Need a Lift

Wow, It's been awhile since I have had something to say.

Have you ever thought about needing an item for that one special job, so you have to go out and purchase it for a one time use, or one time use every ten years. But in ten years you forgot you had it. Wouldn't it have been nice to rent that item for the day and save a little money.

Well in case you forgot, at Gun's E-Z Own, we offer a short term rental service.

One of our most popular rentals is the LIFT CHAIR. We have done numerous rentals in Rochester to customers who are visiting the Mayo Clinic for a week. They can't get in and out of bed very easy and have a hard time sleeping in the bed. So they rent a lift chair for sleeping in.

We have also had customers who just had surgery on a knee, shoulder, hip, etc. They have a hard time standing up while those joints are healing and trying to get stronger. Being lift up to the standing position is sure helpful and less painful.

At the time of this Blog, we only charge $60 for the week, $100 for the month to rent a lift chair, delivery/pick up fee not included.. Now that is a lot cheaper then spending $800 to $2,000 for an item you only need for a short while.

If you are getting older and getting in and out of your current recliner isn't working very well, Maybe purchasing a lift chair would be the way to go. You would be using it for a longer period of time and you will get plenty of use out of the lift chair.

I have a bad back and a bum knee, So most likely I will be wanting a lift chair in the future.

The lift chair we carry now, it has a separate motor for the back to adjust separately from the lift/recline motor. So if you want to keep your feet down but want to lean back a little you can.

For more information on how are rentals work you can go to Gun's E-Z Own Rental Page by clicking on this link.

I hope you won't have medical issues, but if you do and need a lift chair for the short term, please give us a call.

Thanksgiving 911

Twas the day of Thanksgiving and all through the house, the smell of turkey was wafting through the ...... Well not quite this year.

For the past few years, my family has cooked the turkey in a roaster. If thawed, it takes less time then in the oven and we also put one of those cooking bags around the turkey to keep it moist. No basting required.


This year we tried something different to help with clean up and to catch those delicious turkey drippings for the gravy. We placed an over sized aluminum pan underneath the turkey.

I arrived at my dad's place around 11:15 am, for dinner and to bake some rolls. Meal time was set to start at 12:30 pm But in Thanksgiving Day time, 12:30 equates usually to around 1:15 pm. I am also the official turkey carver, So I must investigate what am I getting myself into this year. Plot, plan and diagram how to carve the perfect turkey slices. The right size for the kids and for the adults.

I glanced over to assess the turkey situation and noticed that the lid was raised above the roaster a little. The cooking bag had been expanded with hot air. (No, I did NOT blow into the cooking bag. Your so funny. Ha...Ha...)  I thought the lid being elevated wasn't quite doing the trick keeping the roaster warm enough inside. To correct this hot air situation, I had to get special permission from the Chef, my sister. She runs the kitchen like Chef Ramsey, make one unapproved move in the kitchen and you here about it. Okay, not with all the cussing. So with special permission I pierced the bag which allowed the hot air escape and the lid fit better. However, I did notice the aluminum drippings catcher was making it difficult to keep the lid down. You could push it down but it would come back up a little. The turkey was looking very pale like a patient on an operating table. But Hey, I'm just the carver not the chef. The master chef must know what she is doing, right?

The next step to my day was to begin the indulgence of the vineyard kind of beverage. Mmmm, what a wonderful bouquet, (I have no idea what that means, I heard it on a TV show once) I was thirsty.

While waiting the family chit chats and preps for this masterful meal of magnificence. We kept checking in on the bird. Still pale and now it's 11:45. 11:55, 12:10, 12:15. Crap the little pop up gauge hasn't popped yet and the bird is still looking pale. All the other menu items were almost ready. I was waiting with anticipation to put my rolls in the oven and bake them to the perfect golden brown. Is it time yet? . . . Is it time yet?

My sister-in-law & I are now on our 2nd glass of vino. (Hey, I told you. I....was.....thirsty! I guess she was too.) So my sister-in-law decided to cut open the bag and the turkey to see what was going on with it. (WITHOUT permission!! How does she rate.)

The one big slice my sister-in-law cuts the turkey open and.......It's......still......COLD! Holy Crap!! Now what? Emergency mode kicked in like an old episode of ER.

My sister-in-law started calling orders, "You, look up your smart phone how long does it take to cook turkey breast in the oven. STAT!", "You, get me a pan to put the turkey into.", "You, get my a sharp knife for me to slice this thing up." She sliced the turkey like a seasoned surgeon. "Hey, how long to cook the turkey breast?! I need that info NOW!! Don't freeze up on me now!" As she talks to the turkey, "Come on, baby! You can make it!"

It was fortunate, the oven was already on awaiting other items to be placed inside, so we didn't have to pre-heat  it.

Phew! The bird of deliciousness was placed in the oven. By 2:00 pm, we were seated down praying thanking the Lord for our meal. It was a Thanksgiving Miracle. And we only started an 1.5 hours after the scheduled time. That's pretty good for Thanksgiving Day time. I didn't get to do the carving but it was all good.

There were a few other things going on in the background that was pretty humorous but I will save that for another day. Like the hockey puck rolls.

I hope and your family had a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving.

Once again,. thank you for taking the time to read my blog today.

Well, shoot. I didn't tie this to purchasing anything. Ok, buy bonds.
Wait no, that's not right. Buy from Gun's E-Z Own, Furniture, Appliances & Electronics. That 's better.

Gun's E-Z Own
816 main Street
Red Wing, MN 55066

Have a wonderful day.

Bundling up

I remember back in my youth that when we bundled up, you would feel like a over stuffed toy. Ten layers of clothes and  using wonder bread plastic bags over your feet to keep the wet of out. You felt like you were like a starfish, arms sticking out unable to put them down by your side and legs unable to bend. But mom said go outside and have fun.

You surely didn't want to fall down onto your back, stuck there like turtle on their back, until someone came along and tipped you back over.


Over the past few years we had people ask if there was a discount for purchasing many items. Then we saw all the Bundle and Save advertising and we thought, hey what a good idea. So we adopted the Bundle and Save for our floor items.

Bundle 01

Throughout the store you will find many signs that look like this to the left for a Bundle like the one pictured above.

Both New and Previously Owned items are bundled up. Every Bundle is slightly different. Some with lamps, some without. Some are for the Living Room some are for the Bedroom.

The most down payments are less than the 10% we typically require, You can save anywhere from $50 up to $200 depending on the Bundle.

So it's just like when you were a kid. You get many layers with our Bundles, BUT you can bend your knees and elbows. That is if you want to. 😉 And the only time you will be on your back is if you were taking a nap on the sofa.

Do you have to get the whole bundle? No, You can pick and choose. You won't get the disounted price, but if you only need a sofa, I wouldn't want you get stuff you didn't want.

If you would like to see more Bundles, visit our Specials page.

So there you have it, Bundle Up at Gun's E-Z Own for savings on regular retail prices on furniture.

Also, winter is around the corner, so bundle up there too. I think our clothing is a lot warmer with a lot less layers then in the past.

Thank you for reading, Have an awesome day.

What a month for a business owner

Boy, what a month we have gone through here at Gun's E-Z Own. Adn it hasn't been all fun and games.

Ah, yes accounting. I know people who just love it.

We started off with an audit from the MN Department of Commerce. We have gone through these type of audit before. We understand what they are looking for and they understand how we operate. I think I have gone through over a dozen of these audits. Severely as Regional Manager and now four as owner. The DOC tries to do an audit every 3 years per license holder.

Since I am a veteran of these audits there were no worries about the outcome. We pride ourselves on running a tight ship when it comes to bookkeeping. It just the process of collecting all the information they are looking for and getting it to them. That takes some time. We passed the audit.

Next we had a Fire Safety Audit. Did you know that you can't store old, non-up-to date inspected fire extinguishers in your building, just as spares. Well I didn't. He said just to take them home. Well then.

The Fire Marshall then wanted us to get rid of all extension cords and daisy chaining of our surge protectors. No problem there. Kind of expected the extension cords. I think we only had three extension cords to get rid of.

But then he had said to add an emergency light in our back room area, which we never had to have one before. (I've been in this building since 2002.) So there is an unexpected expense.

Then he asked us to fix our front door emergency exit sign. He preferred that we have one with emergency lights. Sure no problem. Didn't want to spend the money for a new sign, but the old sign had light bulbs and we ordered the newer fancy LED lighting. The light bulbs looked burnt out anyway.

Our new front door exit sign

Electricity is one of my things. I helped my cousin wire a house in my youth. Then I worked on electrical systems for tanks while in the Army.

So, I switched out the front sign. It was like replacing a light switch. No problem. Turn off that circuit breaker, replace the sign, turn the circuit breaker back on. Simple Right? Hold on there young buckaroo.

I turned the electricity back on and nothing. (DOH!!) My first thought was that the wiring was not hooked up correctly. Sure enough I get into the ceiling, find the conduit and .... it leads to nowhere. There is three feet of conduit just laying there. (flippin', flippity, flippin, flip!!!) So as of this blog, we are still waiting for the electrician to fix the conduit to nowhere.

Then we had to go through a Sales Tax Audit from the MN Department of Revenue. Now that one got me a little stressed. I hadn't been through one of these audits before. Not sure what information and paperwork they would need.

We pulled out our boxes from previous years and he did his accounting thing. Turns out that more cities and counties have sales tax then I had realized. And if we deliver the product to there home, we need to charge that sales tax. Which we hadn't been doing. Here is an example. One of my very good customers from Rochester comes to Red Wing to purchase via a loan, a sofa & Love seat and need delivery. MN sales tax is 6.875%, then Olmsted County as a .50% sales tax and then Rochester needs to have their .75% sales tax. So rather than charging the customer just 6.875% for the purchase I need to charge a total of 8.125% sales tax because I will be delivering to them and per the State of Minnesota, the place the customer acquires the product is the place sales tax needs to be charged for. There is your civil lesson for the day. Several other counties have there own sales tax too.

Now our accounting system is not programmed to handle this division of sales tax. Fortunately there were not that many sales that required extra sales tax.

Then there were some questions I didn't have the answer to right away. But looking things up, speaking to my CPA and the previous owner I found the answers.

The auditor looked at this as an educational audit and there were no penalties. (YAY!) But on the other side, we are going to have to pay up to $1,500 in updates to our software to comply with the State of Minnesota and for my store the State of Wisconsin.

Now that things have settled somewhat, I can take time and write this blog.

So when a customer complains about prices, now you know why business price the way we do. Because we must follow a ton of government regulations along with all the other expenses involved with owning a business.

Phew!!!

How to figure out your interest at Gun's E-Z Own?

This just isn't Gun's E-Z Own math. It is just how the finance industry calculates interest.

Over the years we have had customers try to figure out how we come up with the interest calculations. Well, we use a computer. No, really we do.

But years ago we had to manually figure the interest. Using pencil, paper and a calculator and a couple of fingers.

We have helped many people over the years with the manual math. the equations we use. Once you know the math or how to get to the math, it is pretty simple.

So here we go.


The equation is balance x number of days x co-efficient = interest.

First off, What was your balance after your last payment was applied to the loan Let's say $550.00.

Then how many days from your last payment on April 11, 2017.  Let's say today is May 13, 2017. That is 32 days.

Your final number? You need to know what your interest rate is, 12%, 18%?

Let's use 18% for this example. There is a calculation within this calculation you will need to do here. There is something called a co-efficient you need to figure out. How do I get the co-efficient?

Take your interest rate divided by 365. Why 365? That is how many days in a year.

So 0.18 ÷ 365 = .00049315. That is your co-efficient. .00049315.

Now your equation is 550 x 32 x .00049315 = 8.68.

Now if you make a $100 payment $91.32 will go towards your principle and $8.68 will be applied to interest. Your new balance in this example would be $458.68.

Go ahead, give it a try.

458.68 x 30 x .00049315 = _________

There are spreadsheets out there you can use to help you out. But I just wanted to let you know how to do the calculation manually without a computer. You never now, there might be a computer uprising and they might refuse to work. Sometimes the computers don't need an uprising not to work. The are such a love-hate thing.

Happy calculating.

Thank you for reading and have a great day.

Should I get an Extended Warranty on my product at Gun's E-Z Own?

Should I get an Extended Warranty? That is a good question.

Gun's E-Z Own offers you extended warranties from NSI on items like, washers, Dryer, laptops, TV's, Blu-Ray players, stereo equipment, refrigerators and much more.

The first question is how much warranty does your new item have? 90 days, 1 year, 2 years?

Laptops typically carry a one year manufacturers warranty. That covers parts and labor. But after that you are on your own. With NSI you can add 2 more years. The cost? For most of the laptops we sell, it's only $100. Break it down into days, that only cost you 9 cents per day to keep your laptop going.

Now this does not include software issues. Only hardware problems. Nobody covers software issues for a laptop or computer.

For the LG washers we sell, they have a 24 month warranty. Now is depends on the retail price of the washer. The last extended warranty I sold on a washer was only $180 for FIVE years.
What a great deal!!

When you purchase an extended warranty for Gun's E-Z Own, you will get a little folder to place your documents in, a pamphlet with what the warranty covers and does not cover and a print out as proof of your extended warranty purchase. If you lose any of those items, we keep a back up here at the store.

Now unfortunately NSI does not cover "damage or failure caused by riot, nuclear radiation, war or hostile action, radioactive contamination, etc." Quoted directly from the pamphlet.

If there is nuclear radiation, I think the last thing I will be worried about is if my extended warranty is good. I think the "etc." also covers the Zombie Apocalypse.

So if you are expecting a zombie apocalypse in the next 3-5 years, then no, you shouldn't get the extended warranty. For all others, YES, it is a very good deal for the small amount you pay.

Once again, thank you for reading my blog. And may your day be filled with joy.

Bundle & Save and U-haul at Gun's

WOW, has it been that long since I have written a blog. Time does fly by. Especially when you are busy.

April 2017 we weren't too busy, but in May we were hustling. We had our Super Spring Specials. We had marked the price down on many items and the inventory was flying out the door.

Now this June & July, we have BUNDLED Living Room sets, Bedroom Sets and even some Home Entertainment. There are plenty of big savings in the store.  BUNDLE & SAVE.

Here is one Bundle: If you purchased each of these items separately you would spend $1,799.95. But when you BUNDLE this Nina Coffee Sofa & Love Seat, the 3 pc Table Set, 2 lamps and a Floor Lamp we have it marked down to $1,399.99. Need financing? That's $140 down payment and 16 monthly payments of about $122 per month.* That is a $400 saving off the retail price.

Because of advertising regulations I must put the obligatory Sample disclosure. You can find it at the bottom of this blog.

What else is new? We are now an authorized U-Haul dealer. So when you need to rent a vehicle for the weekend or for moving out of town, you can stop by Gun's E-Z Own.

Just as reminder that we also do short term furniture rentals. So if grandma & grandpa are in town for a week and you need to rent a mattress set, We do that. You just had surgery and need a lift chair. We do that to. Or you are in town for an Xcel plant shut down and need furniture for 3-6 months, one more thing we do. Click on this RENTAL link to find out more.

We end this blog with the sample disclosure I mentioned earlier. Have a great day everyone.

*Sample Disclosure: $1,000 purchase, $100 down, 16 monthly payments of  $79.59, APR 32.53%

A trip to Urgent Care

It's been a month since I had been diagnosed with influenza. And the side effects keep lingering such as being tired, being cold and breathing isn't as easy.

Well, I had an interesting thing happen recently.

As I had mentioned last time, I have a history of bronchitis. Well, Last week just before closing, I called our local clinic to make an appointment to see a doctor. I got the appointment desk and she asked why I had called.

I told her that I just had influenza and now I am having pain in my left side in my what I thought to be my lower lung and pain under my left shoulder blade. The pain had increased throughout the day and was worried about bronchitis or pneumonia.

She said that she would send me to the nurse help line on the phone. (You know, dial an 800 number and a nurse helps you out in case it is something minor.) I told the help line nurse the reason for the call and she had me breath in deep and breathe out. Does it hurt more? Yes. I am driving home by this time and have the ear bud in so I can have both hands on the wheel. She  asked a number of questions because she needed too to make sure.

After a number of questions, she said I should go to Urgent Care. She also said that maybe applying a hot water bottle there for a bit would help. I had asked, can't I just wait until tomorrow and make an appointment. She said no.

Now, I have never had pneumonia so I am thinking that maybe this is in worse shape than I had thought. So almost home, I make a "B" line to Urgent care.

I had to wait about 5 minutes for the person in front of me to get settled in with the nurse at the registration desk. I walked up to the window and explained why I was there. I could see in her face she was starting to get anxious. Her eyes where getting bigger and her body language was going into emergency mode. She was trying very hard to speak calmly. She said that she was going to put me in a room and have me checked out immediately.

Well, in comes the EKG machine. (Nope, Hadn't ever been hooked up to one before.) They thought I was having a heart attack. That was the first thing they did. and was only hooked up to it for maybe two minutes total. The results were negative. And that nurse at the desk was trying to get the EKG tech to hurry up.

Then comes in another nurse to take my blood presser, heart rate and oxygen level. Everything looks good. Heart rate was under 60 beats per minute.

Then the Doctor comes in. I told the doctor all I needed was someone to listen to my lungs to make sure I didn't have bronchitis or pneumonia. She said, "Well, I am going to do that now." So she listened to my breathing then sent me to get an x-ray. Turns out that I did have bronchitis.

So now instead of having a bill for an office visit, I have extra ER/EKG/Xray fees. grrr. I guess it is better to be safe and check for a heart attack rather than not.

Now what is the point of this story? I am getting there.

The Doctor gave me a perscription for anti-biotics and an inhaler. Things seem to clear up.

I told this story to my chiropractor. And here is the helpful hint you have been waiting for.

He said that if you are having a trouble breathing from a cold or bronchitis, lie down face down and have someone pat your back rapidly and that is to help loosen and work that nasty mucus out of the lungs.

And also, if you have congestion problems, eat some onion and garlic soup. They have properties that help boost your immunity. You put onion, garlic, carrots, celery, lettuce or any other greens into water and boil it. DO NOT have sugar or milk while sick. It sets the body's immune system back.

He told of a story were one of his clients whom had a cold for 9 weeks and tried the soup and the cold cleared up within two days. Another gentleman who was into a healthy life style and had a cold for two weeks ate the soup and he was also cleared up within two days.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you all stay healthy the rest of this cold season. Have a wonderful and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own: Influenza? WTH

Well the last couple of weeks have been interesting at Gun's E-Z Own and for me health wise.

For the first time in 50 plus years I was diagnosed with influenza. Here is a little background of my health.

You know from a previous blog that I was in the US Army-Regular service. I had not been sick since April 1986. Ten plus years of no cold, no temperature, no flu, no stomach flu. Nothing.

UNTIL, I was delivering propane, I believe this was December 1996. I finished up the propane delivery and knocked on the customers door. Now this was the year of the worse flu break out ever. The media was warning of a possible epidemic. (Sound familiar?) I remember because I had shrugged off the warnings because I hadn't been sick for , yes TEN YEARS.

Anyway I knocked on the customers door to give him the bill. As soon as he opened the door, he coughed right in my face. I felt the breeze of his cough past my cheeks. This was days before Christmas. Yes, I got sick with my temperature spiking to 103.1. I was miserable, achy, tired and cold.

Let me time travel even further back in time. I wrestled heavyweight and qualified for the 1982 Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament. The Monday before the tourney, I got sick, spitting out clumps of mucus. Not just the little bit when you have a little cough, I mean clumps. I was able to wrestle one match and lasted to the 3rd period before I was so gassed I couldn't do anything. I got pinned and called it a tournament. It  hadn't cleared up for three weeks so I went to the doctor. It turned out I had a case of bronchitis.

Now post-Army. it was cool not being sick. Missing no work, not feeling achy and giggling at others who got sick. (What a bunch of wimps.) Well, ever since the propane gas cough, I started getting sick once a year. And it was typically a severe cold or bronchitis. (grrrrr)

Now In the past 6 months I have been sick, twice. The first time a the regular flu we all know and love. Temp of 102 sleep for a day and then back on your feet.

Not this second time around. My temperature peaked at 105.1. But the funny thing was I didn't feel achy. Just hot and tired. Two days later I went to the doctor because the temperature persisted at around 101-102. I was worried about a case of bronchitis again.

When I went to the doctor, the nurse had me wear a  mask. (WTH). She did the regular weight, temperature, medical history and blood pressure,  (By the way, my BP was 98/74. I am so laid back. haha).

The nurse had now decided to stick a swab up my nostril for the test. and happy day (NOT) I had influenza. The kind you can get shots for. The doctor put me on quarantine for four more days. And now I am back to work but still feeling tired, still have a cough and still have a runny nose. I got my vitamins, vapor rub and throat lozenges. I am just hoping to avoid bronchitis or even pneumonia.

When I got back to work, the tabs one our 15,000 lbs gross weight delivery truck were due. Being it the last of of February and had to be purchased by then. I went down to the licenses center and got the tabs. Came back and got ready to put the tabs on the plates, but (WTH, AGAIN), the plates were gone. Some bone head stole the license plates off our truck. with expired tabs.

I filed a report with the police and warned the neighboring businesses to be heads up. We were wondering on what type of vehicle they were going to put 15k GVW plates on. I think it would be funny if they put truck plates on thee car and got pulled over just for being stupid. Yes, they didn't only steal the plates, they stole the brackets too. (Place eye roll and face palm here)

Well, maybe we will see them on World's Dumbest Criminals sometime.

Thank you for reading. Until next time, please be safe and may you stay healthy.

Gun's E-Z Own: How do I Stage a home for sale?

Are you in the processes of selling your home? Or maybe you are a realtor and need to chow your clients what the home for sale would look like with furniture it. Or you are Stager for hire by realtors to help sell a home. Gun's E-Z Own can help.

One of our Living Room stagings in a
model home in Lake City

Now we don't offer feng shui. We wouldn't even begin to know what to be for that. Heck, I don't even know if I spelled the thing right. But one thing  Gun's E-Z Own does and we do it very well is supply furniture to those who wish to stage a home that is for sale. We have staged homes in cities like Red Wing,  Hastings, Cannon Falls, Lake City, Minneapolis, Rochester just to name a few. We have staged million dollar homes down to $100,00 homes. Large, small, new and renovated. And we have been doing this for over 15 years.

The whole purpose of staging a home is to help your potential buyer envision what the home would look like with furniture in it. Some people just can't envision this in their heads without the props. We feel that keeping it minimal is key. If you put too much furniture in a home it will look small and cluttered.

In the LIVING ROOM,  a sofa, love seat or chair (depending on the size of the room), three piece occasional table set (not too big), and two lamps.

In the DINING ROOM only needs a four place dining set. What we have used in the past is a glass top table set to keep the dining/kitchen area looking open. Don't go with a big fancy dining set. It will take up too much space and shrink the room considerably.

Bedroom staged in a  model home.

For the BEDROOM we would suggest a full or queen mattress set, headboard, one night stand and either a dresser or chest (not both). And don't use a king mattress set either. It can make the bedroom appear small.

We do NOT offer items like bed spreads, plants, pictures and so on. Only the furniture.

Don't want to drive all the way to Red Wing to see what we have? You can go to Gun's E-Z Own, click on PRODUCTS, then click on IN STORE to see what we have in stock.

Neutral colors seem to work best. You want the house to stand out, not the furniture. The furniture is only a prop to help sell the home.

Not sure of the color scheme? Take pictures of the rooms you wish to stage and e-mail those pictures to gunsezown@gmail.com attention Marcia. Marcia is excellent at putting items together for staging and keeping the color schemes simple, which is what you want. The guy writing this blog is just a guy. Color schemes seem to escape me. I just do the deliveries.

If you would like more information on rentals and staging you can go to gunsezown.com and click on RENTAL . There you will find forms needed to begin staging a home. For our staging package pricing, e-mail us or give us a call at 651.388.3951. Staging prices are different from rental fees. For a brochure you can e-mail us as well.

I hope these little tidbits will help you in the future.

From the cold of Minnesota, thank you for reading today. Have a safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own: Should I purchase the product with payments or rent the product?

One the questions we often get, "Should I purchase the product with payments or rent the product?"

This question we get most often when a client is trying to get temporary accommodations for a elderly loved one. This is a very tough question. Clients have thought it would be 6 months and ending up being two years. Then after two years it might be longer yet and decided to purchase the items rather than paying more rent on the items.

Today I will point out a couple of pros and cons for each.

If I rent the furniture.
Pro
-I save money if it a 3-6 month rental.
-It can be returned and I don't have to worry about moving the furniture. Gun's E-Z Own will do that.
- If there is a problem with the rental items, Gun's E-Z Own handles the repairs or replacement.

Cons
-If the rental goes for over 16 months I will have paid enough in rental fees that could have purchase the items.
-If I want to buy it out right after the rental period, Gun's E-Z Own CAN NOT use what rental fees I paid on the items towards the purchase. I will have to pay the original retail price. (Because of Minnesota regulations)
-I don't own the furniture


If I purchase the furniture
Pro
-Once paid for I completely own it
-Once it is paid for I can re-sell it if I don't need it any more
- I don't lose out on any money spent on the item if I purchase it.

Con
- I am responsible for repairs of the items.
- I can still return the property if the "rental" ends up being short term, but I will have paid interest on
- Now what am I going to do with it.

Even though most of our rentals are only short term, every great once in a awhile a rental goes on much longer than anticipated.

Here is a rule of thumb I hope helps. If you think that the rental may be 12-24 months, consider purchasing it under loan contract. Yes, you will be paying interest on it, but at least once the 16 month loan is paid for, you own it.

If it is for sure to be 12 months or less, rental is the way to go for a temporary solution to a temporary situation.

We are more then happy to rent to our clients for the long term. But we also want to be fair and make sure you have the the information to make an educated decision.

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day.

Gun's E-Z Own: The Holidays and the Winter Clearance Sale

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Gun's E-Z Own hopes that you all had a safe and blessed holiday season.

I had two Christmases. One with the in-laws which is quiet and laid back. Only seven people. And we don't say much in conversation.

Then for the 2nd Christmas I went over to my dad's place to spend Christmas with my family. This is a completely opposite experience. We are loud. Very loud. Extremely loud. 16 people, ages 5 to 77 all trying to over talk each other,  kids running around, Everyone unwrapping presents and singing Christmas carols. If we are lucky we might get a game in and argue over the results. Oh, yes, we eat a huge meal sometime in there as well. And Yes, it can get quite loud. But it was enjoyable. A little red wine certainly helps.😉   With this crowd, we almost need two days for Christmas. You may have heard of the Seinfeld holiday, Festivous? Maybe we should go with a two day celebration and call it, Christgunhusmas . More wine would be needed. A lot more.

Then for New Years Eve my family of 16 did it all over again. We all try to see who can talk the loudest. I won one round and conceded the rest. We play games and watch the football games. Of course this was the evening to stay over night so partaking in some Jamison and coke was definitely on the radar.  I stayed up until midnight and crashed at 12:05. I'm such a party animal.  I survived the holidays, the bitter cold and slippery roads.

Ok, enough about my holidays. When the family reads this blog they may ask, "What do you mean we're loud?" But hey, it's an annual tradition.

Gun's E-Z Own Winter Clearance 2017

Now to business. Currently Gun's E-Z Own is having a Winter Clearance Sale. This is the biggest sale we've ever held. Even under the old ownership. We have over 100 items on sale. Prices are slashed to make this SALE, to quote some famous person, "HUGE!"

A Sofa & Love seat went from $599.99 and slashed to $299.99. A Night Stand that was $149.99 is now $69.99.  And there is so much more on SALE. I left the pricing up to my Assistant Marcia. I'm often cringing, "She priced it at WHAT?!!!"  So if you want to save some money on your purchase, you need to take advantage of these low prices now before I come to my senses and change them. Our Winter Clearance Sale ends January 31, 2017. (Ha, You thought I was going to put 2016 didn't you?)

Our Price board with Sale Prices

It is best to stop in the store at 816 Main Street, Red Wing, MN 55066 so you can see and touch the furniture. You wouldn't be the only person who does this. There are a lot of people who prefer the be able to touch the furniture then to just trust a photo.

And there are those who are okay with a photo. Look at how popular online shopping is. That is how the original E-Z Own business got started, with people ordering via a catalog. If you would like to see what we have on clearance click on the links within this blog and you will find those pictures. There is a lot there to see.

One more thing, Please Find or like us on Facebook. I do post photos of what we have in stock on Facebook as well. Maybe some funny memes or the like.

Once again thank you for reading. There is no guarantee that I won't solicit sales in my next blog, but stay tuned and find out.

Have a safe and blessed day. Until next time.

Gun's E-Z Own: Winter Safety for Deliveries

Greetings all.

In 2008 we placed a delivery policy that stated that our delivery people have the right to refuse delivery if they feel it is unsafe. How and why did this policy come about.

Today I am tackling a subject that is one of my pet peeves. People who ask Gun's E-Z Own to deliver a product to their home, but they don't shovel or spread ice melt on the path we would take for the delivery.

Let's go back in time when I was a mere regional manager.

One winter we had a rental furniture delivery to a gentleman from Texas. The day before the delivery there was an ice storm and this gentleman was not prepared for a Minnesota winter. He did not have ice melt or a shovel for that matter. While I was checking the path we were going to use for the delivery, I stepped on a patch of ice that cause my feet to slip right out from under me. Like you would see in a cartoon. I fell on my back and hit the back of my head hard on the concrete driveway. Fortunately I had a stocking cap on that was folded over and gave extra cushion. I came out okay, but still got a headache. Two days later, I heard on the news that some guy slipped on some ice like I did, He did not have extra cushioning on the back of his head and died from severe brain trauma from the fall.

During another winter after the previous paragraph, 2008 to be exact. I had slipped and fell three times. Once hurt my back, another hurt my hip and third one, well the third one I will tell you about.

The third time we were delivering a sofa and a recliner. The main side walk going to the customers sidewalk did not have ice melt on it and was slippery. The customer's sidewalk was not shoveled. Now some recliners, the backs come off for ease of delivery. I had the bottom part of the recliner and my assistant had the top half. Well I slipped and fell with the bottom part of the recliner landing on top of me. I was fine. We then carried the sofa, We both slipped a little and the sofa got a little snow on it from the piled up snow bank. We got the sofa into the town home.

The customer then started to complain that we got a little snow on the sofa. This was just a little bit towards the bottom. Like 3" wide by maybe 6" long. It was all I could do not to snap. I told the customer that if he was not happy with it, we will take it back and refund them their down payment.

Now for my tirade. Really, dude. You were too lazy and too inconsiderate to shovel the sidewalk for an appointed time for a delivery and then complain that we got a little snow on the product, that would not do any damage to the product. In which, from the fall, we could have done a law suit for improper maintenance of your sidewalk. That with us falling, could have done severe physical damage. Just dust the snow off and carry on.

That was the last straw. I had enough. I don't need any of my delivery people to get hurt. I got permission for a Delivery policy from the owner of the business and he agreed.

This policy reads:

DELIVERY POLICY

Gun’s E-Z Own Staff Reserve the Right to REFUSE DELIVERY if they feel there are safety issues.

Customers are asked to:

1.    Make sure the furniture purchased will fit down pathway and through doorways of their residence.

2.    Keep possible delivery pathways clear of snow, ice, toys and any other items that may cause an E-Z Own staff member to slip or fall. During the winter make sure pathways are sanded and/or salted.

3.    Stairs must be deemed as safe and not rickety.

4.    Have vehicles moved out of the path if furniture may have to be lifted over head to clear vehicle.

Gun’s E-Z Own staff will inform the customer of the safety hazards. If the safety hazards can’t be cleared immediately the delivery will be cancelled until the safety hazards are cleared.

The customer may chose to pick up the purchased items themselves and have a portion of their delivery fee credited to their account.

#   #   #   #

So what is the moral of the story? Please be considerate of service people who are coming to your home. Have the sidewalk cleared off, have a path to where the service person is going cleared. Yes, They are being paid for their service but you may end up paying a lot more if that service person slips, falls and does severe damage or death because a path was not cleared.

But the business has workmen's Comp. Yes, True, but the workmen's comp will go after your insurance to get repaid if they find that it is the fault of the customer.

And to avoid this process, Gun's E-Z Own reserves the right to refuse delivery.

Phew, I said my peace. Now I will need to go zen and settle down.

Thank you for listening today.

Have a blessed and safe day.

Gun's E-Z Own: What NOT to do around your TV

You may have heard the Jim Croce Song with the lyrics, "You don't tug on Superman's Cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim."

Well today I have three stories of what you shouldn't do around your TV. Another title could be: Kids, don't do this around the TV to anger your parents.

Story 1: 

One our customers came into the store very upset. We asked what happened? Her 11 year old son was playing with his BB gun. (Oh, yes. You already know the ending) He was cleaning it and pretending to shoot it. He had thought it was empty. (Of course it was empty.) He had moved to the living room and placed the BB gun down. 

While placing the BB gun down on a table, the BB gun was pointing towards the TV. His finger got stuck in the trigger and bang. Cracked TV screen. A TV that was less than two years old. 

Needless to say, BB guns are now banned in the house*

Story 2:

An family member recently went to a local home improvement store, who were handing out helium filled balloons to all the kids. To help weigh the balloons down, the balloons had a washer tied to the bottom of the string.

The daughter got home and was so excited about her new balloon, she was swinging it around and around in, . . . you guessed it, . . . the living room. Her father told her repeated times to stay away from the TV with the balloon. She lost hold of the balloon and it floated over the TV cabinet. Now the TV sits in a TV cabinet where the doors can close over the TV.

Thinking the daughter couldn't get to the floating balloon, the father who had a broken foot in a cast at the time, decided to take a long hot bath. Being as that it was easier than taking a shower.

After the bath, he entered the living, hmmm, the ottoman was by the TV cabinet and the TV cabinet was closed. Odd, but ok, He opened the cabinet, sat down, used the remote to turn the TV on and HOLY CRAP, there was a rainbow colored, spider web patterned crack in the TV screen.

A loud, "Get over here now!" to the very upset and nervous daughter was called out to found out what happened. She pushed the ottoman to the TV cabinet, that was open, climbed up to get her balloon. In the process she banged the washer into the TV screen. She got scared, closed the TV cabinet to hide the damage and ran away to her room. 

Moral: Never assume that your determined child CANNOT do something. Especially when it comes to cool balloons.

Story 3:

A customer's daughter enjoys the scented candles. On this particular day, she had lit a candle on the TV stand. Of course the TV is sitting right by the lit candle. What happens to candles when lit? They melt and while still warm there can be a puddle of wax. 

The daughter was being responsible, didn't leave the room while the candle was lit, but when she was ready to leave the room, she picked up the candle to blow it out. She lifted the candle up, in front of the TV, took a deep breath and (Yes, she did) blew the candle out and blew a bunch of hot wax onto the screen of their new TV. The hot wax melted spots into the screen and the spots that didn't melt, left a mark from cleaning it. 

Moral: Wax on not so easy to wax off.

At the time of the incident it's not so humorous but these are memories that we can look back on and smile about.  Remember that time when . . . broke the TV? Yea, how did that happen again?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am more than happy to sell you TV's, but if you like to save some money you don't play with a loaded BB gun, you don't swing a balloon with a washer on the end, you don't blow out a lit hot candle into your new TV and then you don't have to visit Gun.

*Just a side note for Story #1. A few months later, That boy's older sister, by 4 years, decided to play with the BB gun in the house and blew out the glass window of there stove. Face palm here.

I hope you enjoyed today blog. Please remember to view our Facebook page and visit our website at gunsezown.com.

Have a safe and blessed day. And if I don't blog before then, Have an awesome Thanksgiving.

Gun's E-Z Own: Doing Collections - Door Knocking

Here at Gun's E-Z Own, because that we are giving loans out for our customers to purchase furniture and using that furniture as collateral, we must do collections. That is we call customers, we send notices and letters to customers, we door knock customers and we take customers to court and get Sheriff's replevins (legal term for repossession).

We do have a matrix that we follow, and we are not looking for Neo either. With this matrix listed below, it helps keep customers payments timely and losses down:
Courtesy Phone Call
Letter / Phone Call
2nd Letter / Phone Call
Door Knock
Final Letter
Door Knock for Repossession
Court

I have been doing this for almost 20 years. (20 years in Feb of 2017) and dealt with all types of customers when it comes to collections. Today, I am going to do an overview of what Gun's E-Z Own does when out and about door knocking.

You may have noticed that I said Door Knocking. That is the phrase we use when we go to a customer's place of residence and, wait for it, . . . knock on their doors.

In the great state of Minnesota, there are laws that allow finance companies to do "self help" repossessions. Which in turn means, we are allowed to go up to customer's doors and ask for payment or the property. This does NOT mean we kick the door down and break in. Which, to be honest, I would like to at times. But I don't and won't. First off let me say that we reserve door knocking for those customers who refuse to call us back or make a payment. So if a customer has been contacting us we don't go to there doorstep unless they just have not come through with their five broken promises to pay us.

And when we door knock, it is not nearly as exciting as what you see on TV. If the customer can't afford their payment any longer, they are more likely to give up that Sofa. Those guys on TV repossessing a car if a different story. Take away a person's car and you pretty much take away their lively hood.

When going to a customers home, I always look at (not into, because that would just be creepy) the windows to look for curtain movement and listen for sounds for someone moving around or maybe a TV on. We look at the surroundings to make sure someone is still living there. Why is that? Because we have people move on us and we want as much information as we can get.


We also have to look out for mean dogs. Most of the dogs are friendly and I can get them to settle down and maybe pet them. Maybe.

From there I have a little carrying case that has my notices and envelopes in it. I knock on the door and listen for movement. I love it when the dog inside goes off on protecting the home. Then I know if the customer is home, they can't say they didn't hear me, because that dog will wake them up and/or let them know someone is there. If I don't hear anything, I will knock again and begin writing out what I need to on the notice. As you can see we use two different notices depending on how far behind the customer is. We have created a fill in the blank notice that makes it quicker and to get the legalize wording correct every time.

So then if there is still not anybody answering the door, Like Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory, I knock a third time. At that point I will leave the notice in an addressed envelope on the door knob or something that will hold the envelope.

Now if you are using this blog for help hints, DO NOT leave the notice in the mailbox. That is a Federal Offense. Just don't do it.

Once I hang the door notice, I just go back to my vehicle and head off to the next door. But what if someone answers the door?

If someone answers the door, I politely ask for the person I wish to speak to. If they are not home, I introduce myself and leave the door notice in an envelope with that person.

Now if the customer is home, I have a cordial conversation with them, and let them know why I am there. (They already know) Sometimes I get a payment, sometimes I get the property, sometimes I accept a promise of payment. Each situation is different.

The key to face to face collections is to treat people with respect. Everyone has a bad month. Bad things happen like car accidents and surgeries. If you poke the bear, all you get is a big load of nothing, and angry customer who is still delinquent and now you are in a upset state. Life is too short to go down that street.

Just talk to the customer with respect and explain to them what the next step is if they don't pay you. There is no reason to get all up into someone's face. If things do escalate, remember DO NOT BREACH THE PEACE. If you feel you are going down that road, Just listen to Kelly Clarkson and Walk Away.

Once again I just gave an overview of how I handle door knocking for collections. I live in a small town and this works for us. If I were to write everything down, this blog would be about 10 pages long and you would have lost interest before the end of page one.

I hope you found this interesting. Remember to find us on Facebook and visit our website at www.gunsezown.com for specials and see what we have in stock.

Have safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own: Cleaning your TV Screen.

Hi, there everyone. I know its been a little longer than usual from my last blog. I took some time off from the business side to try and rejuvenate the old noggin. I'll let you know if it worked.

Today, I am going to discuss about cleaning your TV Screens.

This topic came up recently when a customer was telling me about how his sister used a glass cleaner on her flat panel TV screen and put a haze on the screen. Her husband had noticed and had asked what happened. Since the TV sits by a window, she told him that the sun did it.

So some of you already may know this but I'll use this opportunity to remind people what not to do.

In your old tube TV, the screen was made out of glass. That was easy enough to clean. Any good glass cleaner would work.  Spritz a little glass cleaner on the screen and wipe it down with any rag or paper towel and your done.

For today's TV's, the flat panels, you can't do that. The screens on the newer TV's are made of a plastic. Have you ever sprayed Windex on a plastic item and afterward you have a haze on that item. WHY? you may ask.

DO NOT use glass or multi-purpose cleaners to clean your TV Screen. Glass Cleaners have chemicals in them that are not meant for plastic, only glass. Those chemicals in your favorite glass cleaner will slightly melt the plastic and that slight melt causes the haze.

One more thing, DO NOT use a paper towel to clean your screen either. What are paper towels made of? Well paper, of course. What is paper made of? Wood. There are small wood fibers in the paper towels. Those small wood fibers will scratch your TV screen. You people wearing glasses out there with plastic lenses. Were you in a pinch and used a paper towel to clean your lenses? How did that work out for you. you got at least one little scratch didn't you. Same thing with your TV screens. You get little scratches on your screen.

So what can you use? If your screen is just dusty, you can simply use a feather duster to dust it off. Or a micro-fiber cloth will work too if you lightly dust it.

You know how we try to put our TV's up high enough so that our little ones can't reach the screen and get there dirty little fingers on the screen. We all know how that works, right? Finger prints!! How do they do that!??

If you are looking at finger prints or the like, You have a couple of options:

1) Use a micro-fiber cloth. Spray some water on the cloth or the TV screen and wipe down your screen. Make sure your micro-fiber cloth is clean before using it.

2) Don't have a spray bottle you can use for water? Moisten your micro-fiber cloth with you tap water and is that on your screen. The cloth just needs to barely be wet. Remember you don't want water to accidentally drip into your TV and create a short.

3) You can purchase a cleaner made specifically for cleaning today's TV screens. We sell the Monster Screen Cleaner at Gun's E-Z Own. You can spray it on the cloth or the TV screen and wipe the screen down. No Scratches, No melt, only clean.

The argument for purchasing these glass cleaners specifically for your TV Screen is that there are no harmful chemicals in them that would hurt your TV screen. Water does have chemicals in it to keep the water clean and bacteria free like chlorine and the like. But the screen cleaners don't have any of that.

We use the Monster Screen Cleaner to clean, my glasses, laptop screens, the laptop casing, TV screens and anything else we don't want to use glass cleaner for. We don't use it for our windows though, it gets a little tiring pressing that little pump for a 8 foot by 4 foot window.

I hope you have found this to be another helpful idea.

Thank you for reading my blog today. There will be more to come. If you like my blogs, please send the links to your friends. And remember you can find us on Facebook.


I hope you have a safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own and Upholsetry Cleaning Codes

When you are out and about shopping for furniture, have you ever wondered how easy a sofa or love seat is to clean?

You can ask the sales representative how to clean or look for the cleaning code on one of the many tags that is on the furniture. But what do those cleaning codes mean? Today, I will answer that question for you.

There are four common cleaning codes in the industry. They are W, S, WS or X. Below are what each letter means.

W - Clean only with water based shampoo or foam upholstery cleaner. Do not over wet. Do not use solvents to spot clean. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and laundered.

S - Clean only with dry cleaning solvent. Do not saturate. Do not use water. Pile fabric may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and dry cleaned.

WS - Clean with shampoo, foam or dry cleaning solvents as desired. Do not saturate with liquid. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance.

X - Do not clean with either water or solvent based cleaner. use vacuuming or light brushing only.

What happens if you clean your fabric upholstery the wrong way? Your fabric can begin to fall apart or unravel. Or you can make the dirty area worse. So you will want to read the cleaning code on the upholstery and then the ingredients of your cleaning products.

For those who prefer a professional to do the cleaning, any prominent cleaning company can clean the products for you.

We have used cleaning services before on really tough items. We had a white sofa & love seat with a cleaning code of S. Well we didn't have the proper equipment for proper cleaning and hired out to do this. Cost us over $200 back then.  That was like 16 years ago.

More recently, we had a five piece sectional that the structure was in really good shape but the fabric was filthy. We hand washed and then used a steam cleaner to pick up the dirt. This usually works, but this time around it seemed like all we did was move the dirt around. We tried three times but just couldn't get the dirt picked up. We hired the cleaners from across the road and they did all five pieces for only $189.00. They did an excellent job. After the cleaning, we sold the sectional within two weeks.

What about leather? Any good leather cleaner will work. You can go to the automotive department of your local store and find a leather seat cleaner. That will work just fine to get the body oils and dirt off of the leather.

Around here we do like the microfiber fabrics because they all have a WS code and makes it much easier for cleaning. And if you get a little line of ink from you pen accidentally on the arm of that sofa of yours, just get some warm soapy water and use a fingernail brush to clean it. Use small circular strokes and, tah dah, you will get that ink mark out. I know it works because I've done it.

I hope you found this information helpful. To the right is a sample of wear you can find the cleaning code on the model number tag. In this example you can see "W".

Remember you can follow us on Facebook and visit our website at gunsezown.com.

Thank you for reading. Have a safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own Delivery Stories

I was going to blog about Lamps, but wasn't a bright idea. (ugh) It seemed like it might have been shady, (Stop) So I tabled it. (STOP!!!)

Ok, so I got you to roll your eyes. I'm one who enjoys a good pun. (Those are nothing like a good pun.)

I had mentioned in my last blog about some delivery war stories. Today I will elaborate on a couple of those stories.

I had mentioned that I had gone through a second story window. How was it that I got to that point. This was an upstairs apartment in an older house. The sofa was a long sofa with big arms. Which does not make for a good combination for easy deliveries.

The door was on the side, so you go in the door, go immediately right then up a couple of stairs then immediately to the left and then up the stairs. We got into the door without much of a problem. There was a wall that forced us to stand the sofa up on end. Then we tipped the sofa slightly to try to get it around the corner. Well we got it started around the corner and there we sat, The ceiling was too low, the hallway was too narrow and it was not going through. (By the way, why the heck did the builders of some of these homes build a stupid low ceiling in a stairway that you can bump your head on? I guess people were shorter long ago.)

So I begin thinking how this might work. I had gone through a first story window before but never a 2nd story window. Across from the house was a retaining wall. I went upstairs and measured the window, then measured the sofa height. We had a 1/4 of an inch on each side to get it in.

We took the sofa on end and used the retaining wall to get it as high as we could to the window. My assistant then ran upstairs and grabbed onto the sofa. I was military pressing the sofa over my head until he was able to get a good hold on the sofa. We got the sofa to the window. I left my spot and ran upstairs to help my assistant. We pulled the sofa through the window with little problems. Delivery done.

One more delivery story. I like to call this the delivery from hell.

It was in August. How do I remember what month? It was your typical August day. 95 degrees and the humidity was like 90%. It took us almost three hours to finish up that day because the heat was getting to us. We were delivering a short term rental for an Xcel (NSP) contractor. This was like 15 years ago. And it was a full house of stuff. The downstairs was not a problem. But once again going upstairs was a problem.

We got the bed room furniture upstairs with little issues except things were getting really heavy. Now for the mattresses. A little tight but yes, they went upstairs. Now for the foundations. The stairwell was an up some stairs, to the left and to the left for a complete u-turn. We tried to get a queen foundation upstairs. It wouldn't fit. So back down the stairs. Then we tried a Full size (double) foundation up the stairs and it wouldn't fit.

Not to be out down by a stupid foundation I pushed a little too much and BAM, there is a hole in the the drywall. &$&$&*#*!!. So I called it a day for that foundation and back down the stairs.

I told the customer about the wall and what I had to do for a beds for them. That afternoon I ran up to the cities and got two queen split foundations. Red Wing to the distributor in St. Paul was an hour one way. Hurried  on up then hurried on back and delivered the split foundations with no problem.

What about the hole in the wall? Me and construction don't get along to well. My forte is electronic stuff. I sent Marcia, my Office manager, who had done drywall repair before, over to the house and repaired the hole.

What was my point of this blog? Just to point out that when you purchase something from Gun's E-Z Own and want it delivered, we do our best to get the job done. We DO NOT drive to your house and drop it off on the curb and tell you you, "Here you go." We place that item where you want it. Upstairs, downstairs. Ahh, but the less the steps the better. (insert a smiley face here)

Some time I will tell you a couple of Repossession stories. Although they are not as exciting as what to see on TV.

Now that I have enlightened you, (I see what you did there) Thank you for reading. Have a safe and blessed day.