My new purchase.

[drossall]

I fixed a couple of the neighbours' kids' bikes that were like that, some years ago now. Not mail order though, a certain toy store with a reversed letter in its name. When it happened the second time, it started to look like a pattern.

[Jdsk]

Not mail order though, a certain toy store with a reversed letter in its name.

Did you offer to correct that as well?

: - )

Jonathan

[peetee]

Not mail order though, a certain toy store with a reversed letter in its name.

That’s where I had my first job as a bike mechanic but I was far too clued in to make mistakes like that.
My claim to fame there was to evacuate the building of staff and customers after I set off the fire alarms with an inflatable dolphin.
No, I couldn’t figure it out either, then or now!

[drossall]

My recollection from decades ago may not be entirely accurate. However, it is of That's Life, or a similar consumer programme, running a successful campaign against Raleigh for declining to sell their products via mail order companies (would have been the big catalogue names in those days). The company's argument was that it wouldn't be safe because machines would not be assembled correctly. That argument lost and the law was used to force them to drop restrictive sales practices.

A few years later, the same programme or another was running an item condemning Raleigh for the number of accidents suffered by consumers on improperly-assembled mail-order machines

[Cowsham]

Not mail order though, a certain toy store with a reversed letter in its name.

That’s where I had my first job as a bike mechanic but I was far too clued in to make mistakes like that.
My claim to fame there was to evacuate the building of staff and customers after I set off the fire alarms with an inflatable dolphin.
No, I couldn’t figure it out either, then or now!

Hi Flipper

[Cowsham]

My recollection from decades ago may not be entirely accurate. However, it is of That's Life, or a similar consumer programme, running a successful campaign against Raleigh for declining to sell their products via mail order companies (would have been the big catalogue names in those days). The company's argument was that it wouldn't be safe because machines would not be assembled correctly. That argument lost and the law was used to force them to drop restrictive sales practices.

A few years later, the same programme or another was running an item condemning Raleigh for the number of accidents suffered by consumers on improperly-assembled mail-order machines

I'd say they had the second story written before the first.

[slowster]

My recollection from decades ago may not be entirely accurate. However, it is of That's Life, or a similar consumer programme, running a successful campaign against Raleigh for declining to sell their products via mail order companies (would have been the big catalogue names in those days). The company's argument was that it wouldn't be safe because machines would not be assembled correctly. That argument lost and the law was used to force them to drop restrictive sales practices.

A few years later, the same programme or another was running an item condemning Raleigh for the number of accidents suffered by consumers on improperly-assembled mail-order machines

I suspect that is a distortion of what really happened, and that the safety argument was really just a pretext for 'resale price maintenance', which was - and remains - generally prohibited under competition law.

[drossall]

That's possible, who knows, but I'm still not sure that both complaints can stand. It has to be one or the other.

[thirdcrank]

This had me thinking of Stihl garden/ landscape tools. I'm pretty sure that until quite recently, they strongly discouraged mail order. Some years ago I bought a Viking long-reach hedge trimmer in the days when Viking was the Stihl brand for mains electric tools. It was only possible to buy it from an approved stockist and included quite a detailed instruction session covering safety and maintenance. I had to make an appointment or rather, I was only able to collect it at a time when the approved instructor was available. If this was a price maintenance wheeze, I can only say that a nice cash discount was readily agreed but I don't think I would have got the tool off their premises without the instruction session.

I've just been on the Stihl site to check this and the situation seems less clear in that part of their range is in their online shop. I wonder if a combination of the growing demand for mail order and social distancing has pushed them

[slowster]

That's possible, who knows

https://vlex.co.uk/vid/raleigh-uk-ltd-v-793340801

Raleigh had itself, in the early 1980s, been subject to an adverse finding by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission as to an attempt to impose Resale Price Maintenance.

[drossall]

Even if they were found "guilty", does that affect the principle? You can either have bikes sold freely and competitively mail order for home assembly, or you can emphasise the safety aspects of ensuring that bikes delivered to consumers are assembled properly. But you can't entirely have both, which is what the consumer programmes tried to do. And you certainly can't enforce the former, whether rightly or wrongly, on a manufacturer, and then blame the same firm for the entirely predictable consequences.

Which you think is more important is a somewhat different issue. As things stand, our law has chosen the first and companies should obey it.

[slowster]

You can either have bikes sold freely and competitively mail order for home assembly, or you can emphasise the safety aspects of ensuring that bikes delivered to consumers are assembled properly. But you can't entirely have both, which is what the consumer programmes tried to do. And you certainly can't enforce the former, whether rightly or wrongly, on a manufacturer, and then blame the same firm for the entirely predictable consequences.

Raleigh were willing to sell bikes to the mail order companies, but they were requiring the mail order companies to sign contracts undertaking not to discount prices below those set by Raleigh. It had absolutely nothing to do with safety.

[drossall]

Ah, that's different. It was memory from a long time ago.

[rjb]

Just spotted this locally for sale. What is it about subways. Must have all been assembled by the same person.

[Bonefishblues]

Carrera swb. If it was good enough for Enzo...