It's on Me

During a members-only meeting of the dealer-owned AllPro cooperative more than 20 years ago, a heated debate broke out in a room of several hundred.  Those present were lamenting the circumstances of their relationships with Benjamin Moore, which at that time were bleak and seemed only getting bleaker.

Raising my hand I waited my turn, before standing to address the room.

What I said was lost to time, though I had bought my last drink for the weekend.  Notoriety which waned before the next show when it was back to paying my own way, a short-lived luxury New York Knick guard Jalen Brunson never will outlive.     

On Saturday night in San Antonio the New York Knicks met the Spurs in game five of the NBA Championship Series, which the Knicks won 94-90 thanks to a heroic performance by Brunson, far more memorable than my words were that day.  Playing 41 of the game’s 48 minutes, Brunson scored 45 points or nearly half the Knicks’ total.  His three assists led to seven more points, making Brunson the only reason the Knicks broke their 53-year drought, ensuring he’s picked up his last tab. 

Because New York sports fans have longer memories than paint dealers. 

In doing so, Brunson adds his name to Mariano’s, Messier’s, Mantle’s and other champions of New York who have earned a tickertape parade up the Canyon of Heroes to receive a key to the city for bringing home the gold.  An honor which will be bestowed on the series MVP by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom you might have heard is Muslim. 

My eagerness to participate in the parade is bullying my reluctance for big crowds, this one estimated to be more than one million or one in every eight New Yorkers, making the odds pick’em as to whether or not I’ll attend.  Shorter than anything I was betting last week.

The Pittsburgh Paints Company (PPC) announced that its new Protective Coatings brand is now available across North America, allowing the company to phase out the PPG High Performance Coatings Pittsburgh has been using under license since the companies consummated the divestiture in 2024.  Another asset Pittsburgh CEO Brian Carson can sell, but not until he transitions the remainder of that line, which is expected to happen over the “next 12+ months.”

And this may be Carson’s best chance to make a sale, with a few paint manufacturers likely to be interested in that brand, though I’m not expecting Brian to engage me and ask which ones.  Making it likely he plans to call them all, as he did while trying to sell his company-owned stores and other assets, which to this point he’s had no luck with.  But a stand-alone protective coatings brand may hold more promise, containing higher profit margins and more consistent demand than exists for Pittsburgh’s architectural coatings.  From dealers, many of whom maintain their relationship with Pittsburgh for access to these products, to customers in its stores, which weigh heavily towards this category of products.   

Like my reporting on wage theft last year, my coverage of Rochester has caused many to reach out and share their experience as a victim of Sherwin-Williams, or as a witness to another’s victimhood, as seems common in that company’s affairs.  As happened each day last week, setting a pace slightly above the mean. 

Among those I’m communicating with is a former senior executive who contacted me several weeks ago alleging misdeeds through oft-excruciating testimonies.  They allege a pattern of unethical and perhaps illegal behaviors at Sherwin previously unreported here, which early investigation suggests may prove true, though I suspect the effort to find the truth will take some months.    

Were it to prove true, it’s still impossible to predict the financial impacts this type of revelation might bring, though the effects on management’s reputation will be nothing less than schismatic.       

Which someone will have to explain to Monty.