Blue Book To Introduce “New Hire Academy”
October 16, 2012 Blue Book Services is planning to launch its New Hire Academy by the end of the month. The program is designed to help new employees learn industry fundamentals. “If the produce industry was ever simple, it’s not simple today,” says Jim Carr, president and owner of Blue Book Services. “There’s always more to learn, and for a new hire it can be especially challenging. We wanted to help our member companies, as well as newly-hired individuals, meet on-the-job challenges and succeed.”
The New Hire Academy will be available online through Blue Book Online Services (BBOS) and includes five instructional sessions: Sales & Account Management; Trading Customs & Rules; Transportation Customs & Rules; The PACA Trust; and Understanding Blue Book Ratings. Once new employees complete these sessions and successfully pass the associated testing, their managers will be notified.
The Sales and Account Management session will be presented by Minos Athanassiadis, managing partner of the Fresh Link consulting group, while the PACA Trust session will presented by Jason Read, partner at Rynn & Janowsky, LLP law firm. Ken Schultz, vice president of rating services at Blue Book Services, will present the session on Understanding Blue Book Ratings, and Doug Nelson, Blue Book’s vice president of special services, will present the sessions on Trading Customs & Rules and Transportation Customs & Rules.
Each of these sessions is free to Blue Book members. “There is no charge to members,” explains Carr, “and we are very grateful to our outside partners who volunteered their time for this important initiative. These online tutorials are rigorous and of the highest quality.”
Here are some of the topics covered in the session:
• Forming a contract
• The importance of written confirmations
• Authority to grant price adjustments and modify terms
• Suitable shipping conditions
• Contracts of carriage
• Key transportation documents (e.g., bills of lading, rate confirmations, etc.)
• Exempt versus regulated transportation
• The PACA Trust and reparations process
• Recovering debts through the PACA Trust (both currently operating and bankrupt firms)
• Interpreting Blue Book Ratings
• Credit worth estimates
• Liquidity and debt-to-equity ratios
• Industry segments (retailer, distributor, wholesaler, foodservice, processor)
• Seasonal and spot market pricing
• Assessing regional issues: weather, volume, & quality – and much more!
When the program is launched, there will be a “New Hire Academy” button under Resources, on www.producebluebook.com.
