Furniture Tomorrow has learned through confidential sources that a fight club style underground world is emerging between retailers and credit managers to get orders released. Our sources indicate the club was started by a group of irate furniture retailers frustrated with dealing with the industry's credit departments and a group of credit managers frustrated by what they call "all talk and no payment retailers" or as typically coded in their computer systems, ATNPR."After receiving ten calls a day from this one SOB ATNPR in New York, the customer said he wanted to go in the cage" said a mid-level credit manager at Pulaski who asked we not reveal his identity for fear of retribution. "I had no idea what he was talking about but I responded, your orders are in a cage and they aren't going anywhere until we receive payment. That's when things escalated and he asked me about the possibility of a cage match to get his orders released."
"The cage is a nice option to have when you have exhausted all the possibilities" said Diana, a California based interior designer who asked we use her first name only but says she too has had problems with the payment flexibility of most credit departments.
"I know this one guy who got a $65,000 market order released and he was paying in an average of 75 days" said a credit manager at upholstery manufacturer Rowe who admitted to us confidentially that seeing a cage match is more thrilling than sitting in his office coding orders to hold.
Many furniture executives in recent days have released internal memos stating that under no circumstance are credit managers to fight customers. Despite the warnings, many fear the cage matches will continue until the economy improves.
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