In the last year or so my wife bought some place mats; which she
purchased from a store whose name she cannot remember.  Each had a
green on white sticky label imprinted with the name MOHAWK HOME.  The
label said that it was made in the USA of 100% SoftWeave Polyproylene.
 The label said that these place mats would not stain, shrink or fade.

Recently my wife told me that these place mats were extraordinary  in
that they indeed would not stain, shrink or fade and she asked me to
use Google to try to find where she could buy some more of them.  Well
to my surprise, I tried for two hours and failed; therefore I am
turning this over to you Google Experts.  The only thing that makes
this interesting is that I would have thought that this would be much
easier to solve.

One other bit of information---the label has an overprint in black
with the text
PP502-014020-1057-BK on it and the text BECKWITH NATURAL POLY
PLACEMATS.

Goodluck

Hello -

Please note: this answer is not finished until you're satisfied with
it.  If you choose to rate this answer, I ask that you do so after
asking for any necessary clarification/information.  Thank you for
your understanding.

Mohawk Home, the manufacturer of these placemats, is a division of
Mohawk Industries.

The placements you're interested in buying are called the "Beckwith"
style placements.  That identification number number you provided
breaks down as such:

PP502: style number

014020: size

1057: color [in this case, natural/neutral]

Mohawk Home has informed me that they still sell these placemats to
Wal Mart.  You *cannot* get them online walmart.com, as they have a
separate inventory which does not include these placemats.  If your
local Wal Mart does not have them in stock, they should be able to
special-order them.

If you have any trouble with this, you can contact Mohawk Home
directly at 800-843-4473, and a representative will assist you in
getting these placemats.

In addition, Wal Mart's home office might be able to assist in
contacting your local store and working with them, if you have any
trouble.  The home office number is 1-800-WAL-MART.

Search Strategy:
   contacted Mohawk Industries corporate HQ
   Mohawk Home and Wal Mart
	
Thank you,
	
jbf777-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by david_j_kaplan-ga on 22 Jul 2003 02:57 PDT

Thanks for the answer.  How would you have found your answer--short of
calling Mohawk on the telephone at the telephone number you listed;
using the ID number to identify the product; and being told by the
person on the other side of the line that they sell this product to
Wal Mart?
I couldn't find that ID number on the web. Knowing that Mohawk home is
a division of Mohawk Industries is easier.  I found the telephone
number, given your answe; but without your answer I might have missed
it.  "Beckwith style placements" I did not find; did you get it from
the person you called at Mohawk?

I guess my frustration, using the word "frustration" again, is the
lack of any, to me, clear algorithm you used to solve this problem.  I
would like reading any comments you might make about this.

---

Clarification of Answer by jbf777-ga on 22 Jul 2003 06:56 PDT

Hello -

Thanks for asking for clarification.  I'd be glad to elaborate on the
search strategy.

>How would you have found your answer--short of calling Mohawk on the
telephone >at the telephone number you listed; using the ID number to
identify the >product; and being told by the person on the other side
of the line that they >sell this product to Wal Mart?

I did a quick search on www.froogle.com to see if it was listed in the
product database.  Having not seen it there, and knowing you had
searched for 2 hours, I figured I would try and track down the phone
number of Mohawk Home.

>I couldn't find that ID number on the web. Knowing that Mohawk home
is
>a division of Mohawk Industries is easier.  I found the telephone
>number, given your answe; but without your answer I might have missed
>it.  "Beckwith style placements" I did not find; did you get it from
>the person you called at Mohawk?

Hoovers Online [hoovers.com] is a business directory where you can
find corporate phone numbers.  I went there and looked under the M's. 
I found a company called Mohawk Industries.  I took a shot at calling
them to see whether or not they were affiliated with Mohawk Home.  The
rep confirmed this and gave me a direct number to Mohawk Home.  After
I spoke to the rep there, I called Wal Mart.

"Beckwith style," along with the breakdown of the product
identification number, is direct from the Mohawk rep.

Please let me know if you need any additional clarification.

Thanks,

jbf777

---

Clarification of Answer by jbf777-ga on 22 Jul 2003 07:09 PDT

>How would you have found your answer--short of calling Mohawk on the
telephone >at the telephone number you listed; using the ID number to
identify the >product; and being told by the person on the other side
of the line that they >sell this product to Wal Mart?

Just re-read this question.  I would try searching Froogle and Google
using combinations of search terms comprising the information you have
provided.  If you had not told me you searched for 2 hours, I might
have spent longer than I did.  If after trying 6-8 search terms, I
could not generate any definitive leads within about 10 minutes, I
would have pursued the phone contact.

Sorry, to make you wait for an evaluation.  I think that the answer is
a good one.    It isn't great because the question isn't capable of
receiving a great answer.  The answer is as good as it could be.