“Going over and above the call of duty while exceeding customer expectations.”

Marc Carver (third from left) receiving the “Vendor of the Year” award from Marianne Naglic, Viktoria Anderson-Watsjold (far left) and Doug Ruckle (right) of the Alaska Commercial Company.

When Marc Carver appeared in the pages of Agency Sales three years ago, he pointed to his company’s M.O. (above) as a major reason for his lengthy success as a rep.

As if there has to be some validation that no truer words were ever spoken Carver went well over the call of duty this year as he was named vendor of the year by the Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) at its trade show and conference in Anchorage.

As noted in that July 2021 article in this publication, Carver heads Carver & Associates, LLC, located in Lake Oswego, Oregon, near Portland. His single-man agency sells a variety of general merchandise throughout Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, and Boise, Idaho.

Commenting on the recognition given him by ACC, Carver noted, “Alaska Commercial has outstanding folks running their operation and is an interesting retailer to work with.”

Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) is a grocery and retail company operating stores in rural Alaska. Their operations began in the early period of Alaska’s ownership (1867) by the United States and continue into the present. From 1901 to 1992, it was known as the Northern Commercial Company (NCC), and in 1992 it resumed business as the Alaska Commercial Company under the ownership of The North West Company.

In the course of its history, the company’s stores have often served as the village courthouse and post office. Much trade in the stores was bartered, as few people had cash. The stores accepted such items as gold, fish and furs in exchange for merchandise. The stores were often the nucleus of small communities and communities often grew because of the stores. ACC now has 33 stores in 30 remote Alaskan villages.

According to Carver, “Many of their stores that I serve are in villages up in the Arctic Circle (where you can see Russia). One of their stores (Gambell) is on an Arctic Island only 37 miles away from Russia.”

Carver explained that “As a rep, I do my best to stay on top of freight concerns for all of my customers. For ACC, my vendors usually ship to their Tacoma, Washington, warehouses. From there, they have a variety of ways to get products up to Anchorage. Once in Anchorage, the majority of their 37 stores are in far, far away remote villages with the only access being by boat or air. From there, the goods go on a seaplane from Anchorage airport for the final journey to get needed goods and supplies to these Alaskan rural villages.”

Commenting on his relationship with ACC and its stores, Carver notes, “I pay special attention to details, and they have told me that I’m one of their favorite reps. I make it a practice to return messages promptly and help out whenever they have a need.”

He also notes that serving customers in such remote locations can be both time-consuming and expensive, but “I’m able to stay in close touch with them via my attendance in trade shows during the course of the year. What this all results in is that we have a win-win partnership.”

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