A "Condemned" Supplier Shares the Truth!

"No one has ever called me to ask me about our business model and how we relate to Amsterdam," he said. "But they feel very comfortable debating the topic online with conjecture and information that is not fact-based." He finds this very disappointing.

We, too, should find this disappointing. Why do people spend their time and energy spreading misinformation and outright lies about a company?

The simple fact is that Amsterdam and ADG happen to be owned by the same billionaire who owns a bunch of companies and probably isn't done buying more companies. Amsterdam is a distributor just like many of us. They have a different way of selling but it isn't wrong or evil. And it certainly doesn't have anything to do with ADG. Sometimes Amsterdam gets an order because of its business model. Sometimes an order comes to us because of our business model. Period.

What are people trying to accomplish when they share falsehoods? One person had nothing but insults for ADG on a social media site. A quick Google search uncovered that this person had been unemployed for a year and had previously worked for two other pen manufacturers. Are there underlying reasons for these comments they are making? Or is this kind of free-for-all insulting something we have come to expect? Aren't we as an industry...and as individuals better than that?

To repeat an often spoken phrase, the industry is changing. It isn't a secret that more consolidation is expected and this conversation is not going way. What happens if Mr. Taylor's company buys another supplier? What happens to other companies with different business models who are owned by larger companies?

I choose to not engage in damaging idle chatter regarding what suppliers are or are not doing. If I have doubts or questions, I ask a lot more questions and investigate before I form an opinion. I think we owe it to suppliers and to ourselves to stop this vitriol gossip that doesn't serve to help, and only hurts our industry. Please join me in starting a more positive, truthful conversation about our supplier partners.