PPI Meeting Preparation email

Title: PPI Meeting Preparation

Purpose: This is an email a Field Economist would send to a PPI respondent who has agreed to a meeting. This email could be used to confirm the meeting logistics and provide the respondent with an overview of the meeting so that they can prepare. This template can be sent as an email or as a “meeting request” in Outlook. In “method”, the Field Economist will need to specify the type of interview such as a telephone call, a personal visit, or an MS Teams meeting, and provide additional information as needed.

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Subject: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index meeting (322121Z123)

Dear, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Hi, etc. (name),

                                                                                   

Thank you for your assistance with the Producer Price Index (PPI), a Principal Federal Economic Indicator for the U.S. economy. This email confirms our upcoming meeting scheduled for (date, time, time zone).  The meeting will take place by (method). I will call you at (813)333-3333. 

The purpose of our meeting is to collect some information to help with data weighting and select a few representative products or services that your company offers so we can track future changes in prices.  Your data will help represent the Paper, Except Newsprint Mills industry (NAIC code 322121) in the PPI.

Logistics:

(add any needed logistical information, expected duration, etc. here)

Preparation:

I will be asking about the following location(s):

(Address – separated by line for clusters)

To ensure the meeting flows as quickly and efficiently as possible, please have the following information available: 

• Current number of employees who work at the location(s) above

• Previous fiscal year sales report for your reference (to help select representative products/services)

• Access to product, pricing, and transactional information (a catalog or price list may be helpful)

We are flexible in working with the information you have readily available. If you do not know some of the information, we will proceed using an estimate or another alternative. 

Appointment agenda:

• Introduction

• PPI Overview and uses: https://www.bls.gov/ppi/ppifaq.htm

• Confidentiality overview: https://www.bls.gov/bls/confidentiality.htm 

• Confirm employment and revenue information

• Using the sales report, we will select approximately # products or services your company sells:

  • Categorize sales revenue into groupings on the attached document (322121.pdf)

  • Further break out the sales and select products or services from these categories

• For each product/service selected, we will ask for the following information:

  • Brief description including Product or Part #          

  • Basic terms of sale (freight, quantity or other discounts/surcharges, buyer type, etc.)

  • Current selling price

• Discuss and review instructions for future price updates

If you have any questions prior to our meeting, please feel free to call me at (FE phone) or respond to this email.

Thank you,

Mike Smith

Economist

Phone (333)444-5555

[email protected]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is committed to the responsible treatment of confidential information and takes rigorous security measures to protect confidential information in its possession. This email contains confidential information. If you believe you are not the intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender and delete this email without disclosing, copying, or further disseminating its contents.