So What Is Going On At Herbert Woods

[andyg]

30 minutes ago, grendel said:

with bridgecraft it looked as though anyone not doing another job just got on and did it, so it might be an engineer, if there were no other faults to fix, or one of the cleaners, or the boss. thats what teamwork is all about.

Funnily enough I have seen the current boss in a dinghy cleaning hulls.. I've also witnessed the same at royalls and summercraft. To be fair HW do seem to employ a couple of lads that sole purpose is washing the boats exteriors. Bit of a thankless task to be honest with a fleet that size. Andy I was in charge of fuel at our depot. We had a fleet of 300 vehicles on site all had both white and red derv tanks. So you can imagine how much fuel we used a week. You are 100% correct we never got it cheaper the more we purchased and we had another 14 depots. In recent year my ex company did find a fuel agent who would let us hedge our fuel purchases. 

[JanetAnne]

2 hours ago, andyg said:

....most yards used to have a lad in a dinghy on a Saturday going round cleaning hulls....

That was me back in the day! 

The fleet was wooden and I had a tin of 'mix' in the dinghy next to me. Mix was 50% white undercoat and 50% white gloss. All the scratches and marks were painted in every week  keeping everything nice and white for the next customers. 

[LizG]

When on the Monmouth & Brecon canal last September a man was in the water wearing long waders with a pot of paint and  paint brush touching up the boats 

[rightsaidfred]

1 hour ago, Oddfellow said:

Well, you clearly don't understand, Fred. 

You don't get cheaper fuel the more you buy because there are break points on taxes in the supply chain. If we bought more than X thousand litres of the stuff, it became MORE expensive. 

We has to have multiple deliveries to full our tanks at the right price. 

Not everything is as you believe it to be. You also need to consider the costs of equipment. A new weights and measures pump can cost many thousands of pounds. A 2000l tank will cost a couple of grand too. Everything is way over-simplified in the minds of people who only see the smallest aspect of a business. 

 

With all due respect I held several manegment positions in both manufacturing and service industries including procurement so fully understand purchasing powers both national and international, while hire fleets have their anomolies so does every business, the basic fundamentals of good business practise are the same the world over, also the size of a business is irrelevant you either restrict the number of units to the facilities including labour it fits or you increase the facilities to suit the number of units you wish to apply.

Fred

[Mouldy]

1 hour ago, rightsaidfred said:

With all due respect I held several manegment positions in both manufacturing and service industries including procurement so fully understand purchasing powers both national and international, while hire fleets have their anomolies so does every business, the basic fundamentals of good business practise are the same the world over, also the size of a business is irrelevant you either restrict the number of units to the facilities including labour it fits or you increase the facilities to suit the number of units you wish to apply.

Fred

Don’t think it works like that now.  The accountants dictate how many staff will be required using nonsensical time and motion studies which usually leave too few people to undertake the work necessary, so corners get cut and quality suffers.

Last year I had occasion to call the RAC to attend my car at home, a service for which I pay a premium and waited 25 hours for a patrol to arrive because ‘I wasn’t a priority.’  My son recently had to call the RAC to his car at home and he was asked if it would wait until the following day.  It seems that they’ve cut their staff back to maximise profits at the expense of their members.  On the strength of their current service level, it looks as if I must change my provider after almost 40 years of membership.

[rightsaidfred]

21 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Don’t think it works like that now.  The accountants dictate how many staff will be required using nonsensical time and motion studies which usually leave too few people to undertake the work necessary, so corners get cut and quality suffers.

Last year I had occasion to call the RAC to attend my car at home, a service for which I pay a premium and waited 25 hours for a patrol to arrive because ‘I wasn’t a priority.’  My son recently had to call the RAC to his car at home and he was asked if it would wait until the following day.  It seems that they’ve cut their staff back to maximise profits at the expense of their members.  On the strength of their current service level, it looks as if I must change my provider after almost 40 years of membership.

Sadly covid has had an affect on staffing levels everywhere,  I worked with  cost/management accountants and just  in time purchasing years ago that's where good management skills come in getting a balance.

Fred 

[Oddfellow]

14 hours ago, rightsaidfred said:

With all due respect I held several manegment positions in both manufacturing and service industries including procurement so fully understand purchasing powers both national and international, while hire fleets have their anomolies so does every business, the basic fundamentals of good business practise are the same the world over, also the size of a business is irrelevant you either restrict the number of units to the facilities including labour it fits or you increase the facilities to suit the number of units you wish to apply.

Fred

Well, until you have run a business in this sector, Fred, I am afraid that all you know is assimilated from being an outsider. You are just someone looking in with whatever coloured spectacles you fancy wearing at the time, casting assumptions. It's only Vaughan and I that have first-hand experience of this business. 

Read what AndyG said about fuel if you still think I am talking out of the top of my head. 

If you don't want to have a real insight, I will be pleased not to have my hackles raised by people who think they "know" what they are doing and walk away just as others have. 

It bothers me nowt either way as I have so little exposure to the rivers now that I really don't care much. 

 

[rightsaidfred]

28 minutes ago, Oddfellow said:

 It's only Vaughan and I that have first-hand experience of this business. 

 

I think that may be a presumption rather than fact but as I have no wish to cause you any further distress we will just have to agree to disagree and leave it there, no amount of discussion on here is going to change how any one yard chooses to operate.

Fred

[Vaughan]

40 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

1 hour ago, Oddfellow said:

 It's only Vaughan and I that have first-hand experience of this business. 

 

I think that may be a presumption rather than fact but as I have no wish to cause you any further distress we will just have to agree to disagree and leave it there, no amount of discussion on here is going to change how any one yard chooses to operate.

Fred

I have a feeling there are several others among us. Tobster, NeilB and Wussername spring to mind immediately and I suspect there are several others who know the business well.

What concerns me, and I am sure the others, is that what I might call bank-side comment without foundation can be harmful to a business's reputation without justification.

This is an important forum read by several thousand members and guests.

But it is not Tripadviser.

[rightsaidfred]

15 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

I have a feeling there are several others among us. Tobster, NeilB and Wussername spring to mind immediately and I suspect there are several others who know the business well.

What concerns me, and I am sure the others, is that what I might call bank-side comment without foundation can be harmful to a business's reputation without justification.

This is an important forum read by several thousand members and guests.

But it is not Tripadviser.

Which is why I always avoid naming names or being to specific with comments that could be identified.

Fred

[andyg]

I think it more then covid that has impacted staffing levels in the UK holiday sector. All hear say I know, but I was told a big norfolk holiday company was unable to hold its annual recruitment drive in Eastern Europe this year, due to the new employment regs. I wouldn't have a clue if that's correct or not, but my own industry has been hit really hard by the same issues. So I can't see why it hasn't in other sectors. 

[andyg]

2 hours ago, Oddfellow said:

Well, until you have run a business in this sector, Fred, I am afraid that all you know is assimilated from being an outsider. You are just someone looking in with whatever coloured spectacles you fancy wearing at the time, casting assumptions. It's only Vaughan and I that have first-hand experience of this business. 

Read what AndyG said about fuel if you still think I am talking out of the top of my head. 

If you don't want to have a real insight, I will be pleased not to have my hackles raised by people who think they "know" what they are doing and walk away just as others have. 

It bothers me nowt either way as I have so little exposure to the rivers now that I really don't care much. 

 

I would regularly order 30k ltr of white derv and 10k ltr of red a week. Our red consumption would go up by 5k a week during warmer/ summer months for obvious reasons. We had many other depots ordering similar amounts. We had two suppliers we were allowed to use one being Texaco. 

[Ray]

Just to observe that, as someone who knows nothing about running a business, this morning Herbert Woods is a hive of activity. The staff, who Ive always found helpful and friendly are all over a row of beautiful shiny craft taking aboard bed linen etc. ready for holiday makers.

Let's hope the sun keeps shining, they have a wonderful time and return often 👍

[Hylander]

19 hours ago, Mouldy said:

 

Last year I had occasion to call the RAC to attend my car at home, a service for which I pay a premium and waited 25 hours for a patrol to arrive because ‘I wasn’t a priority.’  My son recently had to call the RAC to his car at home and he was asked if it would wait until the following day.  It seems that they’ve cut their staff back to maximise profits at the expense of their members.  On the strength of their current service level, it looks as if I must change my provider after almost 40 years of membership.

How about Green Flag are they any better.?

[unclemike]

4 minutes ago, Hylander said:

How about Green Flag are they any better.?

always been first class been with them for years

[FairTmiddlin]

How about Green Flag are they any better.?

19 minutes ago, unclemike said:

always been first class been with them for years

Been with them for years mostly for the get you home. But never used them. Places I have worked were part of them have even done recovery for them. Usually heavy lift jobs, Out of ditches mostly.

Their working ethos is better than the big boys too. Worth a google for the way they work. Been going over 40 years so doing something right.

[rightsaidfred]

6 hours ago, andyg said:

I would regularly order 30k ltr of white derv and 10k ltr of red a week. Our red consumption would go up by 5k a week during warmer/ summer months for obvious reasons. We had many other depots ordering similar amounts. We had two suppliers we were allowed to use one being Texaco. 

I fully understand your experiance especially as it would appear to be on contract with nominated suppliers and as if I read you correctly your company was probably in the highest user bracket apart from the national chains.

It is a long while since I have been involved but in the modest user bracket that boat yards would fall their is and will be room to manouver, I dont have time at the moment but if I do will try and find some examples but usually in this market it will be spot prices on individual orders, a Google search might throw something up.

Fred

[Wussername]

Interesting Fred. Please make time.

Andrew

[OldBerkshireBoy]

33 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

I fully understand your experiance especially as it would appear to be on contract with nominated suppliers and as if I read you correctly your company was probably in the highest user bracket apart from the national chains.

It is a long while since I have been involved but in the modest user bracket that boat yards would fall their is and will be room to manouver, I dont have time at the moment but if I do will try and find some examples but usually in this market it will be spot prices on individual orders, a Google search might throw something up.

Fred

A few weeks back prices were changing during the day as marina owners enquired about deliveries!

[rightsaidfred]

6 minutes ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

A few weeks back prices were changing during the day as marina owners enquired about deliveries!

Yes and that is probably still the same, it has always been a volatile market probably more so now than ever.

Fred

[annv]

Hi Green flag breakdown service was the go to for people in the trade as there garages would put  their customers first in the que before the aa rac and others, i was with them for years until two years ago when they where bought out by a insurance company the prices went through the roof i dont have any info as regards  there call outs. i now use another provider.  as with any insurance i would rather pay and never make a claim. John

[Cheesey69]

Got to add, the lie that foreigners are stealing all our jobs is revealed as foreigners are keeping costs down 

cost are beginning to rise rapidly and finding that work force isn’t as easy as it once was especially around the unskilled sector 

minimum wage is a joke and seasonal work really don’t appeal to long term plans

firms are bleeding labour as those firms that are big enough to offer better wages just take what they need

im watching skilled engineers joining Amazon on way more wedge while my firm is stuck unable to compete because no one wants the higher price of contracts.
so maybe now we will see the true price of things now we can’t rely on cheaper labour  

[Paul]

On 05/04/2022 at 22:23, BroadAmbition said:

We've done it before now, especially with teams of two on t board.  Strawberry Mivvies can sort of grasp the tactics behind it, Crabfats with a lot of gentle instruction, Pongo's - Not a prayer 

Griff

but did you ever get a Dicking?

[BroadAmbition]

But if course. Handed a few out too

Griff

[grendel]

cant remember the term for it, but I know if you can stack 2 or more counters on a square, you can block players behind unless they stack 2 counters and throw a double (its also possible the terms we used at uckers at home were watered down to acceptable for children terms, its funny that I always assumed that uckers was a watered down version of the name to make it suitable for family play.