United Lamp Supply in Tacoma, Wa. started as a wholesale light bulb supplier out of current owner Ed Bray’s father’s garage in 1968. United Lamp has since moved out of the garage, and expanded to supply lighting for businesses across the Pacific Northwest, from airplane hangars to hotels, grocery stores and more.

United Lamp Supply in Tacoma, Wa. started as a wholesale light bulb supplier out of current owner Ed Bray’s father’s garage in 1968. United Lamp has since moved out of the garage, and expanded to supply lighting for businesses across the Pacific Northwest, from airplane hangars to hotels, grocery stores and more.

United Lamp is committed to providing quality, energy-efficient lighting technology for its customers. This commitment is one of the reasons why United decided to change its stocking practices in 2016 to encourage more energy-efficient lighting maintenance practices by replacing its 4 foot 32-watt T8 lamp stock with 28-watt T8s. The low-watt T8 lamps also offer better profit margins for United Lamp compared to the 32-watt lamps. While United Lamp Supply sells many LED products, the 28-watt T8 lamps are an ideal option for customers not yet ready to switch the LEDs

While the restocking initiative began in April 2016, United Lamp started ordering 28-watt T8 lamps months in advance, and trained its staff on the benefits of the reduced wattage lamps before launching the program.

Several United Lamp customers had not heard of low-wattage T8 lamps before sales staff introduced the products to them. To overcome this barrier, United Lamp features marketing materials on low-wattage T8 lamps at its sales counters and staff continue to give businesses test kits so they can try the lamps for themselves in their own facilities.

Every customer that tested the lamps has been satisfied with the product with many saying they couldn’t tell any difference in light output or product quality.

By the end of December 2016, three-quarters of United Lamp’s stock was comprised of 28-watt T8 lamps, and United Lamp expects 90 percent of its stock to be low-wattage T8 lamps by spring of 2017.

Bray said his sales staff has been happy with the stocking change.

“We love to set goals and our staff is thrilled that we really hit those goals out of the park with these lowwattage lamps,” Bray said. “It’s exciting when you put the numbers up there and you see that you’re changing customers’ buying habits for the better and helping them save energy and money to boot.”