Wrong?

[PPEhero]

I know of an independent builders merchant that put some spiel on social media at the start of the lockdown along the lines of ‘we don’t have share holders to impress so we are closing to protect people’s health’ in reality they never shut. They kept the gates closed but a quick phone call and they’d let you in. They only accepted orders from accounts customers these were never booked to the accounts until they reopened, they removed all the stickers from the wagons so as not to be reported I’m assuming, and employed a lot of people that had been furloughed and paid them cash to deal with the extra demand. Been the only open merchant at the time in the area they were cleaning up!

I’m not clued up on it all, but isn’t it just abit wrong?! Has a crime been committed? A lot of people are on there ar5e and they seem to have used the situation to make a killing!

[4Q]

Builders merchants didn’t have to shut during lockdown

[StevieBee]

Perhaps their intention was to shut but demand gave them cause for a re-think and never got round to changing the info on social media or website.

Perhaps they were the only merchant to realise the opportunity.

It sounds like they took appropriate measures to protect everyone.

Cash payment to furloughed workers? Well, I believe they did change the ruling and you could indeed work if you were furloughed. Even if not, it's a bit of faff to furlough someone one week and then take them off the next without knowing if they'd need to do this again the following week.

I wouldn't get too het up about it. Let the Karen's of this world do that!

[PPEhero]

What I’m trying to get at is have they somehow fiddled it and claimed to be shut when they actually haven’t, to somehow benefit them?

I’m not clued up on how or if it could have benefited them just seems strange.Don’t book any goods on accounts until they “reopen” take signage off the wagons, employ extra staff for cash?

I’m not really bothered we’ve just ended up with 2 of there staff as they say they have left due to the above reasons. It’s not just hear say though I know a lot of lads that are customers of there.

Edited by PPEhero on Wednesday 22 July 23:22

[StevieBee]

There's nothing to be gained from saying you're shut but remaining open. Nor is there any law that would apply to this. As stated above, there was no requirement on merchants to shut.

It's not like a pub sneaking in a few regulars which would have been illegal.

If they're taking cash and using cash to buy in stock then it's possible that some of this would be off-book but I can't imagine any local, independent builder's merchants serving local builders would ever stoop to such unprofessional depths, Covid or not!

[KAgantua]

Fair play to them for remaining open, a lot of people did DIY during lockdown and caught up with jobs. With the likes of Wickes / BQ acting like fort knox and telling their customers what they wouldnt sell them, Independent BMs were a boon to me. Live and let live, whats it to you?

[hotchy]

KAgantua said:

Fair play to them for remaining open, a lot of people did DIY during lockdown and caught up with jobs. With the likes of Wickes / BQ acting like fort knox and telling their customers what they wouldnt sell them, Independent BMs were a boon to me. Live and let live, whats it to you?

This. Without an independent place that mixed paint I'd be atleast 3 months behind waiting on 1 pot of paint. Apparently staff at homebase could get coronavirus mixing paint. I wont use them again theyve been that unhelpful.

They also did not need to close, like mcdonalds etc. Did not need to close takeaways yet did. Ridiculous decision.

Edited by hotchy on Thursday 23 July 08:09

[talksthetorque]

Saying you're shut stops all the DIY punters wandering in wanting one brick, or one piece of corner guttering when the cost of serving them one brick is more than the brick, and it reduces the number of people in the shop and you have to Covid sticker your whole site.
I bought 1 ridge tile from a Jewson during lockdown so I realise I'm part of that problem.

Meanwhile send another email to your trade customers so maybe you're only having 50 people repeatedly returning to your shop.

Did they have a clause in their employment contract with you that they neeed your company's permission to take on other paid work?

[A205GTI]

I work within construction and can tell you what happened.

Government say work from home, Builders Merchants decide to announce that they are closing as per guidelines,

Government send letter to them all saying there are classed as Vital industry and have to remain open

Builders merchants reluctantly open following guidelines of Electrical Wholesale.

I admired them for there decision to put people before profits.

[RM]

Most likely reason for pretending to be shut is they furloughed their own staff. So Govt pays their wages whilst they continue to work. They can't book the sales as this would expose the fraud. No way of telling if this is the case, though you can report suspected furlough fraud to HMRC and they will investigate eventually.