All articles by Jac Roper – Page 2
-
News
The choice is yours
Or is it? The grocery supply chain is generally thought to be a fairly free and fluid thing. You can more or less buy your baked beans from anybody. The government hasn’t had to intervene the way it did with banks to make it easier for you to shop around ...
-
News
Change for the better
There’s been a refinement to the Data Protection Act 1998 which means that retailers with basic CCTV cameras – the type that cannot zoom in and out – no longer have to register with the Information Commissioner. The thinking behind this is that you are not ‘targeting’ anyone with a ...
-
News
And he spoke too soon
While having a satisfying rant over stamps, Steve had tempted fate by saying that at least the reduction on margins for phone cards had finally stopped. Oh dear. Five days later, down they went again. His next delivery from Dextra Solutions revealed margins reduced to as low as 3.5 per ...
-
News
Stamping out profits
Do you sell stamps? If so you’ve probably noticed the reduction in margin on second class stamps to three per cent. Were you informed? I must admit, if there was a whole heap of hype as claimed by Royal Mail, I missed it. Steve Dyer, from Thornfalcon Garage in Taunton, ...
-
News
It’s free - but there’s a catch
Here is a bit of a masterclass on ‘free’ drinks coolers. When Mohammed Arif bought his filling station and store two months ago in Cannock, Staffordshire, he thought he had bought all the fixtures and fittings as part of the deal. He renamed the business Top Shop Services, filled the ...
-
News
Code cracking
Ever wondered what the various phone codes represent and whether you are being ripped off or not? I’ve been in interesting email discussion with regular correspondent Dave Moss (Alfington Stores and Service Station, Devon) who has made a study of them, fired by an abiding passion to expose BT for ...
-
News
Don’t disable your business
The deadline for offering a user-friendly environment becomes official on October 1 when Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 comes into play. A most timely call on this subject came from Raj Patel, who runs RP Service Station in Manchester. He was about to have work done on ...
-
News
For whom the tills roll
It’s an old rep’s trick, the agreement-seeking question: ‘You DO want to buy this, don’t you?’ Mike Cheskin was on the receiving end of a variation on this theme recently at his forecourt, Chatfield Service Centre in Gloucestershire. Merchant Retail Suppliers (of York and Canada apparently) rang up and cheerfully ...
-
News
Stamp, stamp, the sound of jackboots
Trading standards officers in Norfolk would appear to be armed with magnifying glasses and an I’m-going-to-get-you-no-matter-what attitude. This story is breathtaking. John Collins runs Parkside Garage in Norfolk. When the TSO showed up John wasn’t in the least bothered and told him to help himself, have a good look round ...
-
News
No longer a ’Hot Shot’
A couple of retailers have rung to ask what’s going on with Hot Shot Beverages, supplier of the ‘Shake and Stir’ tea and coffee machines. They had been promised sale or return on unused product and weren’t getting any joy from the company. I enquired at head office and Robert ...
-
News
Where is the loyalty?
This question was posed by Asif Kassam, who runs KP Hill Service Station in Manchester, and who was royally ticked off with PayZone because the company had just installed a competing terminal next door to his own. A few years ago I used to get bitter complaints from retailers who ...
-
News
A cheap shot
Hello, have you got a minute? (Or 20 as it turned out.) Would you like cheaper phone calls? Well, yes, who wouldn’t? The company that phoned Barry Chandler up at his service station in Walthamstow in London’s East End, offered to send him a welcome package introducing him to more ...
-
News
It’s a people business
Often described as ‘your best asset’, staff can also be a pain in neck (or much lower down, as this retailer put it) and not to put too fine a point on it, they can also be crooks. My caller wanted to know what he could do about a youngish ...
-
News
A result
I’ve had some satisfying feedback from Dave Moss in Devon on his quest for business rates relief. For those who missed the last issue, Dave, who runs Alfington Stores and Service Station, was horrified when his business rates demand arrived this year in all its crippling glory and with no ...
-
News
In for a penny...
Can I pay someone off in pennies asked a bitter retailer who is facing a nightmarish £50K bill involving a sub-lease/tenant legal wrangle. It started out at a lot less than £50K but barristers got involved along the way. The retailer, who doesn’t want any publicity, had some sublet property ...
-
News
The hottest new scam
News comes from the Federation of Small Businesses of fraudsters claiming to regulate Health and Safety legislation. A swathe of official-looking letters have gone out to small businesses demanding registration payments of up to £249. The conmen are using the titles Health and Safety Enforcement Agency, Health and Safety Registration ...
-
News
Joined forces
I’ve had some interesting feedback since reporting on Thumbs Up Security’s thumb-print kit, which tackles both the inability to pay problem that besets some customers, and the fraudulent use of cheques/cards. Margaret Reid, managing director of Thumbs Up Security says she has been inundated with requests for the cheap (£3.60) ...
-
News
Water, water, everywhere...
For those who get off on schadenfreude, the news that Coca-Cola has withdrawn ‘Sidcup tap water’ over bromate levels will have also brought an I-told-you-so to many minds. You can’t quite unscramble the Dasani label to spell ‘disaster’ but many will see it that way. For at least one forecourt ...
-
News
Mystery of Direct Cash
ATM supplier Direct Cash owes a few retailers some money. Karlos Ambrus of Knowehead Filling Station at Harthill in Lanarkshire, is among them. He paid £475.13 for three months rental upfront to Direct Cash to get an ATM installed, which came with PayPoint as part of the deal. He was ...
-
News
Priced out of market
No petrol retailer will be unfamiliar with price wars. But Allan Broughton, from Fisher’s Motor Centre at Sutton in Ashfield, was totally ticked off when he discovered that his local competitor, a symbol c-store, was selling newspapers for 10p less than cover price. “I don’t mind competition on a level ...
- Previous Page
- Page1
- Page2
- Page3
- Next Page