Editor’s Note March/April 2024

Harrell Kerkhoff

One of the best parts to my job is getting to know different jan/san distributors from across North America. Each issue of Maintenance Sales News highlights one distributor in a cover article. It’s a chance for our readers to learn more about the cleaning and related industries from a specific distributorship’s standpoint.

Distributorships that we have featured over the years have varied greatly — from very large companies with multiple locations to much smaller operations. Frankly, when finding a distributor to feature, we don’t care about the company’s size. It’s been my experience, since starting at this publication in 1998, that every successful distributor has an important story to tell. They are all valued by their customers in helping away-from-home facilities remain properly cleaned and well maintained. The importance of jan/san distribution was magnified during the throes of the COVID pandemic — and that importance is not going away now that the pandemic has subsided.

If there is one fact about AFH facility maintenance that I have learned over the past 26 years, is that proper cleaning will always be needed, and people will always seek help with such cleaning. Dirt, grime, dust, and germs don’t take a holiday. And — as we also learned during the pandemic — even empty facilities get dirty.

The featured distributorship in the March/April issue of MSN is Miller Janitor Supply, located in the Central Illinois community of Normal. Since 1976, the family-owned and operated distributorship has met the needs of its customer base through hard work and dedicated customer service. That includes quick delivery of products and quality equipment repair services.

“Our main philosophy has always been simple, ‘Take good care of our customers.’ Chances are, if you take care of your customers, they really have no good reason to look elsewhere,” Miller Janitor Supply President Tom Miller said, in this issue’s cover feature. “That can include tracking down items we don’t typically carry — if a customer needs it, we will do our best to find it. We know staffing can be very limited for many of our customers. They often don’t have the time and/or resources to find everything they need to keep a facility well maintained. My wife (Amy Miller, who also works at the distributorship) and I are willing to help customers any way we can.”

It was an absolute joy to visit with Tom and Amy Miller at their facility in early March. I was also shown, while at their location, the various antique vehicles that the couple have restored in their spare time — a bonus for me.

For future issues of MSN, I would like to invite other well-established jan/san distributors, who feel they have a good story to share, to contact me. We are always looking for such companies to feature.

The March/April issue of MSN also includes the following:

• A focus on away-from-home paper and tissue challenges and opportunities;
• A flooring and floorcare roundtable special section;
• And the following thought leadership articles: Advice On Securing News Accounts; How To Select Sustainable Cleaning Tools; and, Steps To New Product Introductions.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued support of Maintenance Sales News. Please send news items and story ideas to my email address at: harrellk@rdgmedia.net.

Harrell Kerkhoff

Editor, Maintenance Sales News Magazine