Woolworths' old lorries

Old Navy    on 1 April 2009

I was stopped in traffic (motoring link) outside a Woolworths recently and although the shop had been stripped of shopfittings, all the EPS equipment was intact, also leased?

Armitage Shanks {p}    on 1 April 2009

I would have thought, if Woolworths owned them, they would have been sold to raise money and, as you say, if they were leased they will have gone back to the leasing company. Can't remember seeing Woolworths lorries anyway - the roads seem to be full of Adso, Wilco, Tesco, Ocado and Sainsburys, to name but a few

Alby Back    on 1 April 2009

Don't know but I do have a story about a Woolworths lorry.

Very long time ago I was in charge of a factory which sometimes made things for Woolworths. They were at the time one of our biggest customers. They used to nail everyone down on price and one of their peculiarities was that they would demand even more discount because they would pick up their goods rather than have you deliver them. Downside as a supplier was that you had to have everything ready to load on to one of their trucks on a specific day at a specific time.

Anyway, this huge order came in from them for a unique product which because of the way it was made was exclusive to them and unmistakeably a Woolworths only item. A price and collection date was agreed and we went full steam ahead to make the order.
Everything was going swimmingly until one of the machines needed to complete the order went down causing us to be running right up to the wire.

Knowing that admitting to this would result in at least a hefty financial penalty or even cancellation we pressed on running the remaining machines through the nights on extra shifts to catch up.

The truck arrived as arranged at 10.00 on a Friday morning. We still had about another hours worth of production to do to complete the order. I went out to speak to the driver and politely invited him into our canteen for a free fry up. Unfortunately he refused our hospitality and insisted on getting a quick load up to be on his way.

We knew that if we sent the order short it would cost and might even be refused and the item was unsaleable to anyone else.

Much cajoling and even offers of financial incentives took place until it was clear that the driver was having none of it.

Gradually my heart sank. We were still a good 45 minutes away from completing the order as the driver huffily strode back to his cab.

However, to my astonishment, when he attempted to start the truck in our loading bay, it wouldn't fire up. After a few attempts he rather sheepishly asked to use a phone to get help. Meanwhile our guys were firing the remainder of the stock into the trailer.

Unable to believe my luck but happy as could be I glimpsed our venerable old factory mechanic skulking in the shadows of the loading bay. Grinning from ear to ear and covered in oil...........

Later, when I asked him if he knew anything about the stricken truck, all he would say was "Well boss, you promised everyone a bonus this week if we got that Woolies order out on time...."