Red I'm interested to know what was your speciality when hawking. What were you hawking and who did you trade best with. Young families, older people, ladies?
Had this biscuit discusion on another forum. Went on for years, shut down now. You have been warned.
I haven't forgotten your hawking question BTW Kev, but the more I think about it, the more complex the answer becomes.
Let me cogitate a while longer.
No problem Tom. It interests me because I have been involved with direct sales/business since 1984. Many moons ago while I was a sales manager my job was to ring the enquiries and send the salespeople on them. It was so important to match them up correctly for optimun return.
As Kev will perhaps appreciate, this is a huge question, I could fill a book with the answer, but I’m afraid you will have to settle for this one, which just scratches the surface.
For the uninitiated, hawking, (In this context) means to go from place to place to peddle your wares, to look for something that you can buy and sell at a profit, or to look for work. I assume the word is derived from the practice of hunting with birds of prey, or, more accurately, the way a bird of prey hunts, flitting about in search of it’s living.
Kev’s Question came in three parts. (In bold below) Part one and two are almost, but not quite the same, and the answer to part three depends on the answers to one and two.
I know that sounds confusing, but bear with me.
1: What was your speciality when hawking? First and foremost, Gypsies have to specialise in purporting to be what they are not, to excel at affectation, to master the noble art of the masquerade, or, to but it bluntly, they have to be able blag it.
You could say that they are the original “Jacks of all trades”, which would be true, but also somewhat misleading. While it’s common for a Gypsy decide on the spur of the moment (Or when the opportunity presents itself) that he is a master builder, a landscape gardener, an antiques dealer, or any one of countless other trades, it is just as common for him to learn on the fly and then go on to become highly accomplished.
2:What were you hawking? This takes us back to my earlier, 3-part definition of hawking.
Hawking to peddle your wares.
Over the years I’ve sold things like logs, horse manure, oriental rugs, bedding, carpets, corrugated sheets, timber, paint, field gates, boots & shoes, pallets, foam rubber matting etc. In addition to this there were all sorts of other “One off” lots.
For example. My brother Tracy and I once bought and sold over 200 of the old red telephone boxes. We bought the first lorry load, (8 boxes) on a sale or return basis, and took them to an entrepreneurial “Arthur Daley” type bloke who would have a go at anything. He was quite excited to get them, and when we asked if he would buy more if we should happen to find any, (We already had access to another 20 loads) “Of course” He replied, unsuspecting, “Bring as many as you like at the same price”.
By the time we had delivered all 200, he had a face like a vinegar plant, but was good to his word, he stood on, and paid up without a murmur.
Hawking for something that you can buy and sell at a profit.
This could be a huge category. Gypsies are always looking for something to buy and sell, but things that I actually hawked for (Not at the same time of course, but having said that, if you were looking for one thing and spotted another….) were scrap iron, rags, woollens, non ferrous metals, batteries, traction plates, turnings, stampings, swarf, cars and vans, various engines, gearboxes, starters, dynamos, alternators, clutch plates, shock absorbers, suspension legs, CV joints, prop shafts, furniture, antiques, collectables, and so on.
This reminds me of one time when I was hawking for batteries with an aging Transit lorry. One of the first ever diesel versions, it was fitted with a tiny Perkins 4108 engine, which, in the days before political correctness came to Yorkshire, was often described as “Too chuffin’ weak t’ pull a darkie off yer missus”.
It’s a simple little story, but the memory of it amuses me. (I’ll tell it to you later)
Hawking for work.
In my case this would include property repairs and maintenance, building, roofing, landscaping, laying tarmac, concreting, tar and chipping, paving, tree felling, barn spraying, grinding, upvc, rubbish removal, turfing, fencing etc…
3: Who did you trade best with?Obviously the people I traded with was dependent on the type of hawking I was doing at the time.
Hawking businesses and factories for used vehicles, scrap, non ferrous metals, swarf, stampings, turnings, semi-precious metals etc, meant dealing with lots of over confident, (and often somewhat arrogant) businessmen. (Assuming I could get past the secretary, which was an art in itself ) These guys were always looking for a few readies, and the phrase “Cash in your hand” would work wonders. They were also always trying to lift my leg, which in my book, was fine, because it gave me leave to try to lift theirs.
If I was hawking houses (Grinding, gardening, antiques, property work etc) I did my best trade with older people. Not because they were an easy mark, but because they were straight, and they didn’t try to wriggle out of paying once the work was done.
(I never tried to put one over on the people who were straight with me, although I did charge the obviously wealthy ones more than I charged the obviously poor ones).
In this category, I also liked to deal with Asians. They are devilishly tough negotiators, but they never dismiss you out of hand when you knock on the door, they are always prepared to listen to your pitch, and (if interested) make you a ridiculously low opening offer.
Hawking scrap yards for car parts was always something I enjoyed, and, (Probably because I have so much in common with those oil stained men who sit around glowing pot-bellied stoves in dark, leaky sheds) these are the group with whom I had the most success.
As I said, this is just a token answer and a badly explained one at that. (It even looks confusing to me, and I know what I’m trying to say)
Perhaps I’ll talk more about it in the future.
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