Interview - Luke's Toy Factory

As organizers we spend a lot of time talking about "stuff". We always try to direct our clients to experiences, consumables and items of quality. We spoke with Jim Barber at Luke's Toy Factory in Danbury, CT about their fun mission. 

How did the company start?

The company consists of 2 father and son teams. Jim Barber and his son Luke, and Mitch Achiron and his son Evan.

Jim runs the business side, Luke does the toy design, Mitch handles package design and Evan does the social media and Public relations.

We all pitch in to build and package the toys.

We got the idea to make toys here in the US after the highly publicized toy recalls from Chinese made toys. In our research we found that almost all toys are made in China, with only a small percentage made in the US. We thought that maybe we could come up with something better. Luke made the initial designs on a computer, we 3D printed them and used these models to launch a Kickstarter fundraiser.

Can you talk about the importance of being made in America especially Connecticut?

Being made in America is a key component of what we do. By making it here, we can monitor production and assure safety. We can use a just in time production model so that we are not stuck with unsold inventory that we must sell cheaply after the holidays. There are over 40 people who have a hand in making our toys, including mold makers in Massachusetts, raw material suppliers in Michigan, and injection molding here in Connecticut. The packaging is also made in CT.

The level of technical expertise that we can draw on from sophisticated manufacturers here in CT is a key component of our success, most importantly with the help of Vanguard Plastics in Southington.

How is the company eco-friendly?

Our toys consist of 30% organic material ( sawdust from furniture factories ) mixed with 10% recycled plastic and 60% virgin plastic. This allows us to replace 1/3 of the plastic that would have been used to make the toy with recycled materials while still insuring product safety.

Now the fun stuff, how do you come up with toy ideas?

Luke had the idea of creating a toy that was more realistic than a "baby toy" but not as difficult to assemble as most toys meant for older kids. Luke has always loved trains, trucks and all kinds of vehicles, so he had a head start. He researched classic designs and and used these elements to create his trucks on a Computer aided design (CAD) program. Then he 3D printed them and we gave them to kids to play with, we used the feedback to refine and perfect the toys.

Which Truck is the most popular?

Our cargo Truck is the most popular. It has all those little boxes to put stuff in!

Any plans to bring new designs to market, or is it a secret?

We are expanding into the educational market, so we are working on some children's books to go along with the trucks, in addition to videos, posters and other fun stuff.

Luke also has plenty more designs on the drawing board which we are working on right now, including a tug boat and train designs.

Interview - Plustek

Many of our clients ask us what to do with photos, slides and other potential items from the archives. We turned to an expert and spoke with Mark from manufacturer Plustek.

A lot of people have thousands of photos at home, do you have a recommendation besides a flatbed scanner?

The Plustek ePhoto is the ideal solution for scanning photos. It only takes about 2.5 seconds to scan a typical 4x6 print and the scanning process is very straight forward and easy to understand. You simply place the photo in the ePhoto and it is automatically scanned.  To give you an example, I recently scanned about 1000 photos and it took me about 45 minutes.

For people who have negatives or slides do you have advice for the non-professional?

Our OpticFilm 135 is frequently used by people that own or have inherited a large slide collection. The scanner features a motorized transport that lets you scan 4 slides at a time in about 40 seconds. The software that comes with the scanner is designed around ease of use.  You load the slides, press the scan button on the scanner and the images are transferred to the software where you can do some basic editing.

What are your suggestions for family members who, either by choice or by fact that they are the only one who will do it,  are the family archivist or genealogist?

The family genealogist is typically presented with many different types of items that need to be scanned. These can range from historical documents, letters, photos, photo books, and memorabilia.  We find that genealogists will use the type of scanner that matches the task. For example, if you are scanning priceless historical documents that you do not want to be damaged, a scanner like or OpticPro A320 or OpticSlim 1180 is used. If they are scanning books, then either our OpticBook A300 or OpticBook 4800 is used. Some even use our portable MobileOffice S410 if they need to scan documents away from their home or office. 

Office paper can be a big challenge do you have any solutions?

Scanning paper is half of the challenge, the other half is managing that paper. Our eScan A150 is a standalone scanner that you can use without a PC. You connect it to your home network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable and then you can scan directly to a PC or Mac in your house or anyone of the following cloud services: Evernote, Office 365, Google Drive, Box.Net, Dropbox or SharePoint. The benefit of scanning directly to something like Evernote is that it’s easy to use you can have a complete document management system for a very low cost. You just load your documents in the scanner, and tap the Evernote button and all your scans are safely stored in the cloud.

The eScan A150 is a commercial quality scanner at a price affordable to both home owners and businesses. It’s used in many business applications including: healthcare, legal, retail stores, financial, in addition to home offices.

What if I don't have any technical know how, should I be scared?

While we offer many solutions for business and professionals, we also offer solutions like the ones mentioned above that are designed for ease of use.  But even more importantly, we are here to help. If you have a question about your scanning workflow or scanning software, want to know about best practices or you have a problem, you can contact our technical support team by phone or email at no cost.

Interview - Hoardable Hotsauce

As organizers we are always steering our clients towards experiences and consumables as gifts instead of stuff. We spoke with the folks at Connecticut's own Hoardable Hotsauce for obvious reasons.

As Professional Organizers we are very interested in the name. What is the origin?

Well the truth is we wish there was a great story behind the name but all we have is as its told, while tasting the test batches at their origin someone said “this stuff is so good you can hoard it” when another replied “well I agree, it sure is hoardable” and just like that, Hoardable Hot Sauce got its name.

Are your sauces made in Connecticut and what is the relationship with the source of the ingredients?

We are fully made in Connecticut. We purchase all of our produce from local organic farms. We personally cut and mix the produce along with our co packers who cook and bottle our product all at their FDA facility, which is also located in Ct.

The must ask questions for hot sauce, which one is the hottest and just how hot is it?

Our hottest sauce is named “Cruel & Unusual Punishment” While the name deems it the hottest of our three sauces it is not a heat level that one might think. We use a Bhut Jolokia Ghost pepper that rates 1.2 million heat units on the Scoville scale; however we cut the heat with other ingredients to ensure we do not over power our fans.  It is important to us that we are not the gimmicky hot sauce that you use once and it then sits in your cupboard because it’s too hot to use. Our flavor is what is most important and we want you to taste the food that you are eating while enjoying the heat as an added kick. Use a lot of it, come back for more!      

For people unaccustomed to hot sauce what is the best way to ease into the heat?

For the beginner we always recommend our Red Pepper Mix. This is our Mild sauce which we refer to as a liquid salsa, or our utility sauce.  It is made with sweet red Bell Peppers, red Jalapeños, Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Sea Salt and Vinegar. It does not bring much heat but is full of flavor. It compliments anything from Chicken to Pizza and even goes great on Eggs.          

Any interesting or fun adventures with the sauces since they hit the market

Since we have hit the market it has been a great ride. We have had a lot of fun learning, growing, and brining this product to market in such a diverse arena.  We recently partnered with a subscription service “Fuego Box” which is headquartered in California.  We were asked to have our “Cruel & Unusual Punishment” sauce featured in their box of the month club. Not only was it flattering to be chosen by their team but we were never ready for the “YouTube” fan base that they had reviewing the sauces. The video reviews while positive certainly brought certain levity when they were pleasantly surprised by the heat of the Bhut Jolokia Ghost pepper.

Interview - CarePatrol

Recently, many of our clients have been dealing with aging parents and after speaking with Paul at CarePatrol we thought this service might be helpful.

What is Care Patrol?
Care Patrol is a free Senior Placement Agency. We help families find Assisted Living, Memory Care Communities and Nursing Homes.

We service Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield Counties in CT.  As well as Westchester, Putnam and Duchess Counties in NY.

We are not merely a web referral service. We accompany families on "community tours" to alleviate the sales pressure and to insure that you ask the right questions. We understand the process can be overwhelming and something most people have never done before and our clients are often relieved when we ask questions they didn't know to ask, especially when it comes to lease agreements.

If someone wants your help, how do they start?

A phone call or email to CarePatrol is all it takes to get started.

CT Office Phone: 203.244.9562 (located in Westport Ct.)

NY Office Phone: 914.357.8084

OR

 www.CarePatrolCT.com

www.CarePatrolNY.com

How much do you charge?

As mentioned there is no charge for our services. We are compensated by our referral network providers.

Do you help all seniors, despite the level of care needed?

We can help all seniors in advising them of the options available associated with assisted living arrangements. There are many pieces at work including medical, social and financial. In a case in which the financial resources might not be available for certain facilities we still help people with the next steps that are right for them.

What happens cases in which an older adult doesn't have family members near by?
We will assist, advise and coordinate with family members who are located remotely. We do all the leg work to educate the family on all the options.

In your experience what are the biggest challenges facing older adults?
Over the years, I feel the biggest challenge for older adults is the difficult task of locating safe and appropriate assisted living that meets their individual requirements.