Anyone know anything about HDL retirement?

The following note is from Debbie dated 12/8 regarding trying to get information about the Handleman Retirement:

I called this morning at 6:30am our time, and went through Handleman's voice mail. I had to spell someone's name and I did what George (Rosenjack) said and went to David Hein and on the message there it said if you have any questions on retirement to go to Ken's box at 371. He also gave his last name I just didn't get it. as well as his e-mail address, once again that was way to fast for me to get. I did leave him a message but have not heard from him yet. I gave Ken my name, phone number and the years I worked for Handleman. Oh and my maiden name too. Wednesday is my day off so if I don't hear anything by then I am going to call again. The main thing is that George seems to feel that we should all call. So I am going to pass this along to everyone. If one of us can at least get some information then they can pass it on to the rest of us. So call!!! 248-362-4400! I will keep you posted and you keep me posted ok? And let anyone else that you have their e-mail address for know too. I only have a few. Please pass onto the Blog. Take care and Later Debbie

And an update on 12/11:

I got a hold of someone at Handleman. I tried calling again this morning and got Ken. I guess he is not responding to his messages, any way he did say there is money left for retirement but the company that is going to be handling it has not been picked yet. He told me to send him all my personal information and he would forward it to H.R. Meaning my Name, address and phone number. I also added my birthday date, and years I worked for Handleman. Here is his e-mail address he gave it to me. Ken.Kartje@Handleman.com. Please pass this along to anyone you can think off. I felt so sorry for him. Put on Blog too! I guess now it is going to be a wait and see. All we can do is hope. Talk to you later Debbie

*************************************
If anyone reading this has any information, would you please post a comment here? Or email Robert or Pam directly?

Thanks!

Some memories from Robert :-)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Anybody else get the mail today????

Hey everyone,

I don't want to rain on the parade of everyone's good memories, but I received in the mail today a notice for the annual shareholders meeting. Included in it, is a proxy voting card. They are officially looking to dissovle and liquidate assets. I haven't looked into in depth, but looks kinda like Handleman will be officially gone. It does look like Crave and REPS will continue. I don't know if anyone else has kept up or still has any shares left, but thought that some of you would like to know. Me, personally, this saddens me, because it's like loosing my "Handleman Family" all over again. I hope everyone is doing well and look forward to hearing and/or seeing all of you again!!!! Blessings and best wishes to all!!!!!

Jeff Blanch

jjblanch7@yahoo.com
(715) 205-0464
(715) 736-1441

And what a great time it was!!

About 30 ex-Handleman folks converged on Doug and Barb Kuennen's backyard for a great get-together on August 23rd. I'm afraid to name names because I know I'll probably forget someone - but we did miss those of you who weren't able to make it (THIS YEAR!). We are seriously planning another "UN-Sales Meeting" - probably late August again next year. We'll pick a weekend and a location (Vegas is top of the list right now) and do some serious catching up! So keep that in the back of your mind - I know that no one location or date will be perfect for everyone, but we hope we'll see even more familiar faces next year.

On to the pictures from this year...before you look at these, a disclaimer. I DID edit a few of them - I know not everyone would want a picture of themselves picking their nose up on the internet!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show...

We're Havin' a Party!!

Well, actually Doug Kuennen is and he's given me permission to post it here - so what do you say?? Anyone up for a party with some old friends from Handleman days?? Here is the info you need:

Doug and Barb Kuennen invite you to a party on Saturday August 23rd
starting at 2PM. With all that has transpired the last few years in our
business life, now is the time for all friends to gather for a good
time! We will have snacks, soft drinks, wine, beer, tea and hard
liquor. We will serve dinner later in day. We have a inground pool so
if you wish to cool your feet or whole body bring your bathing suit and
beach towel. Please bring your spouse, boy friend or girl friend.
Please RSVP so we know how many to expect by replying
to this email bk5329@aol.com.

Who: Doug and Barb Kuennen
What: Summer Party (Rain or Shine)
Where: St. Charles, Missouri 63304
When: Saturday August 23rd 2PM until????
RSVP: by August 16th

I think I'm going to be able to make it up there (ANYTHING for a reason to get out of Alabama!!) I hope to see some of you there!!

Pam

Been too long....

I just posted the note from Lora Smith for everyone to read and realized it has been almost 2 months since anything has been written here. Yikes. And it's not like it's been a quiet 2 months with nothing going on or anything... =:-)

I really don't have much to say other than since I think just about *everyone* we worked with is ex-Handleman now, I hope you will continue to pop in here periodically and say hello. Please pass the word along to those you are in contact with - we'd love to see how people are doing these days.

Personally, I'm still stuck in Alabama with its hot, humid weather, gross bugs, and people who talk funny (that's a joke since they think *I* talk funny!) We will be leaving here the end of the year though - probably headed for Colorado Springs for a while at least. We passed through that area on our travels last year and it's just too gorgeous NOT to check out more fully. And yeah, I know it snows... :-)

Plus it's a lot closer to Vegas for that REAL reunion we're gonna have one of these days!

Pam

Note from Lora Smith

I wanted to pass along my contact information to those of you I have worked with over the last 15 years with Handleman so we can keep in touch and continue to network as we move on to new chapters in our lives.

Personal email
LA007_smith@yahoo.com

cell 479-715-2777

My last day at HDL is tomorrow, June 20th. I have an amazing collection of fond memories since that first day as a Sales Rep on February 1st 1993. I was a young, innocent IU graduate who just happed to have a passion for music and entertainment. I had no idea that hours and hours of scanning, merchandising and crawling around in the back rooms of Wal-Mart stores, among others, would lead to a 15 year long adventure and a great career with a great company and the most tremendous people.

I wouldn't trade a moment of my experiences here and I have no regrets except that it has to end. I plan to stay in Northwest Arkansas where I just moved BACK to in October of last year to pursue new opportunities that will hopefully be able to come in a close second to my time at HDL.

My best to all of you. I think it is so great and uplifting to find out there is a POSITIVE web site/blog where people keep in touch and remember all the great experiences we shared.

As I left with the people still left at Handleman, I will share a favorite quote with all of you from a fellow Hoosier:

There's no business like show business, but there are several businesses like accounting.

-David Letterman

Get-together in Rochester

From Bob Howard:

We were able to get a small group of HDL current, ex & soon to be ex employees together in Rochester MN a couple weeks back.

From Left to Right Vicki Childers, Bob Howard, DeEtta Marka, Greg Hughes, Dan Buege, (Dan’s wife), Steve Young & Jeff Guetchow. Good time had by all… Wish we all lived closer so we could do the same.

*****************************

I'm with you Bob - I really think we should all start planning a Vegas get together. If we start saving our pennies *now* we could do it, right??

Pam

"We're on a Mission from God"

Memphis, TN. May 2005

Rich Mont, Bryan Reed, and Glenn D'Angerio

Picture courtesy of Rich Mont. :-)

Life after Handleman

Well, I don't have any incriminating pictures of past sales meetings, but I do have a picture of my brand new grandson to share. Jack Michael (known as Jack-Jack) was born on Monday evening at 11:39 PM and weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 ozs; 20 inches long, and hair to put his 2 year old brother to shame. :-)

There is definitely life after Handleman - GOOD life.

Pam

Chicago sales meetings pictures - from Scott Clark

Here is a picture I found from the sales meeting at Novi Hotel, March 8th 2000 - might bring back some memories for Chicago alumni!



Left to right Scott Clark , Dave Dennee, Mark Brezinsky, Phil Szafranski, Janis Cox, ? Dave Taylor, Mark Brechler

And one from Chicago sales meeting picture Sept 1999:



left to right Lynn Lila, Chris Stricker, Heidi-Johns-Colton, Scott Clark, Lisa Mathiesen, Don Beinborn.

Hello from Tim Wilde

Hello to all my old Handleman friends! Haven't talked to a lot of you except for a select few over the past 4 years, but I'm still alive and kicking. After I left the company in 2004, I moved to Abilene, Texas and got a job doing classifieds, obits, and some sports for the Abilene Reporter-News there. Then, in late 2006, my significant other got a job writing for a magazine in Rochester, Minnesota, where we still are. I'm working for AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular) as a sales support rep, mainly taking care of inventory. From what I've read on this blog and heard from a few, it sounds like I got out at just the right time. It sounds like the Handleman that I knew and remember is nothing to the company that it is today. We were the best out there, we worked hard, we played hard, and it was a job I really, truly enjoyed.

I'd love to hear from any of my old friends and co-workers. Feel free to drop me an e-mail at TimOscar@AOL.com anytime.

Tim Wilde
Cincinnati and Chicago branches

The names here bring back so many memories...

WOW,

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you! I'm sure many of you now feel a sense of relief as I did when I accepted my severance 3- years ago. You no longer need wonder when will it be your time? You may now get on with your life. Take some time to enjoy your freedom from the Handleman chains.

I have been alumni three years now!

There is a life after Handleman, even though there does not seem to be any life left in Handleman.

You all hold very special memories to me!

Looking back, I can see that we were all part of something very special for many years!

You all hold a very special place in my heart, the friendship, the camaraderie was UN surpassed in anything we will ever find the rest of our life’s!

Jobs may come and go, but the memories of how we all grew up, and helped Handleman grow through the best years of our life’s will always be remembered!
Please keep in touch!

Scott Clark

http://www.farmersagent.com/sclark3/index.htm
________________________________________

Maybe I'm the last person to hear about this...?

Yesterday I heard about a site called "JobVent" and boy has it been interesting to read through the comments about Handleman/REPS!! Did you guys know about this and nobody told me?? C'mon!!

If you haven't been there, click here for the link - this should take you directly to the Handleman page.

It's not too difficult to figure out who a lot of the players are that the posters are talking about, but I'll admit I'm clueless on some of them. But it seems like a popular place if you need to do some venting. (As bad as the Handleman ratings are, check out Anderson!)

Pam

Lifter in the house....

Hey all just thought I would say hi to all the fine Handleman alumni out there. Well I got let go about 6 months ago from Corp along with all my great allocators and being this is good old MI well jobs are not readily available around here so I’m still looking. But I’m looking into starting my own company, actually today I looked at my second building. We will see and I will keep you updated if I go though with it. I stopped in the corporate office last week to say hi to some folks and all I can say is it’s a sad place. With my 15 years at Troy there where some great times and now well….. I guess I’m at a loss for words.

Peace out from your past Director of Merchandising and Communication – Good Old HDL Field Sales
Matt

Here we grow again !!!!!!!

Greetings from the land of the unemployed. Beside the people that Jeff mentioned, some other new members of the HDL alumni association are: Glenn D'Angerio (my old boss), Dave Troyan, Dick LeBrun, Ron Sandroni, Andy Francis and Brad Shanahan. Phil Szafranski (another former boss) opted for the severence package. From what I hear, many other DMs opted for the package as well.

I'm trying to find work quickly. It may not be so easy finding it in MI. In addition to my own efforts, my 3 former vendors (2 here and 1 in the Twin Cities) are keeping their eyes open for me. One of them sent me a few companies to check into earlier today. A current rep (for now anyway) might know of somebody in Chicago. Frank Ralko also gave me a contact. They are forwarding my resume up to recruiting. They don't have anything right now, but may in the not too distant future. I have some more companies that I am going to check out.

I had lunch with Matt Lifter last Friday. He may start his own business. Stay tuned.

Jeff, you asked about Patrice. I am going to check out the web site after I send this.

Pam/Robert, thanks for setting this up! This is a great way to keep in touch.

Take care everybody and keep in touch.

Rich Mont
rmont252003@comcast.net

Final Daze with Handleman

Just thought I would chime in with ya'll from up in da great white north once again. It's been a while.

First I must say - HOLY COW!! Lynette??!!!!?? It's sooooooooooo nice to hear from you!!

And as some of you may have figured out from my totally awesome subject...I am in my last days with Handleman. Ok...let's all say it again...Haaaanndlemaaaaaaannnnn. :) Got the news today - my last day is May 5. (Dang...I haven't even told my parents yet) The outlook for HDL is not good at all. Hopefully they have a little bit more of a clue as to how to make money with this "plan". It certainly will not be with selling stock. Ooooouch! Low blow :)

Lynette was right when she said we are a family. In our own quirky little way, we are! Over the past 2 years it has not been that way. They stopped caring about making the employees happy right around the time they made us stand up and applaud the new reps logo. (ahhh - good times...c'mon - who doesn't remember thinking "they're gonna call us what?!) Let's see...what happened 2 years ago? Oh that's right - "we" bought reps. And Patrice knew better and headed inland towards Chicago & Dyson. (is she hiring by the way?)

A few of the people I know are gone or are being laid off - Mark Brechler (done 3-28), Toni Popilek (done last week), Steve Young (done last week), Rich Mont (done last week). I'm sure it will be an interesting week next week to see who's stayin & who's leavin.

That's all for now. I will certainly direct people to this site!! It's so great to see info from all the goofy people I used to work with. And even those goofy people I don't know :)

Jeff Seymour

EAST COAST CHIMES IN FINNALY

Hi Everyone,

It is great to see the pictures and hear how everyone is doing. I am fine living the dream in Detroit in the Automotive Industry as a marketing analyst hoping to get back into training and development. I think of all of you as family and even have more photo albums with you all than of my own family! I am still trying to find the job that has the same level of great people like you all are. Hope to hear from you.
Ex-SFA trainer
Lynette
lkreich@sbcglobal.net

yeah ! robert i remember

I remember they had the rolling bars in the banquet rooms. beers and jack daniels o.k. maybe I was the only one drinking jack. I remember the girl that fell in the bathtub with the beer and ice in it. i actually have a picture of that but cant post it . or eating those runny eggs when already feel like throwing up. I talk with dennis powell about this stuff all the time. even though it was political i still loved that job. this job opened alot of doors to get me backstage.you would be surprised who i hung out with .i'll post some of those pics.talk to you soon.

no worries

ok guys i'm not going to put any incriminating pics up but if you did something wrong who's at fault:) so l.a. branch is closed? thats to bad .my son is 16 and already has a heavy metal band. and he is touring. i told him if he gets famous to buy me a golf course. got my fingers crossed.still looking for more pictures,talk to you guys soon. ps, denise said she spoke with willy feliciano if anybody remembers him.

Another sad week...

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, this week has seen another rash of layoffs at Handleman/REPS. I'm not sure there are more than a couple of people left that I still know. The stock has been officially delisted...just a really bad week.

Those of you who check in here once in a while - please help spread the word about our little blog so we can maybe stay in touch with this latest group of X-HDL folks, okay?

I can say all the platitudes - "it'll all work out for the better", "more opportunities ahead", blah blah blah; but right now it sucks.

It was mentioned in an email earlier today about a 'Las Vegas' reunion...while I LOVE that city, I'm not sure it's centrally located for the majority of our folks. I'm thinking Minneapolis this summer... :-D

Pam

Head Ache

Okay big jimmie those pictures are bringing back some really good and some really painful memories, the Alcohol and Aspirin meetings from the days gone by. We should have sold sun glasses for the morning after.
Now anyone from the east side (coast) want to contribute!
We know your out there!
Come guys and gals have some fun share!!!!!!
Robert Attanasio

everybodys room had something going on .the bathtub filled with beer or bottles of hard liquer or even jello shots

look at all the drinks!

i could be wrong but i believe these guys were called rukus

then there is the entertainment like dave koz and of course the macarena

ok,i think i've got it

so many faces that we lost touch on.so young but pictures really show how much fun we all had.i sure miss those days.i will help to keep this thing going.i always had a camera at the meetings.so as i find them i will post them.enjoy.

heres some pics,i'm just learning this thing

jim chavez

hi everyone just checking in to say ''hi''.i will be posting some pictures from the meetings.

Okay, let's get the word out...

All right, I'll admit I've been lax about posting on a regular basis. But if I promise to do better, will you help spread the word about our little blog here? I think we'll have a hello and some new pictures from Jim Chavez very shortly; let's see if we can get some other ex- and current Handleman/REPS folks to check in and let us know how they're doing.

In the meantime, I'll admit that after not working in the field since 2003 I did a merchandising job last week that just about killed me! Sheesh - what happened to the days of being able to be on my feet for 10 hours in a Kmart putting out cases of CDs?? This was a shampoo reset in a grocery store here in Alabama - gads, what a job! Good thing I only agreed to do that one day project - I'm thinking this may not be exactly how I want to earn extra money these days. I'm trying some mystery shopping stuff too...MUCH easier and way more fun for this old lady. :-)

I'll leave you with a picture of the reason I moved from sunny California (and the beach!) to thunderstorm-y and tornado-y Alabama: my grandson Aiden (helping grandpa build a new bed for our guest room - and yeah, that long haired guy is my husband, the ex-correctional officer whose hair is WAY longer than mine now!)

Debbie Here!

Well, It has been a while, so I decided to pop on again. Not much is going on right now for me, oh this is Debbie Lawson was Russo. Getting ready to go to Europe in May, can not wait, will be visiting my aunt there. Went two years ago and decided to go for a visit again. I almost forgot, I have George Rosenjack's e-mail if anyone remembers him and wants to e-mail him. I am also in contact with Jim Chavez, he just sent me some really funny pictures that he took at the Handleman sales meetings in LA all those years ago. He tells me he has a lot of them. I believe he sent some to Robert. Robert if he did you should put them up! As I said before I work for Kellogg's Snacks. If anyone is looking for a job out there check out our web-site. The company is growing big time, they pay well and you get a company car if you get on full time. Here is the web-site. Say I sent you. I am with the Union City Branch in Northern California. It might help!! http://www.kelloggs.appone.com , Well I guess that is all for now. Take care Debbie

Flashbacks!!

I am having some serious flashbacks tonight. You see, my husband took on a part-time temporary job and he's using this little HP iPaq hand held computer to scan as he drives down every road in this county (it's a project for Google Earth).

Anyway, he's upstairs at the dining room table playing with this thing, trying to learn all the little quirks, etc. and I swear it's an SFA clone! I'm hearing all these little beeps and buzzes, then a swear word or two from my husband...takes me totally back to when we first got our little Dell Axim units and they would freeze up in the middle of a 12,000 piece scan, or you'd accidentally touch the screen and it would cycle for 10 minutes going back to the beginning of the scan...I'm sure you know what I mean!!

I've thought about maybe doing some REALLY part-time merchandising jobs around here but I'm not sure I want one that uses anything like the SFA. Although I guess they probably all have something similar...hmmm....have to think about this some more.... :-)

Pam

Katie Bardocz Saying Hello

Hello Everyone,

It is 2008 I can't believe it. My update is that I moved into my new house, we have had a lot of company which is nice. Now I am starting to look for a new job.

In the meantime the kids and I are having playdates, going to classes and keeping busy taking care of the house.

If anyone is Michigan and would like to visit I have a lot of extra rooms for you to stay in.

I would love to hear from you all. Please email me at kmo73@hotmail.com.

I love the pictures people are putting on there. Above is Blake at Christmas in his suit (8months), Blake at 6 months and Kendall in the fall 2 and half.

Love,

Katie

Happy New Year

Hi Everybody its me Loper. Just want to stop by and wish you all a Happy New Year.