the lightweight coated paper produced . by Miramichi Pulp & Paper Inc. at the same location. - Repap operates three major production facilities in Canada and the USA: Skeena Cellulose -Inc., in British Columbia, Miramichi Pulp & Paper Inc. in New Brunswick and Midtec Paper Corporation in Wisconsin, USA, - ;