A stockist once forwarded me a photo from an angry customer: a chrome plated rod with rust spots scattered along one side and a note that said simply, "Your rod is rubbish." The stockist was ready to credit the customer and send the claim back to us. Before he did, we asked three questions. Where ha
A distributor in the Gulf region once told me his most expensive month was not the month he overbought. It was the month he ran out. Three of his best customers, all cylinder builders serving construction contractors, asked for the same popular honed tube bore sizes in the same fortnight. His rack w
A distributor opened his racking one spring to pull a long chrome plated rod for an urgent order and found a row of small brown spots running along the underside. The rod had arrived perfect. It had simply spent four months lying directly on a steel rack arm, in a warehouse that sweated every time t