by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 8, 2023 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, My name is Bernice and I’m the office manager at a small scrap recycling business. At first blush, scrap recycling probably doesn’t sound too exciting, but our specialty is the retrieval of large elevator motors and generators which contain...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 6, 2023 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been reading your column for several years and have always valued your advice, but I never thought I would actually need to write for myself. Let me start from the beginning. I have been working at my company for almost ten years....
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 3, 2023 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the credit and collection manager at a small company and we manufacture designer paper bags for wine bottles. Our bags come in all kinds of very fancy patterns and textures, and they look beautiful when someone gifts a bottle of wine in them. ...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 2, 2023 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the collection person at our company and I’ve been employed here for decades. About two years ago I had an illness that kind of wiped me out and I was off work for several months. Although I made a complete recovery, there were some physical changes...
by Nancy Seiverd | Mar 7, 2023 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I have been the credit manager at my company, a confectionary goods distributor, for the past 35 years and our customers are retail shops across the nation. Although I’m in my sixties, I still have a lot of energy and motivation to do my job....
by Nancy Seiverd | Jan 10, 2023 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, As collectors, we always strive to get all of the invoices paid in full. But, in the manufacturing business where you send pallets or shipments out on a daily basis, you are bound to have discrepancies. These discrepancies include shortages,...
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 2, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the collection manager at an elevator maintenance, repair, and installation company. We’re a small organization but have been around for decades in a major metropolitan area. We’ve developed a reputation for servicing those small businesses that...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 8, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I am the credit manager at a small digital design graphic arts company (where we all were several hats) and have been in this position for about 10 years. It’s a great field to work in as it’s constantly evolving with many interesting technological...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 12, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I am the credit manager at a small tools manufacturing company and recently, I’ve got the whole company angry at me, especially sales. Let me explain what’s going on. About six months ago, out of the blue, one of our best customers declared...
by Nancy Seiverd | May 3, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I have been the controller at a US subsidiary for the past 11 years which has its headquarters in Germany. Like every year, in March our organization was audited. Normally when the auditors are here, they spend a great deal of time verifying...
by Nancy Seiverd | Mar 8, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been working as the credit and collection manager at a large heating & cooling equipment installation and maintenance company for the past 20 years, and about two months ago a new CFO came on board. From the start this person has been...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jan 4, 2022 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby,I wish I could tell you that I had a nice holiday and new year, but something was gnawing at me dampening my holiday spirit. Let me explain. I have been the credit and collection manager at a mid-size industrial electronics part distributor for the...
by Nancy Seiverd | Oct 4, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the credit and collection manager at a mid-sized fragrance manufacturer and like many managers, beyond the usual credit and collections challenges, I also deal with a myriad of human relations issues. So, it’s that time of year again when...
by Nancy Seiverd | Aug 9, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the credit and collection manager at a small scrap and metals processing company. We basically buy old industrial electric motors and disassemble them for the copper, silver, titanium, and other precious metals. We’ve had a long-term client, who...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jun 8, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I have an interesting scenario to share with you. A month ago, I received a new credit application with an unusual looking company name. At first blush, the company looked good as I began the credit risk evaluation. This new customer was requesting...
by Nancy Seiverd | Apr 6, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m glad there’s someone like you to talk to right now because I have a touchy problem at work and I’m not sure how to manage this delicately. First, a little background. We’re a small business of about thirty employees with a long history in our...
by Nancy Seiverd | Feb 8, 2021 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, Like many companies, ours has also had to let people go during these tough times, and several departments are now running on a skeleton crew. Up until around mid-summer of last year, I was carrying out credit functions and some high dollar collection...
by Nancy Seiverd | Nov 10, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been reading your column now for the past few years and as a credit & collection professional at a small distribution company, I’ve always found your advice to be spot on. That said, I never thought I’d actually be writing to you. Recently...
by Nancy Seiverd | Sep 9, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’ve been reading your column for a long time and I can’t believe I’m actually writing to you. But here I am and I’ve got a big problem. As the credit and collection manager for a small wholesale distributor (there are only six of us at the company), it...
by Nancy Seiverd | Jul 14, 2020 | Dear Crabby
Dear Crabby, I’m the accounting and credit manager at a mid-sized shipping company and over the past few months, almost all the staff are working from home. In view of keeping safe and well, working remotely has been both a blessing and a curse. I have three teenage...
