Bob of Small End (67 page)

“
Tell me
how he likes it the next time I phone,” he said.

“
If he
tries it. At the moment he’s not very interested.”

He told Sam
and Regina that the BBC would be filming Small End in two weeks
time and that they might film him and the workshops. They said
they’d look out for the program and watch it.

“
Can you
copy it for me if you see it?” he asked both of them.

“
Yes
Dad,” said Regina.

“
I’ll
try,” Sam answered. “Our machine sometimes doesn’t work properly,
the tape jams. I think I’ll buy a new one. I’d like to see what the
BBC thinks about the future of Small End.”

Afterwards he wrote a short letter to Maria, telling her
again how nice the weekend was. And he included a poem. He wrote:
‘
You were here—then gone
.
Sorry it’s short, but it says all I want to say.’

Chapter 27 Wholesalers

Bob walked to
Rose’s gift shop first thing Monday morning and found her setting
up the newspaper stand.

“
Hello
Bob. If you want Jack he’s helping Ken but I expect you already
know that.”

“
It’s
you I want to talk to Rose, not Jack. Do you use distributors? If
so, I want to learn what they do.

“
Well,
come in and have a mug of tea and we’ll talk. It’s already made.”
She took him to their tiny office, went to the kitchen and returned
with a tray loaded with a tea pot, milk, sugar, mugs and a bag of
oatmeal biscuits.

“
I buy
most of my things from two wholesalers. They provide catalogues and
I order items that I think might sell. They bring what I ordered
when they’re next delivering in this area, that’s about once a
fortnight. If they don’t have what I want they’ll phone and tell
me.”

“
Why are
you talking about wholesalers? Are they different from
distributors?”

“
Well
distributors carry non-competing goods whereas wholesalers carry
products from manufacturers who would be in competition with one
another. For instance, the wholesalers catalogues list tea pots
made by several companies and I have a wider choice and, often,
better prices than I’d get from a distributor.”

“
Then we
should be looking for a wholesaler not a distributor?”

“
Probably. They’ll buy a number of your toys and list them
but you’ll be competing against other toy makers.”

“
Well we
are in competition with others, anyway. But no one makes, as far as
I know, wooden villages and farms.”

“
You
see, if you go with a distributor he’ll want a long-term contract
with you and he’ll really investigate your company to be sure he’s
representing a sound company, one with a well-known name and a
reputation, things like that. At least, that’s what I understand.
Thus if I want to buy some plates from a well-known manufacturer I
would have to buy from their distributor not a
wholesaler.”

“
I see.
How did you chose the wholesalers you use?”

“
I
talked to other retailers about the ones they use. One of my
wholesalers supplies goods from Europe and the other one buys stuff
in Asia. I also use other catalogues sometimes. Why do you want to
know all these things Bob?”

“
Delivering the toys is becoming too difficult. We are about
to make many more and we need a lot more shops if we are going to
sell all of them. So we thought about having a distributor sell
them for us. But I now know we should be looking for wholesalers
not distributors.”

“
Jack
told me about the production line Ken was setting up. It sounds a
bit complicated.”

“
I think
it’ll work. I’ve always found that Ken knows what he’s talking
about. He says that the new line will produce as many toys in a day
as our existing workshop can produce in a week.”

“
Well
I’ll give you the names of the wholesalers I use and you can
contact them.”

“
Thanks
Rose.”

She copied
their names on a piece of paper and gave it to Bob. He walked along
the road to the workshop and entered by the side door, greeting
everybody and watching what they were doing.

“
Thanks
for the clean overalls,” Craig said.

“
You’re
welcome. Have you got overalls for the new people?”

“
Yes,”
answered Lori. “Who’s going to wash them next time? There’ll be too
many for one person to handle.”

“
Perhaps
Mary, Ken’s wife, will take half next time.”

“
Maybe
we should buy a washing machine and do them weekly. They’re pretty
dirty after two weeks. We could put it here, in this shop, in the
corner by the paint booth.”

“
I’ll
talk to Ken about that. It might be a good idea. I’ve got to make
some phone calls now. We’re looking for a wholesaler to distribute
our toys.”

“
Oh?
What are Bert and I going to do if you do that?” asked
Gerry.

“
We’ll
probably need someone to deliver to local sellers, or you could
work in the shop. Don’t know yet, we’ll find something. Don’t
worry.” He went into the office, sat at Ken’s desk, picked up the
phone and called Leo.

“
Hello
Leo. How are things?”

“
Hello
Bob. It’s good with me. Your toys are still very popular. I’ve met
one of your new men, Gerry. He’s delivering for you now
then?”

“
Yes.
We’ve two people doing that as well as working in the shop. The
other guy’s Bert. You might see him sometime.”

“
Well I
don’t need more sets at the moment Bob, thanks.”

“
No, I
didn’t want to talk about that, Leo, I want to learn about using
wholesalers. That’s how you get most of your stuff isn’t
it?”

“
Yes.”

“
Who do
you use? I’m asking because we are thinking of asking some of them
to sell our toys.”

“
You
know they’ll take twenty percent or more from you if you use
them?”

“
Yes,
Ken told me. You see, we’ll soon be producing enough toys to need a
wholesaler.”

“
Well
the one I use most often is based in Liverpool. They stock stuff
from most of the world so they have a wide variety of items. They
also stock toys and they might be a good choice for you. I don’t
know what they charge a manufacturer though.”

“
What’s
their name Leo?”

“
We-Have-It Wholesalers
.”

“
We-Have-It
?”

“
We-Have-It Wholesalers
. Yes. The name’s simple
and easily remembered. They’re probably the biggest distributor of
goods for shops like mine. Here’s their phone number,” and he read
it out.

“
Thanks’
Leo. Do you use any others?”

“
Yes,
several, but the Liverpool one is the best for me and the prices of
the goods they sell are competitive. Do you want the names of the
others?”

“
Er, no.
Not now. I’ll call
We-Have-It
and see what they say. Thanks Leo.”

He
hung-up and leaned back in his chair. 'That’s interesting. Why
doesn’t Rose use
We-Have-It
?
I’ll have to ask her next time I see her.'

He picked-up
the phone again and called the Big End library and explained that
he wanted the names of the biggest wholesalers that carried toys in
England and asked if they could help him. They said they would look
for the information and call him back in a day or two; they
couldn’t do it today because they were too busy.

The outside
door opened as he hung up and Ken and Jack walked in. Jack greeted
Bob as he walked through the waiting room to the workshop but Ken,
seeing Bob in the office, joined him. He gestured to Bob to remain
seated, gave him a list and perched on Lori’s desk.

“
Here
are the names of some distributors that my work colleagues told me
about. You might call them and see what they say.”

“
I don’t
think we can use a distributor Ken. They only represent companies
with big reputations.
Small End Wooden
Toys
isn’t that yet. Rose and Leo obtain almost all of
their things from wholesalers. I have the names of three and the
library will send some more in a day or two. Rose uses
GB Wholesaler
often. They supply
items from Europe. I’ll have to phone them and ask what they would
charge us and where they deliver. Leo uses a company called
We-Have-It Wholesalers
. I’ll have to
ask them the same thing. I’ll do it after the tea
break.”

“
Wholesalers, eh, not distributors. Hadn’t thought about how
they differed. So we’re not big enough to have a distributor
represent us? Well, we will be, one day.”

“
If
wooden toys remain popular.”

“
Well
teddy bears did. Every young boy is given one of those. That could
happen to us.”

“
Yes.
Maybe. So what are you and Jack working on?”

“
We were
making racks to hold incoming wood and have just finished. After
tea we’ll build shelves to hold the boxed sets. I wish the saws and
sanders were here; I’d much rather be installing them.”

The door from
the workshop opened and everyone walked into the waiting room.
Craig put the kettle on and Luke opened the biscuit box, putting it
on the table and everyone grabbed a couple.

“
Do we
have any more chocolate digestives Lori?”

“
Yes,
two packs. I’ve never let us run out have I?”

“
No, not
yet.”

“
Did you
have a good weekend with your girlfriend Luke?” asked
Lori.

“
Yes. I
saw you and Craig in Benny’s Inn Saturday night.”

“
Oh did
you. Well why didn’t you come over?”

“
You
seemed too interested in each other and I didn’t want to disturb
you.”

“
Don’t
be daft Luke. We were discussing business,” said Craig.

“
I bet
you weren’t. You had your arm over her shoulder nearly all the time
you were there.”

“
Next
time you see us and you have your girlfriend bring her over. I’d
like to meet her,” said Lori.

“
Maybe.
What did you do this weekend Jose?”

“
Read
mostly.”

“
Have
you heard from Rosemary?”

“
No.”

“
Well
next weekend you’ll have to come out with us. We could arrange a
date for you if you like.”

“
I don’t
want one. I’d might join you if you’re by yourselves or if you’re
with a gang. Let me know what you’re doing and I’ll
decide.”

“
Okay.”

Bert was
talking to Gerry about paying something towards the cost of the
petrol he was using when he drove him to work whilst this was going
on. Ken made a few notes on a piece of paper then started talking
to Jack about something. Bob sat in a corner taking it all in, just
enjoying being in the group. He didn’t feel he had to participate.
Fifteen minutes later everyone had left. He went to the office and
called
GB Wholesaler
. He
described who he was and that they were looking for a wholesaler to
carry their line. “At the moment we want to know if you would
handle our toys, where you deliver to and what you would
charge.”

“
We’d be
glad to include your products in our catalogue. We already have
three toy manufactures but none of them make the wooden toys you’re
making. We deliver to all of the southern half of England,
including all of London. Our rates depend upon how many we sell and
we charge extra if we have to collect the toys from you. If you
bring them to us you save money.”

“
Where
do we take them to?”

“
To our
warehouse just outside Heathrow airport.”

“
Okay.
About how many gift or toy shops use your services?”

“
Probably a thousand, maybe fifteen hundred. I don’t know
without going through the lists and counting.”

“
We
deliver ourselves to over three hundred shops at the moment. If any
of those aren’t on your lists would you send them your
catalogue?”

“
If they
were in our territory we’d gladly do that.”

“
Some of
them are in Wales.”

“
Well
you would have to deliver to those shops yourself. How many toys do
you sell each week?”

“
About
150. We sold over 600 in May and expect it to be much larger soon.
We’re aiming to sell ten times that number soon.”

“
If we
sold 6,000 of your toys each month we’d probably charge twenty
percent of the retail price. It wouldn’t be less and it might be
more. You’ll have to talk to people in our sales department to get
a firm figure.”

“
Well
thank you. I’ll talk to my partner and will call you back with our
decision.”

“
Thanks’
for calling us and I hope we work together in the
future.”