TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

[RS]

It has been some time now since we heard anything from the DASA guys about what has happened since the AGM. I have waited patiently for information on how things are going to change and how they were going to make it more attractive to be a member and how the benefits would outweigh the ridiculous membership fee that they charge. But nothing has been forthcoming from that quarter so I have to assume that they are still stuck in reverse and going nowhere.

I have always believed that we needs some kind of trade association to improve our lot in this trade, and also to give to support to its members in other areas such as technical advice, legal backing in disputes, training seminars and videos and trade news and innovations.

These are just some of the things I would like to see available from a trade association but I’m sure you will have your own ideas on the matter and I would really like to hear them, such as how much do you think the membership fees should be? What would you call reasonable? What services would you like to see from such a body, would you be willing to join if it fulfilled your needs?

I am tired of waiting for the Promised Land from DASA and think it is about time we thought about something ourselves, if you feel unable to reply on the forum please PM me so I can compile the ideas for further posts on the subject lets get together for the benefit of all not just the elite few.

Together we could make it happen……

Richard Scanlon Snr

[Martin]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

Richard,

I can answer this in one simple sentence:-

Come to the next official UK WHITEGOODS Meeting next month and some if not all of your points will be answered truthfully and sincerely 😉

Martin

[RS]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

Thanks for that Martin but I don’t just want the “official spiel” of what has been cooked up by the admin and such (no offence intended you are doing a good job) what I want is the grass roots views I want to know what the real one man bands would go for and where they feel this could benefit them. If we are going anywhere lets find out some opinions and GET IT RIGHT not wait thirty years to see if it suits. 👿

There is more to this than just saying lets do it, first lets find out how to do it and make a success of it, lets get the views good and bad, and those who don’t want to be seen replying can PM me in confidence and I will put their views forward.

We can make it work together

Richard Scanlon Snr

[Martin]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

POSTSCRIPT

Please can I also add that whilst many on this website possibly have an ‘association with an association’. In my case, I am a member of the Automobile Association as indeed are many who read this. BUT if I have an issue with the AA, it’s best I contact them directly, not on UKW…if you catch my drift 😉

Martin

[kwatt]

Sorry guys, can I just interject that UKW is NOT AND WILL NOT be an official trade association, by it’s very structure it cannot become one. Just in case anyone gets the wrong idea about us replacing DASA which I’ve heard so often.

Just thought I’d clarify that point, please continue. 😉

K.

[RS]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

Martin I am not taking issue with any association, the majority of UKW member are not now and never will be members of DASA as they themselves seem to care less about membership now than ever before.

In my previous posts I have tried to encourage DASA to come clean with the common repairer and give us some cause for joining them but to no avail. We have waited a long time for a decent trade association, one that will represent the majority of repairers not the elite few who could afford their ridiculous fees.

Now we have the technology to do this thing right, we can get information to each other in seconds not months or years, they had their chance and they blew it lets make a fresh start and utilise what we have for a better more progressive future.

Together we can do it

Richard Scanlon Snr

[Martin]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

RS wrote:Together we can do it

Like you Richard, I have taken this path before. I know what you are saying here, but we are in the 21st century now, we must move on, we will move on for the betterment (is that in the dictionary?..ah well) of our trade 😀

“Progressive future” were the words you used and “together we can do it” surely is what UKW is all about.

Stick with me on this 😉

Martin

[admin]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

Regardless of what Dasa does for an individual or as an association there is a universal problem……

and that is of getting more than 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of a group to take an interest.

Whilst I agree with the view of getting to the grass root of the problems, its the hardest opinion to get, without doubt.

We could make a start at our forthcoming meeting by having this conversation put onto the agenda for the Saturday. Those of us who are there will no doubt equal 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of our membership, back to square one.

We don’t have a magic wand here in UKW, we are not able to read your thoughts, but we do have a track record of delivering on subjects.

So, put us to the test…..tell RS what you want, tell us what you want, be it business advice to buying vans, legal help to contract advice, it won’t make us a trade association, just a bunch of guys looking out for one another. Thats worth far more than a Trade Association can offer and at a fraction of the cost.

We have a rule on delivering on the subjects we talk about during our meetings, quite simple really, have a meeting, discuss objectives, go away and deliver. Would be nice to see more than 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of you at Sibson.

Kevin

[kwatt]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

Totally correct Kevin and yet more than 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} will undoubtedly benefit from what we do or attempt to do for the trade as a whole, or at least I hope so.

I would like to see a lot of people there and already there’s quite a few that will be attending one or both meetings and it should be well worth the effort to attend as there’s a fair bit on offer.

I have a thing about meetings you see, I like to ensure that we’ve either done or made the best effort to ensure that we’ve done all that is humanly possible on any topics raised before the next meeting. The reasons are really self evident but the one most important to me is that it shows progress. It is important to me that this is done as a few people know well enough with the grief I’ve given them to get stuff done. 😉

As for a trade association, I have repeatedly said that UKW will never become one and I will stand by that remark ad infinitum. What I do think we’ve done is shed a new light on the notion of helping one another and attempted perhaps to offer something that’s fresh and different with a motivation and just a smidge or self-interest to carry it forward along with some very tangible results for as many as possible. It won’t appeal to everyone and that’s fine, you can’t please all the people all the time and, personally, I realise this fully.

That said, many of the issues facing the small/medium independent business or one-man business are often very similar issues and many of the resolutions are actually the same.

However to come to that conclusion we would have to be informed and that means hearing your opinions, whether I or anyone else agrees with it is not the point, considering the opinion is the point.

The tagline I attached to UKW not long after it went live was “It’s your industry – be a part of it”…

I wasn’t kidding.

K.

[RS]

Re: TRADE ASSOCIATION (OR THE LACK OF)

Thanks guys for those comments but let me put one thing straight here, this was not intended to set UKW up as a trade association that has been made clear by Ken on many posts and it was not (however it may seem) intended to be a lets bash DASA thread either.

I know that many members just joined this site to gain the technical information and help available on here and do not intend to join in any of the threads that are posted on the site but I would just like to see some interest shown in the trade other than a selfish one i.e. just take and don’t give. This issue over the lack of a trade association could be of great importance to us in the future what with the declining value of Whitegoods and the lack of opportunities available to us for reasonably priced training and the lack of organised leadership to put these things in place could see the steady decline of our trade which in my opinion would be a terrible waste.

Now I do not pretend to be a clever chap with all the answers, nor have I the organisational skills to set up anything as complex as a trade association but others on this site have, in fact reading some of the post makes me wonder why these people are doing this job instead of running the country; these are the ones who if given the backing and the opportunity could bring us together, most of these people have served in high positions in such as DASA and industry and really know what is happening in the trade and if they could drop there misplaced loyalties could do a lot of good for us all.

There are more issues in this thread than could ever be sufficiently answered no matter how many replies are posted but it is a start, and I hope it will bring forth some searching opinions and questions to stimulate a good debate on the subject.

We are not too far from the next UKW meeting now so lets get some things brought out for the upper echelon to consider they do a great job of keeping this site going and could prove invaluable in the future to this trade but they have to know what YOU want and the things that are of most relevance to you.

Richard Scanlon Snr

[Penguin45]

Er, what upper echelon Richard? What you see is what you get on UKW and it’s a concensus driven thing. Unfortunately, as you have observed, the concensus doesn’t amount to 10{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the Trade membership, so the way the ship steers is determined by that active group – of which you are a part.

The only echelon bit may be considered the Subscriber Forums, which ultimately exist to give those of us who feel guilty about the huge amount of info we get for free a reason to chip in to the site.

I suspect that you are building up to suggesting the foundation of an alternative Trade body. I don’t have a problem with that, and would be interested in any proposal which arises.

UKW is far more of a flag carrier, lobby group and discussion centre. I would hate to see a manufacturer or work provider or even spares wholesaler being offered “membership” and thus “influence” in a formal set-up. Here at least, you sign up, say what you want and take the consequences. If I want to slag off a product in here I can, and the maker is perfectly entitled to defend themselves and hopefully reasoned debate will ensue. In the other scenario it’s “There goes the corporate membership for next year……..”

I’m very happy with what we’ve got right now, I want to see it grow and I want to see it recognised as an unbiased, independent, crusading body respected by the public, trade and industry alike.

If you’re reading this and you’re NOT joining in – DO SO!

Chris.

[Author]

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