Big Changes at Longaberger Baskets

Cohocton Tribune:

Longaberger customers soon won’t have to visit a home show to buy the company’s famous handmade baskets. And the company’s sales consultants will get a slice of new sales made at the Longaberger Homestead or online, even if they’ve never personally met the buyer.

“You can actually buy a basket when you come to Longaberger. Surprise, surprise,” said Longaberger President Jim Klein, who just started his second year.

The changes are all part of Klein’s five-year turnaround plan for the Newark-based company that saw flat sales in 2006 even as it managed to reverse years of layoffs and add 150 full-time employees.