Loan Program

[Thomas D. Seay, III]

>From: Wippen@aol.com
>Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 00:01:37 -0400
>To: t.seay@mail.utexas.edu
>Subject: Loan Program
>
>Hi Tom,
>We have just begun our second year of a loan arrangement between my school
>(Marshall University) and Kawai America.
>Our program was arranged by a company inTucson AZ called the Direct
>Connection. They brought the University,Kawai and the local Kawai dealer
>together, put together the contracts, and administered the sale at the end of
>the year.
>
>Our first sale was held the last week in June and was a big success.
>
>Marshall received a total of 15 instruments (all we had room for,really) 4
>cx-21's,2-NS 20's , a GE-1 (5'2"grand) 2 GE-3's(5'8")  a GS-60 (6'9") and a
>GS-70 (7'5") plus 4 digitals.
>
>I instigated this project because I wanted to upgrade many of the pianos in
>our practice rooms. I sent 9 OLD uprights(Hamiltons) and an old 5'1"
>grand(Monarch) to the Yard Sale our Buildings and Grounds Dep't holds twice a
>year to make room for these new ones.
>
>The local dealer,Kawai, and Direct Connection bent over backwards to make
>this deal a good experience for Marshall.
>The pianos cost us nothing other than the freight charges to get them all
>here (about $1400). Incidently, they were all brand new, still in crates, not
>pianos pulled off the showroom floor.
>What Marshall had to do was provide a venue for the sale,telephone service to
>the sales area, mailing labels of all alumni from the School of Music and the
>Colleges of Education,Medicine, and Fine Arts.(about 12,000 names).
>
>The local dealer picked up the tab for all of this.
>Probably the worst problem I had was getting the University legal council to
>sign off on the approval for it all. West Virginia does things in very
>peculiar ways sometimes.
>
>For our first sale they brought in 75 pianos to go with the loan pianos to
>"augment" the selection. Total sales was about 35-40 units.
>
>As far as pros and cons go.... there wern't to many of either.
>1. Pro- we get some pretty good pianos to use for practically nothing for the
>next 5 years ( the lenght of our contract).
>2. Con- I get to break-in and stabilize a dozen pianos and then sell them
>about the time they start to settle down.
>3. Pro- The PR for the University seems to be very  positive so far.
>4. Con-Security for these pianos required some exra time and worry.(maybe i
>just worry to much?)
>5. Con- WE had some surprises during the sale,mostly having to do with the
>advertising they did. These things have been dealt with already and I drafted
>a Memorandum of Understanding for all parties to sign so that we will all be
>clearer on how things will go next summer.
>
>Well, I tend to ramble on. Basically, Marshall is quite happy with our
>arrangement and there have been no problems of any significant nature.
>The Kawai's are fine, I would rather have had Steinways or Bechsteins but
>they wern't offering.
>If I can answer any other questions for you,Tom, feel free to holler'
>
>Paul Dempsey
>Marshall University
>Huntington,WV
>wippen@aol.com
>

Tom Seay
t.seay@mail.utexas.edu
The University of Texas at Austin