Bob of Small End (68 page)

Bob made
notes whilst the man was talking and, when finished, he
called
We-Have-it Wholesalers
and asked them the same questions. He was told they delivered
to the whole of Great Britain, all except some distant parts of
Scotland, that they sent their items by bus to retailers who lived
there, that they probably delivered to three or four thousand gift
and toy shops, that their main office was in Liverpool and that the
closest warehouses to them was in Basingstoke. They would charge
between twenty five and thirty percent of retail, “and you have to
deliver the stock to one of our warehouses. We don’t
collect.”

Bob had enough
information to do some calculations now. He knew the shop’s
expenses, paying twelve employees salaries, buying wood and
materials, and miscellaneous would be about £5,000 a week. The
savings for not renting two of the vans would about pay the
Community Centre’s rent so five thousand would probably be good
enough.

If Ken was
right and they made, say, three thousand a week, and they paid a
wholesaler no more than thirty percent, then . . . He took out the
calculator, forty to the retailers plus thirty to the wholesalers
equals seventy percent, so they’d be left with just thirty percent
of retail price. ‘That means if we sold a thousand of each toy each
week we’d make £4,500 on the trains, £6,750 on the farms and £7,500
on the village sets. That’s £18,750, less £5,000, which leaves
£13,750. And more, much more, if we made over three thousand each
week or if we could get a lower rate from the wholesaler.’

Of course, the
retailers would have to sell the three thousand before they’d want
more. They’d need a thousand retailers if each shop sold three per
week. Some would sell more and some less but about three each week,
during the tourist season, would be about right. Then they could go
with either wholesaler. He talk with Ken and see what he thought
they should do.

They had a
chance to talk after lunch. Bob told him what he had discovered and
explained his rough calculations. “So you see Ken, it doesn’t
matter which wholesaler we go with.”

“
I’d
rather pay twenty percent than twenty-five or thirty percent. That
means we should go with
GB
Wholesaler
.”

“
Yes. He
said that probably a thousand or fifteen hundred shops they
delivered to might take our toys.”

“
Yes.
However if half of them didn’t we’d be stuck. How many shops might
buy toys from
We-Have-It
Wholesalers
?”

“
Three
or four thousand is his guess.”

“
That’s
much better but charging twenty five to thirty percent is a big
problem.”

“
Yes,
but, as I said, if we make a thousand of each set each week we’d
definitely need a thousand retailers selling them. We’d need more
of them if we made more than that.”

“
And
we’d make £13,750 each week if we went with
We-Have-It
?”

“
Yes, if
they sold everything.”

“
Then
let’s go with them. We won’t have to worry about the toys not
selling if we did that. I can always set up another bench if the
demand requires it.”

“
Okay.
Another thing in their favour, it’s much easier to deliver to
Basingstoke than Heathrow. So we should keep the big van and return
the two small.”

“
Let’s
keep all of them for now until we see how things work out. You’ll
make the arrangements with
We-Have-It
Wholesales
?”

“
Yes.
I’ll phone both of them now. What will we do with Bert and Gerry if
they are not delivering?”

“
They
can join the production line once
We-Have-It
takes over. They seem like good
workers.”

“
Okay.
You know Ken, we’ll be making close to £700,000 a year if this
works out. About £350,000 for each of us. It seems impossible. I
have no idea how to manage that much money.”

“
You’ll
soon learn I’m sure, Bob. Let’s worry about that when it
happens.”

“
It’s
such a lot. I don’t think it’s really possible.”

“
We’ll
see. I’m going back to the Centre now. Will you be here
tomorrow?”

“
Yes,
unless Lori says there are lots of deliveries to make. ‘Bye then
Ken.”

“
Cheers
Bob.”

Bob
called
GB Wholesaler
to say
that they would be working with a wholesaler who covered all of
England and then called the library, telling them he no longer
needed the list. They seemed rather pleased when he said that. Then
he called
We-Have-It
.

“
Hello.
It’s
Small End Wooden Toys
again. I talked to you about half-an-hour ago. We’d like you
to be our main wholesaler.”

“
If you
only use us you are likely to get a better rate,” he was told.
“Talk to the sales people about that and see what they say. When
can you come to see us?”

“
In
Liverpool?”

“
No. You
can talk to our man in Basingstoke. If you contract with us this
week we can get you into our next catalogue.”

“
I’ll
check with my partner and see if he can do that. He’s very busy
right now. I’ll let you know what he says.”

“
Oh you
don’t have to call me. Call Dave Posser, he’s in Basingstoke.
Here’s his number. He’s the man you should see.”

“
Okay,
thanks.”

Bob called
Ken. He had to wait for nearly two minutes before the phone was
picked up.

“
Hello
Ken. Sorry to bother you. Is there something wrong with the phone?
Didn’t you hear the ring?”

“
Yes I
did but I couldn’t just stop what I was working on. And the phone
is in the old office. I leave the doors open so I can hear it but
we’ll have to have an extension in the hall. Ask Lori to call the
phone people about it would you? What did you want?”

“
We-Have-It
said we have to sign an agreement
with them and asked if we could see their sales agent this
week.”

“
No. I
can’t. Can you do it without me?”

“
I don’t
think it would be legal for just one of us to sign the agreement.
He said if we do it this week we could be included in their new
catalogue.”

“
Oh,
God! See if we can do it on Saturday then. Saturday morning, as
early as possible. I want to be free to work here the rest of the
time.”

“
Are
things going wrong?”

“
No, but
they might, so I want to be free in case they do.”

“
All
right. I’ll let you know what they say.”

Dave answered
the phone as soon it rang. Bob told him what he wanted to do.
“Could we meet early on Saturday.”

“
Would
eight o’clock be early enough?”

“
That’d
be perfect. We were told if we sign-on this week you could include
us in your next catalogue.”

“
Yes
that’s right. Then you’d better bring in a description of each of
your items, each wooden toy, and a photograph of each, in colour.
Also their normal retail prices, we’ll work from that to calculate
our rate.”

“
Do we
get a better rate if we make you our sole wholesaler?”

“
We used
to do that but it became unmanageable. Manufacturers find other
ways to sell and it caused problems. So we stopped doing that two
months ago. Do you know that you have to deliver your toys here or
to one of our other warehouses? We don’t collect from
manufacturers.”

“
Yes. I
was told that. We’re in Small End. It’s near Big End, midway
between Bournemouth and Southampton, so that’s why I called
you.”

“
I know
Big End. Had a holiday near there about ten years ago. Nice
place.”

“
Yes.”

“
All
right. I’ll expect you at eight o’clock Saturday morning. Here’s
the warehouse address,” and he read it out. “My office is with the
others at the front of the building. Tell the guards you want to
see me and one of them will take you there.”

Bob walked
into the shop and asked Lori if she could come to the office.

“
Ken
wants a phone extension in the centre hall so could you call the
phone company and arrange that. And we are going to contract
with
We-Have-It Wholesalers
.
They’ll handle our toy distribution. They deliver to everywhere in
Great Britain and will put our toys in their next catalogue. So
could you write a description of each one, listing it’s features,
and its retail price.”

“
I’d
have to think about what to say about each one first.”

“
They
want it this week. Ken and I will see them on Saturday so we want
it by then. We have to include a photo of each and I’ll have Jack
take them. He’ll print copies and you can paste them on the sheet.
Tell him how large they should be.”

“
Jack
uses a digital camera so I could give you a memory stick holding
both the text and the photos. They’d probably prefer that. Should
I?”

“
Er, yes
please Lori. Give us both, just in case. Can you show me what
you’ve written as soon as it’s done?”

“
Yes.
Can you do any deliveries this week? I hope so because there are
lots of requests.”

“
Yes.”

“
Would
you like to go west, north or east? I’ve got three
lists.

“
North,”
he replied. It was much nicer scenery that way. She went to her
desk and found the list for him.

“
It’s a
long one and it’ll probably take three days to go to all of
them.”

“
From
the look of it you’re right. I’ll not be back until Thursday then.
In that case you’d better show the toy descriptions to Ken and ask
him if he thinks they’re okay. I’ll check them on Thursday. And,
Lori, we should have signs at the Centre to show where deliveries
should go. Put a notice by the front door and back door. We’ll also
need a bell at that door to alert Ken or Craig when there’s a
delivery. I’ll tell Ken about the bell and he’ll get Jack or Pat to
put one in. Oh, do we have chairs and a table for the tea room at
the Centre?”

“
Not
yet. They’ve been ordered, and a small fridge, a microwave and a
cupboard for supplies. They’ll be in this week, I hope.”

“
Good.
It looks like you’ve been giving this a lot of thought.”

“
Ken,
Craig and I discuss these things all the time, but we didn’t think
about a notice for the doors or the bell.”

“
That’s
all I can think of. Okay, I’m off to the Centre now.”

He found Ken
and Jack in the far storage room building the last of three big
racks of shelves. He told them about the Saturday arrangements.

“
We
should be back before eleven and I can help you over the weekend if
needed. I’ve asked Lori to write the descriptions of the toys. And,
Jack, can you photograph each of our toys and print them in colour
and give them to Lori. And she’d like a memory stick with the
photos on too.”

“
Aye.
When do you want ‘em,” asked Jack.

“
Could
you do it by Wednesday?”

“
Aye.”

“
Thanks.
Lori will show you what she’s written Ken. You can change it if
needed of course. I’ll be delivering tomorrow and Wednesday so I
can’t look at it until Thursday.”

“
All
right. Did you ask Lori to tell the phone company we need an
extension?”

“
Yes and
we thought there should be a bell by the back door so you know when
there’s a delivery.”

“
I’ve
got one an’ can put it in,” said Jack.

“
Okay,”
said Ken.

“
Well I
think that’s all,” said Bob. “I’m going back to load the van and
take off, unless there’s something I can do here.”

“
No,
we’re nearly done. Then we won’t see you until
Thursday?”

“
No.”

“
Have a
safe trip then. Cheers Bob.”

“‘
Bye
boys. Don’t do too much or you’ll collapse.”

Chapter 28 The factory

Bob filled the
van’s petrol tank at Tim’s and was on his way to Salisbury by eight
thirty Monday morning. Using the shortest route and eating
sandwiches as he drove he was able to deliver sets to thirty seven
shops before six pm. He stayed in the same tiny hotel the far side
of Cardiff that he’d used before. The landlady recognised him and
told him he could have the room at the front for the same price as
before. “I like to do that for my regular customers if no one’s
already taken it. It’s a better view and a bigger room.” Bob
thanked her, thinking this might be his last stay there.

He wondered
what Maria would think of his poem as he ate his fish-and-chip
supper, washing it down with a Guinness. He hoped she’d comment in
her reply. He used the pub’s phone to call Ken after he’d finished,
not to tell him that he had added more shops but to find out what
had been happening in the shop.