First, my opinion stated here is mine alone and does not reflect a position of my firm.  That said, I am a customer of both IM and Cornerstone.  Any customer base should be concerned when competition becomes limited; whether at the macro or micro level.  But I have been very pleased with the performance of IM over the last three years or so.

We have been through four major events at offsite facilities in which we have had damaged records in the last year.  Talk about a bad run!  And this happened at three different vendors.  IM and GRM performed as I would expect.  They were professional and minimized the ill effects.  The other vendor will go nameless and the less said the better.

No relationship is perfect.  Do we still have an occasional disagreement with IM?  Sure, no doubt.  But they have become the business partner I always wanted them to be.  I can escalate problems if need be.  Sometimes communication is too slow and other times you can just tell you are working with a really big company.  At the end of the day we have consistent service, and I believe we receive a good value for our investment.  I have especially appreciated their partnership during several mergers.

Let me conclude that I expect the Cornerstone merger to be positive.  I also welcome the competition should new companies enter the void.  Competition generates lower prices and higher service.  When Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas, airlines began to purchase Airbus products.  Were Airbus planes suddenly better?  No, airlines stated publicly that they weren't going to let Boeing become the single solution.  Everyone in the industry knew it would be bad for business.  We saw a similar increase in competition after IM bought Pierce in '99.  I trust that the trends will continue.


David B. Steward
Director of Records
 
HUSCH BLACKWELL LLP
4801 Main Street, Suite 1000
Kansas City, MO 64112-2551
Direct:  816.983.8860
Fax:  816.983.8080
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huschblackwell.com
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