Harris Attempt to Maintain Profits

H E Harris was in a conundrum after it’s sale to General Mills. Wesley Mann the new President of Harris soon realized that the tremendous profit margins that had made Harris such an attractive take over candidate could never be maintained. There are two ways to maintain or increase short term profits in a business and Mann had to rely on these. First, he sold off undervalued inventory and realized profits that the owners didn’t know were there. Harris’s stock in the late 1970’s was fantastic with huge quantities of better US. But even more significantly, old Henry Harris himself had put away quantities of better post WW II issues after the war for a song and in the late 1970’s the dollar’s declined, inflation increasing and the rise of European economies conspired to drive up the prices of these stamps and Harris had a windfall that increased their profits for several years. But the second way companies can maximize short term profits is to debase their product and service and this, in an effort to maintain short term profitability, Harris also did. The quality of the albums and supplies declined, customer service atrophied and the vast stock that made Harris the go to place for thousands of collectors was liquidated and it became difficult for collectors to get the stamps they needed. Within ten years Harris was sold off, a mere shell of what it was.

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