Supply Chain

Image of Delivery people setting up furniture
Robert Bell
Retailers discuss delivering furniture and reassurance to customers

Walk into most bars and restaurants and the maskless patrons and workers make it appear our pandemic worries are over. Three furniture retailer delivery experts advised an HFA live Covid-19 Webinar audience last week not to believe that. Carl Nyberg, COO of Home Furnishings Association member HOM Furniture in Minnesota,

image hows a track trailer truck
Doug Clark
Hours of Service revisions can help HFA members

New rules published this month will help truck drivers use their work hours productively. In turn, that can make the transport of furniture and other goods more efficient. The changes to Hours of Service regulations approved by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration were sought by the Home Furnishings Association.

Image shows cargo containers at a port
Doug Clark
Tariff relief doesn’t apply to furniture from China

President Donald Trump’s executive order April 19 to allow deferred payment of some import duties for 90 days doesn’t apply to furniture shipped from China. Americans for Free Trade, a large business coalition including the Home Furnishings Association, has called for broader relief. “The administration’s announcement to defer the collection

Image shows two men in the appliances section of their store
Doug Clark
Appliances meet critical needs during crisis

Home appliance retailers are essential businesses in Massachusetts. A strong argument advanced by Simon’s Furniture, Mattresses & Appliances in Franklin, Mass., may have helped make sure of that. Today, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker ordered non-essential businesses to close at noon Tuesday. Simon’s didn’t wait for the order. To help slow

photo shows president trump and others with trade agreement
Doug Clark
Some furniture imports from China win tariff relief

Some furniture imports from China have been excluded from tariffs, the Trump administration announced Feb. 5. The action is retroactive to September 2018 and continues until Aug. 7, 2020. Importers are entitled to apply for refunds of tariffs paid – originally 10 percent and then 25 percent since May 10,

Furniture retailers must get delivery right, Cory says

A sale isn’t final, and it doesn’t satisfy the customer, until it’s delivered into her home, Patrick Cory said in a Home Furnishings Association seminar at High Point Market Oct. 21. Cory was co-owner of Cory 1st Choice Home Delivery until its acquisition by J.B. Hunt Transport Services earlier this

Image of Delivery people setting up furniture
Brian Straight
Delivering on the last mile

As furniture sales increase online, retailers are taking a second look at their delivery service Brian Grandolf (not his real name) frantically cleaned his new home office, making room for the desk he ordered online to arrive and complete the space. Having already started his new job, and currently working

Don’t evade tariffs, lawyer warns

International trade lawyer Rob Pisani (photo, above) offered predictable advice to importers looking for legal ways to avoid paying high tariffs: “Consult an international trade lawyer.” That’s not as self-serving as it sounds, Pisani told an audience at the American Home Furnishings Alliance Logistics Conference in Wilmington, N.C., June 18.

You might also like

More From The HFA

Join Peter Theran and Steve Fodor, LCB, MCS, Founder and CEO of Customs Services & Solutions, for a practical discussion on IEEPA tariffs, refund developments,

Register To Attend

  Chasing volume is no longer enough in retail today. Sustainable profitability comes from disciplined, high-impact decisions about assortment, floor space, inventory, and capital allocation.

Register To Attend