Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 20:55 27 Apr 2024
* Titanic gold pocket watch sells for £900k
- Boy finds rare Lego toy on beach after two-year search
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 22/05/24 - WWRUG / TransWilts update
02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

No 'On This Day' events reported for 27th Apr

Train RunningCancelled
19:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
19:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:13 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:23 Basingstoke to Reading
Additional 20:57 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central
21:01 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
21:28 Westbury to Salisbury
21:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
Short Run
19:13 Salisbury to Worcester Shrub Hill
22:13 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
Delayed
17:27 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:15 Penzance to Exeter St Davids
18:27 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
20:13 London Paddington to Swindon
20:24 Reading to Gatwick Airport
PollsThere are no open or recent polls
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
April 27, 2024, 20:58:24 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[86] Labour to nationalise railways within five years of coming to ...
[44] access for all at Devon stations report
[28] Who we are - the people behind firstgreatwestern.info
[10] Bonaparte's at Bristol Temple Meads
[1] Lack of rolling stock due to attacks on shipping in the Red Se...
[1] Cornish delays
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Fares Analogy  (Read 1901 times)
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 12365


View Profile Email
« on: March 06, 2017, 13:27:38 »

Worth reading right to the end!

"IF TRAIN COMPANIES SOLD PAINT . . .

Customer: Hi. How much is your paint?

Clerk: Well, sir, that all depends on quite a lot of things.

Customer: Can you give me a guess? Is there an average price?

Clerk: Our lowest price is £12 a gallon, and we have 60 different
prices up to £200 a gallon.

Customer: What's the difference in the paint?

Clerk: Oh, there isn't any difference; it's all the same paint.

Customer: Well, then I'd like some of that £12 paint.

Clerk: When do you intend to use the paint?

Customer: I want to paint tomorrow. It's my day off.

Clerk: Sir, the paint for tomorrow is the £200 paint.

Customer: When would I have to paint to get the £12 paint?

Clerk: You would have to start very late at night in about 3 weeks. But you will have to agree to start painting before Friday of that week and continue painting until at least Sunday.

Customer: You've got to be *&%^#@* kidding!

Clerk: I'll check and see if we have any paint available.

Customer: You have shelves FULL of paint! I can see it!

Clerk: But it doesn't mean that we have paint available. We sell only a certain number of gallons on any given weekend. Oh, and by the way, the price per gallon just went to £16. We don't have any more £12 paint.

Customer: The price went up as we were talking?

Clerk: Yes, sir. We change the prices and rules hundreds of times a day, and since you haven't actually walked out of the store with your paint yet, we just decided to change. I suggest you purchase your paint as soon as possible. How many gallons do you want?

Customer: Well, maybe five gallons. Make that six, so I'll have enough.

Clerk: Oh no, sir, you can't do that. If you buy paint and don't use it, there are penalties and possible confiscation of the paint you already have.

Customer: WHAT?

Clerk: We can sell enough paint to do your kitchen, bathroom, hall and north bedroom, but if you stop painting before you do the bedroom, you will lose your remaining gallons of paint.

Customer: What does it matter whether I use all the paint? I already paid you for it!

Clerk: We make plans based upon the idea that all our paint is used, every drop. If you don't, it causes us all sorts of problems.

Customer: This is crazy!! I suppose something terrible happens if I don't keep painting until after Saturday night!

Clerk: Oh yes! Every gallon you bought automatically becomes the £200 paint.

Customer: But what are all these, "Paint on sale from £10 a litre" signs?

Clerk: Well that's for our budget paint. It only comes in half-gallons. One £5 half-gallon will do half a room. The second half-gallon to complete the room is £20. None of the cans have labels, some are empty and there are no refunds, even on the empty cans.

Customer: To hell with this! I'll buy what I need somewhere else!

Clerk: I don't think so, sir. You may be able to buy paint for your bathroom and bedrooms, and your kitchen and dining room from someone else, but you won't be able to paint your connecting hall and stairway from anyone but us. And I should point out, sir, that if you paint in only one direction, it will be £300 a gallon.

Customer: I thought your most expensive paint was £200!

Clerk: That's if you paint around the room to the point at which you started. A hallway is different.

Customer: And if I buy £200 paint for the hall, but only paint in one direction, you'll confiscate the remaining paint.

Clerk: No, we'll charge you an extra use fee plus the difference on your next gallon of paint. But I believe you're getting it now, sir.

Customer: You're insane!

Clerk: Thanks for painting with Virgin"
Logged
broadgage
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5410



View Profile
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2017, 09:03:48 »

Too  simple.
All the paint is the same. Surely there should be good paint and cheap paint, and perhaps some intermediate grades also. The better paint would USUALLY cost more, but sometimes might be cheaper than the nominally cheaper paint, provided that is both purchased and used at the correct times, which are variable.

Use of living room paint in a hallway should also attract a fine of say £80, this can be avoided by paying a higher price for inter-available paint that may used in any room.
Logged

A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 12365


View Profile Email
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2017, 12:26:17 »

I think that's the point....all the different prices for effectively the same product
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page