Rough road ahead for Hornby?

But you're not going to tell us where to find them, are you? ;-)

I was merely going by the Hornby RRP list price, as found on their web sites.

So what went on with those - Hornby appeared to really flood the market with them. Not that I mind, lovely models - even at full price.

Cheers, Simon

But I suspect he doesn't book via CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR A FREE CRUISE - sent to the office fax machine.

My Mother in Law has been forced to change her telephone number after she was getting false calls throughout the day & night. These 'predictive dialling' calls are a pain, the system rings say 10 lines at once and when the first one answers, even by answer phone, it cuts off the other calls but adds them to the next batch of calls.

Didn't the Conservative party get a rap on the knuckles recently for cold calling voters ?

The old tried and tested police whistle down the line always works, even better if they are wearing a headset. I now refuse to deal with firms who use off shore call centres and when one of these companies do manage to get a call through I simply repeat over and over that " I cant understand you ! " ,,,,, they tend to ring off !

The answer to cold callers at the door is :-

Put up a sign stating you do not buy goods or services on the doorstep

Fit an intercom and if possible a camera.

If all else fails we get the dog. We had a chap try to climb up on our 6' gates at the side of the house because he could hear us in the back garden. Luckily for him the dog was in his kennel, which is only about 6 to 7 ' from the gates, when his face appeared above the gate the dog leapt out and up missing this chaps nose by less than an inch. Had the dog not been in his kennel and playing in the garden it would have taken off his face.

At least with physical junk mail you can save it up and address it to each other or use the free-post envelopes to return all their fillers :-)

Back to model trains made in China etc. It's not just the cost of manufacture that's the true bottom line. There was a time when something stamped with 'Made in Britain' on the bottom actually meant something. We need to get that back but will not be able to do so by simply upping shareholders profits.

"We do not seem to be very good at routine and repeatability, for example."

They should try someone with Asperger Syndrome ( a type of autism )

" Many people with Asperger Syndrome love routine, and they make excellent employees where there is an element of this in the job. They are also honest, hard working, reliable and punctual. "

This "Rough road ahead for Hornby ?" may get them to revaluate their pricing & manufacturing but I very much doubt it do you ?

Chris

And the cheapie stuff from Hong Kong had "Empire Made" stamped on it.

PS I was made in Britain but I don't have it stamped on my bottom.

No, the Lib-dems.

Err, no, not only could *you* face possible (IIRC 'assault') prosecution but it's possible that the telephone company will terminate your account to due to the possibility of causing damage to their equipment - the telephone companies expressly tell you not to do as you suggest above.

Better to just repeatedly say "Hello, Hello........", that way you don't acknowledge acceptance of the call (a bit like spam, never reply to it, even just to tell them to f*ck off as it confirms a 'live' address) whilst they are left wondering if it's them or you who had the bad line IYSWIM and most importantly, *never* acknowledge who you are until you want to - especially important to the elderly and vulnerable.

Peugot already do. Many of their components are assembled by adults with learning difficulties who are paid just 30p per day more than flat-rate income support (£62.50 per week). Out of that they have to pay for their own meals, travelling expenses, etc.

(kim)

Remploy do, or at least did, a lot of small assembly work for UK automotive manufacturers.

Cheers Richard

That is who I meant. In this case Remploy of Tile Hill employing forced labour on behalf of Peugot in Ryton. The latter has since relocated its main vehicle assembly to a country in eastern europe which has none of Britian's employment protection.

Also in this area Rover Group has forced its workforce to take 2 months unpaid "annual leave" and when they return they have been told they will no longer be paid extra for night shift working.

(kim)

Though presumably it is better than doing nothing, and gives some kind of focus which staring at the TV all day wouldn't? Probably better than outsourcing it to Asian school kids on 2p a month, anyway.

In Germany Bombardier have disabled people (of some flavour) sorting and restocking the boxes of nuts, grommets and things so that the skilled people can concentrate on the complicated stuff.

Military wounded make reflective road (and rail) signs here.

Having said that, a person I know with some kind of unusual mental background (IANAdoctor) is a quantum physicist, doing something which makes my brain hurt.

Hornby don't have an expensive domestic manufacturing workforce, don't have large pension liabilities, don't have a large health care liabilities and are competing on a level field with Bachmann. Apart from all that the same as GM.

Chris

You've looked ? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the French for you .... is it Peugeot or Citroen or both who are owned by the French government ?

Chris

Neither. I think you're thinking of Renault/Nissan.

Yes but long since privatised (1996 IIRC).

BTW, Peugeot and Citroen have been part of the same group (PSA) since the late 1970s.

Many of the big car companies, including GM, Ford and Chrysler in North America, are in financial straits and laying off workers. For many people, having their hours cut is preferable to losing their jobs altogether.

This is nothing new. In Ontario in the early 90s under the socialist New Democratic government, all provincial and local government employees had to endure a 4-year wage freeze and take 12 extra unpaid holidays a year, in effect a 5% cut. The freeze had an impact on my retirement pension in

1997, which was based on the average of the last 5 years in which I had received no increse. Many private sector employers imposed similar conditions.

"Dragon Heart" wrote

from Wikipedia:

< quote >

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën. It is the second largest automaker in Europe, behind Volkswagen. Peugeot's roots go back to pepper, salt and coffee mill manufacturing in 1842 and later bicycle manufacturing at the end of the 19th century. Its world headquarters are in Paris, Avenue de la Grande Armée, close to Porte Maillot and the Concorde Lafayette Hotel but the Peugeot company and family is originally from Sochaux, France. Peugeot retains a large manufacturing plant in Sochaux which is also home to the Peugeot Museum. The company also sponsors the Sochaux football club, founded in 1928 by a member of the Peugeot family: the club' s arms contain a lion logo similar to Peugeot's.

< /quote >

I believe they are independent of the French government.

John.

GM were virtually a basket case before the recent "credit crunch". They now have a very timely and convenient excuse for much needed restructuring (ie mass redundancies).

MBQ