Eveready Express Client Spotlight: 10-31, Inc.

When the owner of custom cabinetry business 10-31 Inc., Bill Stender first used Eveready Express Courier Service, his company had been cycling through several similar transportation and logistics companies—testing the waters after a recent breakup from a long business relationship. However, 10-31’s speed dating experience ended shortly after a trial of Eveready’s shipping services.

“We were using a small courier, basically a one-man band and he retired,” said Stender. “I would say Eveready bubbled to the top quickly because of good customer service and their ability to get us multiple trucks.”

When the new partnership kicked off, 10-31 was amidst a shift in service offerings. In the early 1990’s, 10-31 Inc. began offering custom cabinetry in addition to the one-off wall mounts Stender and Co. were building since the company started. Stender, who’s background was in fine arts, had developed a client base of galleries, museums, and collectors—most notably from NYC.

The advent of the custom cabinetry service established a leg of 10-31 Inc. called Art Display Essentials (ADE). Now in 2020, ADE accounts for more than a third of 10-31’s business. In addition to custom cabinetry, ADE also offered the ability for their cabinet production to grow in volume. Managing this portion of the business is Jeff Filipkowski, the Cabinetry Manager.

“Our shop is located 75 miles outside of NYC and about 90% of our cabinetry goes to Manhattan or Brooklyn,” explained Filipkowski. “Being so far out away from our destination, Eveready allows us to not carry the overhead of our own trucks.”

10-31 Inc. now uses Eveready Express regularly for product deliveries to museums like the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), as well as for art fairs and galleries held at places like the Park Avenue Armory. Most recently, Stender asked CEO, Keith Kirk and Eveready Express team to deliver 10-31’s newest and highest volume product to the MOMA.

“Over the last few years we’ve been moving into products that are used throughout the world. So, besides custom cabinetry, which is one-off, we’re also designing and building products that will manufacture for the next 10-20 years,” explained Stender. “One of which is a product called Q-Cord. That’s kind of a small shift for us—it’s still art related. It’s still boutique manufacturing—it’s not mass production. We make about 2000 a year.”

The people behind 10-31 Inc. as well as the company’s sub-brands, Art Display Essentials and Q-Cord are looking forward to future custom work as well as higher volume orders for clients that need reliable, craftsman work. One such museum is Dia in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

“We’re doing their custom cabinetry,” said Stender. “That’s gotta be a staged delivery—we’ll store things [at our headquarters], but we can’t just dump the entire project on them at once.”

Stender and Filipkowski are in the process of working with Eveready’s logistics team in order to schedule out different deliveries to Dia over the course of two to three weeks. Not only does a client like Dia Chelsea require professional cabinet work—the delivery and install process demands a high-quality customer experience effort.

“I often tell my guys, even though we manufacture—we build things—we really are a customer service company,” said Stender. “If we aren’t giving our clients good customer service, they’re gonna find somebody else to build it for them.”

It’s evident that 10-31 Inc. and Eveready Express have both gained clients due to their industry expertise, but also their commitment to customer service. When recalling the years of their business relationship, Filipkowski remembers a moment that defined what Eveready means to 10-31’s business…

“We were on [a job] site and [Eveready] had already committed two trucks to us for a Thursday morning at 7am,” said Filipkowski. “We realized as we were loading the trucks—our mistake—that what we had wasn’t going to fit. A phone call and an hour and a half later, Eveready was able to mobilize another truck. I couldn’t believe it, but they were able to manage it. They bailed us out.”