Book Distributor - 'shop-at-work' - ANYONE DONE THIS?

Becles

My Dad used to do this with Premier Direct.

His income varied depending on what stock he got sent. Some items just flew out and he couldn't keep up with demand, other times he was sent a load of tat and barely sold a thing. Towards the end it was more tat than decent stuff which was making him think about giving up when they went bust so he had no choice.

The downside is that you have to pay for any items that go missing or get damaged when they are left in customers premises. If 2-3 people are going in from different companies, your stuff gets mixed up with the other people's stuff. He soon learned which companies not to leave things in as stuff went missing too often.

He found the best customers were old people's homes where the residents can't get out to the shops. He sold loads at Christmas and things like cheap childrens books and art sets sold well as people would buy for when their grandchildren visited.

It is a lot of work "behind the scenes". You need a lot of storage space. They have a double garage and it was often so full that you couldn't get the cars in. You also need to factor in loading your van in the morning and emptying it on a night, printing off the price sheets, time spent packing up returns stock and sorting new stock, keeping your accounts and records. As it's self employed, if he had a bad week of selling, he was working for well below the minimum wage.

Overall he enjoyed it at first but was getting down at the end when he was getting the tat to sell which meant he was making little money from it.

Since they went bust, he's now got a part time job home delivering prescriptions for a chemist and he's enjoying the regular pay and hours better.

pebblespop

the book people man who comes to our work drives a book people van - not sure if he owns it or not but there is signwriting all over it.

mrsjanejane

Thanks Becles, that info was really useful. I earn 25k so it is a risk for me. I know if I was unemployed I would definitely try it but just doing my research on iy now as I love buying and selling, even though it is really selling.

mrsjanejane

Becles, how long did your dad do it for?

Becles

He did it for about 3 years.

laughing_cow

Speaking as a customer, my advice for anyone doing this is to be regular, reliable and stick to collections times. We've had several Book People reps visit us for maybe 10 years but the service has always been very erratic. In my small office we would spend at least £50 each time, sometimes up to £150 so you would think the rep would want to come back. However, we've often gone months without visits and I don't think we've had one now for over a year. And when they do visit, they never come and collect the order/bring the books when they say they will, so it's not much help for birthday presents etc where you've got a set date that you need it for. A shame really because it's a good idea.

mrsjanejane

I agree Laughingcow. People at my different offices over the years have bought from some of these distributors but you can go 6months without seeing one.

toasterman

mrsjanejane wrote: »

I agree Laughingcow. People at my different offices over the years have bought from some of these distributors but you can go 6months without seeing one.

I'm reading this thread with interest as I just saw an ad in the paper for becoming a distributor.

I'm currently unemployed, and have been applying for all manner of things, with no success whatsoever. It's extremely rare I even get a rejection letter/email, and I haven't got an interview so far this year!
There's the potential of a couple of months retail somewhere for the summer, but that's it.
I love driving and travelling, and don't really want to get back into my prior field - IT (which is lucky as the work at my level has long since reached saturation point. Too many engineers, not enough work).

My garage occasionally leaks, so probably isn't suitable for this, and my car is small, but all the seats fold flat, and it's so efficient on fuel that I wouldn't mind driving back to my store to get more, before going back out again.
If it took off, I wouldn't be averse to getting a bigger car.
Plus having your mini "warehouse" at a self-storage lockup means you have some reason to get up in the morning and go *somewhere*...like a regular job.

Is there much actual selling involved in this sort of thing?
I'd worry about my confidence level in that respect. When I've seen The Bookpeople, they normally just drop stuff off, and come back to collect the orders. Don't think I've ever actually spoken to anyone from them, and despite the likes of Amazon, etc, they did always have orders for £10-15 minimum, wherever I've seen the order sheet lying in a reception area.

I wouldn't even be against signwriting or magnetic signs. I've done it before to help advertise a local community group, and it was fun people saying "oh I've seen you..with the logos down the side".

Just reading this thread has started ideas for ways I could do it better and that regularity is important, plus stopping your books get muddled with other people's.

Paying tax/national insurance, car insurance is all a given...in any job. Ok someone else normally does tax/ni for you, but other than that - same.
My only major worry I think is that if I started this, I couldn't claim JSA (as I'd be working) even if it wasn't making any money. That said, I might be able to get tax credits while I'm building it.

I'm feeling surprisingly optimistic...anyone got any opinions on why this might be doomed to failure other than competition or anything I've listed already?