ARC Eurotrade

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

Hi all, at last got my milling machine on order, a Sieg Super X3 from ARC.

We live in Somerset, but happened to be in the Midlands this weekend and called in to have a look at the machine today.

I felt I had to let you all know what a great welcome we had (my wife and I) from Ketan and his wife. Showed us the machine, offered lots of advice, ran it, took us into the workshop to show us new developments, took us into the warehouse to show us the actual one in stock in its crate, offered us a drink and did a good deal on a few accessories. A nice family run business and it was nice for my wife to meet them as she bought me a height gauge from them last year and was mightily impressed with the service then.

Will be delivered on Thursday so I have got to get my finger out to make space.

Bill D.

[D.A.GodleyParticipant @d-a-godley]

Shame they cant turn up at the ME Shows now that they are established.

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

Posted by D.A.G. on 03/02/2014 23:09:09:

Shame they cant turn up at the ME Shows now that they are established.

Just can't please some people.

cheers

Bill

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by D.A.G. on 03/02/2014 23:09:09:

Shame they cant turn up at the ME Shows now that they are established.

Ketan has already explained at length why and it is thoroughly reasonable

Why not set up your own machinery supply business so you can fill the gap?

John

[LambtonParticipant @lambton]

Shame they can't turn up at the ME Shows now that they are established.

I regularly attend the Midlands ME show and although I miss the presence of Arc I fully appreciate Ketan's reasoning for not attending.

I also miss Chronos and I am disappointed that Chester no longer have their very useful tooling sales counter.

In future I think the show will virtually become the "RDG Show" as they will soon be the about only exhibitor and seller of a wide range tooling items. No criticism of RDG intended as they put a lot of effort into the show.

Eric

[IanTParticipant @iant]

The reality is that these businesses have to go online or cease to compete (and go out of business).

Once you begin to operate as an 'online' entity, then all your systems (inventory, shipping, accounts) have to be aligned to that online model and so quite apart from any other considerations (like whether a Trader will make enough at a show to cover their costs) – the disruption to the online business makes 'physical' trading extremely disruptive. Ketan has explained this very well here in the past.

I was at Sandown this year and it was disappointing to see fewer Traders there this year. I did purchase some castings from CES (and thereby saved money on postage) and some boxes of stainless metric/AF cap screws. The later will probably get purchased directly over the phone in the future, so for that particular Trader, maybe the potential repeat business will make his attendance worthwhile.

The reality is though that most of my pocket money last year was spent online with people like Arc, Axminster or Amazon/eBay. I'm afraid it's a bit like complaining about the 'loss' of the High Street (or your local pub closing) when the truth is that we shop at Tesco's (and have friends around for a drink at home). Most of us find buying specialist items online very convenient, so perhaps we should not be too upset about the consequences of our own behaviour.

IanT

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

D.A.G like you I am disappointed at the demise of the machinery suppliers at the exhibitions but fully understand the reasons why. Having been involved in machinery exhibitions in the past I know all exhibitions are expensive and especially so when you need trucks and lifting tackle for your exhibits,

I can imagine a major issue would also be sparing the staff to attend, for a small company it would mean virtually shutting down the company for a few days. Even in the wider industrial field, exhibitions these days don't have anything like the large and interesting displays that they used to have, they are very often just a small shell with a sales bod and literature.

Still, lets hope a few more do attend in the future, it is certainly useful when you are contemplating buying a machine, it was only the fact that we have relatives in the midlands that enabled me to visit ARC fairly easily and as I said that was an enjoyable experience.

Bill D.

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Mmm..if people go to these shows to in part see trade stands. But trade stands find (at least in part) the shows too expensive..then less people go to shows..lesstrades..less people…etc.
Wonder how long the shows can go on

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Hi Jason,

I haven't been to that many shows – I think once to NEC, once to Donnington and three times to Harrogate. Living in West Cumbria, these are a long way to travel so for Harrogate we used to take the caravan and have a few days away. But, and this is the problem, after the third visit to Harrogate, I realised that they were all much of a muchness and have thus stopped attending. It didn't help that Harrogate clashed with another event that year, but that's by the way.

Some people do it to save money on postage. I agree that if you are an avid fan of these shows then yes you can save, but in my case, the travelling costs alone would considerably outweigh any savings I may make through postage.

So, that's why I no longer attend.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

[D.A.GodleyParticipant @d-a-godley]

Bill Pudney :- Thats a statement of the obvious and no doubt a sentiment that you yourself have visited on occassions

John Coats :- I am enjoying retirement far too much to return to running a business,

Lambton :- If memory serves me , both Chronos and Chester fully supported the Midland show with comprehensive stands,

Bill Dawes :- Bill in now way was I critisizing you , and I hope your new purchase exceeds your expectations. Arc supply excellent products and I believe give similar service, however , that is not my complaint.

As I have stated before , those traders who attend our shows should be supported by us purchasing from them wherever possible.

With all the bleating about how difficult it is to man a stand, and to pay for it, perhaps they should look at those who continue to attend . RDG dont do it at a loss, niether do CES , Allendale, Blackgates, Cup Alloys,Transwave, etc etc.

I remember Arc when they had not much more than a dining table size stand at Donnington when they were introducing themselves to us, they have grown due to hard work, but also our patronship, and if they cant be bothered to continue to support us at shows, and this goes for other traders no longer attending, then I feel that those who do present themselves, deserve our custom.

p.s. I am not offended by others having a different point of view.

regards, DAG

[LambtonParticipant @lambton]

DAG,

If memory serves me , both Chronos and Chester fully supported the Midland show with comprehensive stands,

Sorry but your memory is playing you tricks as Chronos have not had a stand at the Midland show for the past 2 years and Chester only exhibited a few machines this year and did not have their sales counter for tooling items.

[Robin KingParticipant @robinking15611]

My biggest disappointment with traders not being at shows is that I like to be able to see and handle what I'm buying 'in the flesh' so that I can check it over and also talk to the traders about any particular queries there and then before buying. You can't do that online and I'm not content with buying something unseen and then having to go through the inconvenience of having to return it if it proves unsuitable or poor quality.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Robin,

I could not agree with you more. That's why if I need to make a purchase of something I'm unsure of I organise a trip out to take in a trader who has what I want and then spend a leisurely day or part off getting some bits just like Bill did in the OP and not spend time fighting and still not getting the attention.

 

From the other side of the coin when I helped Ketan out at the shows and remember these are my views and feelings, not Ketans or ARC's, you would be busy, real busy, punters stacked 7 deep wall to wall.

Remember all the wares were on display and  some guy would come up and ask to see a 4" chuck, you would point him to a chuck on display which was fastened down due to the number if light fingered people. He then wants to see the back of it for the mountings. I would then point him to the page in the book that had the engineering drawings but no he wanted to see the back of the chuck because we all know that a squint eyed model engineer with 17 pairs of bi-focals can see hole pitches far more accurately than an engineering drawing.

 

Sooo at his insistence you would get a chuck out, well wrapped and packed and covered in 17 pounds of that red chicken snot and hand it to him. At this point he wouldn't take it [who would ] but peer at it, focus to 2 tenths and say thank you and walk away leaving you to rewrap a chuck that was well wrapped to start with and then have to go and wash your hand probably missing the next 3 genuine sales..

 

This is absolute gospel.

One guy fights his way to the front and says I see you do 1mm bore bearings do you have some here?

Yes sir, how many do you want ?

Just one.

Go fetch a bearing and give it to him, peers at it in 2 tenths mode, swaps bifocals to 1 tenths mode but gets the wrong set, has to sort out another set from the 8 round his neck on bits of tatty string.

Finally finds the 1 tenth pair, turns it over and studies this for at least 3 minutes then hands it back and says,

"I always wondered what one looked like " and walks off.

 

That guy doesn't know how lucky he was that i had replaced that chuck in a cabinet out of reach.

Edited By John Stevenson on 05/02/2014 10:54:27

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

Hope you didnt call him anything naughty ……..sound a bit like currant did it ?

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

An idle thought..
I wonder if online sales have done more for carriers than for suppliers. .?

Since the same ( or mostly simular) demand remains whether for distance or face to face sales .
So the real winners are the carrier who get slightly more than one job out of each order…..
The customer has the issues of not being able to “inspect”( with a nod to JS and his bifocaled clients) before parting with cash…the suppliers have the hassle of accepting returns for what ever reason….but still the carrier wins…….

Edited By jason udall on 05/02/2014 15:18:58

[IanTParticipant @iant]

"because we all know that a squint eyed model engineer with 17 pairs of bi-focals can see hole pitches far more accurately than an engineering drawing."

Just to set the record straight John – I only have 16 pairs of bi-focals! (and I struggle to see the drawings too these days)

IanT

[Robin KingParticipant @robinking15611]

John S,

I know exactly what you mean but I promise I don't wear bifocals and yes, I've stood behind some of these bods at stands and wondered how they survive – truly a 'different' human species, and not dissimilar to some that I've encountered when manning an ME society stand at shows, an education in itself!

I've also now taken to planning trips to suppliers with a shopping list as and when needed, much simpler.

R

[DerryUKParticipant @derryuk]

<done more for carriers than for suppliers>

Undoubtedly . My postman rarely delivers other than things I have bought online.

Delivery charges are often more than the item I have bought.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Robin King on 05/02/2014 16:22:52:

John S,

I know exactly what you mean but I promise I don't wear bifocals and yes, I've stood behind some of these bods at stands and wondered how they survive – truly a 'different' human species, and not dissimilar to some that I've encountered when manning an ME society stand at shows, an education in itself!

R

Honest truth.

The best one I had was years ago when the show was at Wembley and they only let 4 in when 4 came out.

It was really heaving in those days, only there as a punter and wanted to get onto Tracy tools stall to buy one of those packs they used to do, big assortment of taps reamers, drills etc, all ex-WD for about £7.00. Guy in front of me, never seen a hurry in captivity before, saunters up to the front and selects some tiny HSS offcuts at 1/8" diameter priced at ten shillings for 10.

Gets his little flip top purse out [ obviously a Reliant owner ] and asked how much for one ??

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

My show story is much sadder.

Bought a little 80mm lever scroll three-jaw for about £20, for a tiny dividing head and one day in the far future a very small lathe.

Couple of hours later, all I had was a hole in the bottom of my carrier bag

Bought another, and I must have used it in anger at least twice

Neil

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Well look on the bright side Neil, that's twice more than the first one.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Neil,

That is so sad.

John S.

I have to use a flip top purse otherwise the change slips out of my pocket when I get into the Scimitar.

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

I used to use a string-bag for my vegetables.

Martin.

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

It always amazes and sometimes amuses me how an innocent post can develop.

Bill D.

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