Dear Friends:

Bam! Wham! Turmoil! Ka-Boom! Tariffs! Bewilderment! Disruption! Chaos! Uncertainty! Trade wars! Less tariffs! Price instability! More Tariffs!! Hints of a coming recession! Welcome to 2025!

In the last few months, I feel like I've gone (at nearly age 85!) two rounds (was I kidding myself?) with Iron Mike Tyson. But friends, this is the new reality: there is no reality. Reality "is what it is" at the moment.

Economies, stock markets, and businesses like certainty, not uncertainty, and don't like disruptions, so they run around, have big meetings, and make big pronouncements of how they will try to cope. Mainly, they raise prices, "in the best interest of our customers". Hmmmm....

At Mockett. we are taking another approach and doing nothing. That's right: nothing. A very large percentage of our product lines are Made in America. Parts like plastic grommets, some specialty grommets, monitor arms, metal trash managers, extruded wire managers, out entire signature DP3 drawer pull series, shelf track systems, our popular PCS36, PCS82 & PCS54 series, and many more are not affected by tariffs.

My theory is that you can't sell out of an empty store, so we have always had a large inventory. Ninety-nine percent of what is on the shelves is at the old price.

Incoming items will have to face the tariff music, but today's tariff may not be tomorrow's tariff. Tariffs change daily as the wind changes in Washington.

Yes, some of our prices will have to change in the future. But our plan is to offer a reasonable lead time to order at the current price, with new prices in effect a few weeks or months down the road. Bulk orders and blanket orders are welcome. You will have plenty of time.

I am reminded of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's famous words during his first presidential inauguration speech in 1933. At the height of the Great Depression, he said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." These words are true today act hey were nearly a century ago.

Please look us up at Booth 2029, May 6-8, at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay HD Expo, cool stuff, and at NeoCon on the 7th floor. We are proud to be named the "Official Power Sponsor" of the NeoCon Talks Lounge.

Cordially,
Douglas A.J. Mockett
President