Mundane News

[PeteXXX]

I used to be a milkman for the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society many years ago.
I could multiply just about any number by 5½. Then milk went up to 6p a pint and I was screwed 😂

 

[oldwheels]

Waiting for the snowplough obviously.

Kind of but most likely men with shovels clearing the linkspan and at Lochaline and Fishnish there is a steepish ramp which is certainly covered by frozen snow.
The road to Lochaline was described to me by somebody not frightened by a bit of snow as "really bad" with one long steep hill particularly causing problems.
Panic in some households as the Morrison's supermarket lorry did not make it with their orders. Starvation looms.

 

[oldwheels]

The money grabbers got in there.
I think it was Co Op wholesale Society and Co Op Retail Society. I can still remember my mum's membership number.

I knew a middle manager in the SCWS ie the Scottish coop who was not happy.
Sometime in the 1960's by some subterfuge they were taken over by the CWS based in Manchester.
They immediately set about stripping the assets and closed down all the factories in Scotland and transferred the work to England There was a biscuit factory in Clydebank and a shoe manufacturing plant as well as the department store in Glasgow. There were more but I cannot remember them just now.
Caused much anger but the deed was done and it was all downhill from there.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I used to be a milkman for the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society many years ago.
I could multiply just about any number by 5½. Then milk went up to 6p a pint and I was screwed 😂

I briefly worked at the Arsenal Coop warehouse on Woolwich Church Street, next to the (still functioning) Co-operative funeral care place.

 

[PeteXXX]

I briefly worked at the Arsenal Coop warehouse on Woolwich Church Street, next to the (still functioning) Co-operative funeral care place.

My maternal grandmother worked in the Royal Arsenal (when it was actually an arsenal) during WW1. The noise made her profoundly deaf. She didn't hear another sound for the rest of her life. She died in the 1960`s.

I have a photograph somewhere. I'll have to dig it out!

 

[Gwylan]

I used to be a milkman for the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society many years ago.
I could multiply just about any number by 5½. Then milk went up to 6p a pint and I was screwed 😂

Just divide your 5.5p answer by 11 and add it to the 5 5p answer.
Or you could add 10% of your 5.5p answer to it and round to one decimal place.

Or multiply by 12 and divide by 2.

Or divide by 11 and multiply by 12.

Or use your phone, which seems essential these days for anyone under 50

And yes, it's too cold to go cycling.

 

[Gwylan]

Just divide your 5.5p answer by 11 and add it to the 5 5p answer.
Or you could add 10% of your 5.5p answer to it and round to one decimal place.

Or multiply by 12 and divide by 2.

Or divide by 11 and multiply by 12.

Or use your phone, which seems essential these days for anyone under 50

And yes, it's too cold to go cycling.

Hang on, I need a calculator

 

[tom73]

The Co-op has been going downhill for years, at one time they owned factories and farms for instance in Enderby (where I'm from) there was a boot and shoe factory that employed hundreds, there was also a department store that sold pretty much everything from carpets to washing machines, stereos, televisions, menswear/ladies wear, haberdashery wool (and patterns) with also a separate set of shops including a bakery, greengrocers and a butchers even a bank. all gone now.
Mind you it is possible to stand outside one Co-op (part of the old department store) and look across the road and up the hill a bit to see another Co-op that was formerly a Summerfields but they won't shut that for fear of Lidl/Aldi moving in as competition.

Which is the very problem none of it made any money once standard pricing was done away with in the 60's. The history of the coop and wider movement is way to too long for here. Which in turn affected the business side the coop some which is very complex. Add in big money men and governments being very anti to mutual societies. It's a wander the coop ever got off the ground. Take the very 1st shop had to use the candles it sold to light to shop after the mill owners had the gas cut off. Fast forward to the days of CWS being left to deal with indpentant societies going bust all over the place and CRS was born to take them over. Fast forward to the 80's both CEO hated each other. Leading to CRS total split with new brand and buying group. Both still being federal societies had a board made up of smaller societies. Bit like tesco having aldi and co on the board. Due to history and take overs both CWS and CRS had massive money issues and trading ones. When I 1st actively got involved with any of it the 1st set of yet to be published accounts showed CRS losses over £170m
thats was not uncommon. Fast forward a bit both CEO gone CRS and CWS came to together and the group was born. A successful rebrand which at the time was the biggest in corporate history. In food alone we turned around stores over night inc total refits. But still too many members and some elected ones still hung onto the old days. The clover leaf logo "caring sharing coop" of the 60's. They never got to see the store data I did, the money pouring out the door. They failed to see without a good business you can't do the other stuff. Many of us elected members who had a business interest and membership one. Worked hard with new fresh out side management to change things and it was hard going at times. But many areas had been poorly managed for too long ,some even being victims to management fraud. Some being too small to compete. It was alway sad to decide a store had to close down inc ones in my area and the knock on effect it has. What was left in the 2000's began to recover then came the US mortgage bubble. The coop board took an ethical decision (and a right one) that no public money was used to keep the bank going. So more of the group went to pay for it , which brings us to now and a very much smaller (but equally bigger food one) and more focused business. Being ethical and a mutual make it even harder to stay in business. Do I think todays group is going every thing right, no, do I think it's still a bit lost , yes.

 

[tom73]

I knew a middle manager in the SCWS ie the Scottish coop who was not happy.
Sometime in the 1960's by some subterfuge they were taken over by the CWS based in Manchester.
They immediately set about stripping the assets and closed down all the factories in Scotland and transferred the work to England There was a biscuit factory in Clydebank and a shoe manufacturing plant as well as the department store in Glasgow. There were more but I cannot remember them just now.
Caused much anger but the deed was done and it was all downhill from there.

Funny enough a Scottish society brought down our local one which at time was one the best one in the country.
The 2 chairmen being very good friends meant the two societies had good links but no money was ever invested in it.
The Scottish one went bust this lead local members bringing about a run on our society. Leading to large about of money being paid out I know someone who worked in the membership office. They said it all went mad with so members turning up closing accounts. They had 1000's of passbooks all over the floor. Finely it got too much and within days on the Friday 5:00 it closed and on Monday morning open as CRS having effectively gone bust.
The chairman never got over what happened and his part in it he killed himself in a local reservoir.

 

[Speicher]

Have I got this right?
They are now going to send the Post Office and Fujitsu bosses to Rwanda?

They have sent some Government bods but I do not think they will stay.

 

[PeteXXX]

Just divide your 5.5p answer by 11 and add it to the 5 5p answer.
Or you could add 10% of your 5.5p answer to it and round to one decimal place.

Or multiply by 12 and divide by 2.

Or divide by 11 and multiply by 12.

Or use your phone, which seems essential these days for anyone under 50

And yes, it's too cold to go cycling.

Hang on, I need a calculator

It was before mobile phones.. In fact, I didn't even have a landline.. Total reliance on GPO telephone boxes!

 

[tyred]

It was before mobile phones.. In fact, I didn't even have a landline.. Total reliance on GPO telephone boxes!

 

[oldwheels]

Temperature still below freezing and my car thermometer said -4.6C when I was out this morning. some gritting had been done but large bits had not and the last bit up to the surgery looked like it had been done by hand.
The post office driver said the road to the ferry where she picks up another van to bring the mail back here was "not funny" which translates as bl----y awful since that is a daily run for her every working day.
Suddenly got dark and looking out it is snowing heavily.
School has been cancelled and the golf course will be crowded as that is a local sledging spot. The local shop advertised yesterday that they had sledges in stock and today they announce they have sold out.
Had a long chat with Michelle in the Calmac office regarding the ticketing problems and we agreed that the old days when you got a ticket valid for a month on any ferry was far better than the computerised chaos we now have.

 

[biggs682]

Ice station zebra destination reached

 

[tom73]

afternoon dog walk nice to be out in the sun on what would be a nice bright winters day. If not for the bitter freezing chill in the air.
Much of the ground is still frozen from over night penetrating ground frost. Time for a warm up and , due of tesco delivery hoping they hurry up with a text on the time. Cant do anything till I know which part of time slot it is.