What's going to collapse next...

[spygirl]

DOne my pre work walk.

Back in time to here Frances O conor Union, and David Willets spaz faced moron.

Frances - There wont be any less jobs as shopping moves online ...

What? Are you a fucking moron???

Retail was one of the most inefficient sectors - 100ks of people stood around doing fuck all Mon-Fri. Huge rents and rates for basically air.

Online, you have warehouses up the motorways, warehouses stack up to the ceilings with goods and a few robots/people packing stuff.

What will happen to retail is fucking simple - most will up wiping arses in carehomes.

YOu cant blame amzon. Having a sector that employs a lot of people when youve had hefty rises in minium wges and real estate costs is only going to go one way FFS.

 

 

 

 

[spygirl]

Phillip Day. Again.

Bonmarche

Hooray!!!!!!!

 

Few hours later ... 

Bonmarché falls into administration

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55159180

[sancho panza]

1 hour ago, spygirl said:

Phillip Day. Again.

Bonmarche

Hooray!!!!!!!

 

Few hours later ... 

Bonmarché falls into administration

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55159180

Uncanny.

Obviosuly using cloud cover of Arcadia,noone will notice.

It's surreal,I do a few night shifts and half the High st disappears..

Edited December 2, 2020 by sancho panza

[sancho panza]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13354070/philip-green-arcardia-group-taxpayer-cash/

SIR Philip Green’s Arcadia group went bust just hours before having to pay taxpayers tens of millions of pounds.

Tough new HMRC “crown preference” powers come into force tomorrow — giving the taxman priority over most other creditors owed money when firms go under.

But because Arcadia collapsed on Monday night, HMRC lost out on VAT, national insurance and income tax.

There is no suggestion the timing was to avoid the HMRC payments.

Arcadia’s woes put 13,000 jobs at risk at its Burton, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge stores.

And it comes as pensions experts estimated a black hole in Arcadia’s pension fund of up to £350million.

[Chewing Grass]

I'm waiting for all these stores to be bought up by big Chinese chains so they can cut the middle man out, fill them with Chinese goods at ridiculously low prices and export the bulk of the profits without paying tax.

Not even Amazon could compete with that.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Chewing Grass

[eek]

2 minutes ago, Chewing Grass said:

I'm waiting for all these stores to be bought up by big Chinese chains so they can cut the middle man out, fill them with Chinese goods at ridiculously low prices and export the bulk of the profits without paying tax.

Not even Amazon could compete with that.

http://www.chinatravelpage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Jiuguang-Department-Store-Shanghai.jpg

They chinese were the previous owners of House of Fraser - see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45108285

The business model didn't work. 

[Yadda yadda yadda]

3 hours ago, Chewing Grass said:

I'm waiting for all these stores to be bought up by big Chinese chains so they can cut the middle man out, fill them with Chinese goods at ridiculously low prices and export the bulk of the profits without paying tax.

Not even Amazon could compete with that.

Warehouses don't pay the vast rates that shops do. No way to operate a retailer without paying tax. At least some UK wages too. The current system suits China well, especially subsidised postal services.

[steppensheep]

4 hours ago, sancho panza said:

Tough new HMRC “crown preference” powers come into force tomorrow — giving the taxman priority over most other creditors owed money when firms go under.

Funny, this was previously the case until 2000. They then made the imo sensible decision that it was more sensible for hmrc to take the hit rather than small traders. Now some new guy has obviously looked at it and thinks it's more money for the treasury.

 

Be interesting tom see what effect putting hmrc above secured creditors would have. Would basically be a sneaky tax on property.  Might have unintended consequences though.

[gibbon]

Brought a pair of boots from amazon, their own brand, for £20 delivered . Better than similar ones in M&S I was looking at today for £80. Amazon are also doing a service called "wardrobe', part of prime, where you can try on and send clothes back free of charge. I've held off from getting prime, but £10 a month for never having to visit the high street again? Would be worth every penny. High street retail is fucked.

I brought a gift from Dorothy perkings few days ago, see they may implode so took a gamble and sent it back today. Hopefully the receivers will keep them going for a few weeks and I get my refund. 

Edited December 2, 2020 by gibbon

[wherebee]

9 hours ago, gibbon said:

Brought a pair of boots from amazon, their own brand, for £20 delivered . Better than similar ones in M&S I was looking at today for £80. Amazon are also doing a service called "wardrobe', part of prime, where you can try on and send clothes back free of charge. I've held off from getting prime, but £10 a month for never having to visit the high street again? Would be worth every penny. High street retail is fucked.

I brought a gift from Dorothy perkings few days ago, see they may implode so took a gamble and sent it back today. Hopefully the receivers will keep them going for a few weeks and I get my refund. 

Amazon's model is to enter an area, undercut prices to drive opposition out of business, and then increase prices.  Basically the same playbook as China.  So your boots are good value now, but once the high street is properly dead expect quality to go down and cost to go up. It's the Jeff way.

[gibbon]

 

5 hours ago, wherebee said:

Amazon's model is to enter an area, undercut prices to drive opposition out of business, and then increase prices.  Basically the same playbook as China.  So your boots are good value now, but once the high street is properly dead expect quality to go down and cost to go up. It's the Jeff way.

Maybe but then someone will fill the gap amazon leaves open. Until amazon owns the entire internet someone else will always come along. 

[BoSon]

8 hours ago, gibbon said:

 

Maybe but then someone will fill the gap amazon leaves open. Until amazon owns the entire internet someone else will always come along. 

Aye Amazon's own marketplace sellers will jump in if Amazon direct becomes too expensive, unless Amazon charge the marketplace sellers more to offset any profit so always cheaper direct.

That Amazon Wardrobe service is like the old mail order catalogue service which appealed to women so they could order a new dress/outfit, wear once, and return. I expect the returns get sent back out so it becomes a short term rental service. Hope the items are clean!

[JFK]

I used the Amazon prime wardrobe service for the first time a few weeks ago - as sizing is always a nightmare for most clothes, just ordered 2 different sizes of what I wanted, took the unwanted item back to the post office (no postage costs too for returns) and that was it. 

[leonardratso]

the gusset inspection department will be running under full power.

I worked many years ago for a catalogue in the IT dept, we had a gusset inspection dept for send backs, basically inspected all sent back clothes, one cheap suit came back with formaldehyde on it apparently, hahaha obviously had been used for a viewing.

Funniest story was  a woman had a big shed full of tools and electrical items that she had scammed by noticing and abusing a fault in the paying process where they couldnt match payments on a slip sent in by the customer against receipts paid into a bank, basically customers would pay off a bit into a bank account say £x then get a receipt from the bank saying theyd paid in £x but they would change it to £y (y>x) and send that into the catalogue as proof of payment. they would take that as kosher, so things got paid off quick and much less £ than they should have been.

Anyway they went round to get all their clobber back and when theyd emptied the shed, they noticed the shed was a catalogue shed as well, yep, she'd done that too.

Hahahaha, how i larfed until i shat myself.

Edited December 3, 2020 by leonardratso

[leonardratso]

absolutely stupid business, was actually prime for internet shopping at the time but could never overcome the old school attitude and bloat, ended up surviving one year by just getting a VAT return. Ridiculous prices and sub prime customers (affectionately known as scum internally) did it for them. A shadow of its former self.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by leonardratso

[Loki]

6 minutes ago, leonardratso said:

they went round to get all their clobber back and when theyd emptied the shed, they noticed the shed was freemans catalogue shed as well

[leonardratso]

"shed" is actually a colloquialism from when i was a kid for 'SHit hEaD'

 

[SomersetMatt]

Every area has a local department store that’s been in the town for a hundred years, but has had no investment for about 20 years. We had Beale’s that went bust earlier this year. Tried to buy a sofa in their closing down sale and they expected me to arrange a van to come and pick it up. I asked them how much they charge to deliver, but it wasn’t a service they had ever offered!! 
Disruption to an industry is a good thing - it gets rid of the Beale’s of this world and sets new industry standards. 

[Noallegiance]

9 minutes ago, SomersetMatt said:

Every area has a local department store that’s been in the town for a hundred years, but has had no investment for about 20 years. We had Beale’s that went bust earlier this year. Tried to buy a sofa in their closing down sale and they expected me to arrange a van to come and pick it up. I asked them how much they charge to deliver, but it wasn’t a service they had ever offered!! 
Disruption to an industry is a good thing - it gets rid of the Beale’s of this world and sets new industry standards. 

Two big local department stores lost in my town in the last few years.

Sad, really. I don't want every town to look alike with endless cheap chains.

[SomersetMatt]

2 minutes ago, Noallegiance said:

Two big local department stores lost in my town in the last few years.

Sad, really. I don't want every town to look alike with endless cheap chains.

I think the businesses that thrive in the high street going forward will be local and niche. 

[Noallegiance]

23 minutes ago, SomersetMatt said:

I think the businesses that thrive in the high street going forward will be local and niche. 

I agree. May not be for a while, though.

I'm hoping for more local community stuff to occur as a swing away from centralised management.

[sancho panza]

Lufthansa 40,000 lay off ,29k by year end,10k more next year.

German taxpayer gets the lube tube out.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lufthansa-to-cut-29000-jobs-by-years-end-report-2020-12-07

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/airlines-lufthansa-germany-cut-29000-staff-by-end-of-year-coronavirus-095845690.html

[sancho panza]

taxpayers of the world unite,you have nothing to use but your lube.

https://www.flyingmag.com/story/careers/airlines-suffer-110-billion-in-losses/

According to StockApps, a UK-based investment newsletter, year-to-date, “Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, Air France, and the International Airlines Group, as the world’s largest public airline companies based on sales, lost $110 [billion] in revenue since the beginning of 2020.” StockApps says US airlines have taken the largest hit in losses, with Delta Airlines—the world’s largest airline by sales—reporting the most significant loss of any US airline at $22.4 billion. “Delta’s net loss was $5.4 [billion] in the third quarter, compared to a profit of $1.5 [billion] in the year-earlier period.”

StockApps said, “American Airlines, the second-largest airline on this list and the leading airline by flown passenger (miles) kilometers, lost $21.1 [billion] in revenue since the beginning of the year.” United Airlines, the fourth-largest globally, “reported a $20.4 [billion] loss in the three quarters of 2020, a 63-percent decrease year-over-year. Third-quarter results revealed a massive $8.8 [billion] revenue drop after the company already reported a $10 [billion] loss between March and June. Yahoo Finance data also revealed United Airlines witnessed the most significant drop in market cap among the three leading airlines in the United States, with the combined value of the company’s shares plunging by 57 percent [year-over-year] to around $9.5 [billion].”

 

The bad news includes airlines outside the US. “The world’s third-largest airline based on sales and the largest in Europe, Lufthansa Group, reported a $10.6 [billion] revenue loss in the first half of 2020. Lufthansa laid off 8,300 employees between January and March. The company’s H1 2020 financial statement confirmed that 22,000 more are to follow as a part of its “ReNew” program.” Air France suffered a $20.4 billion year-to-date revenue loss while “International Airlines Group, as the sixth-largest airline company globally, witnessed a $14.9 [billion] revenue loss between January and September.”

[Castlevania]

On 02/12/2020 at 17:48, steppensheep said:

Funny, this was previously the case until 2000. They then made the imo sensible decision that it was more sensible for hmrc to take the hit rather than small traders. Now some new guy has obviously looked at it and thinks it's more money for the treasury.

 

Be interesting tom see what effect putting hmrc above secured creditors would have. Would basically be a sneaky tax on property.  Might have unintended consequences though.

Reign in bank lending

[Castlevania]

On 03/12/2020 at 03:21, wherebee said:

Amazon's model is to enter an area, undercut prices to drive opposition out of business, and then increase prices.  Basically the same playbook as China.  So your boots are good value now, but once the high street is properly dead expect quality to go down and cost to go up. It's the Jeff way.

 

On 03/12/2020 at 09:21, gibbon said:

 

Maybe but then someone will fill the gap amazon leaves open. Until amazon owns the entire internet someone else will always come along. 

Amazon are a rubbish retailer. Which is good for those online retailers that simply concentrate on doing the one thing well.