Has anyone made any changes recently with a view to helping the UK economy?

RenovationMan

I have a job that pays more tax into the system than I get back in benefits/services.

I bought a house in May and paid £13,500 in stamp duty.

That should pay a tiny bit of it down.

Orpheo

Right now I'm doing what is immediately best for the local economy. By "local" I'm referring to no further than my front door.

tersus_slate

fc123 wrote: »

Nice sentiment but too little too late guys.


......after abandoning niche retailing due to rising fixed costs to trade and fed up with battling unfair corp behaviour (after 20+ years) I now trade within the corporate machine (so I must be good right?) as I figured this is the way to go...and financially it is a no brainer.
I justified it to myself that I was still trading in a worthy way as I manufacture everything here in the UK...but you know what? After todays disasters (a no show delivery from 1 factory...it's going to be a week late despite assurances on Weds it was all to schedule and a dire error from the other.....the stock had to come off sale tonight in corpland......they thought ''oh she won't notice'''....well I did) I have had enough.

I cannot trade with factories that act like it's bluddy 1953 and cannot even open a word doc (as no software) or pics (as on dial up and it takes too long) and act like I will just put up with it.

So.....I am going off shore..that's IT for me...and as for all the people that still message me as to why we closed our shop as they miss us? The greed of the landowners knows no bounds it seems.....and my old store of 11 years is still empty BTW.

A Ranting night for me as I feel choked and suffocated by it all

Happens in music too. Matt Cardley moved me with his singing on X Factor of 'The First time''......I caught it by chance and it made me shiver. So I go to You tube and the bloke has been plugging it away for years it seems. He has a band Seven Candles amazing song then there's one of him in a pub being interrupted by inbreddy types singing Thriller and it made me feel....I just felt really sad.

Kind of summed up the Asda culture we now exist in .:(

like, totally.

Procrastinator333

Pennywise wrote: »

Re MBAs and career managers - couldn't agree more. I spent 2 years as finance director of a growing high tec design & manufacture firm. I'd been their accountant for years. All the "managers" at first where people who'd worked their way up through the ranks - the business grew, almost doubling every year, highly profitable, happy customers, etc. Then the owners wanted to wind down and they put in a career MD - he immediately started to replace the home grown managers with graduates - the home-growns were marginalised and most left - customer happiness took a nose dive - suddenly deadlines were missed, goods were rejected, etc. Within 2 years, the company was on its knees. Trouble was that the "on paper" targets the new MD had set were being met - trouble was none of the targets were customer focussed - they were all artificial internal targets that the managers created and managed themselves. I lived through it, I saw the damage being done by the career managers who'd probably not even know where the shop floor was, never mind what happened there. Things got so bad, it was sold out to a competitor who immediately sacked all the management and asbsorbed the design office and shop floor into its own management structure - within a year, customer service was back to prior levels and the company was highly successful again. Someone with real life experience at the coal face is worth a dozen graduates who've only ever learned from academics - it's a lesson that the Uk has failed to learn.

In some cases. And in others it is those who have been "at the coal face" who won't change their views or ways of doing things just like in your previous example who are the problem.

There are worthless graduates
There are worthless "at the coal face" managers

It also sounds like the issue was a crap MD, not the others who were hitting the targets they had been set.

ILW

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

In some cases. And in others it is those who have been "at the coal face" who won't change their views or ways of doing things just like in your previous example who are the problem.

There are worthless graduates
There are worthless "at the coal face" managers

It also sounds like the issue was a crap MD, not the others who were hitting the targets they had been set.

It appears they were setting their own targets.

fc123

Pennywise wrote: »

So many points to agree with here.

People WILL pay for better customer service - trouble is a lot of firms can't see it. My customers could get the job done cheaper but they stay with me - for quality of customer service. Just last year, I put up my prices for a batch of client by about 25% - only 1 walked away!

Re UK manufacturing, yes, it's dire. I completely agree about lack of service and lack of IT. One of my clients who's just gone bankrupt had manufactured kitchen units for about 30 years. When MFI took over the market, he whinged about them taking his trade. When MFI went bankrupt, he whinged about taxes being to blame for his losses (why worry about tax he wasn't liable to pay as he was making losses is a mystery!). When he first became I client, I tried my best to give him advice, but he always had a come-back as to why he couldn't do it. He didn't even have a website. He didn't have any printed brochures. He had absolutely zilch marketing. The quality was exceptional and the price was right, but he just couldn't sell and he was his own worst enemy - an hour spent with him and you wanted to go and jump onto the fastlane - and he was the salesman! But when it went bankrupt, it was everyone else's fault! In reality, it was his - he just couldn't move on from being successful 30 years ago - just couldn't adapt and change.

Re MBAs and career managers - couldn't agree more. I spent 2 years as finance director of a growing high tec design & manufacture firm. I'd been their accountant for years. All the "managers" at first where people who'd worked their way up through the ranks - the business grew, almost doubling every year, highly profitable, happy customers, etc. Then the owners wanted to wind down and they put in a career MD - he immediately started to replace the home grown managers with graduates - the home-growns were marginalised and most left - customer happiness took a nose dive - suddenly deadlines were missed, goods were rejected, etc. Within 2 years, the company was on its knees. Trouble was that the "on paper" targets the new MD had set were being met - trouble was none of the targets were customer focussed - they were all artificial internal targets that the managers created and managed themselves. I lived through it, I saw the damage being done by the career managers who'd probably not even know where the shop floor was, never mind what happened there. Things got so bad, it was sold out to a competitor who immediately sacked all the management and asbsorbed the design office and shop floor into its own management structure - within a year, customer service was back to prior levels and the company was highly successful again. Someone with real life experience at the coal face is worth a dozen graduates who've only ever learned from academics - it's a lesson that the Uk has failed to learn.

Fab post.......your kitchen man sounds like my garment manufacturer man.....and, after 2 years...I give up on him. He does a good job on the actual making....the rest is now too much of a PITA for me........he just cannot get his head around modern day supply time lines. I don't give him a delivery date...I make a docket and ask (really nicely) when can you deliver this?

fc123

tersus_slate wrote: »

like, totally.

I really hope you are being nice here..........or I will lose faith in all of humankind for good

DervProf

Right.

I`ve been ranting on about lower property prices for ages.

I reckon (and I might be wrong, but I`m not) that the less we have to pay for our shelter, the more we can invest in our businesses. The more we invest in our businesses, the better the prospects for the UK economy.

We need to........

Build more houses.

Ban property !!!!!!.

Gag Hamish.

Do some real work, instead of relying on property to make us a living.

nearlynew

DervProf wrote: »

Right.

I`ve been ranting on about lower property prices for ages.

I reckon (and I might be wrong, but I`m not) that the less we have to pay for our shelter, the more we can invest in our businesses. The more we invest in our businesses, the better the prospects for the UK economy.

We need to........

Build more houses.

Ban property !!!!!!.

Gag Hamish.

Do some real work, instead of relying on property to make us a living.

Apart from the building more houses, banning property !!!!!! and gagging McTittish, I agree.

DervProf

nearlynew wrote: »

Apart from the building more houses, banning property !!!!!! and gagging McTittish, I agree.

Why not build more houses ? We need them (so i`m told).