Colin Wynn Geoff, hello, welcome to Moving Matters Podcast. How are you today? Geoff Archer I'm alright Colin, thank you very much for having me along. Colin Wynn Absolute pleasure. Can you tell everyone a little about yourself and the length of time in this industry? Geoff Archer Well, I'm Geoff Archer, fourth generation, family firm. I've been back in the industry since 2004. When I said back we weren't allowed to start in the industry. I know a lot of people, family firms, and family firm have moved straight into the firm. And right through the generations, we had to go and get a job and work our way up that job till we got to a certain level that then we could come back. So I went out and I was a trade mechanic. And then I became a service manager. And then from there, I came back to the company in 2004. With my worldly experience of work, and I think the great push was through the generations was that none of us, in theory had it handed on a, you know, on a silver spoon. We had to work for it and know what work was. Colin Wynn So it was it always your intention to come back? Geoff Archer No, like a lot of things, if anyone's experienced a family firm, they'll know what I'm saying it's right through your life as a child and that the family firm is, is all around you work doesn't switch off Sunday lunch, it's work out Saturdays, it's work. It's always talking about work. And it wasn't No, it was only when I got to up, like a service manager and that. It sort of clicked on me when I was working for someone else thinking Hang on. Why don't I do this back with the family and take some of the rewards, some of the risk and reward myself and when it was talked over with the family. I came back, my brother come back a couple of years before In fact, my brother's been lucky because he was one of the first we made redundant once in the 90s when there was a big, the one of the recession's, he was the driver. And he went, he was let go. You know, so we're quite fair. We'll treat everyone the same. But you know, an he'd come back and then I followed him. You know, I followed him back to give my father a hand and from there, we just carried on. Colin Wynn So when you came back, did you come back straight onto the vans or in the office, doing the sales? Geoff Archer No, I came back on an engineering we had an engineering company. I came back through my mechanical background was involved as well going out on the vans, when there was we needed extra lads. I would go out and do some work. And then it went to answering the phone. And then one day, we were all sat, and the bank rang as they do on their yearly Review and says, Can we come and see ya? And it says, Have you thought about getting a business consultant in. Now, talking to my father at the time talking to him about a business consultant was like asking him to go and ride a motorbike. So we got one in and they looked at the business and said, Why are you engineering? You should be swapping roles. The young person should be out, getting the work. And it sort of coincided when all framework agreements came, obviously, we got into the, on the commercial side, it gone from we've worked for you for 40 years, you know, here's a framework agreement, you've got to apply for it. And my father, he says, I'm just not interested. I'm not interested in filling the yellow pages out, you know, for we're either good enough to work for you or we're not good enough to work for you. So then that's when I was sort of drafted in and the rest as I says is history. Then me father just steadily stood back the engineering slowed down someone wanted to rent a shed so we rent the shout out to them now and then removals took over took over again for me anyway and we are where we are today. Colin Wynn So tell me a little more about P.W. Archer & Son, what services do they offer? When did they start because I see that there's a centenary coming up. Geoff Archer Yeah, we were hundred in May. We started in 1920 ironically one of the things my great granddad Percy did we used to go to Darlington and buy ice and then drive to Northallerton and go and deliver it and sell it to butchers and ice cream parlours and anywhere wanted to buy ice. And then the haulage started as well because it's the same as modern day they had a van. Can you move this? Oh, right. Oh, there's a bit of money. Be made here we'll do that. Then they got a flatbed truck. One of his friends I think they ended up with a quarry they had a flatbed out of a quarry and someone says you've got a flatbed. Can you take some rubbish away so we had a rubbish round in the 20s, and it went from there, went through the 20s. We survived the war, Second World War, you know, and it just grew. And then in 1946, it's say us become a limited company with my granddad JB. He was the son at the time. And he went from there. And but then not long after that, across nationalisation came along, so we lost our haulage fleet that was took off us by the government, but removals were exempt so that's how the removal start been growing up. Because removals weren't nationalised, so obviously my granddad and that they're cracked on with removals. But there was a days you'll go to London and back in the day now old Bedford would think nothing of it. Colin Wynn Can't do that today. Geoff Archer No, no, I Well, in fact, about two years ago, we moved an old member of staff. And he was telling me, you know, and he used to tell us stories about it. They'd go to London and he had a list of other removal companies down there who they go and see, to see if there was any loads to come back. So his job is to drive to London, drop the furniture off. And then his job was to drive around all the removal companies who they knew we all add contacts. Is there anything going back North? Yes, there is, load it and turn around and come home. Colin Wynn Wow. So the company was started by Percy William Archer. Geoff Archer Yeah. Colin Wynn And Horace. Geoff Archer Horace is his brother. Yes. Colin Wynn And I discovered this because I fortunately have in front of me a wonderful book called Pantechnicon. Which I will plug at the end of the podcast. Archers feature on page 63 of said book. Where there is a superb black and white photo of a fleet of Archers vehicles outside their furniture gallery and auctioneers. Geoff Archer Yeah, yeah. It was I think it was glory days I think. I think it was glory days for transport though want it but it's easy to sit back and be nostalgic about it now isn't it but really did you want to be driving one of them waggons with big gloves on and 300 blankets around you and sleeping in the back on the blankets or on the customer's mattress on the sofa? You know was it that you know, glamorous? Colin Wynn Trust me, Geoff. I've never done a removal in my life and I'm never likely too, I've been in this industry since 1986. And the one thing I'm never going to do is a removal. Colin Wynn So with it being 100 years, do you have any celebratorary plans? Geoff Archer We did, and obvious reasons we never followed through. We had a few ideas and to be honest, everything got put on the back burner. Like a lot of companies now we gave some money to some charities. We gave some hundred pounds out ironically, pound for every year. We were In business and local charities, we did a bit of work, pre pandemic for some local charities. We thought about having a big family day. But as I said, that's just been knocked on the head to be honest. Colin Wynn Is it something that you may do later on in the year? Or maybe postpone until next year? Geoff Archer We may do it next year? But I don't know. I just don't know. I'll be honest. I would like to think Yes, we will. But we'll have to watch this space. Colin Wynn So during these hundred years, what challenges have you and your forefathers had to overcome? Geoff Archer Well, I think the big one for Percy would be the war. We have photographs of our people working in the war. We can tell it's the war because you've got the headlight masks and all the wings are painted white on the edges. My granddad JB, he was a trained welder, so he was protected occupation and he was also a part time fireman on the fire watch, so they had and they did some work for the Road Haulage Association through the war. My great granddad and my granddad were very big into organisations, ranging from obviously RHA, and right through to like the Rotary Club locally in the hospitals and I would think that'd be a massive challenge. You know, we've had the virus but the virus was everywhere, I suppose. But no one was dropping anything on us were they, you know, we had chance to protect ourselves and I would think in transport that would be and then coming through, obviously nationalisation. I can't imagine being in charge of a company and someone walking through that door and saying, right, your company is going to be cut by two thirds on Monday. You know, I can't imagine that. And then, from my living memory, I think the biggest thing was the black Wednesday in the 90s when one of our biggest companies York Trailers who I think everyone knows about York Trailers, they went bankrupt. And they owed us a lot of money because we used to deliver brand new trailers for them. And that led to me brother, obviously leaving the company, he had to go, we had no work for him. And that was I do remember that actually, as a, you know, as a 16/17 year old, I just remember the impact of me dad and a lad who worked for us. They became agency drivers. They got a job driving agency for Safeway's and Tesco's and Presto's at the time. You know, and it was it was quite strange. You know, you're sat at home, you know, sat at home, and your dad's going out to drive waggons for an agency to keep people employed in this business and, and that would be a challenge and pride had no place in it. People talk about Oh, I'm too proud to do that. You won't get me on the Tesco's check out for example, but at the end of the day, you've got to do what you've got to do if you want that family, a family firm, especially to survive and that would be hard. Colin Wynn Absolutely, very hard indeed. If you could change anything from the past, what would it be? Geoff Archer If I could change anything I think from in a company wise, I would think I would like to say we wouldn't have chopped all the waggons up. We wouldn't watch a scrap man chop the bodies up and stack them three high and drive off to Middlesbrough with them. But I think one of it was I wouldn't add the property. I wouldn't have sold alot of the property off as we did, you know, and got rid of some property, maybe kept it, but then what decisions were made then would be right for the time. You know, it's quite hard to say what you would change I think, you know, because you don't know them circumstances. You know, I would like to think there's always, always something you'll change. And I think the big thing would be chopping, not chopping the waggons up, knowing what old waggons are now that we go out searching for old waggons that we had, thinking we could have had them. Colin Wynn Do you have any old waggons? Geoff Archer Yeah, we have a few. Yeah, we have a few yeah in the private collection. Yeah, we're into old stuff. The problem I think a lot of people will say the, our, our Depo here the yard here has a big old workshop still and all we seem to have done with the workshops is fill them full of old stuff. You know, a couple of old like an old Bedford there's an Atkinson me brother as an old Atkinson under restoration. I have a few old Citroen's sat there you know things are like yeah, Colin Wynn So they are not working motors then? Geoff Archer Some are yeah, some go out. Colin Wynn All done up in the Archers livery? Geoff Archer One isn't because it came it came and it hasn't been done yet. But yeah, the go out. Yeah, my dad enjoys driving around. Yeah. Colin Wynn Awesome. What one thing would you change within the moving industry? Geoff Archer I would and this is going to be the most controversial thing and everyone will hang me for it. I would bring in tachos and O-licences for anything hire and reward. That's what I would do straight away and people are going to slag me off. If youre on hire and reward no matter what you do if you aren't getting paid to carry that, load, you gotta have a tacho and you've got to have an operator's licence. Simple as that. Colin Wynn Couldn't agree more. Geoff Archer But the only people who don't want it and I know there's people in industry that are running around in vans they run around on tachos on the waggons but they're only using vans because you'll see them they'll drive from North Yorkshire to London and back or they'll go to Brighton and back in a day. 10/12 hours driving. We're never going to compete with that. If you've got a true size removal van you're never going to compete with that if it's for us to go to Devon it could will be four or five days by the time you know it was a loading unloading. Getting back we can get to Exeter we can just get to Exetor from here in one run in a HGV but then the people with loloaders they'll get right down to Cornwall unload and they'll be back. So you know, and that is one thing and I hope with technology advanced on remote tachos on things like that digital tachos remotely downloaded this will happen I do hope it happens. Colin Wynn I hope so too. How difficult is it to find a driver these days though because obviously for the long wheelbase vans, you don't need any more than a driving licence depending on your age. Geoff Archer It gets back to us investing in the staff looking after staff. I see it all the time people say blooming porters. All our porters are long term, long term. The last porter that left us had been with us 42 years and he retired. You know the porters with us now. I have two who started on ad hoc I call it ad hoc not zero hours because we still pay them they're on the books. If they don't want to work they don't come in but they have been in full time a couple of years now right through furlough we sorted them out and if you look after your staff it's not just the payment it's how you look after them. If you look after your staff You shouldn't have a problem and they won't take the mickey, yeah you're going to have a bad day you're going to have a good day but they won't take the mick if you don't take the mick out of them you know I know removal commission bringing porters in and then there were jobs called off so they send them home don't pay them well, they're not going to have any loyalty are they? Colin Wynn No, and I take it then with your porters, if they wanted to become drivers, you would then send them through the training into HGV drivers? Geoff Archer Yeah I have one now, drives seven and a half tonner, he doesn't want to do it. He doesn't want to go to HGV2. He just doesn't want it. He's 52 and he says I don't want it. I said fair enough. I have a lady porter, a lass that works for us. She's worked a good few years for us now she's interested so it looks like she'll go through and do HGV. Colin Wynn That's interesting. An old boss of mine, john McGinty, previously of Alton Moves Group used to always say you can take a porter and turn him into a driver but you cannot take a driver and turn him into a porter. Geoff Archer Yeah, some don't, I think the difference is nowadays driving has changed in the olden days whether it was haulage or removals there was a lot of manhandling about it was a very physical job anywhere and I think now as things have moved on rightly so I suppose for health and safety that there's less and less man handling and let's face it, yeah, why would anyone want to be removal man when they can go to Aldi and stack a shelf? Colin Wynn Or drive for Tesco's and drive an articulated lorry to the distribution centre have it loaded for you drive it to the stores have it unloaded? Geoff Archer Yeah, exactly the same but Yeah. And I think this gets back down. We must be getting to an age now where the people with driving licences to drive seven and a half tonners is less than less anyway, we must be coming to that saturation point. So it's going to be investing in your business, investing in staff is going to be no different to investing in a brand new flashy truck. There's no point of flashy truck if you don't invest in the driver to drive it. Colin Wynn This is very true. So Jeff, what is your high point of being in this industry? Geoff Archer My high point, personally for me was when we got our first framework contract. It was it was the first time as a small company that we had to do a framework on we didn't even know what there was an ITT invitation to tender. There's a pre qualification questionnaire. That was it. We'd never done anything like that. We'd never ever and that's why me father said he wasn't interested. He passed it to me and this big document ended up on my desk and it was like, Well, where do I start? And we just worked through it. We would just work through it. I managed to find luckily through some work, we've done and moving people. I knew someone who done some I came across a man have done it on on motorways, nothing to do with furniture removals, but done this sort of framework on motorways maintenance. So he came in, he helped us out. We did it. And we were chosen along with a famous other office moving company national. Who used to have green I think it was green and red waggons with swans or something flying up the side. And we did it and that was very proud moment to realise that a small company our size could actually compete and get a framework agreement. Colin Wynn Now I believe you're just joined the board of the Commercial Moving Group. What made you join the board? Geoff Archer During lockdown Nigel who you had on before, he was, he sort of already spoke to me a few times about it and a few others and spoke to me about it. And during lockdown there was me and another company. We were very vocal about obviously the lockdown and what was happening with removal companies and how some points where we maybe thought we weren't getting the support we should be, you know and and I still feel strongly or through that period, we did miss a chance we did miss a chance we caught up a bit, but we missed one chance where we could have changed the world. And it was it was basically you can shout all day long. And what I used to say it's a bit like being at a party. If you get invited to a party at a house and you say I'm not going but the noise is too loud. The music's too loud. You can't turn it down from the outside. But if you are inside a party, you can go and unplug it. So your voice is heard and I just think you just need to be, if you're gonna, if you're gonna get something to work for you get the full benefit and true Yorkshireman I'm not going to spend this money to be a member of CMG to be a member of BAR if I can't try to get the full value for money out of it, and that includes either promoting our membership, of it, you know, come to us because we are this we are that, but also to get me foot in the party to say look, we are a small company, but we can bat with the big boys. The big boys don't have to be have all the fun on the CMG, all the fun in BAR the small people can have a voice let's, you know, use that voice but, you've got to be willing to stand haven't you? If you don't stand, you can't shout. And that's basically what I do. Colin Wynn Dead right. And the big boys as such were little boys at one point. Geoff Archer At one point. Yeah, I haven't got any Don't get me wrong. No ideas of grandshare we're quite happy here. We'd be a rare company. We only do five days a week. As me Dad said, even donkeys have a day off. But yeah, we don't do Saturdays and Sundays. Don't get me wrong if one of our commercial contractors do, do say, can you come in with come in, but very rarely, because as soon as you tell them what the rate is for a Saturday and Sunday, they suddenly realise that actually is cheaper on a Monday. Colin Wynn And I see you are a member of Simply Shredding, how do you find the shredding industry as a whole because I see many companies now getting into the shredding side, you often see removal companies getting into things like self storage or document storage, and then all of a sudden, it's now let's do shredding. Geoff Archer Well shredding is the the next step along isn't it really, because we know everything's going cloud, everything's going digital GDPR was a big help. And what we were found is there was an opening for shredding. We then went to the Simply Shredding because they already had a name and that's how we started so we actually in true Archer fashion, I suppose we jumped in both feet straight away. We didn't we didn't mess about. We bought a shredder. We have a shredder on site. We bail on site. We got the British Standard for shredding. We did that as well. We didn't mess about because we were very conscious that for our customers, we sell a service based on family based on quality based on we will deliver and we had to shred that paper ourselves. It can be cutthroat. You think removals is cutthroat the recycling industry. I'm finding these very cutthroat because It all depends on the end cost how much paper is selling for and then if you sell it for high price everyone will go and pick it up for nothing the shred for nothing because they're getting high price. But when the price drops, no one wants to shred. So what we say is we keep a continual price on the cost. And when the price drops will be still there will still go and pick it up. You know, but, it is same as on the domestic side you get a domestic customer oh I've got all this paperwork here, I've got to sort it out. O well, I'll give you a shredding bag. You know, do you want to buy you know, we'll do this and we get a bit of trade that way as well. Colin Wynn And do you give them the shredding bag or do you sell them the shredding bag? Geoff Archer Some customers we give them just a bit of a enticement to get the job. Colin Wynn Yeah, and it's a good it's a good enticement. Geoff Archer Yeah. And then a lot of time we do sell because if they've got one, they're going to need another one. So the second one to buy in It's all right. Yeah. And if the lads get in at four o'clock in the afternoon there's an hour left. crack on get some shredding done, you know, you'll get an hour's shredding. You know, you'll get nearly half a tonne a tonne done in an hour. Colin Wynn So do you have the terminals installed in client sites aswell? Geoff Archer Yeah, yeah, we have some terminals out now. We have consoles and wheelie bins are out now in sites. Yeah. And we do a monthly collection. We try to pride ourselves on non complicated, simple contracts it's simple pricing. You want your bin emptying and it will be emptied on that day. Colin Wynn Geoff, you're in the removal industry, we don't do simple pricing! Geoff Archer We try to keep it simple, you know, and it does work and we sell it on the brand. Obviously the Simply Shredding and of us beening a 100 year old family company, and it seems to work. Colin Wynn So what advice would you give to a young Geoff just starting out in the industry? Geoff Archer Confidence. Be confident, believe more in yourself I would say and believe more in your prices. It took me a few years to stop worrying about other people's prices. Don't worry what other people are doing the job for worry about what you're doing the job and as my dad and my granddad used to say, if you go home smiling, and you sit at that table think I've done a good day's work. You know, I've got good money for that good days work, you're right. You don't want to go home going oh I have lost a lot of money. You know, but be more confident in your pricing. And I think that's about it really don't you're never gonna, you're never going to compete with someone who undercuts you because they're always going to undercut you. So there's no point losing sleep over it. I know it's easy to say but once I learned not to lose sleep, that was the the big thing for myself. Colin Wynn Isn't it also a case of you know, if your local competitor is a lot cheaper than you, then yeah, give them the job because if they've got the job, that's one of their trucks full. They can't compete on others jobs then, depending on how many trucks they have. Geoff Archer Exactly, you're right. Because you normally find when everyone starts cutting the price, no one wins the customer wins. But also sometimes that customer is a customer you don't want anyway. You know, it's a it's a pond that you don't necessarily need to fish in. You know, and just sell on price. Sell on service give the price the best price you can if someone rings us and says, Oh yeah, I want you. This week it happened actually. I priced a job up and the lad said I'm really impressed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My problem is 150 pound more than someone else. What can I do? What can we do? I said, there's only one thing you can do. I says, pay 150 pound, and we'll do the job. And he sort of caught me the wrong time. And I suppose this is a beauty of being your name above the door is a family firm. You can get away with saying things like that because you know, you're not going to get sacked. And you got to be full repercussions. Full repercussion of that action is on you, isn't it? You can't. But I'm just sick of it. I was just sick of it. And he says, You know, I said what I said yeah, pay the hundred and 50 pound if you if you're happy with us pay that money. And that's how you'll get us to move you. And well I never heard off him again. So I'll probably lost that job. But that there's no point. I'm a great believer salesmen come in the door and say, I say, right, give us your best price. And they'll give me a price. I say I'm not interested. Oh, well, well, I'll knock another 150 quid 200 quid off what no, Why didn't you do that in the first place? That's not your best price then is it. There's me and another lad were saying the other day says, Give us your best price. It says yeah, the best price is 2000 pounds, not the 1500 quid I've quoted you. You know, I'm a great believer in give them a good price to start with, show why you're value for money, show the extras, show what you've got, show your BAR membership, people will slag BAR off, BAR members will slag BAR off, you're not getting anything out of BAR. And I was a bit like that before we rejoin. But they've got approved code of conduct. They've got the proved you know, it's Trading Standards approved code. Push that to the customer, mentioned to the customer that, get the customer questioning the other people. Why aren't you a member? Why haven't you got a Trading Standards approved code, its bits like that, You only can get, you know, push all that and then why you're now 150 I can see why you're 150 pound more. I'm gonna go with you because you care what you're doing. You know you're protecting us. And that's that's one thing. Yeah. gets back to the confidence as we said, the confidence to believe in it. And that's what I was lacking I think. Colin Wynn So where do you see yourself and the industry in the next five years? Is anybody ready to step into your business shoes and take over the reins? Geoff Archer I've got a 13 year old, a 13 year old son and like every other 13 year old at the moment the only shoes he wants to step into is something on fortnight. Yeah, no, I honestly don't know. Things have changed. It's a discussion. It's funny discussions we've had before and not necessarily with my son, with other companies. What would you do now with your son? Would you say to him go out and get a job somewhere else? You know, because I look at people I went to school with now who are working for someone else. They get a holiday when they want one. They're getting a pension. Don't get me wrong, I've got a pension. I do get a holiday. But they're not going home if that job's not done at five o'clock they go home where we don't go home. But I'd just like to give him the choice he's there and if he says yes I'll come and have a go. I would think now because education's change get him on a business studies course, get him on the trucks, get him learning the business from the bottom. And then he can make a decision what he wants to do. You know, we have a history of being 70/80 before we leave this industry, me Father 70 he I don't know now of 77 and he's still involved one two days a week. You know, my granddad, he was he was early 80s when he stopped. Colin Wynn So what do you do outside of the industry to switch off then Geoff? Geoff Archer I have an interest in French cars, 2CV's Colin Wynn Hence, you mentioned Citroen ealier Geoff Archer Citroen's, Yeah I have an interest in 2CV's. Yeah, I have a few. Colin Wynn Do you race them? Geoff Archer Funny you should say that I'm just going back I'm mechanic. I used to be involved in building them. I'm a mechanic. I do the mechanicing of a race team. I'm going back to the 24 hour race in August bank holiday, at Snetterton, they asked me if I would dust me dust coat off and overalls and get me spanners back out to go back and do some mechanicing, it's a switch off. Totally different to removals, totally different mechanicing and racing, whether you're racing Formula One racing 2CV's. It's still a buzz, some of my friends. It's a sad buzz. But it's still a buzz and I enjoy going yeah. Colin Wynn So do you actually race yours or are you just a mechanic? Geoff Archer I'm just mechanicing, as a friend of mine who does race them is very successful. He says Geoff, you couldn't drive, pardon the expression, a pooh stick up a dog's ass. And he was quite right to be brutally honest. I'm a bit like a lot of them I think. Yeah, I think I can drive. But, actually, I can't not not a racing car anyway. Colin Wynn So do you have any like really old 2CV's, any classics? Geoff Archer I have a 54 2CV van. And I've got a 63 Citroen H van. Colin Wynn Do you take them to shows? Geoff Archer No time? No time and they're at the back of the shed, I can't get them out. Colin Wynn Oh it's that time thing again! Geoff Archer Yes, it's time it's time I've got a VW camper. I got a VW camper in 2000 and whenever 11, 10/11 I think it was and me and me mates we go off sometimes on when we were going off and the odd weekend, bit of a lads weekend in them. But that's about it really, it's time. And then obviously you've got your son's hobbies involved he plays a bit of football. He's a good runner. Anyone who has a child involved in football knows what that does on a Saturday and Sunday, you know chasing around everywhere. Colin Wynn So finally Geoff, I like to end my podcasts with a funny moving story. Do you have one to tell? Geoff Archer Yeah, there's all sorts I suppose, there's a lot you can't repeat because it involves customers and nothing will be as good as Nigel's cat. There's always this one a driver said to me granddad once How do I get somewhere my granddad says go to Scotch Corner and take a run at it. So the driver went to Scotch Corner rung up he says I'm here where do I go now and he says leave the keys in the ignition and you're finished! A recent one, and it's not very good for removal man, I suppose and I've been involved twice in it. We had to do a small job down to Norwich, Norwich area Norfolk and I don't know how we did it this was pre when everything when we dad was running it right and everyone did then everything was written down there was no sat nav you didn't have sat nav you had an A2Z, a map book a postcode didn't matter no one had a postcode, it didn't matter because what good was the postcode because he has A2Z and your map book. Anyway, we got this address and me, me and the lads set off me and James set off down to Norfolk, we got to this village. But, I can't remember the name of the village. It was like a double barrel village but we didn't know there was two villages. And they were near enough the same name. But to make it worse there was two of the same streets, two of the same streets. You'll never make it up, its like Smith Street. This village had a Smith Street in each. Anyway, we went to this house with this furniture knocked on the door. Says oh Hello Mr. Smith your furniture is here, and this bloke comes out I don't know he looked a bit of a tramp really I was thinking well this doesn't look like the sort of person we'd normally you know wouldn't have his furniture and he just looked us up and down and says what are you on about, we brought your furniture, no not brought my furniture and it went on, well we have we brought your furniture, are you sure there's no one here, no. Anyway so we went back found a mobile signal cuz then it would only be it wouldn't even be 3G was it, found a mobile signal and rung, are you sure, and then we found a postman says we're looking for this address and he say's, Oh no, you're in wrong village mate! Geoff Archer And I've done the same twice. I went to another, and I said to a lad, yeah, I know where I'm going. As a typical I suppose as as you do. Yeah, I know where we're going. We're going down, here it is number 37 knocked on the door. knocked on the door. No one in. No one in. Knocked on the door. So we come back, luckily it was only just not far from here, I come back and I says there's no one in sat down phone rings, where are you, I said i've been knocked on the door and I've got I got Crescent and Close mixed up hadn't I! Geoff Archer The thing is with furniture removals funny stories just it's just a little things you sometimes don't forget until someone when you try to remember them you can't remember them. You could be out with the lad one day driving and they'll say do you remember when we did that? Or when you did that? And you just think, it's like when you're surveying and you go around and the funny things, everyone leaves or you move a bed my misses cringes when you say James is coming. I didn't want to strip that bed down and it just it just things that are left, you know. Geoff Archer Ashes. I remember coming across someone's ashes, I tripped over a box on a house survey, and I didn't know what it was. I walked in just as you're walking around with your clipboard, it was years ago, and I tripped over and she'd say, are you alright. And I says yeah, Oh, don't worry it's only Steve. I thought oh look for a cat don't you, a cat or a dog. And then on the floor she says, I don't know what to do with him I use him as a doorstop! Geoff Archer There is funny things, it's great. It's a great job and it's, I don't know we moved. I think you'll get arrested for it now. What people remember when I was apprentice, when you were young lad, you were the butt of all jokes weren't you were the butt, your long stands, your tartan paint, left handed screwdrivers, go for a sky hook, go and ask the customer for something stupid, it was normal. I suppose at any end. I don't think kids or young people will ever have that again. Because now it'll be classed as bullying. It was bullying to us. But everyone's different now. Geoff Archer But we did a big commercial job. And it involved packing. And in one room, we had to be all security checked to go in. Well, we had this lad on he hadn't been with us long and we put him in this room. Right go into this room. And we'd already been warned, when you've packed with files makes you a non fall open, just make sure whatever you do, if they're going in the wrong order, we're not bothered just make sure non fall open. And the women are in there, the women are in there as well. They'll supervise. You only need one so we left the young lad, he had not been with us long. So we're all lifting stuff we just left him in there, well they had his life. They had his life. And he came out and he was traumatised, he was. He was traumatised. What's Wrong, he says I'm not going in there again, and the department we put him in were used to dealing with like horrible cases, just horrible things. And and I think that give them a bit of a macabre, I think to get through they just had a strange sense of humour. And they just had his life, not in a horrible way but they just wind him up and he came out and he was pale. He was pale. You know, it's funny now and it was funny at the time we were just laughing. And then I saw him unluckily when the job finished we could keep him on we didn't have enough work. We took a lot of extra stuff on for that job. We didn't have enough work and what we try to treat everyone like a family. And then it was only 17 and I rang around. A lot of companies we knew not necessarily removal companies trying to find him work. And we were unsuccessful and he always I always like to think we did try and he's still remembers it when we see him. Before the lockdown I bumped into him and he recounted the story. He still remembered the story of being locked in, and he called me a horrible word. Geoff Archer And I think that's half of it being a family firm get back to being a family firm is that when you see ex staff members they come and talk to you, even young lads, I remember young lad got a job, a young lad. A young lad came for a job. It was pouring down, it was pouring down and he came through an agency not an employment agency one of these agencies trying to get unemployed to work. And they rang up and I says look, they'd already sent me one and I says How can you send a lad in jogging bottoms? You know, you're here in jogging bottoms, you come for a job. And I used to say has you mum brought you in, Yeah, so you come by yourself as is your mom brought you to make sure you come here, so I turned up, well I'm not interested mate, sit here for five minutes. Pretend you had a chat and go, you know, and this lad turned up one day, I had already said to them don't send him, and it was pouring down and it looked like it. And I felt sorry for him. He looked like he'd turned up, he turned up in a suit. And I had all most respect for him. I don't know where he got the suit from. It didn't fit him. But he was a drowned rat. It was the effort he made and he'd come on a push bike on the most rainiest, I says what you're doing, mate? And I said you didn't have to Why didn't you ring me? Oh, no. No. Anyway, Got talking to him. And he had never ever found a place he'd never. And I saw his DBS, and I realised why but he just never found any he was a practical person. So we gave him a trial. It didn't work out for no other reason we couldn't slow him down. He just everything was 500 mile an hour. Look, you can't, just take a breath slow, you don't need to impress us. You've got you've got a way in. And he just couldn't. And I rang around for him. I rang around trying to find him a job in a factory. He'll be ideal in a factory. And I think he got one in the end. And we gave him references. He was never going to be furniture van man, he just wasn't going to be a porter. And he still sees us. And he still calls me Mr. Archer and he, whenever you see him, and no one would ever give him a chance. You know, he was one of them lads, he just needed one person. And I would like to think I was one person who helped him you know, get that and as a family firm, we go out of our way treat people like family and all the workers, as soon as furlough finished we brought them back straight away. We got work for them, we said it's not gonna be easy. We're just gonna Yeah, no problem at all, you know, and and we never lost anyone. Colin Wynn Excellent - Geoff, I can't thank you enough for your time today. It's been Great finding out about P.W. Archers, your stories are hilarious. I truly thank you for your time. Geoff Archer No problem Colin it's a pleasure. Colin Wynn Thank you very, very much. Geoff Archer Thank you look after yourself. Transcribed by https://otter.ai