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By WILLIAM RYBERG Register Business Writer 12/09/1999

Companies that want to mark the millennium with special gifts are generating added business for the promotional products industry.

Businesses are giving millennium gifts to show appreciation to customers, attract new business or reward employees for working the New Year"s holiday.

Companies are turning to a variety of businesses, ranging from promotions provider Air-Tex Corp. of Des Moines to Wisconsin clothing manufacturer Lands' End for products.

Sales "started out slowly, but it's really picked up steam in the last few months," said Rick Vernon, vice president of Vernon Co., a manufacturer and distributor of promotional products in Newton.

Vernon estimates the promotional products industry will sell more than $50 million of millennium-related merchandise. The industry's total annual sales are about $15 billion, he said.

The millennium total isn't a huge number, compared to the overall industry figure, Vernon said. "But, it definitely was a nice number for this year."

Products include calendars, glassware, pens, mousepads and apparel that note the arrival of the new millennium.

Lands' End of Dodgeville, Wis., which has manufacturing plants in Elkader and West Union, has been selling clothing adorned with Team Y2K logos and a client company's name or logo.

Employers are buying the sweat shirts and other merchandise to reward employees who must work New Year's Eve because of concerns about potential Y2K problems. Many companies have been concerned that older software that hasn"t been updated by Jan. 1 could read 2000 as 1900 and malfunction, causing computer crashes.

Air-Tex Corp. of Des Moines has been putting company names and logos on promotional bags bearing a special 01-01-00 symbol.

Air-Tex's parent company, Norwood Promotional Products of Austin, Texas, has a contract with the company that designed the millennium symbol. The agreement gives Air-Tex the right to put the symbol on tote, duffel and other bags.

Lynn Ward, an Air-Tex vice president, said bag sales have been fair and customer interest has been picking up as the new year gets closer.

Jerome Hoxton, a vice president at Newton Manufacturing, a Newton promotions distributor, said the company has been selling more traditional merchandise, mostly gifts for employees working New Year's Eve.

The products, with a company name or logo etched or printed on them, include globes of the world, sweaters, wine glasses and champagne bottles, Hoxton said.

Sales have been good, Hoxton said, for products with symbols or phrases noting the arrival of the new millennium.

But most promotional products emphasize corporate image, rather than Y2K or the new century, Hoxton said.

Some companies are buying products that reflect a company's assertion that it had made the necessary changes to avoid potential Y2K problems.

Among such merchandise: Computer mousepads that say, "The bug is dead."

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), December 09, 1999

Answers

Actually, I kinda like the tee-shirt that says something to the effect: "Y2K Remediation Final Tour: 1996-1900". That showed that someone had a sense of humor...black humor though it may be...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), December 09, 1999.

I'd buy an edible version of that T-shirt. ;)

I'm seeing a lot of personal benefits from Y2K:

I have come to appreciate how well off I am RIGHT NOW. It turns out that I already had everything I needed, I was just stuck in the acquisition game. I have become less ambitious at work, which lets me spend more time with my family and hobbies, and - shock! - find this more rewarding than making more money and acquiring the latest consumer toy.

I've stopped living the supermarket-to-mouth convenience lifestyle and discovered that I really like doing infrequent bulk shopping and having full cupboards.

So I'm really hoping that Y2K is a BITR, because I've never been so content with my life the way it is. It would suck if it all fell apart just when I'd got to like it so much. :)

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), December 10, 1999.