Remembering

My Best Pal called yesterday to see me, his Wife also came but a little later as she went to walk the dog.
 We talked about the old times and when his Wife came to join us he started to tell her all about the old days. He told her how he ordered Coca-Cola. This immediately reminded me of when I  first started in Business.
 It was well over 50 years ago, before decimal when it was L.s.d. I had just started up and as I have informed you many blogs ago I had a Café which encouraged youngsters to spend what little they had in the Winter, in the Summer they went off to work in Café's Amusements and shops.
 The youngsters wanted Coke to drink so I rung up Coca-Cola. They had a depot in Lincoln and they sent the van driver down to see me. He was a young guy and he told me that the Manager had taken him under his wing and showed him the ropes so that eventually he was now in a secure job. He also told me that he was an Orphan and would be ever grateful to the Manager.
 He told me that a discount was in operation. I think it was 3d off a case provided you ordered 5 cases. 24 bottles in each case. They were wooden cases and were only about  5" with more than half the bottles showing but they were secure. He suggested that I only order 5 cases to start with. For 10 cases another 3d a case was given and for each subsequent 5 cases up to 50 cases a further 3d. discount was given. He told me that after 50 cases the next level was 200 cases but that was for independent soft drink suppliers who wished to sell coke. He told me that delivery was every 2 weeks from March to September and each 4 weeks from October to February.
 Well when he called a couple of weeks later I had more or less sold out and he was impressed. I ordered 10 cases this time. Sure enough I had nearly sold out in the preceding two weeks. He told me that as I was selling so much he would help me by supplying me with a Coca-Cola cooling fridge but told me it was old and he would be taking it out from another site as they only sold about a case every 2 weeks.
 The next time he called he bought the fridge, he told me that my sales would improve as nearly all wanted to drink Coke ice cold. He was correct.
 Anyway I ordered 50 cases at a time and during the close season the Manager of the depot at Lincoln paid me a visit. He was a great guy and asked if he could do anything for me. I then asked if I could buy in bulk, 200 cases at a time. He flatly refused but I told him the advantage was that during the Winter they would have no need to call on me and that would save time and money. I could see he was considering my proposal and eventually agreed to allow me to purchase the 200 cases in one drop and get the best discount that other soft drink sellers were being charged.
 I thought that this was agreed and nothing more would happen.
 About a week later the Manager rung me up and told me that he had to go to Head office and explain why he had given a retailer wholesale prices. He told them the reason being that it was going to save money by only calling on me once during the Winter period.
 Eventually after a Board meeting it was agreed that from now on ALL participating customers would have the right to purchase up to the 200 case rate if they so decided.
 The Manager called to see me a few months later and told me that it was us that had made Coca-Cola to change their purchasing  policy and what he told me then was somewhat surprising. He told me that during the Winter months he would contact me and if I didn't need a drop they would give my sleepy Town a miss. He did ring me up more than once and confirmed that the van driver would give the Town a miss that month.
 It certainly couldn't happen now, anyway Lincoln closed down and they moved to a Post Mix which was set up like a small public house selling draught beer. It was certainly cheaper as more profit was made that way.
 Incidentally the retail cost of a Coca-Cola was 1/-. I used to sell to the locals at a discount I charged 10d. Incidentally what I have written is perfectly true, I never gave it a thought at the time as it was for my benefit that  I wanted to get the best deal possible. Those were the days. More soon.