I am sure that members will be pleased to
know that this year's figures have continued where they left off at the
end of the last one. This is good news for several reasons, namely:
It reduces any pressure to significantly raise subscriptions. It will
limit the amounts which we may borrow to finance new terminals and it
maintains the reputation of DaC in it's market place as a reliable and
soundly managed and financed organisation.
Staff and members may be positively influenced by being
associated with a successful and prosperous company. All of these are
factors which enhance the standing and trading strength of the Society and
only indirectly affect members, but they are nonetheless positive
spin-offs from running a profitable and well-financed business.
The effect of new entrants to the personal transport market
and on how we do business still remain to be seen and I am not entirely
optimistic that we shall escape without suffering some damage. Whilst we
are constituted to serve exclusively the driver members' interests, we are
at odds with most other industries where organisations are focused on
serving the paying customer. The Board therefore, have to perform a
balancing act when considering the best way to manage the business. Too
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emphasis on the paying customers' requirements incurs the wrath of at least
some of the members and the converse gives all the wrong messages to those who
ultimately pay the Society's way and put work into the members' vehicles and
the trade as a whole.
To maintain this balancing act at a time when there is growing
competitive pressure is a problem and it is possible that tough decisions will
be made in the interests of the long term rather than the immediate future.
As is usual in a 'club' type entity, this will not be easy to
carry out but I hope that the needs of the organisation and the possibly silent
majority will prevail over the views of a vociferous few.
Vision and an analysis of where the trade and DaC need to go will
dictate its future strategies which will require steady nerves and courage to
put before the members for endorsement. Anything else would be to abdicate the
responsibilities of office.
Alastair Hill
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JUST WONDERING...
With Nuala Glavin-Davis
Join Nuala on her monthly trip to the world of the
imponderable! This month, the lovely Ms Glavin-Davis looks at Great Britain
to decide just how great it is...
Only in Britain can a pizza get to your house faster than an
ambulance...
Only in Britain are there handicap parking places in front of a skating
rink...
Only in Britain do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the
back of the store to pick up their prescriptions while healthy people can
buy cigarettes at the front...
Only in Britain do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a diet
coke...
Only in Britain do banks leave both doors open but chain the pens to the
counters...
Only in Britain do we leave cars worth thousands of pounds on the drive and
put our junk in the garage...
Only in Britain do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have
'call waiting' so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk
to in the first place...
Only in Britain can we buy hot dogs in packs of ten and buns in packs of
eight...
Only in Britain do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process of
Government. 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking
creatures'...
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