DEBlog

These are not the easiest of times for our industry. They are not the hardest either. In many ways, the glass industry is suffering the effects of long COVID, and, though not life-threatening as it is to humans, it is difficult to handle and leaves us wondering when it will end. Let’s start by talking about supply. Is there a glass shortage? The answer is the same as when I wrote a blog on the topic nearly a year ago. Is there a shortage? Yes, if shortage means you cannot get the glass you need in its normal timeframe and under normal pricing patterns, then there most certainly is. But… Read More »

So the question is “How was the show?” and the answer is “Don’t know.” The show, of course, is Glassbuild America (GBA), which was held in Atlanta last week. The “Don’t know” is because tradition says you never really know the success of a trade show until weeks, maybe months, after it’s occurred. COVID, of course, blew tradition away. Nothing was usual about this year’s show, from the temperature checks before entry to the lack of usual services at the venue and hotels. It was, of course, a very memorable event. How much of a success you deemed the show depended on where your expectations were. Many exhibitors told me… Read More »

I have always liked the word “bittersweet.” It’s both the taste and emotional equivalent of “happy and sad” at the same time. And that’s what this blog is today—bittersweet. First the happy. It was a real treat to visit the Ironworkers mid-Atlantic training center last week. The facilities are impressive and the teachers and staff enthusiastic. Under the auspices of Local 5, the training facility teaches beginning ironworkers on a variety of equipment. This was the first time I had seen mock-ups of a unitized system used for training purposes. The facility also sported a variety of other types of training equipment including a unitized curtainwall mock-up, a two-story structural… Read More »

So I heard about this happening to a reader, then another, and I thought “well this might be a thing.” Then I heard about it a few more times, and then it happened to us, so I did some research. And yes, it’s a very big thing. The “thing” in question is the benefits provided by your state’s unemployment insurance program to phony claimants. Fraud is running rampant through most of these state programs. In fact, the Department of Labor estimates that at least $63 billion in improper payments, much of it fraud, have been made since COVID hit last year. What is particularly insidious is that most of this… Read More »