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Re: Are you busy?
We have had a patchy few months, some weeks very good with a increase in finished goods being sold but taking the last quarter into consideration there are not so many calls coming in. We are seeing a marginal increase in spares sales where customers are attempting their own repairs and if I hear one more telephone enquiry where the call starts off, right our dishwasher is not working right and we saw on You Tube how to fix it but it’s still not going, do you come out for free !!
Speaking to other businesses owners I know they are also seeing a big slowdown in sales and services so it’s not just our trade. With the media banging on about prices increasing due to brexit, currency fluctuations and the moon being in the wrong orbit we are probably all looking at our turnovers and running costs. With the Government increasing business rates, the national Minimum wage, cash strap councils increasing council taxes and car parking charges in our area the latter a 133{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} increase there’s pressure on people’s finances from all quarters. Our Rubbish Collections are being increased by 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} and of course we are seeing increases in spares costs. What we are not seeing is small businesses increasing their costs and our Labour Rates are pegged at 2015 prices as to increase them could jeopardise what work is coming in and of course there’s always some local Johhny who will do a free call out hoping to make a quick buck changing a set of brushes and who tell the customer the machine is not worth fixing if the fault takes longer than 10 minutes to locate or a built in appliance they walk away.
We are operating in turbulent times and just maybe as we no longer have a UK manufacturing base of Appliance manufactures with all appliances coming from the EU that prices of these are increased to a point where make do and mend reappears but then again it could all be relative numbers.
Re: Are you busy?
looking at the meager amount of post over the last few days I suspect that for the rest of you like me work has dried up yet again.
wilf
Re: Are you busy?
Just ticking over at the minute. Not busy but enough for a days work. It is nearing the end of the month and i’m sure more and more people are waiting to be paid before calling these days.
Re: Are you busy?
Out of curiosity I wonder if there is a gauge on how the year pans out across the trade like January busy February slowing down march nothing etc and if different regions have different busy and slow times.
PhilRe: Are you busy?
I know here in the north west for me, it starts to slow down in March, April and May and starts to pick up towards the end on June. This year has been particularly noticeable from other years though.
Re: Are you busy?
It appears that in talking to various suppliers and reps that trade has slowed significantly and certainly we are down 34{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} on the last two years comparing the same weeks and months. When you look at other businesses like Sainsburys, M&S they are also reporting significant downturns so my view is that the slowdown/downturn is cross sectional with both the retail and service sectors.
It’s a worrying time for many I would guess and with Brexi the General Election both being hammered by the daily media people are being very cautious. The current warm weather also means people are either out and about, or not using dryers and so much cooking. Either way none of which helps us lot !
Re: Are you busy?
Yes, been hearing much the same from a number of quarters lately and, we have been quiet as well.
K.
Re: Are you busy?
In one way its nice to know that the climate of trade is slowed across us, its also interesting that from people working on their own to larger businesses and bearing in mind we all have different ways of running our businesses that the current trend is across these business types. Thats the negative out of the way but on a positive vibe I wonder how you all place any advertising you might have.
Currently we operate in a densly populated area and have a mix of compeditors from the guys working from vans to those with a retail front through to the nationals. Advertising wise we are well represented on line with our own website, Yell. Com, Facebook, multiple directories, other social media and still Yellow Pages. Despite this I am surprised that in such a densly populated area that we do not get more service calls even when you think that as part of the cake which is split between customers who have extended warranties, service plans, those who just scrap and buy cheap, to the customers who buy better quality appliances and will spend that there is not more work.
We have lived through all the major recessions and normally at such times historically we see make do and mend but it feels different this time. Having said all this since a week ago Monday we have been flat out until this morning and now its as if someone has thrown a switch and this cycle has been repeated a number of times this last six months.
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