A relative of mine who worked in the Leicestershire clothing industry where M&S had many suppliers up until the mid 1990s or so told me that one of the issues was that suppliers were over dependent on the big UK high street buyers (M&S, BHS etc) BUT that said retailers often or always demanded exclusivity agreements from suppliers - ie the supplier if they wanted the M&S contract could only supply to M&S (for example) - presumably management felt they needed to agree to this. But of course the effect was that if the reatiler pulled the plug (as it did in the post GATT era and started to source overseas) the suppliers had no diversity of customer base which would help save the business.
I believe you are essentially correct in what you say.
I remember a factory near where I worked made Aluminium castings. Ford ended up getting their wheels exclusively, they expanded with loans. Then Ford started paying late and not reliably. The wheel manufacturer folded due to cash flow problems.
Yep. It is why I always wanted to never have all my business coming from one customer. I also wanted to avoid growing the business by using loans. But then I have never ended up with a business !.Cash flow problems (such as late payment of invoices) when your primary customer is some big multinational, is a tried and tested route to your firm going bust.
That depends on what you mean by 'the past', but the number of SMEs has been steadily increasing for at least the last 20 years. There are about 25% more SMEs than there were in 2000.
Even in my lifetime (late 20s) they’ve got worse. Trousers I bought when I was 18/19 lasted 6+ years, I have a pair I bought 3 years ago with holed pockets, failed seams and split hems…. I’ve not got weightier etc!
What is the inflation-adjusted relative cost though? If you're paying the same or more for lower quality there's an issue, if you're paying less then you get what you pay for.
Appreciate this wasn't directed at me but as I've had the same experience I'll jump in.
These kind of things always bring to my mind the quote attributed to Henry Royce "The quality will remain long after the price is forgotten."
Um - TIME FOR A NEW THREAD.These kind of things always bring to my mind the quote attributed to Henry Royce "The quality will remain long after the price is forgotten."
Which on a low level is the case when I have bought something (like an item of clothing say) and get annoyed that say 2 years later it is defunct due to some fault or poor production quality problem. The annoyance in my mind is always greater than the recollection of 'only having paid a bargain price for it'
Having said that I fully appreciate that for some people price is a big driver and they have little choice in the matter.
Indeed - we have got a bit off topic!
That makes me wonder if we have had Eubanks (floor cleaners from the pre hoover age).
I'm not going to trawl back through the previous 44 pages to find where but I believe I've seen carpet sweepers mentioned if not specifically Eubanks.
Isn’t it a bit of a thing to show off your hoover now? ‘Oh yar Jane and I have the latest Cordless Dyson, has a battery for 2 hours, sucks up 99% of germs, and only cost us £199’ very surprised there hasn’t been a Top Gear for Hoovers lately (and not Class 50’s! we all know 50033 is just Glorious!)
I think it's mostly along the lines of cursing the Dyson for not working properly and complaining that they aren't as good as they used to be back when they were made in Britain. The cordless ones are naturally always flat.
It was posted as “Ewbanks“ with a W, back in Jan 2021. But just “Ewbank” according to Googling.
I agree that batteries decline with age. I spend a lot of time checking and fettling my rechargeable NiMh AAA, AA, C & D batteries. The PP3 ones I sent t the recycing in disgust. It is why I am not rushing to get an electric car - a lot of very expensive batteries in them.
You could have given yourself street cred by saying "oh I am a bank robber" !.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries now get 5000+ cycles with over 75% life left in them. With daily charging that's over ten year's service.
Trouble is I buy cars that are more than ten years old. My daughter in law just bought a 12 plate car with a good service history. But it would be like having to assume there would be a need to replace the engine with a new one during her ownership if it were electric. How much are the batteries on a small electric car ?.
Electric drivetrains are so much simpler that, other than dodgy bodywork, the only difference between a new EV and a ten-year old one is likely the battery. Some manufacturers have designs that would allow replacement so it's entirely conceivable that in future "re-batteried" cars may well be the norm in the second-hand market.
Good to know the batteries can be re-purposed without needing to be re-manufactured.
My parents' old house (which I grew up in) still had an outside toilet with a high-level cistern right up until they moved from there ten years ago. We did also have an upstairs toilet, though (which had a high-level cistern until about the mid-1980s when we had it replaced by a low-level one).
