Great Western Coffee Shop

For those who haven't received the email, GWR have launched a range of branded items.

https://www.btcwebstore.co.uk/gwr/

The upstart GWR have released a range of GWR green branded items.

Is your life incomplete without a GWR green mug? Are you desperate for new, solid metal no less, cufflinks? What about some classy Class 387 socks?  :P :P :P

All could be ideal gifts for that died-in-the-wool GWR enthusiast in your family or friends circle.

There is a discount code out there, in an email signed by Mark Hopwood. Nice to see he continues to concentrate on the important things at GWR. If you're lucky enough to receive said email (I did, despite that promise from GWR I'd receive no more marketing  ::)) you can get a 10% discount on the pre-VAT prices. I might be tempted to share the code by PM if you can't work it out. It's from GWR and there's a base decimal unit in it...

Here's the GWR souvenir online store:

https://www.btcwebstore.co.uk/gwr/index.php/shop.html

Hopefully this post is tongue-in-cheek enough to not constitute advertising. Neither promotion or endorsement on my part.  :P ;) ;D

I heard there was a limited edition Mark Hopwood action man but no-one can find him!

Wow! Thanks for the tip off you've just solved my Christmas presents issues for my relatives. ;D

You couldn’t make it up. I must confess I was slightly warey after clicking the link that this site was actually genuine and that GWR have branched out into branded items but it appears they have.

I have yet to have been privileged enough to have received my email from Mr Hopwood. I take it he personally endorses these products if he’s signed the email? Are First not making enough profit from GWR?

I can see many of GWR’s long suffering commuters queuing up to purchase that little something to remind them of their daily commute. Taplow Green I particularly thought of you when browsing through the many and varied items on offer.

I remember Wessex Trains doing something similar when they existed. I’m not aware of other TOCs selling things like this. If you know any that do please do share with us.

I'd rather have GWR's marketing department doing this than most of the other things they get up to.

You referring to the Famous Five campaign?

I mean, really, a £2.50 GWR Woven Badge seems like a bargain for persuading your local station to sell you PRIV tickets.

So the bag costs £3 but a cheap plastic ticket wallet that will break in 6 months of commuting costs £9? what the heck!

Actually, I rather think Great Western Railway's marketing department have indeed 'just made it up'.

I haven't received any such cheery e-mail from 'Mark Hopwood', when I'd be genuinely pleased to receive one.  However, they have sent one to member 'bignosemac', who has made it absolutely clear to them that he does not welcome such marketing e-mails.

What are you playing at, GWR's 'marketing department'??  :o





Admin note: Posted here in my personal capacity, not as any official view from the Coffee Shop forum. CfN.  :-X

To be absolutely fair to GWR, the £9.00 ticket wallet is leather.

And to be a little unfair on them - or rather Mark Hopwood himself - as the email says, "I would also like to offer you a personal 10% discount on all items (excluding postage) on your first purchase." I think it's a bit remiss to fail to mention that the 10% is off the ex-VAT prices, not the advertised VAT inclusive prices.

I confess I find myself uncomfortable with the diversion of GWR resources - which are so short in some areas that they can't meet their service level commitment - into souvenir marketing.   However, their human resources tend to be so specfically trained that they can't adequately be re-deployed from one role to another to provide cover.  Try asking the lady or gentleman who answers your call by telling you they've got got train crew to get you home to come and drive the train her / himself. Wonder at the cancellation of a train due to lack of a trained driver ... then employ of a fleet of taxis with a lot more drivers to get dozens of people where they need to be without stranding them for two hours.

"Are First not making enough profit from GWR?" you ask.    Running trains is on very thin margins, we are told - and where traffic levels have not been as high as anticipated (perhaps due to service quality not being as high as anticipated), then profitability is down and GWR are not making the money for First.  And margins are far better on car parking contracts, leasing out station concessions, merchandising, etc ...

The 10% discount before VAT is something GWR are experienced at. In the five (weekday's you'll note) that have just gone, they've cancelled eight train runs out of the 90 that were scheduled.   80 of the scheduled services are in their contacts, with a round trip each day representing the VAT - so in other words the TransWilts cancellation rate has been 10%, without any Sunday / rest day work issues excuse being available.  These things happen, of course - so I can confirm that the reasons given in all cases was a GWR one - lack of a working train, or lack of staff to run it.

I do hope that the 10% discount is off the price (in this case) rather than off the product. A ticket wallet that's 10% too small to take a ticket. A train that doesn't turn up on the day 10% of the time, provides far, far less than 90% of the use it's supposed to provide.   And a train that takes you 90% of the way from London to Newport (with you being detrained at Pilning by my calculation!) to make your own way for the last 10% ...

I am slightly confused as to how they then calculate the final cost? Usually it doesn't matter when a % discount is applied unless say, it is in combination with a £fixed discount.

e.g.
£1 ex-VAT + 20p VAT = £1.20 - 10% discount = £1.08 (usually on a receipt the net price would be shown as 90p and VAT 18p as tax cannot be discounted)
£1 ex-VAT - 10% discount = 90p + VAT = £1.08

i.e. price x 0.9 x 1.2 = price x 1.2 x 0.9

So am I ... but then this is "railway" so it will be more complicated than it needs to be  ;D

I suspect no discount off shipping costs?   What could have been an incentive discount is diluted by complexity. Why not simply offer 8% off the bottom line then VAT doesn't matter.   Or are some of the items offered classified as "essentials" so not subject to VAT at regular rates?

Quite right. It looks like a minuscule tax fraud, doesn't it?

However, I suspect that when you get an invoice or receipt showing the final price breakdown, including VAT, it has actually been worked out backwards. In other words, (final price - anything not bearing VAT ) / 1.2 = VAT. WHat's left is the pre-VAT selling price, which absorbs any small discrepancies due to how the price was offered - as it should.

Perhaps they could market an MD voodoo doll you could stick pins in when your train is late/cancelled/ lost/vanished/ broken down/ broken up etc etc. etc On the day when they wouldn't be able to find any such dolls,there would be a lot of out of stock excuses.

....I genuinely thought this was a spoof when I first saw it but I now realise that it's actually a real website!!!

Apparently there's an issue with the "Top Trumps" cards - more than usual of them are torn and in need of repair, and even fewer are available to be used at the weekend.

Oh dear I must have been sucked in.  I ordered a couple of bits - and before the 10% discount was advertised!

Still one of the items was a mug!

Post of the week.  ;D ;D ;D

Me too.

Carriage (P&P, rather than simple 'P', is VATable, and if it isn't being discounted, how can a simple 10% off the final figure work?

So it has to be dome this way, unless you increase the P&P costs such that when discounted, that cost returns to the amount they want to charge.

But then the wingers would complain that the pre-discounted P&P costs were unrealistic....

No postcards  :(

Actually on looking at it more closely the GWR Souvenir shop I run by a company called BTC Souvenirs, and most of the product on sale have either been given to staff or as part of goodie bags at local shows (Royal Cornwall, Devon County) so its not as bad as it looks.

I suspect also that BTC are taking the risk, and the production of these souvenirs, and any profit, simply licensing each product from GWR.

I would think its more likely GWR have looked around and chosen them to run a souvenir shop on their behalf, each taking a cut of any profits made. Its not a bad idea, its just a shame some of the products are so expensive, but then so are British Airways, Vauxhall's & Jaguars.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/gwrmug.jpg)

Typical GWR - they even put the handle on the wrong side!  ;)

A left-handed mug - what a clever idea!

Was about to buy the GWR bag, got to the postage bit, and the cheeky devils don't tell you it costs £3.95 for delivery!  >:(   Yet if I bought something for Jaguar, its free but takes about 5 working day(on paper, can sometimes be quicker)

Ill wait for a bit until I want to get some other bits, not paying £7 for branded bag lol