Piano logistics liquidated and bought out?

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

Oh no, this isn't good
http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2 ... -RampB.htm

Is it actually true?
Are they still operating?

[Colin Nicholson]

Looks bleak.
I can find out through GSG if needed, they have their Kawais & Yams delivered from them mainly..... but dont know if effective as of now.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

It looks like Piano Logistics have been taken over (or something similar) by Aston Spinks
http://www.aston-spinks.co.uk/piano/home.html

I'd never heard of Aston Spinks before today.
Either way, I hope the company manages to get profitable again. PL have moved plenty of pianos for me and I always found them to be friendly, efficient, polite and my customers loved them too. I use pianospeed these days as they have a depot close to me which helps get jobs done quicker.

[pianologistics]

Hi All

Just to clarify a few points on Piano Logistics Ltd. I formed Piano
Logistics in 1998 as a business, to cover a gap in the market, for a
quality piano moving company, to provide a piano moving service
offering a higher standard than any other company.

Over the years we have invested heavily in staff and equipment we grew
in size to around thirty-five staff, ten trucks and warehousing etc.
But then we hit recession from 2008 until 2011. There was a gradual
decline in new pianos being delivered and also an increased competition
from anyone with a website and a van. I looked at the business last
year and it became obvious any period of growth was well and truly over
within the piano industry, and that, on a whole, most people want a
cheap price over service, experience and equipment, not all but most of
them.

The whole market place has changed dramatically in the past five years,
after losing one of our long term customers solely on price, I decided
to get back to the basics of what we do best on a smaller scale, rather
than having to fight on price constantly. I had no choice but cut
overheads. I had to close our Milton Keynes warehouse and office and,
in doing so, we had to close Piano Logistics Ltd. I then passed our
core staff onto Aston Spinks, a small art moving company that Piano
Logistics is now a division of. We still have around twenty core staff
from Piano Logistics and we still deliver pianos for Kawai, Steinway,
Yamaha, Piano Warehouse and Reids etc. plus many schools and public, We
still offer a weekly service throughout the UK and I would say we are
still the best-equipped piano moving company the UK has ever had.
I if anyone requires a quotation or chat our phone number is still the
same, I would also like to thank our loyal customers for their support
and help through these changing times

Julian Rout

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

Nice one Julian.
Thanks for popping on to post a reply. Well done!

So are you profitable now?

[pianologistics]

Hi Mark
Yes we seem to be doing ok. It's always going to be a hard industry because we are working with two scales; the dealer wants the cheapest and the private customer wants the best, a hard one to juggle. A few months ago we opened a small depot in Paris, and have weekly runs there. We have larger, high security premises in London and have started weekly runs to Holland and Germany. It has been excellent going in with an Art transporter with high standards, we can now mix the long runs with high value art work, which are mostly square with no stacking, so fits in nicely with what we do. If you ever need a piano moved give us a call. In fact if anyone needs any information or help regarding all aspects of piano moving, please do not hesitate to contact me at Piano Logistics.
Julian

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

I don't think dealers want the cheapest. I don't think cost is their primary concern. You are correct that many "man and van" piano movers have sprung up and they are very cheap. However, when I've seen them at work they have the wrong van, the wrong ramps, the wrong covers, the wrong straps and their van is always full of fridges and washers. So that's no good but I can see how their presence will pull down prices for everyone else as customers chase the cheapest quote.

As a dealer my primary concerns are:
- competent experienced movers for up-ending and stair jobs
- fast delivery times
- excellent communications with my customers
- flexible enough to work with my system, not forcing me to work with their system
- out of hours contactable
- well spoken drivers/movers
- fast email and text message replies for schedule questions
- "can do" attitude of the movers

And finally... I don't want piano movers who will talk about my shop to other dealers. In the past I found that the movers from the big companies would often ask "how's business" and "are you selling many this month" and "company x is struggling" or "company y is doing well". It seemed that the smaller firms were happy to get on with the job without too much chatter whereas the movers from the larger companies liked to talk about who was selling and who was struggling.

I don't remember now if I'm talking about Piano Logistics, G&R or Butlers but it just seemed that the bigger the company, the more gossip got passed around by the movers.

[pianologistics]

I think you missed a few off of your list, you should add security checked , well equipped and fully insured what system are you running?
If delivery guys did not ask you are you busy then they would have nothing to talk about, its just a common question, are you busy, weather’s bad etc etc, there are no big companies in this industry just small specialist ones.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

The things you mentioned are also on my list but further down. In my experience when damage occurs, none of the parties wants insurance involved (unless you drop a bosendorfer as the customer takes photos) and any damage is negotiated away. In the 8 years I've been trading I've never had to claim against any piano mover's insurance.

Asking me if I'm busy is one thing. That's polite.
Telling me who else is busy or quiet is beyond their remit. But like I said I don't remember which company's movers were doing this but it was one of the bigger ones.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

P.s. I change my mind. It isn't polite to ask if a dealer is busy but I know the movers only ask because they are trying to be polite.

Yesterday Yell.com phoned me. Part of his sales pitch to sell me google adword services was to ask me how many pianos I sell a week. That's cheeky. Then he asked me how much I currently spend on adwords. That's cheeky. I told him "no comment" to both questions.

A company phoned me offering a service that he was already offering to an existing piano dealer. I tested him by asking who the company was and how much business he estimated they were doing. He told me some highly sensitive information to try and win my trust. By doing so, lost my trust and that was that. I would have respected him more for not telling me.

Youve got to have discretion when it comes to business-to-business services. Trust is important and it's hard to gain but easy to lose.

Stop me if I'm waffling haha

[Gill the Piano]

If I'm bored I wind these telephone sales bods up. Yell probably have me down as employing twenty people, a fleet of vans and a switchboard. But no computer...

[Barrie Heaton]

Asking me if I'm busy is one thing. That's polite.
Telling me who else is busy or quiet is beyond their remit. But like I said I don't remember which company's movers were doing this but it was one of the bigger ones.

but that's the piano trade.... They are use to being asked who selling what and who not doing so well by retailers. Its bit like the two old dears in a Les Dawson sketch.

Before the internet the only other way of getting info on the trade beside trade shows was the removal men.

Barrie,

[Johnkie]

Asking me if I'm busy is one thing. That's polite.
Telling me who else is busy or quiet is beyond their remit. But like I said I don't remember which company's movers were doing this but it was one of the bigger ones.

but that's the piano trade.... They are use to being asked who selling what and who not doing so well by retailers. Its bit like the two old dears in a Les Dawson sketch.

Before the internet the only other way of getting info on the trade beside trade shows was the removal men.

Barrie,

Sorry Mark .... have to agree that I too wouldn't view it as anything else but normal friendly chit chat. In fact everywhere I go people ask "how's business" or " are you experiencing any effects of the general economic downturn"! Rather than regarding it as being un-professional, I regard it as an opportunity to plant mis-information .... not information that might lead to a competitor to have any unfair advantage.

[markymark]

Sorry Mark .... have to agree that I too wouldn't view it as anything else but normal friendly chit chat. In fact everywhere I go people ask "how's business" or " are you experiencing any effects of the general economic downturn"! Rather than regarding it as being un-professional, I regard it as an opportunity to plant mis-information .... not information that might lead to a competitor to have any unfair advantage.

I agree. Just being topical more than anything else when they don't really know you. Whereas, I on the other hand, would use my cheeky charm to mimick you from off one of your videos!

Keep smiling, dude!