Bob of Small End (44 page)

“
Of
course. Here’s the package we give to all new registrants. You’ll
find everyone’s names in there. Aren’t you Bob Barns?”

“
Yes.
How did you know that?"

“
Well
I’ve walked past your booth a couple of times and Julie also told
us about you. Welcome.”

“
Thank
you. I’m very glad to be here and plan to come back every
year.”

He returned to
his table and looked at the schedule. Ah, yes, the conference ends
in the afternoon, just as he guessed. Quite early in fact, at four
o’clock. That was to give members time to drive home he
supposed.

The day passed
much like the first day. People stopped, looked at what he had,
asked if he supplied other toys, put their cards in the bowl and
often took a toffee. Some placed an order and asked him to deliver
as soon as he could. Sometimes he asked if they had talked to Rose
or Leo and most said they had. He had coffee and lunch with Tina
and met Tommy, her ex boy-friend, when he came to take her things
home. Bob told him that Tina had given him some good suggestions
and added, “Look after her, because I hope to see her again next
year.”

“
You
don’t have to wait ‘til then,” said Tina. “Pop in when you are in
Bournemouth and we’ll have some more Thai.”

“
All
right,” said Bob and looked at Tommy whilst he spoke. Tommy smiled,
nodded his head and said “Perhaps we’ll all have lunch together. I
like Thai too.”

Before packing
his things to take to the van he counted the number of cards he’d
collected. Together with yesterday’s cards he had ninety nine
retailers to visit, of which forty four wanted sets as soon as
possible. That was a very good return on the £75 they had spent for
the booth. Ken would be happy.

He packed
quickly then drove back to Small End. Ken was just about to close
the workshop when he arrived.

“
Hello
Bob. How was the conference? Did you get any orders?”

“
Forty
four! They want me to bring the sets as soon as I can. And I have
cards from another fifty five who want me to call. It’s likely
they’ll want sets after they learn that their competitors are
selling them. I’ll try to see all of the first lot in the next week
and go to the others when I can. You know, it looks as if we’re
going to be swamped with orders.”

“
Then
you won’t mind when I tell you I want to hire two or three more
helpers. Craig would be one as you know. He’s so good I’ll make him
temporary supervisor when I have to leave the shop. And a girl
called in today saying she’s looking for a job. I was tempted to
say we were looking for men because of the equipment we have to
handle but I can’t. We can’t discriminate by sex. So I told her to
come on Monday and I’ll give her a week’s trial.”

“
Interesting. I wonder how she’ll do. I guess we’ll find out.
What else happened while I was away?”

“
I’ve
ordered the furniture for the office; two desks, two chairs, a
filing cabinet, two desk lamps, a table for the waiting room—your
bedside table isn’t big enough and it’ll get scratched if we leave
it there—a floor lamp and a set of shelves for supplies. They said
they’d deliver all of them tomorrow. All together they cost just
over £600. There should be enough money in the account to pay for
them.”

“
Ah,
about money Ken. When I explained our rates and how we wanted to be
paid many of the retailers said they couldn’t send a cheque at the
end of the month. They told me they did an inventory before they
paid for items sold. All agreed to send a cheque before the
fifteenth, but that means we can’t count on getting the money for
any month’s sales until about the twentieth of the following
month.”

“
That’s
earlier than we used to get ours at the factory. It might be a
problem for the next month or two, especially if we hire two or
three more workers because we’ll have to pay them at the end of
each week. Any other problems?”

“
Not
problems but suggestions. One, that we buy better-looking boxes for
our toys. It was pointed out by a helpful lady that our brown
cardboard boxes looked pretty mundane. She’s given me the name of a
company that designs and makes boxes. I’m going to see them, find
out what they’ve got and how much they would cost. I think that’s a
good idea, don’t you?”

“
Yes I
do. What was the other suggestion?”

“
Well I
wasn’t going to tell you about it just yet but here it is. She
suggested we make other kinds of toys because, if these sell, then
retailers will ask for others. Some of them have already done so,
in fact. I wasn’t going to tell you about that now because you have
the shop set-up to make our current toys and might not want to
change it. And also because I don’t know what other toys we should
make although I know where I can get ideas from.”

“
You’re
right about the shop set-up but we might not have to change much,
it depends on what you suggest. Think about toys we could make with
the current set-up if you like.”

“
Okay.
How many of each set do we have now?”

“
By the
end of Friday we’ll have 75 village, 55 farm and 100 train
sets.”

“
That
won’t be enough Ken. I’ve got forty four retailers wanting sets. To
give them five of each set I’ll need 220. That’s 220 of each
set.”

“
Well we
might be able to make that many each week now the shop’s all set
up. Craig and I can probably make 450 sets a week, 150 of each
kind. Maybe even 200. If we get two more good helpers they could do
something close to that. We might even make more later if some
other ideas I have in mind work out.”

“
Well
that’s excellent. I’d no idea we could make that many in a week.
It’s exciting isn’t it?”

“
Yes, it
certainly is.”

“
Anything else to tell me?”

“
I’ve
ordered five hundred plastic boxes. £180. That’s all, I think. What
are you doing tomorrow?”

“
I’m
going to Salisbury and see the box-making company and take toys to
the retailers who have shops in that direction.”

Chapter 16 Boxes and dreams

He
called
Salisbury Boxes
as
soon as he arrived home and made an appointment for 1:30 the next
day. Supper that night was the salmon he’d bought last weekend; he
grilled it. Afterwards he opened the road map and circled the forty
four retailers who wanted toys as soon as he could provide them
then put their cards in an envelope to take with him. To make sure
he didn’t forget anything he made a to-do list for Friday: ‘Take
map. Buy more detailed maps of the area conference members came
from. Take receipt book and pen. Put the sets in three bags in the
van.’ He added, ‘Take sandwich lunch’, thinking that this would
give him time to travel to more shops as well as save money, and
‘Thermos of tea’ if he could find where Betty stored the ones they
took on picnics.

His first call
Friday morning was typical of all the calls he made that day. The
shop owner recognised him, thanked him for coming so quickly and
was glad to take five of each set. Only one of the retailers
questioned the rate, asking for a fifty percent commission, but
when told that everyone else was selling them at a forty percent
the man said, “Okay, I’ll do the same.” The visits took, on
average, about twenty minutes, so there was time for him to call on
two of the stores in Salisbury whose owners or managers hadn’t gone
to the conference. None of them wanted any of his toys which was
good, in a way. He didn’t have enough to provide them right
now.

He ate his
lunch on a table in the park next to the Avon. ‘Salisbury’s a
pleasant town,’ he thought. ‘It’d be nice to live in a house
overlooking the river. I might be able to do that if we made enough
money.’ It would be much better than living in a giant Small End
and next to a bustling Community Centre. But all his friends lived
in or near Small End and he didn’t want to move away from them.

He
stayed in the park watching people feeding the ducks until it was
time to go to
Salisbury Boxes.
Once there he parked the van, put one of each set in his
carrier, entered the office and was greeted by a man standing
behind the counter.

“
Hello.
It’s Mr. Barns isn’t it?” Bob nodded and the man continued “My
name’s Bill Watford. We spoke on the phone. I understand you’re
interested in buying boxes from us.”

“
Yes but
not like the ones I have here,” and Bob pointed to the three in the
carrier. “Something more attractive.”

“
Well
there are some we make,” and he pointed to the walls. “Any of them
look better than a plain cardboard box, don’t you think?. Do you
see one that might suit you? Don’t worry about the size, we can
easily change that.”

“
Just a
minute. No, I don’t think so. You see our toys are all made of
wood. I was wondering if you could make a cylindrical box for us
and colour the outside to make it look like a log.”

“
A
cylindrical box? Oh, yes, I think we can, though I’ll have to check
with my brother.” He put his head through a door behind the counter
and shouted “Dan. Can you come here for a minute?”

“
Be
right in.”

“
Dan
this is Mr. Barns. Mr. Barns, this is my brother, Dan Watford. Dan
and I own the business. Dan is the designer and manages the
factory; he spends most of his time there. Dan, Mr. Barns asked me
if we sell cylindrical boxes!”

“
Well,
well, well! That’s interesting. A client ordered cylindrical boxes
about two months ago. He imported linens from China and wanted a
distinctive box for his napkins, table cloths, sheets and so on.
but he was killed three weeks ago in a car crash and his business
has closed down. So we thought the design and the cutters we made
were wasted. Just a minute, I’ll fetch one of the samples we made
to show him what we could do.”

Dan left the
room and returned carrying a piece of cardboard. He put it on the
counter then rolled it twice to make a cylinder. He then bent the
outside ends inwards to make the cylinder into a box. With one hand
he held the cylinder firmly and used the other to pull a tab that
turned out to be the edge of a flap that was cut through two
sections of the cylinder.

“
That’s
how you open the box. We’d add the design you chose to the outside
and parts of the inside would be coated with an adhesive and
protected with waxed paper. We ship the boxes flat and your staff
would have to remove the waxed paper and roll the pasteboard around
a large wooden cylinder we provide to make the boxes. The adhesive
will hold it in shape. Then they fold one end like I did and the
adhesive will fasten that end together. Lastly they pull out the
cylinder and fold the other end. It sounds like a long job but I
can fold ten boxes in a minute. What do you think of a box like
this?”

“
I think
it’s excellent! I’ve never seen one like that before, especially
the way it opens. But wouldn’t it roll? That would be
inconvenient.”

“
No.
Since I didn’t roll it on the cylinder I wasn’t able to bend the
bottom of the box and shape its ends properly. The cylinder is
slightly concave along the bottom. Pressing the pasteboard into the
concave part actually forms the bottom. The top is on the other
side when the board is rolled correctly.”

“
Can you
colour the outside to make it look like a log?”

“
Easily.
Just tell us what kind of log you want, maple, oak, silver birch,
or whatever. We could print any of them.”

“
Wow.
People would buy our toys just to have one of the boxes! How much
would they cost?”

“
Are
those boxes in your carrier holding your toys Mr.
Barns?”

“
Yes,
and please call me Bob. I think we are going to be doing quite a
bit of business together.” Bob pulled out one of the boxes and
opened it to show the village set that was inside. “The other boxes
hold a farm set and a train set but they all fit into the same
sized box.”

“
I’m
Dan. Well, the smallest order we take is a thousand boxes. What
would we sell a thousand of these for Bill?”

“
A box a
bit bigger than those cardboard boxes you use would be £250. We
give twenty percent off if you order in quantities of five
thousand.”

“
£250
for a thousand, that’s twenty five cents each. These cost five
cents, but yours are so much better I’d like to order a thousand
right now. Can you show me what the outside would look
like?”

“
I can
show you photographs of tree barks on the computer,” said Bill,
“and you can choose one. Come and look,” and he walked behind the
counter and did something to the keyboard. Several different tree
barks appeared on the screen.

“
How did
you do that?”

“
I used
a search engine and looked for royalty-free pictures of tree barks.
Now I’ll enlarge some and you could choose the one you’d
like.”

“
Can I
have that silver birch? This part of the bark,” and he circled a
section of it with his finger.

“
Of
course. I’ll copy the photo and enlarge just that piece. Dan’ll use
it when setting up the printer’s computer.”