Over the years it has been fascinating to see both sides of timber merchanting. I worked for one of the ‘Big Boys’ in the 80s and early 90s and when you’re on that side of the fence your impression of the independent sector is understandably biased.
How can some tin pot business really compete with the resources that we can muster? Surely the only way they survive is because they don’t measure performance properly and maybe they’re just willing to live at a lower level? Oh, the discussions we used to have over this, yet somehow or another these businesses kept going, while we struggled and strived and were eventually taken out of the equation.
These groups gradually merged into even bigger animals and we’re now at the point where only a few mega merchants survive, spending vast sums of money on PR and all that goes with it.
However, when you look at who in merchanting really supports this industry, it’s the small to medium-sized businesses that tend to do more than their bit. Sure, when there’s a PR story to be told, or the latest set of results need to be shown, the plcs are over us all like a rash, but I don’t see much support for the timber industry from them and after all, it’s still a big part of their business.
Perhaps these big merchants don’t see any importance in it, which is a shame, because without the support of us all, timber is the loser and with such a huge chunk of the merchant market resting in just a few hands, feeding on our ‘oxygen’, we need them to put something back as well, particularly in terms of advertising, readership, timber promotion and all the other parts that make up our timber community.
