The death of the high street.

[bloomen]

wc98 said:

completely o/t but i can never understand that attitude from blokes. surely the majority of blokes have an interest in engines and engineering,at least at some point? anyone that has seen an engine in pieces surely has to grasp the sheer effort that goes into producing it. from the raw material production to the design,engineering and manufacture. maybe just me but when i look at something like a crankcase ,crank or valve train it looks like a work of art. i think it is a horrific waste of resources, both human and raw material wise, the ease in which it is discarded these days.

You can appreciate the effort but still bin it if it becomes uneconomic. And it's not as if it's thrown away. Much of it works its way back into other cars or materials.

All the same keeping a Lamborghini Diablo going is a vastly better environmental move than ordering a brand new Tesla. Weird how rarely that occurs to people.

It's miraculous you can obtain a serviceable second hand car for less than a week or two's wage. That would be beyond unimaginable to people in other countries and times.

[wisbech]

One thing that Amazon has going - they are obsessive & happy to vertically integrate. I e in the US they have their own airline for cargo (as well as using Fedex/ UPS)

Came across this after a datacentre failure. Turns out that Amazon had discovered the issue some time before, and decided the answer was to build their own power switches.

And obviously AWS is the market leader in providing cloud infrastructure

[Lemming Train]

wisbech said:

One thing that Amazon has going - they are obsessive & happy to vertically integrate. I e in the US they have their own airline for cargo (as well as using Fedex/ UPS)

Came across this after a datacentre failure. Turns out that Amazon had discovered the issue some time before, and decided the answer was to build their own power switches.

And obviously AWS is the market leader in providing cloud infrastructure

Amazon don't have their own airline. It's all Atlas Air and Air Transport Intl metal on lease.

[egor110]

wc98 said:

powerstroke said:

Maybe 10 years ago when people bought cars and traded ones in they own , not now !! people are renting sorry PCPing
and see a car as a monthly bill the only thing that will save it is if interest rates jump or the economy tanks , volume cars are a throwaway item just like a washing machine just stand at the gates of any scrap yard and see perfectly useable cars with minor faults being binned ....

completely o/t but i can never understand that attitude from blokes. surely the majority of blokes have an interest in engines and engineering,at least at some point? anyone that has seen an engine in pieces surely has to grasp the sheer effort that goes into producing it. from the raw material production to the design,engineering and manufacture. maybe just me but when i look at something like a crankcase ,crank or valve train it looks like a work of art. i think it is a horrific waste of resources, both human and raw material wise, the ease in which it is discarded these days.

when i was younger i thought by now we would be close to being able to buy a car for life. it would appear the watermelon greenwash brigade has knocked that idea on the head for good. would bet a pound to a penny it could be done where the lifetime carbon footprint would piss all over the current rent,recycle, rent trend as well.

You are joking re the eco types keeping us out of a car for life ?

Do you seriously think any car maker is interested in selling us only one car .

[krunchkin]

If you live in a larger city or town it’s easy to be ignorant of just how knackered some of our high streets are. I went back to my hometown last weekend for a festive catchup with some old friends and popped into the town centre (Bedford) and it’s like a George Romero zombie film. Whole streets and arcades that are 70-80 percent boarded up. Even the fking Greggs has closed down! I don’t know what it’s going to take for local councils like this one to actually get to the point where they realise the current model isn’t working.

[grumbledoak]

krunchkin said:

I don’t know what it’s going to take for local councils like this one to actually get to the point where they realise the current model isn’t working.

I am quite sure they know it isn't working. They are already doing what they always do when policies are disastrous. They don't admit it, they never apologize, and they try to keep it out of the news until they retire!

[eltawater]

krunchkin said:

If you live in a larger city or town it’s easy to be ignorant of just how knackered some of our high streets are. I went back to my hometown last weekend for a festive catchup with some old friends and popped into the town centre (Bedford) and it’s like a George Romero zombie film. Whole streets and arcades that are 70-80 percent boarded up. Even the fking Greggs has closed down! I don’t know what it’s going to take for local councils like this one to actually get to the point where they realise the current model isn’t working.

The Greggs hasn't closed down, it's just moved into the Harpur Centre. The Arcade and Church Arcade have always had fairly transient tenants due to them being aimed at the independent traders rather than the chains, and they now also have St Cuthberts Arcade next to The Higgins to trade from. The loss of BHS precipitated a fair bit of reshuffling along the high street as some stores either moved along a few units or moved into the Harpur Centre itself.

Bedford Borough Council have at least taken some steps over the past year to help a bit by introducing 2 hours free parking on a Saturday and all day Sunday in Council controlled car parks.

[gizlaroc]

Lemming Train said:

Thanks . I am surprised at your lack of concern if I'm honest, but I guess if you are already making healthy profits from the (presumably) considerable mark-up on your branded items then you don't have any worries as things stand right now. With the rapidly changing ways that people shop I do wonder for how long your 'High Street only' business model is sustainable though. Of course I fully understand your reasons for not selling online as you've already highlighted in your posts above, but relying on passing trade and people actually travelling to you is a risky strategy and you are limiting your market by the distance people are prepared to travel. I could understand that if you were selling a niche product with very limited competition AND also a product that doesn't lend itself well to being sold online but from what I can see none of those elements apply to your business. I genuinely hope that your local Facebook advertising and your mailing list generates enough business to 'see' you through to your retirement but my arse would be starting to nip a bit if I were in your position.

It is far from easy, and I'm really not being blasé about it, I have said time and time again that it is our industry that is causing the most damage to itself.
We have the wrong product at the wrong time, and that needs to change.

I'm actually meeting up with some government officials in the New Year to discuss trying to get something in place to hep the whole industry moving forward.

I just have to be careful about what I put on forums etc. about my plans and how we are changing our business going forward as it will affect other businesses around me, and not sure who reads these forums.

I will have to make lots of changes in the coming years and it will not be easy.
The property is my pension, I'm 45 now, and I would like to get it all paid off in the next 11 years if possible, that then gives me some serious options.

We were shafted by the bank back in 2010, and we are still recovering from that, I have discussed that before on here. Retailing is tough, I would never pretend otherwise.
I'm in the process of starting a new business to earn what I need to be earning, which may be up and running next year, we have just sourced investors who love the idea and when that is up and running that will allow me to take some pressure off the retail business.
But I agree with you, those retailers who just think "things will be OK" will be far from OK.

[98elise]

bloomen said:

wc98 said:

completely o/t but i can never understand that attitude from blokes. surely the majority of blokes have an interest in engines and engineering,at least at some point? anyone that has seen an engine in pieces surely has to grasp the sheer effort that goes into producing it. from the raw material production to the design,engineering and manufacture. maybe just me but when i look at something like a crankcase ,crank or valve train it looks like a work of art. i think it is a horrific waste of resources, both human and raw material wise, the ease in which it is discarded these days.

You can appreciate the effort but still bin it if it becomes uneconomic. And it's not as if it's thrown away. Much of it works its way back into other cars or materials.

All the same keeping a Lamborghini Diablo going is a vastly better environmental move than ordering a brand new Tesla. Weird how rarely that occurs to people.

It's miraculous you can obtain a serviceable second hand car for less than a week or two's wage. That would be beyond unimaginable to people in other countries and times.

This is the crux of the problem. A modern car has may single points of failure that just make it uneconomic to fix Vs buying a replacement.

A DMF clutch on a Mondeo can be over a grand to fix, that's a wearing item you expect to need replacement few times in the cars life. DPF's are even worse, and will cause the premature death of many a car. LED headlights can cost over 1k to replace instead of a £5 bulb from the local garage. Some cars now have the clutch cylinder in the bell housing so a simple seal failure is an gearbox out job.

Why would you spend that sort of money on a car when you can scrap it and buy another for less money.

[Carrot]

98elise said:

bloomen said:

wc98 said:

completely o/t but i can never understand that attitude from blokes. surely the majority of blokes have an interest in engines and engineering,at least at some point? anyone that has seen an engine in pieces surely has to grasp the sheer effort that goes into producing it. from the raw material production to the design,engineering and manufacture. maybe just me but when i look at something like a crankcase ,crank or valve train it looks like a work of art. i think it is a horrific waste of resources, both human and raw material wise, the ease in which it is discarded these days.

You can appreciate the effort but still bin it if it becomes uneconomic. And it's not as if it's thrown away. Much of it works its way back into other cars or materials.

All the same keeping a Lamborghini Diablo going is a vastly better environmental move than ordering a brand new Tesla. Weird how rarely that occurs to people.

It's miraculous you can obtain a serviceable second hand car for less than a week or two's wage. That would be beyond unimaginable to people in other countries and times.

This is the crux of the problem. A modern car has may single points of failure that just make it uneconomic to fix Vs buying a replacement.

A DMF clutch on a Mondeo can be over a grand to fix, that's a wearing item you expect to need replacement few times in the cars life. DPF's are even worse, and will cause the premature death of many a car. LED headlights can cost over 1k to replace instead of a £5 bulb from the local garage. Some cars now have the clutch cylinder in the bell housing so a simple seal failure is an gearbox out job.

Why would you spend that sort of money on a car when you can scrap it and buy another for less money.

Exactly why I got rid of my TDCi Mondeo back in 2004. It had 100k miles, was running really well but the DMF was very much on it's way out.

Car worth £800 - £1k, DMF at the time was £1400 to replace.

[snuffy]

grumbledoak said:

krunchkin said:

I don’t know what it’s going to take for local councils like this one to actually get to the point where they realise the current model isn’t working.

I am quite sure they know it isn't working. They are already doing what they always do when policies are disastrous. They don't admit it, they never apologize, and they try to keep it out of the news until they retire!

Council's subscribe to the "if it's not working we need to do it even more" school of thinking. So their policy's are not wrong (in their head), they just need to apply them even more.

[garagewidow]

Carrot said:

98elise said:

bloomen said:

wc98 said:

completely o/t but i can never understand that attitude from blokes. surely the majority of blokes have an interest in engines and engineering,at least at some point? anyone that has seen an engine in pieces surely has to grasp the sheer effort that goes into producing it. from the raw material production to the design,engineering and manufacture. maybe just me but when i look at something like a crankcase ,crank or valve train it looks like a work of art. i think it is a horrific waste of resources, both human and raw material wise, the ease in which it is discarded these days.

You can appreciate the effort but still bin it if it becomes uneconomic. And it's not as if it's thrown away. Much of it works its way back into other cars or materials.

All the same keeping a Lamborghini Diablo going is a vastly better environmental move than ordering a brand new Tesla. Weird how rarely that occurs to people.

It's miraculous you can obtain a serviceable second hand car for less than a week or two's wage. That would be beyond unimaginable to people in other countries and times.

This is the crux of the problem. A modern car has may single points of failure that just make it uneconomic to fix Vs buying a replacement.

A DMF clutch on a Mondeo can be over a grand to fix, that's a wearing item you expect to need replacement few times in the cars life. DPF's are even worse, and will cause the premature death of many a car. LED headlights can cost over 1k to replace instead of a £5 bulb from the local garage. Some cars now have the clutch cylinder in the bell housing so a simple seal failure is an gearbox out job.

Why would you spend that sort of money on a car when you can scrap it and buy another for less money.

Exactly why I got rid of my TDCi Mondeo back in 2004. It had 100k miles, was running really well but the DMF was very much on it's way out.

Car worth £800 - £1k, DMF at the time was £1400 to replace.

The constant rise in technology will in itself become a victim of its own success.

[Bullett]

Technology relies on churn to sell more tech, built in obsolescence.
Smart TV's with apps that are no longer supported is a good example.

I recently purchased a digital mixer (live music mixing desk) it uses an ipad or other device as the interface rather than a load of knobs and sliders. There are a few out there but I was aware that apps stop working. My old analogue desk is 15 years old and still works like new, people are using desks much older. These digital ones will work as long as the app works which is why I picked one that was browser based rather than app based as the underlying tech will remain good.

[C70R]

sparkythecat said:

I think you need to move.

Believe it or not, the shopping utopia that you describe actually exists........in the provincial towns of northern France

Where nothing opens on a Sunday. Or a Wednesday. And only opens half-days on a Monday, because they feel like it.
"Utopia" indeed.

[snuffy]

My TV died on New Year's day. So I spent hours selecting a new one (just how much choice do you need ?!). I tried Amazon and the earliest they could deliver was today (Friday). Same with Currys/PCWorld. So no TV for a few days then.

But then a checked Argos, and they had the one I wanted in stock and could deliver it the next morning. And they were the same price as Amazon.

Argos really seem to have got it together.

[Carrot]

snuffy said:

My TV died on New Year's day. So I spent hours selecting a new one (just how much choice do you need ?!). I tried Amazon and the earliest they could deliver was today (Friday). Same with Currys/PCWorld. So no TV for a few days then.

But then a checked Argos, and they had the one I wanted in stock and could deliver it the next morning. And they were the same price as Amazon.

Argos really seem to have got it together.

Indeed - argos is always my second delivery choice.

[R4PID]

C70R said:

Where nothing opens on a Sunday. Or a Wednesday. And only opens half-days on a Monday, because they feel like it.
"Utopia" indeed.

Sounds heavenly.

[So]

I am having lunch in Tunbridge Wells. Happily the high street appears to be thriving. I am not sure about the whole or the town, but the high Street definitely.

[snuffy]

R4PID said:

C70R said:

Where nothing opens on a Sunday. Or a Wednesday. And only opens half-days on a Monday, because they feel like it.
"Utopia" indeed.

Sounds heavenly.

A while ago some place opened in Chester that was trying appeal to the knit your own yogurt/hipster beardy type of customer. But it's opening hours where something like 11 AM to 8 PM. Hmm, I recall thinking, if they want to sell that type of food they need to be opening early to catch people going to work and also who wants a lentil and quinoa free trade bean burger at 8 in the evening after they have been to the pub ? It looked to me that they had set their opening hours to suit them and not their potential customers.

And 6 months it was gone. I wonder why ?

[V8 Fettler]

wc98 said:

powerstroke said:

Maybe 10 years ago when people bought cars and traded ones in they own , not now !! people are renting sorry PCPing
and see a car as a monthly bill the only thing that will save it is if interest rates jump or the economy tanks , volume cars are a throwaway item just like a washing machine just stand at the gates of any scrap yard and see perfectly useable cars with minor faults being binned ....

completely o/t but i can never understand that attitude from blokes. surely the majority of blokes have an interest in engines and engineering,at least at some point? anyone that has seen an engine in pieces surely has to grasp the sheer effort that goes into producing it. from the raw material production to the design,engineering and manufacture. maybe just me but when i look at something like a crankcase ,crank or valve train it looks like a work of art. i think it is a horrific waste of resources, both human and raw material wise, the ease in which it is discarded these days.

when i was younger i thought by now we would be close to being able to buy a car for life. it would appear the watermelon greenwash brigade has knocked that idea on the head for good. would bet a pound to a penny it could be done where the lifetime carbon footprint would piss all over the current rent,recycle, rent trend as well.

Two weeks later .... Series Land Rover