Dear Mr. K Ite,

Thank you for your very short note highlighting some minor points; I can see you are a little aggrieved. On behalf of "Mr Claus I will attempt to minimise your apparent unease with the S&OP process in the context of the very small print in your members employment conditions.

I think we have to manage expectations here. I know your members play an important role in the Christmas S&OP but as far as I am aware there are very few (if any) Christmas songs about Elves. Let me see now:

Dashing through the snow in a one elf open sleigh….I think not!

Good King Elf looked out of the feast of Stephen…..no, not there either.

Rudolf the red nosed elf….not quite eh?

You do not even get a mention in the all encompassing 12 Days of Christmas!!!

Your members are lucky to have assured contracts which guarantee employment every year without fail. Unless the world runs out of children I think we can safely see continued employment into the future. The green hats were part of the 2009 collective bargaining agreement where we agreed to new hats every 5 years instead of the industry standard of every 10 years. You will recall we reversed out decision to change colour of the hats to pink at the same time.

The employment market is currently very tough and I urge you to communicate to your members the difficulties you will cause should you withdraw your labour. We are unable to pay you for doing nothing for 46 weeks of the year and I am sure you would agree with this. Frankly, if this is what you and you members expect then I suggest you apply to join the Marketing Department.

Finally, I address your comment on S&OP specifically. In our industry planning is everything to ensure we keep the children happy AND do not enter January with excess stock nobody wants. If you want to see what can happen when you get the planning wrong in our kind of business please check out Vuvuzelas and the Value of S&OP.

I am sure you will communicate our position to your members.

With chilly regards,

Mr. I Cicle