From A to B: Company Cars (BBC '93)

[davesaddiction]

Oldie, but a goodie. (don't be like these guys)

[Vondon302]

A true classic.

[TheJWT]

I was just rewatching this a few weeks ago. I still find it hard to believe these are real people

[ranwhenparked]

@davesaddiction Its like a bunch of real life Alan Partridges, except more sad than funny.

[davesaddiction]

@vondon302 @TheJWT

I've been listening to this and other episodes in the series while at work this morning - the teenager episode is quite good as well.

[fintail]

I've watched this at least a dozen times, something about it just fascinates me. Of course the W124 guy debadged his basic 200E (which apparently survived until the mid 2010s, no doubt the longest lived of that bunch of repmobiles), and the way he makes that little engine scream makes me cringe. And the Maestro Clubman Diesel, wow.

A couple lines always slay me: "It's difficult for someone following you to know that you're driving a CD Astra", "It's not a Honda, it's a Nissan Primera". I have to also give credit to the young shit in the XR2, he knew how to play the game.

[davesaddiction]

@fintail It really is a fascinating look into the culture.

And this particular mirror is not at all flattering... So much entitlement - definitely prevalent in many places here in the States as well.

Do you think these guys had any idea how obnoxious they sounded before they watched themselves on TV? It's such a foreign concept at this point (to have a company car, or, for that matter, an old-school pension).

[fintail]

@davesaddiction Yeah, the entitled shtick gets old fast, especially the Astra guy and W124 guy, and the others aren't exactly gems either, although some seem much more reasonable than others (and I wonder what Maestro guy did wrong).

Rep car culture is a fraction of what it used to be - that segment just doesn't exist like it used to, although company cars are much more of a thing in Europe than Murka even in 2020 (I suspect the same is true for pensions - cutting benefits of working/middle class people seems to be a thing on this side of the pond, but it will trickle down soon). It'd be really interesting to see a "where are they now?" kind of re-visit, almost 30 years later. There'd probably be a generational gap too - even the young guy in the Fiesta has to be in his 50s now.

[davesaddiction]

@fintail Would be terribly interesting.

Hope that kid isn't treating his son the same way...

[fintail]

@davesaddiction It'd be pretty interesting to see the families of those guys too, yeah. Apples and trees etc.

[ranwhenparked]

@fintail most traveling sales jobs still include cars, they just don't give much choice anymore. Last one I got, I had a choice between an Escape or an Escape, but I could pick the color and had a small budget for options, which was basically enough for the smokers package. Frankly, I'd prefer it if they just let us drive our own cars and reimbursed 55 cents a mile, I'd just buy an old LeSabre and run it into the ground. My first job out of college did that, I was driving an LT1 Fleetwood at the time and ran the numbers - even with high gas prices and frequent repairs, it was only costing me something like 35 cents a mile to own and operate, all in. At 30,000 miles a year, I was making a nice profit

[davesaddiction]

@ranwhenparked Nice!

[ranwhenparked]

@davesaddiction It was, that's the one car I really, really wish I still had. But, the mileage really killed it, towards the end, it was off the road for repairs more frequently than it was running and driving, and I didn't have space for two cars, so it just became untenable. But, I was the only one in the office without a car payment for several years. Coworker in his financed Civic kept pushing me to get something more fuel efficient, until I showed him my carefully itemized spreadsheet, and demonstrated how much more was involved in total cost of ownership on a car besides just putting gas in the tank.

[fintail]

@ranwhenparked I was thinking traveling sales jobs in general are far less common in the past, as now so much of it can be done on a website. Basic Escape or an Astra CD (saloon, new shape!), tough choice!

Definitely using an older privately owned car with that reimbursement could be profitable. Years ago, my sister had a state or state-related job with a similar mileage reimbursement, and I think they even preferred employees to do it that way. She always came out far ahead.

[ranwhenparked]

@fintail nah, I did it over the phone for 3 months, my commissions went way down. What's changed is that most companies don't have local offices anymore, so you're either in the field driving, or at home. Most things are done more effectively in person, there's a limit to how long you can get someone on the phone for, a lot about their business operations and needs you can't tell from a distance, and there's a personal connection you need to make to close, people buy from people, not screens or phone handsets. You cease to be a real "person" when you're not physically present, it's why all events in 2020 have been so lame. I'm not watching a live concert on Facebook, might as well just look at an old YouTube video, no practical difference. Online sales are great, if you want to leave it up to your prospects who they decide to buy from, if you want to make sure it's you, you need to get in front of them regularly and build and maintain that relationship. Can't do that with a 4-5 minute phone check-in every 4-6 weeks.

Some companies make it tough, though. I turned down a job at Coca-Cola because it didn't include a car. No problem, I thought, I'll just go to an auction and buy an old Crown Vic. Except, the fine print on the employment contract prohibited vehicles more than 5 years old. Forget that.

[fintail]

@ranwhenparked I suppose in the right industry it is a necessity, I wasn't thinking too broadly. I know working in a generic corporate job, travel was trending down for years (now eliminated, of course, and likely never to be the same again).

What type of accounts do you sell/maintain?

[ranwhenparked]

@fintail I work for an, um, UK-based consumer packaged goods company that sells products for adult consumers. We're in kind of a controversial industry, not exactly growth, but its a living.

I call on smaller wholesalers, some smaller regional retail chain headquarters, and a lot of higher volume independent retailers over a fairly wide area, about 300 accounts total.

[fintail]

@ranwhenparked aha, Cadbury egg salesman!

[ranwhenparked]

@fintail Uh, sure, yep, that's it all right. Cadbury Creme Eggs, all kinds. Milk chocolate, unfiltered chocolate, menthol chocolate, etc.