Starting in the fall of 2008 we have begun an initiative to ship our products using our trucks and our people. It was not so long ago that all cabinetry moved on corporate trucks manned by company employees minimizing damages and handling (One of the leading causes of damage in transit).  While companies competed to cut costs Company Trucks fell out of favour and were replaced by outsourced transport companies move bulk freight and cabinetry through various distribution centres.  While this did reduce the cost, damages went way up causing tremendous inconvenience for installers, sales staff and end use customers. So far Westwood has acquired three 5 tonne trucks and have begun regular service cycles to our dealers in British Columbia & Alberta. To date we have cut back shipping damage by an almost 95% and increased customer satisfaction exponentially. As Walter from Home Hardware, Fernie put it “Cabinet companies are back to figuring out they are the best able to move their products so that they don’t get damaged!” Thank you for that Walter, you spoke and we were listening. So while shipping cost may be a bit higher than some of our competitors think of how much more satisfied the end consumers will be, and how many more kitchens can be sold when you do not continuously have to deal with freight damage.