Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 30, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press business Steve email 3071997 b5 docs shoes Are leg savers scientists design cushions Jogger feet easing Wear on joints by Paul Mckie business reporter a Winnipeg scientist and entrepreneur wants to make an Impact in the exercise world by taking the Impact out of Semyon Loffre has a pad in euro phys but lately Hes been spending his time trying to sell exercise developed Over a period of 10 exclusively in Lof be owns the patents to Tolop footwear that claims to eliminate the Impact of jogging and the shoes look like stripped Down ski boots sitting on top of springy plastic the shoes Cushion the Impact of the foot hitting the giving a springy feel when but without excessive on the other is very bouncy As he enthusiastically describes his Compa nys Hes been involved with a loopers from the earliest you know the joke i liked the product so much i bought the laughed when Loffre first became involved five years he said the company had a crude product aimed at specially he said it was his idea to re target it at con he developed the shoes with input from the Canadian originators plus outside experts in various a russian emigre who came to Winnipeg in said there Are valid scientific reasons for using his he explained that when a person jogs or runs the Impact on the Bones is three to eight times the persons body Loffre said 75 per cent of All the Energy expended while exercising is absorbed by the Skele ton upon Impact with the he called the a loopers a no Impact exercise the product stores the Energy of the Impact into the Spring and returns it slowly into the explained he said the result is a workout that exercises the whole body without wearing Down Joe Bryksa Winnipeg free press Semyon Loffre Calls his a loopers footwear a no Impact exercise reaction to the a loopers has been very said but he divulge sales the shoes were recently showcased at a Chicago Trade show and Loffre has a Hollywood or firm drumming up interest elsewhere in the United Hes also been talking to the Home shopping network about Selling his product Over the Supply on demand the a loopers Are manufactured near Loffre said they can produce pairs a month if they need Loffre runs the a loopers Ujco out of his Tuxedo neighbourhood he said one of the hardest things was getting the right materials for the he said Early models used Metal but didst Loffre said technology had to catch up to the the boots Are made of plastic and can be worn around any they buckle on quickly and there Are no Metal bolts or screws holding them Loffre tells you must run like the animals Heel to Loffre said after extensive use the Spring Ness can slowly go out of the Bot Tom strap on the but the strap pulls out easily and can be Loffre said when he started a loopers it was Only a but now he works almost full time on the exercise invent it brings benefits of exercise without without without he the current incarnation of the shoes has been on the Market for about six months and is available by mail order for web site savings lowest in 50 years canadians investing Cash at record Bank study says Banks hike Short term mortgage rates Canadian press Toronto Short term mortgage rates in Canada shot up by More than a third of a Point reflecting the markets belief the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again to defend a weak Dollar and Cool a roaring the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal announced there Rais ing rates on mortgage terms of six months to two years by Between a fifth and nearly half a effective the changes reflect the higher Cost of Bor rowing Money in the Bond where Banks finance their mortgage the new rate for a six month convertible mortgage rises four tenths of a Point to per while a oneyear closed mortgage jumps nearly half a Point to per cent and a two year term by a fifth of a Point to per rates on longer term mortgages Are not economist Mario Angast Niotis said the mortgage hike reflects weakness in the Short term Bond Market since the Bank of Canada pushed up interest rates in late its first rate hike in two the Central Bank rattled financial markets june 26 by raising its overnight lending rate to commercial Banks by a Quarter Point to per the meant to Stop a slide in the Canadian did not Lead the big Banks to raise their prime lending which remains at per the Canadian currency closed at cents us on financial up of a by Michael Macdonald Canadian press Toronto Anadi ans personal savings have hit a 50year Low but they have somehow found the Cash to help pay for the highest volume of investment since the second world a new Royal Bank study at first the num Bers based on the first three months of 1997 pre sent a says chief economist John if people Are saving less than they Ever then How Are we financing this record High level of invest ment that an important ques Tion because theres wide spread worry that most canadians finances Are on shaky ground because of High debts and Low Piggy Banks Low personal savings once a Canadian bragging have fallen from 10 per cent of the Overall econ omy before the 199192 recession to a Low of per cent in the first Quarter of this outstanding household debt is at record the Bank of Canada reported in May that debt As a ratio of disposable income had hit per up from 92 per cent in mid1996 and up from 50 per cent in consumer How has grown by per cent in the 12 months ended in that seven times greater than the raises they canadians Are going deep into debt to pay for a con Sumer spending they now owe billion More than the Federal govern ment the Royal Banks analysis suggests Canad an savings and investment Are in Good giving and con Sumers the ability to finance a High volume of fixed investment without recourse to significant for eign Mccallum says in a fixed investments refer to spending on equipment and construction both residential and nones there Are three reasons Why Canadas Low personal savings rate Hast stood in Ivings buy t Canadian i spending k personal savings fallen from 10 per of feb Overall Economy s 161991 92 recession household j a ratio of disposable i had hit per i92percentinmid Frand up from 50 per cent consumer grew by percent months ended in that seven times than the income the Way of the investment Royal Bank reduced government deficits and higher corporate savings have reduced Canadas Reliance on foreign borrowing in recent improved technology has drastically Cut the Cost of some fixed particularly machinery and so called Justin time production has reduced the need to sink Money into the study also notes that while savings have the net Worth of canadians has increased As a growing number of Consumers have sunk savings into the Stock Market or Mutual study misleading but one of the main pillars of the Banks study that fixed investments Are Boom ing is said Jim economist with the Canadian Auto workers in real after you deduct depreciation of exist ing capital investment is very Low by historical he its wrong to say Canada is in an investment Stanford said the Royal is twisting the numbers to justify government policies that have boosted Bank prof its but have eroded personal savings As a Canadian living its clearly a legacy of the balanced Bud get policies of the which Are very popular on Bay Street but have been a disaster for Canadian House its vital to have policy for handling complaints customer complaints Are an Issue faced by every business because no matter How hard you it is impossible to deliver a perfect product or service every the big problem facing businesses is that most customer complaints never reach the us based Tarp Institute found Only 25 per cent of people with a complaint about a manufactured product bothered to Register Nielsen reports Only 30 per cent of Consumers with a complaint about grocery products or their packaging report this situation is not unique to North a japanese study reported complaint rates of Only 17 per cent for services and 36 per cent for whats worse is that most con Sumers complain at the Point of Pur Chase and not to the manufacturer or service the Tarp Institute estimates fewer than five per cent of complaints Ever reach corporate this makes it extremely difficult for a business to make corrections to its product or Consumers give three main Rea sons for not the most frequently Given answer is it is not Worth the time or they managing 2000 Robert Warren believe this because they do not see a connection Between the complaint and corporate Peak of the the local vegetable marketing real izes this connection and makes sure the consumer sees a reaction to their this includes everything from a visit by a Peak of the Market representative to providing the con Sumer with free products to make up for the quickly acknowledge other Consumers do not complain because they feel the company would not be concerned with their problem or would not be interested in acting on to combat this Compa Nies must quickly acknowledge Cus Tomer complaints through such things As a letter or phone this must be followed up with another letter or phone Call inform ing the consumer of the corrective action Federal express firmly believes in quickly addressing customer com plaints and then following up on last i sent a package to myself from when the package arrived i noticed it had been opened during shipping and the con tents having shipped hundreds of packages by Fedex and having never had a i was especially considering the item was Only Worth i quickly called Fedex and related my complaint to the service agent who walked me through the report ing they apologized for my loss and explained that although it does not happen packages Are occasionally they promised to reimburse me for the lost package and credit my account for the ship Ping within a i received a Cheque for the value of the package and a letter of the third most popular reason for Consumers not registering their com plaint is they do not know where to or what to some Consumers go to the location where they purchased the product or service because it is convenient and the Only place they Are aware of to this May quickly resolve their but it does not inform the manufacturer on handling complaints procedures for handling Cus paste i and without express regret for any Inco Nve ence foe customer you want to m and get to the try to get agreement on to for the take action As quickly As educate the customer to Avol cof future follow through to make sure taif agreed upon action has been source Barton Selling principles and Iii Richard or service designer of the to address this companies like coca cola and the Toronto Dominion Bank include an 800num Ber on their products or brochures for customers to Call in the event of a for More expensive products the customer complaint line is staffed 24hours per other companies for Kraft staff the line during Normal working hours and provide voice mail at other All these Points show the importance of having an established policy for handling customer to be this policy must be consistent and ensure Consumers feel they Are treated most firms do not have such a policy and this makes it difficult to resolve complaints to the satisfaction of this is bad news for firms because con Sumers often base their decision to Deal with a company again based on How they handle the Tarp study found 6980 per cent of complainers who were Satis fied would Purchase from the firm versus Only 1732 per cent of complainers who were not Robert Warren is director of the Asper Centre for entrepreneurship at the University he can be reached at ;