The cheek of some people

My day job is a computer consultant. I provide help, advice and goods to people whose lives are so busy that they don't have the time to do the research that I can do for them. One of the services I provide is sourcing computer equipment for them. Basically: they tell me what they want to do with a computer, outline all their issues they're having with their existing solution and I solve all those problems.

Mostly, I end up building computers specifically geared for their needs. You know: buy all the separate bits and put them together.

When I first set myself up doing this, I registered as a reseller with a supplier. In order to get an account with them I had to practically sign my life away in blood. I had to provide company registration documents and sign a lengthy legal agreement which said that I was buying these items specifically to resell and not for my own personal use. The upshot of this was that I was supposed to be able to buy this equipment a wholesale prices.

The wholesale prices that I'm getting just simply don't allow me to make any money at all. If I compare the prices I can buy individual items for with items on the Internet, my supplier might be one or two pounds cheaper. But, if you add their £14.95 standard charge on the top, when some of these Internet places will ship for free, suddenly their prices aren't at all attractive. Additionally, I don't have to sign any legal agreements with these people, nor do I have to provide them with any proof of my company. In addition, these people have a consumer-inspired returns policy which allows me to return something if I a) don't like it or b) ordered the wrong one by mistake - neither of which I can do with my supplier.

The only advantage that I can see for working through my current supplier is that I can usually get everything from the one place and this didn't use to be the case. But the competition have stepped up their game and I'm now finding that 9 times out of 10, I can get everything from one of the competition.

For example, I'm looking for a really spiffing case to replace the case of my computer which I've just sold to a customer. I've bought three cases from the Antec Performance One series for customers and I really like them. They've brought out a Special Edition (pictured above) with shiny polished case. Technically, under my agreement with my supplier, I'm not allowed to purchase this for my own use. However, I've just found it on another site for .30p more than my supplier is selling it, but with free P&P, making it £14.65 cheaper. I've ordered it and it should arrive on Tuesday - providing I'm around to receive it.

If wholesalers like mine aren't prepared to go argue with the manufacturers about the prices generally available to the Internet stores, I could be sent out of business. My only saving grace is that the majority of my customers don't come to me for cheap prices, they come for good quality service - which they get, every time.

How time flies

I hadn't realised how long it is since I last made an entry in my blog. I've been prompted to update for two reasons. Firstly, a great friend of mine has finally entered the world of blogging and I've added a new section of my Favourite Blogs with Jen's as my first entry. You really should check her stuff out.

The other reason is that we recently took a holiday to Darlington in County Durham which is where my Great Grandfather was born and my Grandfather spent his first four years after the family returned from Madagascar. All of the family has now either passed away or moved away from the area so finding references to Hodgkin was quite difficult. However, my Great Grandfather's wife was from the Pease family and his Grandfather on his mother's side was a Backhouse and that made things a lot easier. Pease and Backhouse were sponsors of Stevenson and his passenger railway and were the financiers behind the Stockton to Darlington Railway. As we wandered around Darlington we found lots of references to these two gentlemen and their predecessors. Backhouse was the co-owner of the bank that is now known as Barclays and Pease was in partnership with three others in a bank which sold out eventually to what is now Lloyds TSB.

The old family home is so big that not long after my Great Great Grandfather (Jonathan Backhouse Hodgkin) died, it was sold to a Methodist couple who donated it to the Methodist church and it is now Elm Ridge Church. There has been some modification to accommoate a large expanse for a church, but one of the rooms has a picture of Jonathan B's wife Mary, two of his watercolours on the wall and a photo of Jonathan B and Mary sitting on the back steps of the house. Ironically, the room is called the Hodgkin Quiet Room - you don't normally see Hodgkin and Quiet in the same location!

We also spent some time in the Quaker Burial Ground behind Darlington Meeting House. There, all the relatives are lined up in a row. Unfortunately, some of the older headstones have been laid against a wall which is now being intruded upon by the roots of the trees, but on the whole I got lots of photographs, including a photo of my Great Grandmother's grave. The members of the meeting didn't understand why Lydia was buried in Darlington when she'd originally come from down South. I tried to get them to understand that she had probably held with the view that when you marry, you take on your husband's family. When she died, she died a Hodgkin, so it was only fitting that she be buried with the rest of the Hodgkins.

I'd like to go back and spend some more time in the library at Darlington Meeting House. There is a whole wall of bookcases full of books by family members that I'd like to sit and look through. I mentioned that there is a Hodgkin Pedigree Book (which I thought was unusual) that has the entire family listing in it, and was told that there was also a Backhouse and a Pease Pedigree Book. Finally, I can learn how the families meet up. Until three generations ago, Quakers didn't marry non-Quakers so the same names creep up a lot in a Quaker family tree.