With the AGM over for another year, we can
now concentrate on surviving what looks like being a cold and wet winter. But to help us
through the prospect, there is the wonderful time of year that we are rapidly approaching.
The time when even the nastiest of passengers sometimes has a smile on their face. A time
when many problems don’t seem quite as bad as perhaps they looked before - even
though they may even revert back on January 2nd.
But in reality life carries on all around us - be it the 25th of
December or August 29th. Some people have to carry on working. Where would
London be without taxis on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve? Someone has to do it.
And what about shopping? Where would we be without the superstores opening
their doors for ever-later hours. How about Tesco’s?
STORES FOR OUR TIMES?
Yes, HOW about Tesco’s? Can I tell you that Tesco’s worry me. To
all intents and purposes, Tesco’s are there to give the purchaser a better deal -
they tell us that so it must be true! But I worry about Tesco’s and the other giants.
With those stores that we used to consider to be food outlets now opening banks, selling
pensions and doing - apparently - whatever they want, I can’t help wondering when we
will be entering the equation.
When Tesco’s announced that they were going to sell LEVI jeans at a far
reduced price than that which was previously available in clothing outlets, most people
probably cheered. I didn’t exactly jump for joy nor cry out "woe is me". At
the time I couldn’t see what the fuss was about. After all, why should we have to pay
so high a price for a pair of jeans that cost so little to produce? Weren’t clothing
stores just overcharging? The same applied to perfumes and after shaves. Why should we pay
so much?
Then Tesco’s announced that they were to sell televisions and videos etc
at greatly reduced prices. They were going to undercut stores such as Dixons and
Curry’s. So in effect, any small
independent electrical retailers were now totally finished. They may have held out against Dixons by telling the customer that although their prices were ‘slightly’ more expensive, they could give a far better back-up service than could the large electrical chains. But, against a store like Tesco’s they have absolutely no chance of survival.
FROM CORN FLAKES TO WHAT…?
Now Tesco’s have announced that they are to sell cars! Yes real motor
cars! This is a long way from a packet of Corn Flakes (own brand). We can safely assume
that the car industry is going to be battered into submission. How long before
Tesco’s produce their ‘own brand’ cars? Ford UK are already laying off
workers. Perhaps Tesco’s believe that those workers can work on their check-outs.
You may say - with some justification - that stores such as Tesco’s help
to keep prices down. But what of the situation when all the local car dealers have gone
kaput? Will Tesco’s keep the prices down with no competition?
Or perhaps they will branch out yet again from Corn Flakes to jeans to
televisions to cars to what? Well, why not their own cab service? I can see your faces and
read your minds:
"Old Fisher’s been on the Mulberry wine again!" Can you
honestly believe that it is beyond the capability of Tesco’s (or any of the other
giants) to operate their own minicab service? After all, the stores know how much
‘taxi’ work they generate. Why not do it themselves? And let’s be clear
about one thing; if any of the big stores started their own minicab
service, it wouldn’t be just to service their own
store, it would be a fully fledged huge operation supplying numerous drivers in huge
fleets.
Impossible? Last month I would have assumed that Tesco’s selling cars
was impossible. Now we know better.
Only the best will survive. WE must be the best. Not just try to be the best,
but actually be the best. Because only the best will survive the type of world we will be
entering into in about 375 days or so. I always said that I didn’t want to edit a
magazine that preached on and on about coverage. But I am going to break my own rule as a
special Christmas present to myself.
Before you push ‘reject’ take an extra two or three seconds and ask
yourself if you COULD do that job that you were going to refuse. The best will survive and
multiply. But the best are only the best because they are the best! And the best provide a
taxi service where you are guaranteed a cab when you phone up. Remember Tesco’s and
then those two or three seconds….
AND FINALLY…
I would like to wish my very good friend and Editor of London Taxi Times,
Al Fresco, a very happy new year and to assist him by correcting his headline on page 12
of LTT (16th Nov). Writing about the Evening Standard’s article on London
Mayoral Candidate Chas Kissin and ES readers letters on the subject, Al’s headline
says: "What the public think of a ‘Cabbie Mayor for London’ after Eve
Standard ‘nick’ LTT story." Sorry Al, shouldn’t that be :
"What the public think of a ‘Cabbie Mayor for London’ after
Eve Standard ‘nick’ LTT story that they nicked from Call Sign!" But he
is still my friend…!!!
And in the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my
regular and not-so-regular contributors for their time and effort in helping to make Call
Sign what it is. I also wish you all a very merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and a very
happy, healthy and hopefully prosperous new year. And be lucky…
