HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT 2010?

Economists and politicians have been very clever to maintain labeling what really is a depression of the same proportion of the Great Depression as a recession. They have been brilliant at handing out cock and bull stories,”W’ere re now out of it and on the road to recovery!” For me, I have become a member of Generation Z. “It is all about me”. I have decided as much as I would love the world to listen to my rants about injustices and China, I cannot change the world. However I can influence the little world around me. So I will be tackling 2010 and looking after and looking out for my immediate family; my daughters and grandchildren, my brother and my CII family. Now CII is nearly forty strong I have a huge responsibility to ensure we continue surviving through this horrible business environment so when America gets back on its feet, we thrive.

This morning when I tuned into CNBC to check the stock market, I watched some fat cats proclaiming business in 2010 will return to “as usual” as it was before the recession. I suppose for them they can get back to their $40 million remuneration packages after starving for a year on $20 million, but for the rest of us, the road is still full of huge pot holes. At CII, we will continue on the path of gaining a bigger share of what I still see as a continuing smaller pie. Next month we will add innovations onto our website where our forwarder customers around the world need not worry about what the time is in America, they can sign in and obtain pick up rates from all post codes of the United States and the computer will also tell them the total cost to destination. Peter, Graham and Jeremy were responsible for this project coming to fruition.

By the time August 2010 arrives, we will have the most sophisticated screening operation on the Los Angeles airport, manned by a team of experts 24/7. If it weren’t for President Obama’s stimulus plan we would never have been able to claim this achievement eight months before it happens! We believe this investment will become a major earnings contributor for the company in the years ahead.

In July we will be seventeen years old. Our L.A. Headquarters have remained in Bellanca Ave all this time. It is easy for the observer to determine I am a crusty old bugger resistant to change. As we work through the next difficult year or two there may be some tweaking here and there, but the culture of CII will remain the same. We are a dedicated team of individuals with good hearts who always set out to do the right thing for the company and the customer.

Tags: CNBC, Economy, Recession