SHOOTING FROM THE HIP SHOOTING FR SHOOTING FR
ROM THE HIP ROM THE HIP STEPPING
n the early-1980s I didn’t p ay much attention to the news, which seemed to be dominated by strikes here,
Yo that sor t of thin g
walk-outs there, car-workr-workers being sacked for kipping on the job, having taken sleeping bags into work. You wouldn’t get
happening these days. Little did we know at the time that it was the Soviets that were fuelling such industrial unrest.
Anyhow, the fact that there was a recession – an economic one, though I hadn’t considered there was any other sort – didn’t fully hit home y,, Bird & Son’s r ep
w,, the fact that th with me until Larry
brought us their latest price list and said how much extra profit could be made if we went through it and adjusted our prices. It would take only an hour or two. Ha! If only “But surely we’d sell mor e stuff at lower prices?” I asked. He laughed. “No-one else is doing that, believe me. Don’t you kn ow there’ s a r ecession on?” And he nodded to the boss, they shook hands and Larry went on his way. The bossy.. chuckled to himself and pointed to w,, non-dog-ear ed price list
f only.y. the new
and told me that it would keep me busy for a day or two. I didn’t think that raising prices of our old stock, for which we had paid less, would work, as it would make us less-competitive
sooner . But my
main concern was that spending time on this would seriously impact any further pr ogr ession with my Y et, with a pr etty
plans to expand. Ye et, with
serious recession to contend with, it looked as if the much-needed improvements wouldn’t be so much of a luxury as an absolute necessity if we wer e to survive.
Screwed up
It was the recession that most likely accounted for some people wanting cheap, imported tools, y,, suddenly,y, they wer e also
and why
demanding cheap wood screws. Bird & Sons stocked only GKN, the
14 DIY WEEK 24 FEBRUARY 2017
the heads didn’t easily chew up, but they wer e not cheap, and soon we began to hear odd comments – none of them made dir ectly to us, mind – that someone locally was selling complete boxes at amazingly-low prices. Like Sergeant Ber gerac chasing homicidal tourists around Jersey, I would need to investigate.y,, I would n Lives may not have been at stake, but livelihoods certainly wer e.
Ta Taking stock
It was the end of January and my first excursion into the delightful realms of stocktaking. The previous year, the boss had not inflicted ther,, the boss ha full horror of the task upon me. This wasn’t because there was some streak of kindness about him; it was his lack of faith in my ability to count. At the time it seemed like a good idea to not mention that I’d been counting huge piles of cash for the past five years. But this year I wasn’t so lucky and was tasked with counting all the ff,
awkward-to-get-at stuff including
absolutely every single nut, bolt and screw. In the bank, my fingers had been sensitive enough to tell a good bank note fr om a dud; after counting umpteen thousand scr ews in part- filled boxes (because we sold most scr ews separately) my fingertips were as har d as buttons on a Blue Circle overcoat.
He used a pocket mini-cassette r ecor der to note the stock details when counting his stock, wher eas I had to use sheets of old, browned wrapping paper fastened ff
to an
off-cut of har dboar d with a r usty bulldog clip. Actually
ctually y,, wandering
ar ound sporting such high-tech equipment I felt ultra-sophisticated, pr omising management material indeed. But it wasn’t so good holding this, a pen, and sorting through ceiling-height stock, whilst trying to balance on a wobbly stepladder. A thir d (or even fourth) hand would have been, well, handy At least it kept me active, though it was tiring having to break of f and come down the steps dozens
e been, well, handy y.. “He used a pocket mini-cassette r It certainly didn’t a pocket mini-cassette recor der to note the stock details when counting his stock... re
sporting such high-tech equipment I felt ultra-sophisticated...” of times a day to serve customers.
leav e any
spare moments for planning the expansion that the boss hadn’t yet sanctioned. But the worst part came later: looking back thr ough the hundreds of invoices to find the cost price of each item of stock. The boss said it was good for me to see where they had been pur chased, only some were so old, the invoices couldn’t be found and must have been carved on stone tablets.
After Old Man Garfitt, the accountant, prepared the end-of- year figures, it looked as if the shop had achieved a modest increase in turnover, unlike many other nano-r,, sized businesses that were folding faster than sheets of paper at an origami fest. I thought it was down to my wit and charming personality that attracted the customers, but the boss disagreed.
Screwed down
The woman put the box of scr ews down on the counter. “My husband bought these fr om you last week and all the heads have come of f, and he’d
like his money back,
please.” She smiled, seeming a little embarrassed. The plain box and r ed label didn’t sport the familiar white and blue GKN logo. Inside was what looked like a load of air rifle pellets. “He must have bought these elsewher e,” I said, and explained that we didn’t stock screws fr om China. Using Bird’s price list, I worked out a 30% discount on one of our full boxes that came to within a few pence of what he’d paid. She bought them, saying she’d have stern words with her husband when she got home.
The boss was pleased, saying he’d make a har dwar e man of me yet, even if I was a home-wrecker.
www.diyweek.net
BACK IN TIME...
AN INDEPENDENT REMEMBERS I
Recession, strikes and counting screws, Graham Higson delves into part 10 of his shop-f loor memories... brand leader . They wer e good and
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28
