21) Erina Deliveries

It took us a little while to get all the paper work that Coles required sorted out but meanwhile Jonny removed the back seat of our little car and turned it into the smallest delivery van anyone had ever seen. We printed posters advertising our service for Franklins and on Nov 1st we displayed them around the store and we were ready for business. I remember that very first day we got two deliveries and we were very excited. The first one was to a retirement village very close to Erina Fair. We were not used to retirement villages in those days and expected to find that the numbers were consecutive, how wrong we were. After a while in the delivery business we decided that when they built the first house they called in Number 1 and maybe 2,3 and 4 would be close by. But then they would move the builder to a completely different part of the village to start another cluster of houses; these would be called 5,6,7 and 8. After which the builder would move on once again to build houses 9,10, 11 and 12. All this was done with the sole and definite purpose of making every delivery person’s life as hard as possible. We were convinced it was a conspiracy. Seriously though we could never understand why the numbering was so haphazard.

Our second delivery of that day was to a young woman with two small children, living in a large house on a new estate. These two customers were the only ones we had all that first week but we kept busy going to all the shops in Erina Fair, telling them about the service we were starting and leaving our card with them.

I don’t remember how many deliveries we did the next week but I do remember that we were busy filling in all the forms that Coles expected of us. We also got to meet the manager, he was a young man called Shane who was very helpful. He proved to be a very good friend to us all the time we were with Coles, even when he moved to a different branch.

On 14th November we had done all the paper work and we were in possession of our Vendor Number and we were able to start doing deliveries for Coles. Shane supplied us with cooler bags and ice packs and explained how they wanted the service to work. When a customer asked at the till for a Home Delivery the teller was required to make out a docket with the customers address and phone number. The lower half of the docket had small sticky labels with a number corresponding to the number on the top half of the docket. All the bags were to be tied up and a label stuck on them. Then the bags containing freezer items or cool room items would be taken to the fridge or the freezer behind the store and left there until we came to collect them for delivery. Then we would put them into our cooler bags with the ice packs so that the cold stuff would still be cold when it arrived at the customers home. We used shopping trolleys to take the orders from the store to our car and had to be careful not to squash the bread or break the eggs. When we packed the goods from the shelves in the store into a trolley putting the eggs and the bread on the top. We then wheeled the trolley to our car and loaded the bags of groceries into our car, once again being careful to put the eggs and the bread on the top. We realised that this was very time consuming but there was no other way to keep our customers happy.

Jonny always drove the car and I was the navigator. When we first started it was very exciting to travel all over the Central Coast, to some places we had never seen before. It is a very lovely area and a joy to get to know it. Most of our customers were elderly ladies who no longer owned a car, so went to the shop by bus and then used us to take home their shopping as it was too heavy for them to carry. A few of our customers though were young and pretty wealthy, their orders tended to be very large and most of them lived in homes with lots of stairs to climb and so they were prepared to pay us to carry it from our car to their kitchen. When we first came to Australia we thought that everyone was well off but our time in the delivery business showed us that there are many poor people here and also many lonely people who love to have someone to talk to.

20) What next?

During our quest for the perfect business we read an advert for a delivery business that sounded promising. We phoned the gentleman and he told us that he was delivering groceries for the local Coles Store in a near by town. We arranged to meet the following day and talk about his business. He gave us the financial records of the business and explained that along with the groceries from Coles he did deliveries from The Bottle Shop and a large departmental store called K. Mart. It was obvious that he was not making a fortune but it seemed like a promising little business until we discovered that he was not including his van in the asking price, this made the business very expensive. We took the paper work to a friend who is a financial advisor he agreed with us that the price was far too high and told us to make the vendor an offer. The price we came up with was about half of the price he was asking but we thought it was fair. After all the business did not have any assets except the contract that he had with the stores. We were not even sure that the stores would be prepared to sign new contracts with us. We were not surprised that our offer was not accepted but we were disappointed.

A couple of weeks later we saw another advert for a delivery business in that same town but this time working out of Woolworth’s that was going for a price closer to the amount we had offered for the first business. We went once again to see the seller and although we did not think that this business was as good as the first one we thought we could make something of it. We told the man we were very interested and he told us that a few days before he had given an option to buy to someone else who seemed to be stalling and was pretty slow coming up with the money. He had agreed to wait a few more days for the money to be paid but promised that if his buyer did not produce the money he would sell to us. That evening he rang to tell us that the money had been deposited into his bank so the sale would be going through. Another disappointment!

We did a bit of research into supermarkets in the area and went and talked to some of the people that were running their delivery services. We thought that we could do better than most of them but none of them wanted to sell. A little while later we saw an advert in the newspaper looking for someone to do deliveries for Coles Store in Erina Fair. Erina Fair is a large modern shopping centre that had just been extended and Coles had not been in there very long. We thought that this was wonderful, just what we had been looking for. Jonny rang the store and talked to the assistant manager a young lady called Kim. She told us how many deliveries we could hope to get each day and what they were prepared to pay us for each delivery. Jonny was stunned; it would not cover our petrol let alone all the other vehicle expenses that we would need to pay out. Kim told us that we would have to have fully comprehensive car insurance and public liability insurance to the tune of $2 million. I wondered if anyone would ever require us to deliver $2 million worth of groceries. Jonny told her that the volume of deliveries would not make it a feasible proposition but she could not promise any more and told us to take it or leave it but she could not do any better.

We mulled it over for a few days and thought that if we could get work from other stores in the shopping centre maybe we could build the business up. We phoned Kim and asked her if she would object to us doing deliveries for other companies as well and she was quite happy with that. Then we approached Woolworth’s and asked if they needed anyone to do their deliveries but they already had an established service and we discovered that their deliveryman who only did Woolworth’s deliveries ran two vans on Thursdays and Fridays so we were encouraged to continue with it. We approached the Franklins supermarket in the shopping centre and the manager was very positive. He just said, “Come”. He had had a deliveryman before who had let him down badly and was looking for someone else. He did not think that the work we got from him would be enough to keep us but he thought that between his deliveries and those from Coles we should get sufficient volume to keep us fairly busy. We then called on the manager of another grocery store that was not actually in Erina Fair shopping centre but situated close enough for us to be able to include them in our runs and they also agreed to use us. So we decided to give it a go and applied to Coles for a “Suppliers Number” and took out the necessary public liability insurance that they required.

19) Business Search

Jonny and I started to look for a business that we could start with very little money, which we were capable of running ourselves and that would give us a reasonable income. We scoured the newspapers, talked to estate agents and racked our brains. We investigated many ideas but most of them proved to be impracticable, unaffordable or just plain impossible.

One thing Jonny joined up for was an agency that promised to find work for workers who were not so young any more, to do odd jobs for clients who were also passed the first flush of youth. The idea was good, elderly people often find it hard to get someone to come and do small repair jobs for them and they are rather reluctant to let people that they don’t know into their homes. There were many men who had been carpenters, electricians and plumber who were looking for casual work. Jonny registered saying he would do any welding repairs but there was so little demand for his skill he had to keep on looking.

We would study the local paper for “Business Opportunities” and would find all sorts of things listed, from adverts that offered to make us millionaires within a month or two, with no effort and not having to leave the comfort of our home, to genuine well run companies that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The trouble with the latter was that the sellers wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. Vending machines were often advertised but we were warned that the affordable ones were small machines in rough parts of town and they were very often stolen or vandalised by the local thugs. We could have easily got into selling health products but as both of us have always been rather negative about that sort of thing we did not think we would be able to sell them. We felt that for that kind of product one has to have a wide circle of friends, which we did not. We investigated a Laundromat but the problem with that was that the owner needed the service of a full time ironer to make the business pay and as I was not really a very skilled ironer, we thought we had better give that one a miss. I would have been a nervous wreck worrying about burning some customer’s favourite blouse.

We spoke to a man who wanted to sell his delivery run. He was selling bottled cool drinks from his van into the surrounding suburbs. There was another business selling cakes, the owner would leave the Central Coast very early in the morning go to Sydney and buy cakes from a bakery there. He would then return and sell the cakes to various cafes and restaurants around here. Neither of them seemed to be making a living.

When we saw an advert for couriers we thought that maybe this was what we were looking for. We made an appointment to see the advertiser in Sydney and armed with our street map we left home very early. With not too many wrong turns we arrived for our interview in plenty of time and felt pleased with ourselves. There were a few other people who were thinking of going into the courier business and the gentleman explained the procedure to us. His company would not employ us but it would be our own business, contracting to his company. It was pretty obvious that to make money in that business one would have to know ones way around Sydney pretty well. We were quite taken with the idea though and for a while thought that if we gave it a go we would learn our way around. Fortunately good sense prevailed even before we were back home again and we saw the many disadvantages of that one.

Another business we saw advertised was a sweets and chips business. This one involved setting up stands of sweets and chips in factories, workshops or offices all over the place. The idea being that the staff would buy your products rather than go out of their premises for their snacks. And all we would have to do was return the following week and collect the money and re-stock the stand. That one really seemed a bit dodgy. It was presented as a company that helped the unemployed and hinted it was a charitable organisation. As far as we could see the only unemployed people we might be helping would be ourselves. That charity was certainly beginning at home. (And ending there too by the look of it)

While we were doing this research we were learning more about our area and how things were done here. All of which was very useful.

18) The Ball Throwing Machine

When we were on the plane coming to Australia Jonny had read in one of those in flight magazines that there were organisations that were willing to help new inventions and help them get into the market. While we had been waiting for our goods to arrive Jonny had found out who they were and had got in touch with them. They had seemed friendly and willing to help but had told us that there was not much they could do until the machine arrived in Australia and that he should contact them as soon as it did. The machine was amongst our crates and boxes that had been delivered so Jonny got busy reassembling the machine and getting it ready to do presentations to the organisation. We made an appointment to demonstrate the machine to them and went through to Newcastle to do so.

They were all very impressed with the machine and thought it was a great idea. They gave us lots of advice on patents, business plans and demonstrations that we really did not need. We had done all those things in South Africa. What we really needed was to be put in touch with people who had the money and the knowledge to put the machine into production and into the market. It rather felt as if they wanted us to reinvent the wheel.

We realised that we would have to show the machine to people in the Australian cricket so we made appointments with coaches of various clubs and we got pretty much the same reaction everywhere. They thought that the machine was great, they felt it would be an asset to cricket coaches but they did not have the money to help us get into production. And unfortunately did not know of anyone with that kind of money either.

Jonny was not one hundred percent happy with the wheels that he had on the machine. Although they worked well and most bowlers could not face the machine at full speed he was sure that with a different rubber compound on them he would get a bit more speed out of it. Thus making it more suitable for tennis as well. With a lot of searching he managed to find a company in Sydney who agreed to do the work. The owner of the firm was a very patient and kind man. The rubber on the first set of wheels that he did broke off and did some damage to our downstairs laundry. When we told the owner of the company he offered to redo the job at his expense. He tried it a few times but the rubber kept breaking off and it was eventually realised that the method of affixing the rubber to the hubs that are one the machine was a completely different method, a method that his company did not use. We did find one company that used the proper method and they made one set of wheels for us but they also failed and they would not do another set. Jonny also tried to use a product other than the rubber but that did not work either. So Jonny had to accept that he would not be able to get the extra speed that he would have liked.

We have done quite a lot of demonstrations with the machine, we have entered it in competitions and it was in an exhibition of new inventions but as I said before although people are very impressed with it no one was prepared to invest any money in it so it sits in our back shed until something turns up. We know that if it had not been for that machine we would not have been able to come to Australia so we are very grateful for it and know that it has been worth it in the long run. When we came to Australia in 1998 to visit Jonathan and Siân we brought the machine with us and were told to get a business visa because of it. That visa covered both of us, was valid for five years, was multi entry, and cheaper than a tourist visa. When we were ready to come and live here that visa was still valid and we were allowed to come into the country on it and then to apply for an Aged Parent Visa and our permanent residence. People who come to this country on tourist visas and apply for Aged Parent Visas have to leave the country to await the granting of their visa but for some wonderful reason that did not apply to people on Business Visas. We were allowed to stay here. We did not have permission to work but we could carry on business. Once we could see that the Bowling machine would not be a short-term proposition we had to set about looking for another business to go into. But that’s all another story.

17) Our furniture Arrives

On April 3rd we got a telephone call to say that the ship that was carrying our furniture had arrived in Sydney and once it had been through quarantine we could expect it to be delivered on April 17th. When it had been packed on 27th November we had been told to expect it in 12 weeks so we were disappointed that it had taken 20 weeks. Now that it was here we were just so happy to see all our things that we forgot how long it had taken to get to us.

During the two weeks that our belongings were in quarantine we were contacted by a local removal firm, or as the Australians say a ‘removalist’, who asked us a great number of questions about the layout of our home. How close could the van get to the door? How many steps would the furniture have to be carried up, how wide were the steps and doors and all that sort of thing. I wondered if they would refuse to deliver our goods if they did not like the conditions but Jonny realised that if it was going to be hard to unpack the van they would have to send extra staff and extra trolleys and of course charge us extra money. When we had paid for the removal in South Africa we had only paid for delivery to Sydney harbour and we expected to have to pay for our things to get from the docks to us. I think it cost us about $350 to get it to the Central Coast.

We were a little concerned how they would manage to get our things into our house but we need not have worried. The two young men were fit and strong and had no trouble what so ever getting it up the stairs and into place. They were both from New Zealand and spoke with nostalgia of there home country but agreed that wages and conditions were better in Australia and so they were very pleased to be here and working here. They worked very quickly and in no time at all had the large furniture in place and had removed the protective cardboard wrapping. They put all our boxes wherever we wanted them and after joining us for a cup of tea they left, taking all the surplus packaging and leaving us with a gift hamper from their company. It contained a collection of tinned foods and some cleaning materials, which I thought was a very kind thought on the part of the removalists.

It was good to see all our things again. The lounge suit we bought when we lived in Chingola, the dining room suit we bought when we lived in Mabelreign. We bought one of our desks when we lived in Hatfield and we bought our chests of draws then too. The bedroom suit reminds me of our time in Witbank and as various ornaments and things were unpacked they brought back many memories of places we had been and people we had known. We were very lucky that there were hardly any breakages; a couple of tumblers was all. So we were pleased we had decided not to pay for insurance and take the chance that it would get here safely, we had felt that it is not often ships sink and we were confident that our goods would be fine.