快扣 (FAST) 2020 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the Fastenal 2020 Second Quarter Earnings Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

各位來賓，歡迎參加 Fastenal 2020 年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄音。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ms. Ellen Stolts. Thank you, ma'am. You may now begin.

現在我很榮幸地向大家介紹主持人艾倫·斯托爾茨女士。謝謝您，女士。您可以開始了。

Welcome to the Fastenal Company 2020 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. This call will be hosted by Dan Florness, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Holden Lewis, our Chief Financial Officer. The call will last for up to 1 hour, and we'll start with a general overview of our quarterly results and operations with the remainder of the time open for questions and answers.

歡迎參加 Fastenal 公司 2020 年第二季財報電話會議。本次會議將由公司總裁兼執行長 Dan Florness 和財務長 Holden Lewis 主持。會議時長約為 1 小時，我們將首先概述季度業績和營運情況，剩餘時間將用於問答環節。

Today's conference call is a proprietary Fastenal presentation and is being recorded by Fastenal. No recording, reproduction, transmission or distribution of today's call is permitted without Fastenal's consent. This call is being audio simulcast on the Internet via the Fastenal Investor Relations homepage, investor.fastenal.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the website until September 1, 2020, at midnight Central Time.

今天的電話會議是Fastenal的專有演示文稿，並由Fastenal進行錄音。未經Fastenal同意，不得對今天的電話會議進行任何錄音、複製、傳輸或分發。本次電話會議將透過Fastenal投資者關係首頁investor.fastenal.com進行網路直播。網路直播的回放將在網站上保留至美國中部時間2020年9月1日午夜。

As a reminder, today's conference call may include statements regarding the company's future plans and prospects. These statements are based on our current expectations and we undertake no duty to update them. It is important to note that the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from anticipated results are contained in the company's latest earnings release and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We encourage you to review those factors carefully.

再次提醒，今天的電話會議可能包含有關公司未來計劃和前景的聲明。這些聲明是基於我們目前的預期，我們不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。需要注意的是，公司的實際業績可能與預期業績有重大差異。可能導致實際業績與預期業績有差異的因素已列於本公司最新的獲利報告和定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中。我們建議您仔細閱讀這些因素。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Dan Florness.

現在我將把電話交給丹‧弗洛內斯先生。

Thanks, Ellen, and good morning, everybody, and thank you for taking time this morning to listen in on the Fastenal earnings call.

謝謝艾倫，大家早上好，謝謝大家今天早上抽出時間收聽 Fastenal 的財報電話會議。

Before I start, I'd like to mention 2 milestones in Fastenal this week, and I want to do it at the start rather than end in case I would be negligent and miss it. Dave Donahue today celebrates 40 years with Fastenal. Dave, I want to say thank you and congratulations. Not far behind Dave is Lee Hein, who will celebrate 35 years with Fastenal tomorrow. Rodney, if you're listening, I would mention you as well, but you're only at 20 years. And so in 10 years, I'll mention you on the call.

在正式開始之前，我想先提一下本週Fastenal的兩個重要里程碑，我特意放在開頭而不是結尾，以免疏忽遺漏。今天，Dave Donahue慶祝加入Fastenal 40週年。 Dave，我要向你們表達感謝和祝賀。緊隨其後的是Lee Hein，他明天將慶祝加入Fastenal 35週年。 Rodney，如果你有在聽，我也想提一下你，但你才加入20年。所以，10年後，我會在電話會議上提到你。

Surround yourself with great people, people better than yourself. Be willing to learn, to change and be comfortable with trusting others, and you will find success. And I'm pleased and I'm really proud of the Fastenal team for what we accomplished this quarter.

多與優秀的人為伍，與比你更優秀的人為伍。要樂於學習、勇於改變，並善於信任他人，你就能獲得成功。我對Fastenal團隊本季所取得的成就感到非常滿意和自豪。

First off, the team was successful in sourcing hard-to-find safety products and bringing this product to our existing customers, but of equal importance -- maybe greater importance to new customers. Customers we don't traditionally do much business with. And I'm thinking of hospitals and first responders when I talk about that group.

首先，團隊成功找到了難以尋找的安全產品，並將其引入我們現有的客戶群。但同樣重要——甚至可能更重要——的是，這些產品也惠及了新客戶。這些客戶群是我們以往業務往來較少的。我這裡所說的新客戶群，指的是醫院和急救人員。

The team was also successful in lowering our cost structure. It's really a combination of our model simply working the way it works. One item that assisted us this quarter is we've enjoyed great growth over the years. We are a promote-from-within organization. That means you're finding new talent every day in the organization. And the best way to do that, at least the best way that we found, is you have constant relationships with 4-year state colleges, 2-year technical schools. And you find folks every day to come work for us part-time. And so we have a fair number of full-time students that work for us part-time.

團隊在降低成本結構方面也取得了成功。這其實是我們現有模式有效運作的結果。本季業績成長的一個重要因素是我們多年來穩健的發展。我們是一家內部晉升型企業，這意味著我們每天都能在公司內部發現新的人才。而我們發現的最佳途徑，至少是與四年制州立大學和兩年制技術學院保持長期合作關係。這樣，我們每天都能找到願意來我們公司打工的學生。因此，我們公司有相當數量的全職學生兼職工作。

Well, as you can appreciate in the spring of 2020, with all the schools closing, we lost some employees. We fully expect, and we are maintaining contact with that group because we want them back when they're back in school. But in the short term, that helped us a little bit on managing the P&L, and you see that shine through on our FTE numbers. Again, that's the model working as it should work in an environment like this.

如您所見，2020年春季學校關閉期間，我們失去了一些員工。我們完全預料到這種情況，並且一直與他們保持聯繫，因為我們希望他們在學校復課後能回來。但就短期而言，這在某種程度上幫助我們控制了損益，這一點從我們的全職員工人數（FTE）就能看出。再次強調，在這種環境下，我們的模式運作良好。

And the final piece, and that is, if you truly believe in a decentralized decision-making structure, you can move faster than anybody else in the marketplace. And I think that was demonstrated this quarter in both our ability to move quickly on rating and expenses, but also to move quickly on finding source of supply of critically needed safety products. And if there's anything that you take away from this quarter or when we think back to this quarter in the years of Fastenal, trusting others is probably the most important lesson, and it's probably one of the greatest legacies that Bob Kierlin has given to this organization.

最後一點是，如果你真心相信去中心化的決策結構，你就能在市場上比任何人都更行動。我認為本季我們已經充分證明了這一點，不僅體現在我們能夠迅速調整評級和費用，還體現在我們能夠迅速找到急需的安全產品的供應來源。如果說從本季或回顧Fastenal的這些年有什麼值得我們記得的，那就是信任他人或許是最重要的一課，也可能是Bob Kierlin留給公司最寶貴的遺產之一。

I'm going to be redundant here for a second. I'm flipping to the second bullet in the flip-book. And our 5 priorities to the quarter was trust and fairness. Trust each other, be fair with each other, support each other. And if somebody needs to be home with a child today or a parent or something else, be flexible with that person's schedule. If somebody has a person in their household that has -- is particularly susceptible to the negative aspects of COVID-19, be mindful of that and conduct yourself accordingly in our brands, in our support area, wherever we are within the organization. And it's -- and maintain a safe environment for our people. That includes our people's family and for customers and their families.

我在這裡要重複。我翻到手冊上的第二條。我們本季的五大優先事項是信任和公平。彼此信任，彼此公平，互相支持。如果有人今天需要在家照顧孩子、父母或其他事情，請彈性安排他們的工作時間。如果有人家中有特別容易受到新冠病毒負面影響的人，請特別注意這一點，並在我們的品牌、支援部門以及公司內部的任何地方都注意自己的言行舉止。此外，也要為我們的員工營造一個安全的環境。這包括我們員工的家人，以及客戶及其家人。

Customers allow us to come into their business every day to fill vending machines, to stock product on a production floor or in a bin stock. We have an obligation to them as well to maintain a safe environment. Support the people directly involved in the pandemic. They're the heroes here. Be there to support them, make sure you're reaching out to them to see what they need and be creative in finding solutions for them.

客戶允許我們每天進入他們的店內，為自動販賣機補貨、為生產車間或貨架補充產品。我們也有義務為他們維護一個安全的環境。請支持那些直接參與抗疫的人。他們才是真正的英雄。請與他們保持聯繫，了解他們的需求，並發揮創造力，為他們尋找解決方案。

Sustain a supply chain of critical products for our regular customers as well. They are the fabric of our society. And if you think about the infrastructure of this nation or the planet or you think about the things that you need in your day-to-day life, we supply the folks that make that product for you, and they need a safe and resilient source of supply.

我們也要為我們的常規客戶維持關鍵產品的供應鏈。他們是我們社會的基石。想想這個國家或地球的基礎設施，想想你日常生活中需要的東西，我們為那些為你生產這些產品的人提供原料，而他們需要一個安全可靠的供應來源。

The other suggestion I gave to the folks, and this is probably a bad talking, was maybe shut off the TV and get off social media. There's more garbage there than value, unfortunately. Talk to each other, talk to your customer, solve problems. That's the task of the day.

我給大家的另一個建議（這可能不太好），就是關掉電視，少刷社群媒體。可惜的是，社群媒體上垃圾訊息遠多於有價值的內容。大家應該互相交流，和客戶溝通，解決問題。這才是當務之急。

Going down on Page 3. The effects of this PPE surge and Holden will touch on it in more detail, but the effects of this surge is -- notably shows up in our lower gross margin. Safety products is not the higher gross margin product. And our task in the quarter was getting product to market quickly. Sometimes that meant flying product that should be on a ship. Sometimes that meant using third-party transportation to move it in a different fashion. It's not an inexpensive proposition, but it brought the product to market quickly, and that was more important in this environment. And you see that shows in our gross margin. I believe that will recover as we move into the third quarter.

請翻到第三頁。霍頓將更詳細地闡述這次個人防護裝備需求激增的影響，但最顯著的影響體現在我們較低的毛利率上。安全防護產品並非高毛利率產品。本季我們的任務是盡快將產品推向市場。有時這意味著空運本應海運的產品，有時則意味著使用第三方運輸公司以其他方式運輸。這並非一項低成本的方案，但它能快速將產品推向市場，而這在當前環境下更為重要。這一點已體現在我們的毛利率上。我相信隨著第三季的到來，毛利率將會回升。

The fastener sales, daily sales, the hub picks and the vending dispenses, and more of that vending dispenses in a second, point to a bottoming of the environment we operate in, in April and improved trends in both May and June. I don't think there's anything new there for the folks to be looking at our monthly numbers, but just started to share that.

緊固件銷售量、每日銷售量、樞紐揀貨量和自動販賣機出貨量，以及每秒鐘較多的自動販賣機出貨量，都顯示我們所處的環境在四月觸底反彈，五月和六月的趨勢也隨之改善。我認為對於關注我們月度數據的各位來說，這些並沒有什麼新發現，但我剛開始分享這些資訊。

The -- we added 2 charts to this quarter's discussion. And with 100,000 vending devices deployed across 25 countries, I think we probably have a good view into what's happening real-time with this. So the first is looking at product dispenses. And because I don't want to be in a situation where the analyst community is asking for numbers from now into infinity, we indexed everything back October to 100. And -- but it's really about looking at a machine out there that's -- or a group of machines that's dispensing 100 items per day and what are the trends of that population. And as you go through -- and the reason we chose October is to cut off, it was well before the start of COVID-19. So the gold line you see is a combination of the last 4 years of history.

本季我們新增了兩張圖表。由於我們在25個國家部署了10萬台自動販賣機，我認為我們應該可以很好地了解即時情況。首先，我們來看看商品出貨量。為了避免分析師要求我們提供從現在到無限大的數據，我們將所有數據從去年10月開始，並以100為基準進行歸一化。實際上，我們關注的是一台或一組每天出貨100件商品的機器，以及這部分機器的銷售趨勢。之所以選擇10月作為截止點，是因為當時新冠疫情尚未爆發。所以，您看到的金線代表了過去四年歷史資料的綜合。

And you can see some points that move around. So you see the Thanksgiving drop-off. You see a little surge before Christmas, and that's probably related to a lot of -- we have a bunch of customers in the e-commerce world, and there's probably a bunch of activity that spikes up there. You see a drop-off around Christmas and New Year. January and February kind of tread water. And you see based on history that if we start at 100, we'll have 103 dispenses come early March. This year, we were at 105. A couple of weeks later, you see the noise that's around Easter. But you also see the direct impact of COVID-19. You see a dramatic shift as that blue line drops and bottoms out in mid-April at 76 relative to the 100 dispenses we were doing back in October.

你可以看到一些數據點在波動。例如感恩節前後銷量下降。聖誕節前銷售量略為回升，可能與我們有許多電商客戶有關，電商領域的交易量可能會出現高峰。聖誕節和新年期間銷量再次下降。一月和二月基本持平。根據歷史數據，如果我們從100次出貨量開始，到三月初應該會達到103次。今年，我們達到了105次。幾週後，復活節前後銷售出現了波動。但你也看到了新冠疫情的直接影響。你可以看到，隨著藍線下降，銷量在四月中旬觸底，從十月份的100次出貨量降至76次，出現了顯著的變化。

As we move into June, you see that 109 is about the number we'd expect before the dip that occurs around July 4. This year, we're at 93. So about a -- about a 600 basis point delta. And you'd see, by fall, we would expect to be at about 113. If you have maybe some nominal inflation in there, that would tell me our vending business is growing about 14% a year.

進入六月，你會發現109左右是我們預期在7月4日左右下滑之前的正常水平。今年，我們目前的水準是93，所以大約有600個基點的波動。到秋季，我們預計水準會達到113左右。如果考慮到一些名目通膨因素，這意味著我們的自動販賣機業務每年增長約14%。

Flipping to the next page, now we're looking at it, not from a how much is dispensing, but how many unique users are accessing machine. Again, using that logic of 100 unique users last October, you can see a little fluttering around the Thanksgiving. You see obviously the drop-off around Christmas. History would say we should be at about 104 people accessing instead of 100 come early March. That's primarily a result of we're adding new devices every month. And so you get the growth because of that. This year, we are actually at 106, 107. And then again, you see the little fluttering around Easter, but you see the dramatic drop-off as -- because of COVID-19. And we bottomed out at about 85. The marketplace has since recovered, we're at about 101. It's treading water, as you can see through much of June. And -- but history says, we should be at about 109, so about a 800 basis point delta. And then come fall, we peak out at about 119. We'd start a new cycle again as we go into the new year. This is more, in my mind, about people and employment.

翻到下一頁，我們現在關注的不是出貨量，而是有多少獨立使用者正在使用機器。同樣，以去年十月100個獨立用戶為例，可以看到感恩節前後用戶數量略有波動。聖誕節前後用戶數量明顯下降。根據歷史數據，到三月初，我們的用戶數應該在104人左右，而不是100人。這主要是因為我們每個月都在增加新設備。因此，用戶數量的成長也源於此。今年，我們的用戶數量實際上達到了106到107人。然後，復活節前後用戶數量再次出現小幅波動，但由於新冠疫情的影響，用戶數量急劇下降。我們一度跌至85人左右的低點。此後市場有所復甦，目前用戶數約101人。正如您在六月的大部分時間所看到的，用戶數量基本上保持穩定。但根據歷史數據，我們本應達到109人左右，也就是大約800個基點的差距。到了秋季，我們會達到峰值，大約在119左右。進入新年後，我們將再次開始新的周期。在我看來，這更關乎民眾和就業。

Reason I've shared this number internally. I think it's good for us to understand where we are in the marketplace, and you can see the very conservative stance we're taking in managing the expenses in the business, and we intend to continue that as we go into Q3 because it's still a weak, very weak environment. Holden will touch on that in a little more detail. Fortunately, for us, we were able to find additional business in the second quarter and make some lemonade out of lemons.

我之所以在內部分享這個數字，是因為我認為這有助於我們了解自己在市場中的位置。你們也能看到，我們在控制業務支出方面採取了非常保守的策略，而且我們打算在第三季度繼續保持這種策略，因為目前的市場環境依然疲軟，非常疲軟。霍爾頓會對此做更詳細的解釋。幸運的是，我們在第二季找到了一些額外的業務，並設法化險為夷。

Switching to Page 6 in the flip-book. Our vending and Onsite signings bottomed in April. I don't think there's any surprise by that. They did improve in both May and June. Vending and Onsite is critical for us. That's 2 of our principal growth drivers. And they really allow us to build -- they don't maybe have the same type of impact in the last 90 days or even the next 30 or 60 days, the vending does. But the Onsite is about building that momentum for growth as we go into the tail end of this year and into 2021. And so we're very, very attuned to getting signings back because we need that for market share gains as we go into the future.

翻到翻頁手冊第6頁。我們的自動販賣機和現場簽約量在4月跌至谷底。我認為這並不令人意外。 5月和6月都有所回升。自動販賣機和現場簽約對我們至關重要。這是我們兩大主要成長動力。它們確實能幫助我們發展壯大——雖然在過去90天甚至未來30或60天內，自動販賣機的影響力可能不如現場簽約那麼大，但現場簽約對於我們在今年年底和2021年保持增長勢頭至關重要。因此，我們非常重視恢復簽約量，因為我們需要簽約量來在未來獲得市場份額。

We signed 40 Onsites in the quarter. Our goal coming in -- internally, our discussion is all about how close can we get to 100 per quarter. I'm holding the shared numbers in the past. We've since pulled those numbers for the year. But I'm pleased to say that of the 40 we signed in the quarter, 20 of those were in June. So at least we're exiting the quarter with some positive momentum, but it's still at a lower level.

本季我們簽下了 40 個現場考察項目。我們內部的目標是盡可能接近每季 100 個項目。我之前公佈的數字是保密的，我們已經把這些數字調整為全年數據了。不過我很高興地告訴大家，本季簽下的 40 個項目中，有 20 個是在 6 月簽的。所以至少我們本季末保持了一些積極的勢頭，但整體水平仍然較低。

The -- if you look at vending, 100 is the same mantra, but there, it's not per quarter, it's how closer we get to 100 signings per day. Last 2 years, we've been in the 80s, we moved into the 90s, and then over time, moved into the 100s -- or moved north of 100. That dropped off in March as well. April was pretty low. We gained some traction in June, we signed 69 per day. So we're almost back to 70. It's still at a lower level than last few years, but it's telling me that we can engage with customers in this kind of environment. You just had to be a little more creative with how you communicate and how you tell the story.

如果你看看自動販賣機，你會發現「100」也是同樣的口號，但那裡指的不是季度簽約量，而是每天簽約量接近100的程度。過去兩年，我們的簽約量在80左右，然後進入90，之後逐漸超過100。但3月簽約量下降，4月也很低。 6月有所回升，每天簽約69份，現在接近70份。雖然仍然低於前幾年的水平，但這說明我們能夠在這種環境下與客戶互動。關鍵在於溝通方式和說故事的方式更有創意。

Finally, e-commerce. Sales grew about 13.5% in the second quarter. They were climbing as we went into May and June. One thing that hurt our e-commerce numbers during the quarter is we put in place a very strict allocation process for our COVID-19 products, think mask, think face shields, think thermometers, sanitation products, et cetera. So that we essentially shut that product off from buying electronically, and you had to call the branch or call your contact to source that because that was our best means to manage our supply chain of that product. So we had a stable supply for everybody and could hold back the earns to hoard.

最後說說電子商務。第二季銷售額成長了約13.5%，並在五月和六月持續攀升。本季影響電子商務績效的一個因素是，我們對新冠肺炎相關產品（例如口罩、防護面罩、體溫計、消毒用品等）實施了非常嚴格的配額制度。這意味著我們基本上關閉了這些產品的線上購買管道，客戶必須致電分公司或聯絡相關負責人才能購買，因為這是我們管理此類產品供應鏈的最佳方式。這樣一來，我們既能確保所有客戶的穩定供應，又能將利潤留存起來。

With that, I will turn it over to Holden.

這樣，我就把事情交給霍爾頓了。

Right. Thanks, Dan. I'll start on Slide 7. Second quarter 2020 sales were up 10.3%. It was a quarter that was marked by 2 really distinct trends, both evolving from the social and business efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The first trend was the weakening of the economy due to stay-at-home measures and steps taken by companies to protect their workforce. This caused customers to operate at greatly reduced utilization and even shut down through parts of the quarter, something which particularly impacted our Onsites.

好的，謝謝丹。我從第7張投影片開始。 2020年第二季銷售額成長了10.3%。這一季度呈現出兩個非常明顯的趨勢，這兩個趨勢都源自於社會和企業為應對新冠疫情所做的努力。第一個趨勢是由於居家隔離措施和企業為保護員工而採取的措施，導致經濟疲軟。這使得客戶的營運效率大幅下降，甚至在本季度的部分時間停工，這對我們的現場服務造成了特別大的影響。

Conditions did improve as the quarter progressed. A pattern exemplified by our fastener daily sales, which declined 22.5% in April, 15.3% in May and 11.4% in June. That same pattern was evident in the vending data that Dan discussed as well as our distribution center picks. We believe demand in our traditional business is still 10% to 15% below first quarter levels. And we have seen some flattening in those trends in the last few weeks.

隨著季度推進，情況有所改善。緊固件日銷量就反映了這一趨勢，4月下降了22.5%，5月下降了15.3%，6月下降了11.4%。丹提到的自動販賣機資料以及我們配送中心的揀貨資料也印證了這個趨勢。我們認為，傳統業務的需求仍比第一季水準低10%至15%。而且，在過去幾週，這些趨勢已經趨於平緩。

The second trend was a surge in demand for certain products that were critical to governments, health care providers and certain businesses in handling the pandemic. We estimate the surge sales of PPE, sanitizer and other products contributed $350 million to $360 million or roughly 25 percentage points of growth in the quarter. These volumes, which drove 116% growth in our safety products and 260% growth in our government, health care business, more than offset weak underlying conditions in our traditional business. We've mostly sold through our pipeline of surge orders at this time.

第二個趨勢是，對政府、醫療機構和特定企業應對疫情至關重要的某些產品的需求激增。我們估計，個人防護裝備、消毒劑和其他產品的銷售激增為本季貢獻了3.5億至3.6億美元的收入，約佔總收入的25個百分點。這些銷售量推動我們的安全產品成長了116%，政府和醫療業務成長了260%，足以彌補我們傳統業務疲軟的基礎因素。目前，我們已基本售罄了積壓的訂單。

The near-term outlook remains difficult to project. The reopening of industry is occurring in fits and starts as customers reconstitute their workforces and their supply chains. And the trends in our internal metrics and a June PMI of 52.6 are encouraging. Further, while we do not expect a second quarter style surge in PPE and sanitizer products because the marketplace today is much better supplied, the recent increase in COVID-19 infections and expanded customer list in key industries should sustain some degree of safety growth. On the other hand, it is less clear how that increase in infections will affect the pace of reopening. I would characterize the tone in the field to be one of cautious optimism for the third quarter of 2020.

短期前景依然難以預測。由於客戶需要重組員工隊伍和供應鏈，各行業的復工復產進程斷斷續續。我們內部指標的趨勢以及6月52.6的採購經理人指數（PMI）都令人鼓舞。此外，儘管我們預計個人防護裝備和消毒產品的需求不會像第二季度那樣出現激增（因為目前的市場供應狀況已大為改善），但近期新冠肺炎感染病例的增加以及關鍵行業客戶群的擴大，應該能夠在一定程度上支撐安全防護用品的需求增長。另一方面，感染病例的增加將如何影響復工復產的步伐，目前尚不明朗。我認為，業界對2020年第三季的預期是謹慎樂觀的。

Now to Slide 8. Gross margin was 44.5% in the second quarter of 2020, down 240 basis points versus the second quarter of 2019. Roughly 1/3 of this decline related to mix, which was better than we would have expected at the start of the quarter. While the negative effects of product mix rose sharply, this was partly offset by customer mix as closures in April and May caused our Onsites with lower gross margins to underperform total company sales. We expect these dynamics to reverse as conditions normalize.

現在來看第8張投影片。 2020年第二季毛利率為44.5%，較2019年第二季下降240個基點。其中約三分之一的下降與產品組合有關，這好於我們季度初的預期。雖然產品組合的負面影響顯著加劇，但由於4月和5月的停業導致毛利率較低的現場服務門市銷售額低於公司整體銷售額，客戶組合的改善部分抵消了這一影響。我們預計隨著市場環境恢復正常，這種情況將會逆轉。

Roughly 1/3 of the decline in our gross margin related to lower safety margins, a byproduct of sourcing product quickly from nontraditional channels. This should be fully recovered, though it may take a couple of quarters as an oversupply of certain PPE, particularly masks, is impacting margins for those products. The remaining decline in gross margin is from cyclical and organizational factors such as rebates and deleveraging of certain fixed costs, with the exception of specific lines with unique supply/demand profiles such as 3-ply masks, the pricing environment is stable. This decline in gross margin was more than offset by leveraging of SG&A, which at 23.6% of sales was 320 basis points better than in the second quarter of 2019.

毛利率下降約三分之一是由於安全利潤率降低所致，這是由於我們快速從非傳統管道採購產品所致。雖然部分個人防護裝備（尤其是口罩）的供應過剩影響了這些產品的利潤率，但預計這部分損失將完全恢復，可能需要幾個季度的時間。毛利率下降的其餘部分則源自於週期性和組織性因素，例如回饋和部分固定成本的去槓桿化。除三層口罩等具有特殊供需特徵的特定產品線外，價格環境保持穩定。銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）的槓桿作用彌補了毛利率的下降，SG&A佔銷售額的23.6%，比2019年第二季降低了320個基點。

Most of our branch network did not have meaningful surge orders and reacted to weakness in their traditional business by reducing FTE by 9.4%, mostly through a reduction in part-time labor of 15% and hours worked of 23%. This resulted in 240 basis points of leverage over labor in the second quarter. The remaining leverage was from tight control of costs related to travel, training, occupancy, et cetera, and produced an operating margin of 20.9%, up 80 basis points and an incremental margin of 29%.

我們的大部分分行並未收到顯著的訂單激增，並針對傳統業務的疲軟採取了應對措施，將全職員工人數減少了9.4%，主要體現在兼職員工人數減少了15%，工時減少了23%。這使得我們在第二季實現了240個基點的勞動成本槓桿。剩餘的槓桿作用則來自於對差旅、培訓、辦公室等相關成本的嚴格控制，最終實現了20.9%的營業利潤率，較上季度增長80個基點，增量利潤率達到29%。

Given still challenging macro conditions, we will continue to tightly control discretionary operating costs in the third quarter of 2020. Putting it all together, we reported second quarter 2020 EPS of $0.42, up 16.7% from $0.36 in the second quarter of 2019.

鑑於宏觀經濟情勢依然充滿挑戰，我們將繼續在2020年第三季嚴格控制可自由支配的營運成本。綜上所述，我們公佈2020年第二季每股收益為0.42美元，較2019年第二季的0.36美元成長16.7%。

Turning to Slide 7. Operating cash flow of $251 million -- sorry, Slide 9. I'm sorry, turning to Slide 9. Those vending charts threw me. On Slide 9. Operating cash flow of $251 million in the second quarter of 2020 was 105% of net income. The increase in operating cash flow versus the second quarter of 2019 was due to $111 million in deferred taxes as part of the CARES Act and higher earnings. $104 million of the deferred taxes will be paid in the third quarter of 2020.

翻到第7張投影片。經營現金流為2.51億美元－抱歉，是第9張投影片。不好意思，翻到第9張投影片。那些自動販賣機圖表把我搞糊塗了。第9張投影片顯示，2020年第二季的營運現金流為2.51億美元，佔淨利的105%。與2019年第二季相比，經營現金流的成長是由於根據《新冠病毒援助、救濟和經濟安全法案》（CARES Act）產生的1.11億美元遞延稅款以及更高的利潤。其中1.04億美元的遞延稅款將於2020年第三季支付。

Accounts receivable was up 7.5%, including approximately $75 million related to COVID that we believe will be mostly paid in the third quarter of 2020. Inventories were up 4.1%, including approximately $50 million related to COVID that we will work down over the course of the year.

應收帳款成長7.5%，其中包括約7,500萬美元與新冠疫情相關的款項，我們認為這筆款項大部分將在2020年第三季支付。庫存成長4.1%，其中包括約5,000萬美元與新冠疫情相關的款項，我們將在年內逐步減少這部分庫存。

We deployed our balance sheet aggressively through the second quarter of 2020 to retain customer inventories, while they were shuttered or operated at severely depressed levels as well as to secure and move critical products quickly.

2020 年第二季度，我們積極運用資產負債表來維持客戶庫存，因為當時客戶要么停業，要么以極低的運營水平運營，同時我們也迅速確保和轉移關鍵產品。

Net capital spending in the second quarter of 2020 was $38 million, down from $67 million in the second quarter of 2019, which was expected given reduced needs for new hub capacity after the investments made in 2019, but also reflects lower vending and truck spending.

2020 年第二季的淨資本支出為 3,800 萬美元，低於 2019 年第二季的 6,700 萬美元。考慮到 2019 年的投資減少了對新樞紐容量的需求，這一結果是意料之中，但也反映出自動販賣機和卡車支出的減少。

Our capital spending range for 2020 remains $155 million to $180 million. We returned cash to shareholders in the quarter in the form of $143 million in dividends.

我們2020年的資本支出範圍仍為1.55億美元至1.8億美元。本季我們以股利的形式向股東返還了1.43億美元的現金。

From a liquidity standpoint, we finished the second quarter of 2020 with debt at 12.7% of total capital, up versus the fourth quarter of 2019 due to the March 2020 Apex asset acquisition, but below the year ago level of 16.6%. We did convert our variable rate revolver debt to fixed debt under our master note agreement during the period. And as a result, we have about $660 million available on our existing credit lines. This leaves us with ample capacity to pay deferred taxes and our dividend as well as to support the reopening of our customers or any COVID-related needs that may yet emerge. This is all for our formal presentation.

從流動性角度來看，截至2020年第二季末，我們的債務佔總資本的12.7%，高於2019年第四季，這主要是由於2020年3月收購了Apex的資產，但低於去年同期的16.6%。在此期間，我們根據主票據協議將浮動利率循環信貸轉換為固定利率信貸。因此，我們現有信貸額度中約有6.6億美元的可用資金。這使我們有充足的能力支付遞延稅款和股息，並支持客戶重新開業或應對任何可能出現的與新冠疫情相關的需求。以上就是我們正式報告的全部內容。

So with that, operator, we'll take questions.

那麼，操作員，我們開始接受提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is coming from Josh Pokrzywinski of Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Josh Pokrzywinski。

Holden, just first question, from a comment you made, flattening in the past few weeks. I guess, depending on whether I look at the charts that are kind of indexed to past points in time or just think about year-over-year, can you just help me impart what that means? Is that business getting better in the last few weeks relative to how the quarter ended? Or are you trying to say that you've seen some tapering? It wasn't entirely clear. I apologize for maybe being a little slow on the uptake there.

霍爾頓，第一個問題，根據你之前提到的，過去幾週業績趨於平穩。我想，如果我看的是按時間點劃分的圖表，還是只看同比數據，你能幫我解釋一下這是什麼意思嗎？是指過去幾週的業務相對於上季末的情況有所改善嗎？還是說業務有所放緩？我剛才沒完全理解。抱歉，我可能理解得有點慢。

So, I think if you look at Page 4, which is the product dispenses through vending, what you'll see is a bottom in April that really recovered nicely through May. But over the last, call it, 3, 4 weeks, you've really seen a flattening in the number of vending dispenses that we've seen relative to prior weeks. And I think that's really what I'm referring to. We've seen something similar in hub picks. And so I think what that kind of tells us is, in the last few weeks, you have that steady increase that we've been seeing week upon week there for 1.5 months, 2 months, really has kind of flattened out in the last couple of weeks. Now to what degree is that because of the timing of the 4th of July holiday? To what degree is that a function of an increased infections and maybe people reacting in certain parts of the country to that? We don't know that at this point. But I think that what I was referring to in the dialogue was really what you see on that chart on Slide 4.

所以，如果你看一下第4頁，也就是自動販賣機的商品銷售情況，你會發現4月觸底反彈，5月回升勢頭良好。但在過去三四周，自動販賣機的商品銷售量與前幾週相比明顯趨於平緩。我想這就是我真正想表達的意思。我們在中心倉庫的揀貨量上也看到了類似的情況。所以我認為這告訴我們，過去一個半月到兩個月以來每週持續成長的趨勢，在過去幾週基本上已經趨於平緩。這在多大程度上是由於7月4日假期的緣故？在多大程度上是由於感染人數增加以及某些地區民眾對此的反應？目前我們還不得而知。但我認為我在對話中真正指的是你在投影片4的圖表中看到的內容。

Got it. I guess if I had to look at like a Fastenal only version of that. So stripping out some of the safety elements, do you think it would look the same? Or would it have more of a steady increase, kind of more representative of the day-to-day business as it were?

明白了。我想，如果讓我看看只用 Fastenal 的產品會是什麼樣子呢？去掉一些安全功能後，你覺得它看起來會一樣嗎？還是說它會呈現更平穩的成長，更能代表日常業務的實際情況？

I think it would probably look the same. Worth noting that we don't vend fasteners. So it certainly wouldn't reflect that, but...

我覺得看起來應該差不多。值得一提的是，我們不銷售緊固件。所以肯定不會反映出這一點，但…

More safety...

更安全…

Yes. But if I think about the trend in hub picks, which is much broader than just vending, right, and they show a very similar pattern, I think that you're -- I think that's what you're seeing. But like I said, the cause of it is difficult to know. This chart really -- this flattening really occurs around a significant holiday. And timing of the week can matter and that sort of thing. So it's really difficult to know what that means in terms of the remainder of July and the remainder of the third quarter, but it's there to sort of look at, and we'll see how that plays out in coming weeks.

是的。但如果我考慮樞紐揀貨的趨勢，這比自動販賣機的範圍要廣得多，對吧？它們呈現出非常相似的模式，我想你看到的就是這種情況。但就像我說的，原因很難確定。這張圖表確實——這種趨於平緩的趨勢通常發生在重要的假日前後。而且，一週中的具體時間點也會有影響等等。所以，很難說這對七月剩餘時間和第三季剩餘時間意味著什麼，但這確實值得關注，我們會看看未來幾週的情況如何發展。

Our next question is coming from Dave Manthey of Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 Dave Manthey。

First off, I think that 2021 was supposed to be the year that Onsites would be gaining ground on operating margin as you're adding fewer to the bucket and as the existing Onsites were improving profitability, should we -- as we think about going through the downturn here, should we think about just moving that to the right year? Do you still anticipate maybe 2022, we would start to see Onsites as a group improving in terms of profitability actually helping the overall margin?

首先，我認為2021年原本應該是現場服務業務營運利潤率提升的一年，因為新增業務量減少，而現有業務的獲利能力也在提高。考慮到目前的經濟低迷期，我們是否應該考慮將這一預期推遲到更合適的年份？您是否仍預期2022年，現場服務業務作為一個整體，其獲利能力會開始改善，從而真正提升整體利潤率？

I'll throw out a thought on it, and I'll let Holden correct me where I go, right? You are correct with your comment about 2021, and our thinking is the same. I think that there's 2 -- there's a couple of competing things going on. One will be if our -- if our existing Onsites are at a depressed level and that depressed level stays in place, that wreaks havoc to what you're talking about. If that -- if we work our way out of that depressed level on the existing Onsites, all of a sudden, their operating margin improves because their volumes improve and we're absorbing our cost. If you think of the impact of new Onsites coming in, actually, that would help us in 2021. Unfortunately, it would help us because we'd have fewer drain from the new Onsites. We won't have the revenue growth. But in the first year, the Onsites actually hurt operating margin. And so your comment about mix change is really a function of as we get now 4 years into this accelerated Onsite signings, and we -- and it becomes a more balanced mix, a lower number in 1 year would actually help that in the short term. I don't want that help. We want the signings. But mathematically -- so I don't know that it pushes it out and Holden might have a better insight because he's closer to the numbers than I am.

我先拋磚引玉，霍爾頓會糾正我的錯誤，好嗎？你對2021年的評論是對的，我們的想法也是。我認為有兩個因素——或者說，有兩個相互競爭的因素在起作用。一是如果我們現有的門市處於低迷狀態，並且這種低迷狀態持續下去，那就會對你所說的造成嚴重影響。二是如果我們能夠扭轉現有門市的低迷局面，它們的營運利潤率就會突然提高，因為它們的銷售量會增加，而我們也能承擔這些成本。如果你考慮到新門市的加入，實際上，這對我們2021年的發展會有幫助。不幸的是，這種幫助來自於新門市帶來的成本消耗會減少。我們不會實現收入成長。但實際上，在第一年，新門市的加入會拉低營運利潤率。所以，你關於組合變化的評論實際上是，隨著我們加速現場簽約四年，組合會變得更加平衡，一年內簽約人數減少實際上會在短期內有所幫助。我不需要這種幫助。我們想要的是簽約。但從數學角度來看——所以我不確定這是否會推遲簽約，霍爾頓可能對此有更深入的了解，因為他比我更接近實際數據。

Yes. I think it's for better or for worse, what has occurred, nothing has changed in terms of our overall view of how this plays out. But what has occurred is we've injected a couple more variables in that we didn't necessarily anticipate injecting in. I think Dan really spoke about those. Of the variables that was causing us to think about the timing originally, the one that comes to mind for me is one reason the margin would get better is because the average size per Onsite gets better. And we were going to see those lines begin to cross in 2020, and therefore, lead to some better improvement in 2021. I still think that's the key metric, Dave. And so depending on how all these variables play out over the next 6 to 12 months, I think the key metric is the average size per Onsite bottoming out and beginning to rise in a sustainable fashion. And is it possible that, that point can get pushed out a bit by all these moving pieces that are playing out? Yes, I think that, that's possible. I think those are cyclical factors as opposed to secular ones, right? I think the overall dynamic is still very much in place, very much in force. And unfortunately, we've had some other variables that get injected into it. But I still believe that once the average size per Onsite begins to move up, that's where you're going to start to see the leverage and incremental margins in that business move up. If that slides a couple of quarters because of some of the things that's happening, it's possible, but I don't think it's changed in any way the overall secular picture around Onsites and improving profitability and returns.

是的。我認為無論好壞，目前的情況並沒有改變我們對事情最終走向的整體看法。但確實出現了一些我們之前沒有預料到的變數。我想丹已經詳細闡述了這些變數。最初促使我們考慮時機的變數中，我想到的一點是，利潤率會提高的一個原因是每個現場服務的平均規模會提高。我們原本預期這些指標會在2020年開始交叉，在2021年帶來更大的改善。戴夫，我仍然認為這是關鍵指標。因此，未來6到12個月內，所有這些變數的發展將決定關鍵指標，我認為是每個現場服務的平均規模觸底並開始可持續成長。所有這些變數是否有可能使這個臨界點有所推遲？是的，我認為有可能。我認為這些是周期性因素，而非長期性因素，對吧？我認為整體動態依然穩固，依然有效。不幸的是，一些其他變數也介入其中。但我仍然相信，一旦每個現場服務的平均規模開始成長，你就會看到該業務的槓桿效應和增量利潤率開始提升。如果由於某些因素導致未來幾季出現下滑，那也是可能的，但我認為這並沒有改變現場服務以及提高獲利能力和回報的整體長期趨勢。

Got it. Okay. And it's been a while I had asked this question and mix may have changed over time. But when you look at Fastenal business today, particularly in the manufacturing verticals compared to industrial production, what verticals do you see the company right now as being slightly overweight versus slightly underweight? Can you just give us an idea of maybe the top 1 or 2 there?

明白了。好的。我問這個問題已經有一段時間了，業務結構可能會隨著時間推移而有所變化。但是，就Fastenal目前的業務而言，尤其是在製造業領域（與工業生產相比），您認為公司目前在哪些領域略微超配，哪些領域略微低配？能否簡單介紹一下最重要的1到2個領域？

Not sure how to answer that question. The -- we're still a heavy manufacturing company, of course. And heavy machinery is a big portion of that. Now, I think that's a natural byproduct of the kind of products that we serve, our history, the markets that we typically address, et cetera. So I'm not sure that we're overweight. But I will tell you, we'd like to move our construction mix up. We'd like to move our government and education mix up. And I think that, that's occurred over time. We'd like to see it happen faster. And so if I think going forward, will manufacturing be slightly smaller in the mix than it is today relative to some of these governments and health care and educational opportunities in construction? Probably. That's just us moving into additional markets and additional opportunities and making progress in those. So that's probably how I would characterize it, Dan. I don't know if you have a different perspective.

我不太確定該如何回答這個問題。當然，我們仍然是一家重型製造企業，重型機械是我們業務的重要組成部分。我認為這是我們所服務的產品類型、我們的歷史、我們通常面向的市場等等因素的自然結果。所以我不確定我們是否過度依賴重型機械。但我可以告訴你，我們希望提高建築業、政府和教育產業的業務佔比。我認為，隨著時間的推移，這種轉變已經發生，但我們希望它能更快實現。因此，展望未來，製造業在我們業務結構中的佔比是否會比現在略低，而政府、醫療保健和教育等行業在建築業中的佔比是否會更高？很有可能。這只是因為我們正在開拓更多市場，抓住更多機遇，並在這些領域取得進展。丹，這就是我對這種情況的描述。我不知道你是否有不同的看法。

If you think about our manufacturing business, about half of our manufacturing business to Holden's point is heavy manufacturing. And a big chunk of that, probably 2/3 of that would be heavy equipment manufacturing within that heavy manufacturing subcategory. And you picked up, I saw -- I read the piece you put out earlier this morning, Dave, you picked up on the fact that manufacturing did weaken a little bit in June. And that's where the weakening was. It had gained some strength in May. It was down 24% in April. It was down 10% and then down 14% now in June. I don't know how much comps from last year played into that because I just don't have visibility to that in front of me. But that's a piece. About 40% of our manufacturing business is broadly in what Holden describes on my chi-chi here is media manufacturing, I'll let him define what that means. That was just marginally negative in June. The remaining, which is about 10% of our manufacturing, which probably has a lot of food in it as well, that's actually growing double digits in April, May and June, where it was only growing 9% back in March.

如果你看看我們的製造業業務，正如霍爾頓所說，我們大約一半的製造業業務是重型製造業。而在這其中，很大一部分，可能三分之二，是重型製造業子類別中的重型設備製造。戴夫，我注意到了——我讀了你今天早上發表的文章——你提到製造業在六月確實略有疲軟。這就是疲軟的體現。五月製造業回升。四月下降了24%。六月下降了10%，現在又下降了14%。我不知道去年同期的數據對這有多大影響，因為我目前沒有這方面的數據。但這確實是一個因素。我們大約40%的製造業業務大致屬於霍爾頓所說的媒體製造領域，我請他來解釋這個領域的具體意義。六月份，媒體製造的下滑幅度很小。剩下的部分，約占我們製造業的 10%，其中可能也包含很多食品，實際上在 4 月、5 月和 6 月實現了兩位數的增長，而 3 月份的增長率僅為 9%。

Okay. Great. But you're operating in Oklahoma...

好的，太好了。但是你們的業務範圍在俄克拉荷馬州…

Yes, if you're operating in Oklahoma, Texas or Louisiana, that's a pretty tough manufacturing environment right now because there's -- we do fair amount of business in oil and gas.

是的，如果你在俄克拉荷馬州、德克薩斯州或路易斯安那州經營，那麼目前的製造業環境相當艱難，因為——我們在石油和天然氣領域做了很多業務。

Our next question is coming from Hamzah Mazari of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的哈姆札·馬扎里。

My question was just on the -- on your captive trucking network. I think you mentioned using third-party transport. Any thoughts as to how you're thinking about freight? And just longer term, what kind of competitive advantage you're taking network has? Historically, you've talked about optimizing that. Just curious where that stands.

我的問題是關於你們的自有卡車運輸網。我記得您提到使用第三方運送。您對貨運方面有什麼想法嗎？從長遠來看，你們的網路能帶來哪些競爭優勢？您之前也談過要優化這個網路。我很好奇目前的進展如何。

So I don't think our thought process on freight using our own captive network has changed at all during this. What we did do is we pulled -- our lowest day of the week for shipments is Tuesday. So our shipment goes out -- our truck routes go out Monday night, we effectively canceled those in April. And branches that were getting 5 trucks, now getting 4 trucks. And we really challenged out those branches to work with your customer to understand your inventory stocking. So we didn't -- not -- so we didn't cancel Tuesday trucks and then we freight in a bunch of stuff because we needed the product. We did a really nice job with that. Now the savings there is in some labor. It's in fuel, obviously. The trucks, unfortunately, all we could do on that day is park them.

所以，我認為在此期間，我們利用自有物流網絡進行貨運的想法並沒有改變。我們所做的調整是──我們一週中貨運量最低的日子是星期二。所以我們的貨運——卡車路線通常在周一晚上出發，我們在四月實際上取消了這些路線。以前每個分公司有5輛卡車，現在只有4輛。我們要求這些分公司與客戶合作，以了解他們的庫存狀況。所以我們沒有取消週二的卡車，然後我們又運送了一大批貨物，因為我們需要這些產品。我們在這方面做得非常好。現在，節省下來的成本主要體現在人工和燃油方面。很遺憾，卡車那天我們只能停放。

And so as they go off lease, we can reduce some of those as we go through the year. We used a fair amount for third-party because our trucking network is really this agile trucking system that lives and breathes within the Fastenal supply chain. And these surge orders, we weren't selling a box or a pallet of product. We were selling truckloads or container loads. And so that's what really prompted the need to use probably more third-party than we had typically because it was just a different type of movement. Whereas our trucking network, I think of it as an LTL network. It does small parcel, it does LTL, and it's very agile and nimble. But if you want to move a truckload from point A to point B, it might be more cost effective, to move it one of our trucks and just drive it there, to move it on third-party who's got -- who has an open line.

因此，隨著租賃到期，我們可以在一年中逐步減少一些第三方運輸。我們之前使用了相當多的第三方運輸服務，因為我們的卡車運輸網路是一個非常靈活的系統，它與Fastenal的供應鏈緊密相連。而這些激增的訂單，我們賣的不是單一箱子或託盤的產品，而是整車或整箱的貨物。所以，正是這種情況促使我們比平常更多地使用第三方運輸，因為運輸方式有所不同。我們的卡車運輸網絡，我把它看作是一個零擔運輸網絡。它承運小包裹和零擔貨物，非常靈活敏捷。但是，如果你想把一整車貨物從A點運到B點，用我們自己的卡車直接運過去可能比用有剩餘線路的第三方運輸更具成本效益。

So the combination of underutilizing some of our fleet as well as if you look at how much product we move not on our fleet, but on third-party, it was probably 6 to 7 percentage points higher in this quarter than it has been in recent quarters. And again, that carries an incremental cost to it as well. But it's a reflection of some of the product that we did move, but those are some of the inefficiencies that get created in the network in an environment like this.

因此，一方面是我們部分車隊利用率不足，另一方面是我們透過第三方而非自有車隊運輸的產品數量，本季這一比例可能比最近幾個季度高出6到7個百分點。這無疑也帶來了額外的成本。但這反映了我們部分產品的運輸情況，也反映了在當前環境下網路中出現的效率低下問題。

Got it. And just a follow-up question, I'll turn it over. Just what are you looking for in terms of visibility before you start adding cost back into the system, specifically headcount? I know you mentioned you're cautiously optimistic today, but any thoughts as to what you're looking at internally there before you add costs back?

明白了。還有一個後續問題，我這就去問。在重新增加成本（特別是人員配置）之前，您希望了解哪些方面的資訊？我知道您今天持謹慎樂觀的態度，但在重新增加成本之前，您對內部情況有什麼想法嗎？

Every Wednesday, I get an update on those vending stats you looked at, and I'm watching those vending stats because here's a $1 billion business that touches on a daily basis. And I mean, 7 days a week in -- across 25 countries across a big piece of our customer base. I think it was on the latest employment numbers that came out, and they were talking about how they were adjusting and the methods. We learned more about the methods for doing unemployment reporting at the federal level, and I felt like, geez, don't they just get Ouija board and then they can improve the accuracy. Here, we have something that looks at our business every day, every week. It's incredibly accurate. When I see those trends move, we'll be more comfortable to take steps.

每週三，我都會收到你之前提到的那些自動販賣機統計數據的更新，我一直在關注這些數據，因為這涉及到一個價值十億美元的行業，而且每天都在發生。我的意思是，每週七天，遍佈25個國家，涵蓋了我們龐大的客戶群。我記得當時是在討論最新的就業數據，他們談到了調整方法和具體措施。我們進一步了解了聯邦政府的失業報告方法，當時我就想，天哪，他們乾脆用個通靈板算算，這樣就能提高準確性了。而我們這邊，每天、每週都有系統地監控我們的業務，而且非常精準。當我看到這些趨勢改變時，我們就能更放心地採取相應措施了。

Yes. And I think to add to that, you will see some expenses come back. I mean, we had movement, travel, food, things of that nature, among our sales and non-sales force, that was down 60%, just about 60% in the second quarter. Do I expect that to be down 60% in the third quarter? Probably not. Will it be down significantly? In all likelihood it will. If you talk to the RVPs on how they're viewing labor, at this point, they're still looking to be very tight with what they add back. And as they add, if those opportunities present themselves, they're more likely to begin by adding hours because I think there's plenty of capacity in our part-time workforce today to add hours before we have to add more heads or more bodies. So the -- we're still going to operate, I think, well below sort of the Q1 level of expenses, and I think the market justifies that. But would you expect to see some increase as the market today looks really different than what we thought it might look like 3 months ago? Sure. But we're certain it'll be fairly tight, and that's controlled by the field.

是的。而且我認為，除了這些，有些開支還會回升。我的意思是，我們銷售和非銷售團隊的差旅、餐飲等類似開支，在第二季下降了約60%。我預計第三季還會下降60%嗎？可能不會。會大幅下降嗎？很有可能。如果你和區域副總裁們談談他們對勞動市場的看法，目前他們仍然非常謹慎地控制新增人員。而且，如果出現合適的增員機會，他們更傾向於先增加工時，因為我認為我們目前的兼職員工隊伍有足夠的產能來增加工時，而無需增加人手。所以，我認為我們的營運成本仍然會遠低於第一季的水平，而且我認為市場也支持這種做法。但是，鑑於目前的市場狀況與我們三個月前的預期大相徑庭，你認為會出現一些成長嗎？當然會。但我們確信比賽會非常膠著，這取決於場上的情況。

Our next question is coming from Ryan Merkel of William Blair.

下一個問題來自威廉·布萊爾的瑞安·默克爾。

Maybe I'll ask a few safety questions. So I think first off, any color on why safety sales in June only tapered slightly? I think Holden, you were expecting maybe a bigger falloff. And I think one of your peers who reported mentioned that, hey, customers already bought. So they saw safety fall off pretty meaningfully in June?

也許我會問幾個關於安全方面的問題。首先，我想請教一下，為什麼六月安全產品的銷售量只是稍微下滑？霍頓，你們原本預計銷量會下降更多。而且我記得你們的一位同行在報告中提到，客戶已經購買了產品。所以他們並沒有看到六月安全產品的銷售出現明顯的下滑？

I'll say the surge business was still pretty healthy in June. And I think that really gets to it. So in both May and June, I would say the surge orders outperformed what I might have expected going into the month. And that's a positive thing. Not only for us as an organization, but for what we can do for customers and for the marketplace in general. So I think that, that's great. But yes, I would say the surge orders just simply were better than I might have expected going into the month.

我想說，六月的加急訂單業務依然相當健康。我認為這才是關鍵。所以，五月和六月的加急訂單都超出了我月初的預期。這是一件好事。不僅對我們公司而言如此，對我們能夠為客戶和整個市場所做的貢獻也是如此。所以我認為這很棒。沒錯，加急訂單的表現確實比我月初的預期好得多。

Now I will caution, I think I did suggest that at the time of the May sales release that we would see some more in June, they would taper off. They didn't taper off as much as we thought, but I did indicate that I didn't think that surge orders would be meaningful as you roll into the third quarter. I still believe that. I think that we've largely sort of taken care of the pipeline of the initial surge. The question at this point is whether or not there's going to be a second pipeline filling event, right? And you are seeing a lot of COVID infections moving up. We have a lot of new customers that we absolutely expect to turn get away from being sort of a onetime supplier search product and turning them into long-term regular customers.

現在我要提醒一下，我記得在五月的銷售報告發佈時，我曾說過六月訂單量還會繼續增長，然後就會逐漸下降。雖然下降的幅度沒有我們預期的那麼大，但我當時也指出，我認為進入第三季後，訂單激增的趨勢不會很明顯。我仍然堅持這個觀點。我認為我們已經基本解決了第一波訂單激增的問題。現在的問題是，是否會出現第二波訂單激增，對吧？而且，我們看到新冠感染病例正在上升。我們有很多新客戶，我們絕對有信心將他們從一次性的供應商搜尋對象轉變為長期穩定的客戶。

But at the same time, the marketplace right now is much better supplied with these products than it was 3 months ago when the surge pipeline built up. So I believe that in the third quarter, I think safety will grow up despite the market still being a little bit underwater. And I think that some of what you're seeing in the market will be helpful. But I think you're looking at growth that's more like 10% to 15%, not 116%. And that's how I'd characterize the environment today.

但同時，目前市場上的這類產品供應比三個月前儲備充足時要好得多。所以我相信，儘管市場仍然略顯疲軟，但第三季安全產品市場將會成長。我認為目前市場上的一些變化會有所幫助。但我認為成長幅度更可能在10%到15%之間，而不是116%。這就是我對當前市場環境的描述。

The only thing I'd add to it is there's still a lot of noise going on. Every day, you see something new going on in a particular geographic area. I think we've done a nice job. Our government team particularly has done a really nice job of helping the public be aware of we are a reliable source of supply. And more stuff came out of the woodwork in June than I would have expected. And just last week, I was talking to one of our regional vice presidents, and he was talking about an onsite we designed and it was completely related to somebody that wasn't a business partner of ours before, but they were sourcing product for and they learned about what we do and how we go to market, and we signed an onsite with them.

我唯一要補充的是，目前各種消息仍然紛繁複雜。每天都有新的消息在特定地區出現。我認為我們做得很好。特別是我們的政府團隊，他們做得非常出色，幫助大眾了解我們是可靠的供應商。六月湧現的消息比我預想的還要多。就在上週，我和我們的一位區域副總裁談過，他提到我們設計的一個現場考察項目，這個項目與一家之前並非我們業務合作夥伴的公司有關。這家公司當時正在採購產品，他們了解了我們的業務和市場策略，最後我們與他們簽署了現場考察協議。

And so I think part of what's helping us right now is word-of-mouth in the end market. We're still getting calls. Yesterday, I was sitting in the Board meeting, and we see the text from one of our -- one of our EVPs of Sales, and there's some stuff come out of the woodwork again. Now please don't read into that, Florness just said it's going to take off again in Q3, but it's -- there's still stuff that comes out of the word work. And I think part of it is the marketplace, a nontraditional marketplace for us is seeing us as a very valuable supply chain partner because one of the things that has come out of this is -- and you see news -- unfortunate news stories about it.

所以我認為，目前對我們有幫助的部分原因是終端市場的口碑傳播。我們仍然接到很多電話。昨天，我參加董事會會議時，看到了我們一位銷售執行副總裁發來的短信，一些消息又開始湧現出來。請不要過度解讀，Florness 剛剛說過，第三季業績將會再次飆升，但確實還有一些消息不斷湧現。我認為部分原因是，對我們來說，非傳統市場正在將我們視為非常有價值的供應鏈合作夥伴，因為疫情帶來的一個後果是——你也看到了新聞報道——一些令人遺憾的消息。

There's a lot of garbage in the marketplace as far as product. We were founded by a mechanical engineer. We started with fasteners. There's nothing that requires better QC than fasteners because it's holding stuff together. When we sell -- when we source something, we're in the plant. We're testing the product in a way that maybe isn't existing in all sources of supply. And so people trust us. And that's really important in this environment.

市場上充斥著大量劣質產品。我們公司由機械工程師創立，最初從緊固件起家。緊固件對品質控制的要求極高，因為它直接將各種部件連接在一起。我們銷售產品時，或是購買產品時，都會親自到工廠測試。這種測試方式或許並非所有供應商都會採用。因此，人們信任我們。在現今的市場環境下，這一點至關重要。

Another way to think of the change perhaps is, if I look at where the safety mix is through the first 7 days of the business, so let's bear in mind, there's only 7 days. But safety is about 24% of revenues through the first 7 days of July. Compare that to the second quarter, it was 34% of revenues. And so you've clearly seen that July is not going to be where June was in those numbers unless something changes as it relates to the current COVID infections, and that's something that we have yet to be seen. But I think it's just as meaningful to suggest or to point out that at this time last year, safety was 17%, 18%, 19%, right?

或許我們可以換個角度來看這種變化：看看公司成立前7天（請注意，只有7天）安全業務的佔比情況。 7月前7天，安全業務約佔總收入的24%。相比之下，第二季這一比例為34%。顯然，除非新冠疫情情勢改變（目前尚不明朗），否則7月的數據不會像6月那樣。但我認為同樣值得注意的是，去年同期，安全業務的佔比為17%、18%、19%，對吧？

And so that's kind of the dynamic that you're seeing. And that's why we suggest that you're not going to see surge volumes in the third quarter in July, like you've seen -- like you saw in the second quarter, but we'll see how the market evolves.

所以這就是你目前看到的市場動態。因此我們認為，7月第三季的交易量不會像第二季那樣激增，但我們會觀察市場的發展。

Okay. Yes, helpful color. I'm having a pretty tough time forecasting 3Q, I think like everyone else, but that's helpful. So you started to answer, Dan, my second question a little bit there. But just stepping back, high level, in a post-COVID world, does your value prop to the customer increase in your view? And then related, any change in the way that you go-to-market? Or is access to facilities not going to change that much in your view?

好的。是的，這個顏色很有幫助。我覺得和大家一樣，我對第三季的預測也相當困難，但這很有幫助。丹，你剛才已經開始回答我的第二個問題了。但讓我們從宏觀角度來看，在後疫情時代，你認為你們對顧客的價值主張會提升嗎？另外，你們的市場推廣方式會有任何改變嗎？或者說，你們認為工廠的進入不會有太大變化？

The -- I think the value prop has expanded, particularly for folks outside our historical customer base. I mean they didn't know us as well. And we've been serving the manufacturing and construction sectors for years. We're still kind of a new player in some of the other spaces. So I think our value proposition, the awareness to it has improved. I think one of the outcomes of this, I think we've proven to ourselves that we can do some things that maybe we didn't even realize we could do. Because while we have a substantial safety business, I don't want to make light of it, half of our safety business was because of our vending business.

我認為我們的價值主張已經擴展，尤其對於那些我們傳統客戶群之外的人來說更是如此。我的意思是，他們以前不太了解我們。我們服務製造業和建築業多年，但在其他一些領域，我們仍然算是新晉玩家。所以我認為，我們的價值主張以及人們對它的認知度都得到了提升。我認為，這帶來的一個結果是，我們向自己證明了我們能夠做到一些我們可能從未意識到自己能夠做到的事情。因為雖然我們擁有相當可觀的安全業務（我不想輕視它），但我們安全業務的一半都來自於我們的自動販賣機業務。

And so we've grown great resources in that industry, in that marketplace. But I don't think we even realized how strong they were. And this gave us a chance to flex that muscle a little bit and demonstrate it. And so what it means going forward? That one, I'm really not sure of. We had to cancel our customer show in April, as you're aware. And that's a big event for us because people get a chance to get exposed a little deeper into the organization than you meet with suppliers. You learn about what we do, how we go to market. It's a very transparent event from the standpoint of gaining comfort.

因此，我們在這個產業、這個市場累積了強大的資源。但我認為我們甚至沒有意識到這些資源有多強大。這次活動給了我們一個機會，讓我們能夠稍微展現這些資源的實力。那麼，這對未來意味著什麼呢？說實話，我真的不太確定。如您所知，我們不得不取消了四月的客戶展。這對我們來說是一個非常重要的活動，因為人們有機會比與供應商見面更深入地了解我們的組織。您可以了解我們的業務內容，以及我們的市場策略。從建立信任的角度來看，這是一個非常透明的活動。

Because a supplier when they really turn the business over to us, that's a huge trust thing, and they learn that this is a group of folks that I can rely on. And not having that, that's a tough one. But we have, going into the fall, a bunch of virtual events that we're developing and we'll be doing, and they're -- we really, I think, have a good plan there. We're going to figure out a way to promote vending to promote Onsites, to promote the Fastenal business model in the marketplace. And I think maybe we'll figure out a way to do it better, but time will tell.

因為供應商真正把業務交給我們，這關乎巨大的信任，他們會意識到這是一群值得信賴的人。失去這種信任，確實很棘手。但到了秋季，我們正在籌備並舉辦一系列線上活動，而且——我認為——我們確實有一個不錯的計劃。我們會想辦法推廣自助銷售，推廣現場服務，在市場上推廣 Fastenal 的商業模式。我想我們或許能找到更好的方法，但時間會證明一切。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is coming from Nigel Coe of Wolfe Research.

（操作說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Nigel Coe。

Maybe I'll pick up from -- I think, Ryan touched on a topic that I was going to dig into as well. In the sort of the traditional retail world, we've seen a pretty marked shift between physical versus e-commerce. And it doesn't feel like you've seen that. I'm just wondering, in a post-COVID world, do you expect e-commerce to accelerate the expense of physical store sales, not necessarily onsites, just your physical stores?

或許我可以接著說——我覺得瑞恩剛才提到了一個我也想深入探討的話題。在傳統零售領域，我們已經看到實體店和電商之間發生了相當明顯的轉變。但你似乎並沒有意識到這一點。我只是想知道，在後疫情時代，你是否認為電商會加速實體店銷售成本的上升，我指的不是線上銷售，而是實體店本身的銷售成本？

If you think about how we've kind of presented the story, and I talked about this, over at the Annual Meeting and is we really -- when you boil down business, it's going into our end market, and we're a B2B model. When you look at that business, the bulk of the dollars are planned spend, a smaller piece of the dollars are transactional spend. And -- but we've really built with our -- started with fasteners, especially the OEM fasteners and the MRO as it relates to bin stocks. And now gotten much deeper with our vending is we're really a great supplier for planned spend. And because we have the infrastructure for planned spend, we're really good at transactional, too.

如果你仔細想想我們是如何講述這個故事的，我在年會上也談到過這一點，那就是——歸根結底，我們的業務是面向終端市場，我們採用的是B2B模式。從業務角度來看，大部分資金是計畫支出，只有一小部分是交易支出。我們最初從緊固件起家，特別是OEM緊固件和與庫存相關的MRO（維護、維修和營運）業務。現在，我們在自動販賣機領域也取得了長足的進步，我們真正成為了計劃支出的優秀供應商。而且，由於我們擁有計劃支出的基礎設施，我們在交易方面也表現出色。

So one of the reasons our e-commerce numbers are different than our peers is most of the products our customers buy from us, they don't order. It's there when they need it. It might be in a vending machine, it might be in a bin, it might be on a production floor. We know their needs. And so it's kind of like that ad that you used to always see of the person reaching in and grabbing the orange juice and there's a hand reaching through from the vine -- or the [it’s not an] orchard, whatever you call where oranges are grown. And -- but the point is, if you're really good at supply chain partnership, you aren't ordering product, and that changes our dynamic.

所以，我們電商業績與同業不同的原因之一是，我們的客戶購買的大部分產品他們不需要下單。他們需要的時候，產品就在那裡。可能在自動販賣機裡，可能在貨架上，也可能在生產車間。我們了解他們的需求。這有點像你以前常看到的那種廣告：一個人伸手去拿柳橙汁，一隻手從葡萄藤——或者果園（不管你怎麼稱呼種植橘子的地方）——伸了過來。關鍵在於，如果你真的擅長供應鏈合作，你就不需要訂購產品，這會改變我們的營運模式。

Now we see on that piece of business that is transactional, be a great partner, and that's where we think things like our vending come into play. So one thing we really haven't talked about is during the last few months, we've rolled out about 400 vending machines to the front of branch locations. So when a customer calls up to order something or, better yet, orders it online, we put it in the locker because the vending is the natural social distance tool. Bin stocks is a natural social distance tool. So we think we're actually poised to be more successful at creating a reliable supply chain and yet instilling social distance because it's inherently more efficient. And so I think it serves us well and improves, I think, to Ryan's last question, the value proposition because, especially since we did the transaction with Apex back in March, we now can do things with vending that we couldn't have done 3 and 4 and 5 months ago, and now we own the technology. So we can take it anywhere that the marketplace wants us to take it.

現在我們看到，在交易業務中，我們需要成為優秀的合作夥伴，而自動販賣機正是在這方面發揮作用。我們之前沒有提到過，在過去的幾個月裡，我們已經在各個分店門口投放了大約400台自動販賣機。當顧客打電話訂購商品，或者更好的是，在線訂購時，我們會把商品放到儲物櫃裡，因為自動販賣機本身就是一種天然的保持社交距離的工具。貨架上的商品也是一種天然的保持社交距離的工具。因此，我們認為我們實際上已經做好了更充分的準備，既能建立可靠的供應鏈，又能保持社交距離，因為它本身就更有效率。所以我認為這對我們大有裨益，而且我認為，正如Ryan最後一個問題所提到的，它提升了我們的價值主張，因為，尤其是在我們三月份與Apex完成交易之後，我們現在可以利用自動售貨機做一些在三四個月甚至五個月前都無法做到的事情，而且現在我們擁有了這項技術。因此，我們可以根據市場需求，將它推廣到任何地方。

I would probably add, I mean, our fundamental value proposition is one of total cost of ownership savings. And as Dan alluded to, what we try to do for a customer is remove them from the process of doing something which is noncore to them, which is sourcing product. And the e-commerce path has a lot of value in the channel, but it still is going to heavily involve the customer in the process of procuring product. And as long as customers continue to see value in the case of an Onsite and our assuming the inventory and our assuming the crib duties or in vending, seeing value in the data that comes out of that, the availability on the -- at the point-of-use on the plant, that's -- those just aren't things that can be replicated in an e-commerce environment. So in our view, to see a major change like you're suggesting, would have to see a major change in what customers value, which is to say they're willing to accept more expense in their sourcing operations than they have to if they use our approach to the marketplace. And we just don't think that's going to happen.

我還要補充一點，我們最根本的價值主張在於降低整體擁有成本。正如丹所提到的，我們努力為客戶所做的是讓他們擺脫非核心業務流程，也就是產品採購。電子商務管道固然有其價值，但客戶仍需要深度參與產品採購流程。只要客戶仍然認為現場服務（例如我們負責庫存和倉儲管理，或自動販賣機）的價值在於提供數據支持，以及工廠現場使用點的可用性——這些優勢是電子商務環境無法複製的。因此，我們認為，要實現您所說的重大變革，客戶的價值觀觀念必須發生重大轉變，也就是說，他們必須願意承擔比使用我們市場模式更高的採購成本。我們認為這種情況不會發生。

That's great color. And then I want to understand what you mean by the safety is much better supplied in the market, specifically within some of the nontraditional customer base. And is that because the traditional distributors into those verticals have kind of caught up and they've got inventory? Or do the customers have a lot of inventory themselves? I mean what do you actually mean by that comment?

顏色真棒。然後我想弄清楚您說的「市場上，尤其是一些非傳統客戶群中，安全產品供應更加充足」是什麼意思。是因為這些垂直領域的傳統經銷商已經跟上了步伐，庫存充足嗎？還是客戶本身就有很多庫存？我的意思是，您這句話的真正意義是什麼？

It's probably some combination of all of it. I think 3 months ago, when this crisis hit, remember, China was actually down and coming back up. And so you weren't fully producing product at the kind of scale that you needed to deal with the issue of COVID as it hit Europe and the U.S. And so I think 3 months ago, you had supply restrictions. I think those supply restrictions have largely cleaned up. I think 3 months ago, the supply chain was in shock, and it took a while for the supply chain to figure out where to go to get product. I think that the supply chain has figured that out. And I do suspect that there are customers out there that overpurchase product because of the uncertainty of the situation, and it's probably in the chain.

可能是所有這些因素的綜合作用。我記得三個月前，這場危機爆發的時候，中國經濟其實正處於低迷期，然後才開始復甦。所以，當時中國的生產規模不足以應對新冠疫情在歐洲和美國蔓延的問題。因此，三個月前，中國有供應限制。我認為這些供應限制現在基本上已經解除。三個月前，供應鏈處於混亂狀態，需要一段時間才能找到貨源。現在，我認為供應鏈已經恢復正常。但我懷疑，由於情勢的不確定性，有些消費者可能過度購買產品，而這很可能是供應鏈中的問題。

I think the last piece is probably as important element of all of them. I mean how many people in this call went out and bought 6 months' worth of toilet paper in March? I mean it was ridiculous what you'd see going out in carts at establishments as it relates to just basic household supplies. And when you have that kind of a surge in demand, I mean, one thing that we did, and I think it's resonated well with our customer base, especially including our new customer base, is we put in place a very common sensical allocation process. And we've really have tried to share and shed the light of day of that process with our customers.

我認為最後一點或許是所有因素中最重要的一點。我的意思是，在座各位有多少人在三月囤了夠用六個月的衛生紙？想想看，商店裡人們推著購物車買基本生活用品的場景，簡直太瘋狂了。面對如此巨大的需求激增，我們採取的措施之一，我認為得到了客戶，尤其是新客戶的認可，那就是我們建立了一套非常合理的配給流程。我們也一直在努力向客戶解釋和說明這個流程。

And I think that even changes the ordering pattern of the customers because all of a sudden, they get what we're doing. They understand it and now they're buying to demand. They're not buying out of panic. And that's what -- I keep harping on this point, and I'm sorry if I'm beating at the death. That's what a supply chain partner does, is shed light. So here's how the system works, and here's how and why we can support your needs and we can be reliable.

我認為這甚至改變了客戶的訂購模式，因為他們突然明白了我們在做什麼。他們理解了，現在他們是根據需求購買，而不是出於恐慌。這就是──我一直在強調這一點，如果我說得太多，請見諒。供應鏈夥伴的角色就在於此，就是闡明問題。所以，這就是系統的運作方式，這就是我們如何以及為什麼能夠滿足您的需求並值得信賴。

And that's probably changing part of the 2 because there's less panic buying going on today. I mean we brought -- very early on, this organization was able to bring -- bring organization to chaos. And I think today, the market has less chaos, and it's fairly well supplied with key products like 3-plys and things of that nature. And by the way, in that particular line, that's also having an impact on sort of the pricing in the marketplace as well.

這或許改變了部分情況，因為如今恐慌性搶購有所減少。我的意思是，我們很早就成功地將混亂局面理順。我認為如今市場混亂程度有所降低，關鍵產品（例如三層衛生紙等）的供應也相當充足。順便一提，就這類產品而言，這也對市場定價產生了一定影響。

Our next question is coming from Chris Dankert of Longbow Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Longbow Research 的 Chris Dankert。

Holden, do we have time for one more? Do you want to wrap it up?

霍爾頓，我們還有時間再來一個嗎？你想結束嗎？

We're good, yes.

是的，我們很好。

I have already answered because I talked too long.

我已經回答過了，因為我說太久了。

I guess, just kind of circling back here. How many of these nontraditional customers have indicated there is the opportunity for a larger relationship? Is some of this just, hey, let's support the governments and hospitals and health care workers in this time of need. And that's going to be just a short-term sugar rush? Or can some of these relationships extend into 2021 and beyond and kind of grow from there?

我想，我還是回到最初的問題。有多少非傳統客戶表示希望建立更深入的合作關係？他們中的一些人是否只是出於支持政府、醫院和醫護人員的意願，希望在這個特殊時期獲得支持，但這只是一種短暫的慰藉嗎？或者，這些合作關係能否延續到2021年及以後，並在此基礎上不斷發展壯大？

I think our safety teams have talked about probably only 1/4 of the relationships that we created or entered into in sort of a onetime surge capacity can be forged into long-term relationships. Now when I say 1/4, look, some of those relationships are always going to be transactional, right, either because they were using us because their traditional supplier wasn't available, they go back to that relationship or what have you. But there is an expectation out of the safety teams that only 1/4 of those relationships from the second quarter could be extended into long-term relationships as opposed to short-term transactional ones. And obviously, those are going to be the ones that are the largest opportunities from our perspective, so.

我認為我們的安全團隊討論過，我們為了應對一次性的應急需求而建立或達成的合作關係中，可能只有四分之一能夠發展成長期合作關係。我說四分之一，是因為其中一些關係始終是交易性的，對吧？例如，他們因為傳統供應商無法提供服務而選擇我們，之後他們又會重新選擇之前的供應商等等。但安全團隊預計，第二季建立的這些合作關係中，只有四分之一能夠發展成長期合作關係，而不是短期交易關係。顯然，從我們的角度來看，這些長期合作關係蘊藏著最大的機會。

One thing I'll add to that -- sorry, I said I'll shut up, is I think awareness is part of the game for a lot of these customers, they probably weren't -- they didn't think of us as a supply chain partner in their space, in their industry. They thought of us, oh, those little guys have turned up in both. Or they're more of a manufacturing and an industrial construction supplier, they don't really sell what we source. So I think awareness is an important element here. I believe also what you run into is a lot of those marketplaces, they buy through consortiums. And if you're not necessarily a player in that space, you're not on their radar.

我還要補充一點——抱歉，我說過不再多說了——我認為對很多客戶來說，認知度至關重要。他們可能之前並沒有把我們視為他們所在領域、所在產業的供應鏈合作夥伴。他們可能覺得，哦，這些小公司居然也出現在這些領域了。或者他們更像是製造業和工業建築供應商，他們並沒有銷售我們採購的產品。所以我認為認知度在這裡非常重要。我還發現，很多電商平台都是透過聯盟採購的。如果你不是這個領域的參與者，他們就不會注意到你。

And I wouldn't be surprised, and this is forward-looking now. So I shouldn't have turned here to qualify everything I'm going to say. I wouldn't be surprised to see some customers say, hey, to their consortium, we want Fastenal in this group so that we can source from them and it's easier because we went through too many hurdles to buy from them in March or April, and we need to make this easier. I think you'll see some of that. And I think it has some staying power. But I think it's all about becoming aware to what we can bring to their table. Because at the end of the day, it's not about what Fastenal does. It's about the value we can bring to the customer and awareness is a key part, yes.

我對此毫不意外，而且這都是著眼於未來的。所以我不應該在這裡對接下來要說的所有內容都做一番限定。我預期一些客戶會跟他們的聯盟說：「我們希望Fastenal加入，這樣我們就能更方便地從他們那裡採購，因為三四月份我們從他們那裡採購時遇到了太多障礙，我們需要簡化流程。」我想你會看到一些這樣的情況。而且我認為這種趨勢會持續下去。但我認為關鍵在於讓他們意識到我們能為他們帶來什麼。因為歸根究底，重要的不是Fastenal做了什麼，而是我們能為客戶帶來什麼價值，而提高客戶意識是關鍵所在。

Got it. Yes, I'm glad to hear that there's certainly some real tangible opportunity there. And then Holden, you touched on this, I'd like to circle back real quick, I guess, Fastenal deals in a fairly high amount of branch-specific stock in most quarters. But obviously, we're seeing a lot more kind of in response to the pandemic. Now that these supplier relationships are established, I guess, how does that impact mix going forward? Is it reasonable to think that getting these rebate relationships in place can kind of help offset some of that gross margin pressure in the back half of the year?

明白了。是的，很高興聽到這方面確實存在一些實際的機會。霍爾頓，你剛才也提到了這一點，我想快速地再補充一下。 Fastenal在大多數季度都會銷售相當多的分店專用庫存。但顯然，為了應對疫情，我們看到這種情況更加普遍。既然這些供應商關係已經建立，那麼這會對未來的產品組合產生什麼樣的影響呢？建立這些回饋關係是否能夠幫助緩解下半年毛利率的壓力？

Well, I'm not sure that there's -- rebates, they are typically negotiated on a periodic basis. I'm not sure that, that's going to have any impact on the back half of the year. Starting a little bit with the sort of the -- where you're going with the question. But yes, if you could let me know exactly what you're looking for.

嗯，我不確定是否有——退款，它們通常是定期協商的。我不確定這會對下半年產生什麼影響。先從你問題的重點說起。不過，如果你能告訴我你具體想了解什麼就好了。

I was just thinking -- no, if you're dealing with just new suppliers that you have no history with, obviously, you're going to get a tougher cost basis than if you're establishing these relationships and you start to work out better pricing. That was the thrust of my question.

我剛才在想——不，如果你只是和一些你完全不熟悉的新供應商打交道，那麼很顯然，你的成本基礎會比你建立起合作關係、開始協商更優惠價格的情況要困難得多。這就是我問題的重點。

Got it. Right. Okay. On the supply side. My apologies. So we -- one of the reasons -- our safety margin in the second quarter was probably 250 to 350 basis points lower than it needs to be. And frankly, lower than it was in Q1 and last year. And that is significantly because of some of the things that you're talking about. Now going forward, we've certainly introduced ourselves to new suppliers and they to us, and we'll no doubt vet those suppliers. And if there are suppliers that are worth carrying forward, going forward, then I'm sure we'll do that. And we'll do that in a more traditional relationship. Maybe there'll be rebates in there or maybe there'll be a different agreement on pricing. As 2 parties begin to trust each other, I think that it becomes easier to optimize that relationship, and that can happen.

明白了。好的。關於供應方面，抱歉。我們──其中一個原因是──第二季的安全邊際可能比所需低了250到350個基點。坦白說，比第一季和去年同期都低。這很大程度上是由於您提到的一些因素造成的。展望未來，我們已經與一些新的供應商進行了接洽，他們也向我們介紹了自己，我們無疑會對這些供應商進行審核。如果有一些值得繼續合作的供應商，我相信我們會這樣做。而且我們會建立一種更傳統的合作關係。也許會有一些返利，或者在定價方面達成不同的協議。隨著雙方開始彼此信任，我認為優化這種關係會變得更加容易，而這完全可以實現。

But worst-case scenario, again, as the marketplace normalizes, we will go back to our normal dynamics with our normal suppliers, with our normal means of transporting product about. And I would expect that we will get that 250 to 350 basis points back. Now will that happen in 3Q? Probably not. Because as I talked about, we do have some product in inventory that -- where some of the price/cost dynamics are a little bit challenging. And I think we have to work through that over the course of the year. And again, there's probably going to be some additional COVID-type business that happens based on the infection rates. And so do I think we get the 250 to 350 back in the third quarter? Probably not. But I think we'll make substantial progress. And I think we'll normalize things as the year progresses in that particular product line.

但最壞的情況是，隨著市場恢復正常，我們將恢復與現有供應商的正常合作模式，並恢復正常的運輸方式。我預計我們將恢復250到350個基點。那麼，這能在第三季實現嗎？可能不會。因為正如我之前提到的，我們目前有一些庫存產品，其價格/成本動態存在一些挑戰。我認為我們需要在今年內逐步解決這個問題。此外，根據感染率，可能還會出現一些與新冠疫情相關的額外業務。所以，我認為我們能在第三季恢復250到350個基點嗎？可能不會。但我認為我們會取得實質進展。隨著時間的推移，我認為該產品線的情況會逐漸恢復正常。

I was just going to say it's 2 minutes to the hour. Again, thank you for everybody for participating in the call today. My thanks to the Blue Team at Fastenal for what you did in the last 3, 4 months of setting your personal fears aside at times and pursuing the goal of -- we have a strong conservative balance sheet. We can make use of it in this environment to create a fast -- to create speed and resilient supply chain. And everybody needs a purpose and a reason to get up in the morning. I think we found a great purpose for the last 4 months. And thank you.

我正要說，現在離整點還有兩分鐘。再次感謝今天所有參加電話會議的人。特別感謝Fastenal的藍隊，感謝你們在過去三、四個月裡，有時甚至要放下個人顧慮，努力實現我們的目標——擁有穩健的資產負債表。我們可以利用這一點，在當前的環境下打造快速且富有韌性的供應鏈。每個人都需要一個目標和理由來激勵自己每天早晨起床。我認為在過去的四個月裡，我們找到了一個偉大的目標。謝謝大家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，感謝各位的參與。今天的活動到此結束。您可以掛斷電話了，祝您有美好的一天。