On Tue 3 Sep 2002 (23:25:21 +0100), [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> "Many tens of thousands" must be at least 30 000 to satisfy the 'many'
> perhaps so over 20 years that is roughly four dials every day assuming
> no holidays or weekends off!
>
> Even at half that number we have a sure candidate for the Guiness Book
> of Records I think and a shining example for the rest of us.
>
> Well done Mr. Hunt! Your place in the annals of diallists is assured to
> say nothing of what must be a prodigious contribution to the UK economy.
Thanks for your message, Tony - and your 'estimate' of our order volume is
very close to reality. We do about 1800 sets of "Sunclock" Plans per year
at the moment, roughly 5 each day 'on average' - but this can be a dozen a
day in Spring/Summer, and about only three or four per week in the Winter.
I hoped to break the '2000 per year barrier' during the recent millennium,
but didn't quite make it (though it certainly gave my business a 'boost').
The vast majority of our customers (about 80%) are Schools, who just paint
the "Sunclock" layout on their Schoolyard - and unless you are in a really
remote area (of Britain) there is probably a layout within 2 miles of you.
We sell to about 900 UK Schools each year (either directly or through some
re-sellers, such as Educational catalogues, etc) - but with 30,000 Schools
in Britain, it will take over 30 years for us to sell to each one of them!
We currently sell to another 500 or so Schools per year, worldwide - which
are mainly in the United States, Canada, plus Australia; (the fact that we
only provide the personalized Layout Plans in ENGLISH language, might be a
factor which discourages customers in other countries - plus is partly the
reason why I requested help in finding any sundial enthusiasts in Turkey).
The remainder of our orders come from people who want to have a "Sunclock"
in gardens, local Parks, pedestrian precincts, flat roof areas - etc, etc.
The 'Picture Gallery' on our Web-site has examples from Tasmania to Tibet.
The one in Louisiana was professionally installed by a firm of Architects,
and we tend to get lots of orders from people such as Landscape Designers.
As I said in my earlier reply (to John Carmichael), each "Sunclock" layout
automatically becomes its own 'advertisement' - and so creates an on-going
'chain-reaction' effect, of more enquiries and orders. This is one of the
main reasons that (as stated on our Web-site) we can keep our prices FIXED
FOR EVER. How many other businesses do you know, who could make a similar
guarantee that their prices would NEVER rise, regardless of any inflation?
The popularity of these accurate 'Human Sundials' is also why our business
is open 24 hours, and on every day of the year. There is plenty of 'spare
capacity' in my business, since each printed set of Layout Plans only take
about 10 minutes to prepare - and the 'E-mailed' version about 10 seconds!
This means that (even on any 'busy' days in Spring/Summer), I only need to
work for three hours or less - and the rest is free time, for me to enjoy.
As regards a contribution to the 'UK economy' (as you jokingly mentioned),
our business name of "Modern Sunclocks" was actually derived from the book
"Sundials Old and New", by A.P. Herbert - in which he wrote that he should
very much like to see a British-based business which produces personalised
sundials, and exports them worldwide. When I began this business, (simply
as a hobby in 1984) - I had no idea I would actually fulfill that 'dream'.
Douglas Hunt.
P.S. Before anyone asks, some people are always 'intrigued' why all of my
==== messages (and of any length) always contain exactly 74 characters on
every line - if you view your E-mail using a 'mono-spaced' font, you
will already have noticed this! Rest assured that I do NOT sit down
and do this manually, (it would drive anyone mad trying to formulate
a lengthy E-mail for correct spelling plus grammar, if they also had
to ensure that each line contained exactly the same number number of
characters) - it is actually done automatically by my main computer.
All of our business computers are NOT conventional 'PCs' - but I use
the "RISC OS" operating system, one of its significant advantages is
that we are then totally 'immune' from viruses that plague PC users.
The machine on which I am writing this message is ten years old, but
can still run multiple applications, surf the Internet, etc - and it
only has 4Mb of memory. Try doing that on conventional PC machines!
--
"MODERN SUNCLOCKS" - 'Human Sundials', using YOUR OWN SHADOW to tell time.
Looking for a useful, decorative, yet UNIQUE feature ? - you've found it !
For further details and photographs, see our Website at: www.sunclocks.com
Mail Address: 1 Love Street, Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, KA13 7LQ, UK.
Tel & Fax (UK): 01294 552250. International Tel & Fax: + 44 1294 552250.
Send E-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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