We are living in a revolution, apparently. Millions of us went to the polls, couldn’t really decide who we wanted in charge of the country and after the politicians went away and discussed things for a few days they came up with the ground-breaking idea of – working together.
Well actually it’s not that revolutionary it’s just what the rest of the country has been doing for decades but Cameron, Clegg and co do seem rather pleased with themselves that they’ve finally cottoned on to this beneficial working practice.
Of course whatever business your warehouse is in there will be competition, and just like every good Government needs a competent opposition every good company needs competition to keep staff on their toes.
However just because a company is one of your rivals doesn’t mean you can’t help them out in certain situations.
I often allowed my warehouse space to be used by a rival company when they were short of space, while this may seem unusual there is actually nothing to gain from not allowing this. My competitor has already made the sale so by not allowing them to use a little bit of space in my warehouse all I would do is to alienate somebody who during my time actually became a much valued colleague. Yes he was chiefly one of my rivals but despite this he was always on the other end of the phone when I needed advice. And as a young man thrown into the role of warehouse management those phone calls came thick and fast – he probably ended up regretting ever asking to store that first pallet of furniture.
On one occasion – on a rushed trip to Birmingham to collect some items missed off our weekly delivery – I even picked up some kitchen furniture for a direct rival company. I was going there anyway and had space in the back of the van so again there really was no reason – apart from sheer ruthlessness – not to help out.
This particular favour was one I called in a few months later when I had a kitchen awaiting delivery, all my drivers out of action and a customer screaming at me that they wanted their goods delivered. One phone call later and a rival driver was in my warehouse loading up to deliver my goods.
Clearly working together is nothing new or at least not for those of us away from the green-seated expanses of Westminster.
Warehouse & Logistics News
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