The grumpy thread

[New POD]

20 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Did he even make allowances for all Ed China's labour ....🤔

I'm trying to do a payback justification for a new machine at work. 

I've got the. Maintenance records for the last 2 years for the old one, and and it's had 1000 hours of maintenance time.  

I asked finance for an hourly rate. 

Free.

Apparently, maintenance and part of the general overhead and costed into the job based of a direct labour hour rate.

So if you had a fully automated machine, with no operators, and loads of manitenance and manufacturing engineers visiting in an hourly basis, and £200k a year depreciation, and a single assembly bench with one operator, anything made on the fully automated machine would cost £zero.

And anything made by the one operator would cost £500 an hour. 

I told finance is use £70 per hour as that's the minimum they'd be charged out to an external company. 

Finance manager seems confused why an engineer is telling him what he probably knows but can't be arsed to worry about. 

[chadders]

30 minutes ago, New POD said:

I'm trying to do a payback justification for a new machine at work. 

I've got the. Maintenance records for the last 2 years for the old one, and and it's had 1000 hours of maintenance time.  

I asked finance for an hourly rate. 

Free.

Apparently, maintenance and part of the general overhead and costed into the job based of a direct labour hour rate.

So if you had a fully automated machine, with no operators, and loads of manitenance and manufacturing engineers visiting in an hourly basis, and £200k a year depreciation, and a single assembly bench with one operator, anything made on the fully automated machine would cost £zero.

And anything made by the one operator would cost £500 an hour. 

I told finance is use £70 per hour as that's the minimum they'd be charged out to an external company. 

Finance manager seems confused why an engineer is telling him what he probably knows but can't be arsed to worry about. 

Do you have one of these then?

If not I can see why the Finance Manager is wondering WTF you are on about. I'd read up about the different sorts of Costing before speaking to him again.

[Quintus]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

😳I know it's only 60p but how can they justify such a hike on the signed for service, when it's not even signed for anymore "due to Covid"?

In my office, we were told about three weeks ago that customers must sign for items, so the postie at the other end should be getting a proper signature unless the customer refuses due to covid. If they refuse to sign for an item, but still accept it, we're supposed to put 'MAR' on the screen for Marked As Received.

[RoverFolkUs]

3 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

These are the same people that bought an electric car without the capacity to charge it and then expect it to be my problem.  I don't think they're the brains of Britain or particularly amenable to such an arrangement...

Just do it anyway, they haven't asked for anyone else's agreement to hog the visitor spaces so use their space

[RoverFolkUs]

49 minutes ago, Quintus said:

In my office, we were told about three weeks ago that customers must sign for items, so the postie at the other end should be getting a proper signature unless the customer refuses due to covid. If they refuse to sign for an item, but still accept it, we're supposed to put 'MAR' on the screen for Marked As Received.

That's interesting to know, I've sent and received a few signed for items in the last month or so and the signature has still just been logged as "cv19" 

I think the posties in my area have got very used to not waiting around (I don't blame them) so will see how long it takes for things to revert to normal. 

Even still, I don't see how a service they used to offer anyway can be justified by a further 60p hike. 

Yes fuel is expensive, but have their running costs really increased by 20% overnight!?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

5 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Just do it anyway, they haven't asked for anyone else's agreement to hog the visitor spaces so use their space

 

They know who owns the dirty, battered and somewhat knackered Golf.  And I'm far too big to pretend I'm not in when they knock...

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Plot twist.  Just checked.  There's now another visitor car in that space that has nothing to do with me.

Let's hope it stays for the whole Bank Holiday and they get stranded on the Isle of Sheppey and have to go into a 'local pub' for shelter.

[myglaren]

4 hours ago, myglaren said:

Every time she drives in she hits the kerb with those two tyre

I went and told her, she said she knew about it.  Half an hour later she comes out and drives off.

Her husband is home and has an electric pump.  I know this as I blew his flat up with mine last year and he went out and bought one.

Probably in his van that is parked just out of shot there.

He may well be in bed, he usually comes home after work at 05:00~06:00 at weekends but the keys would be there and her son was probably there too.  But she could have asked me to reinflate her tyres if she didn't know how.

And she is back with the tyres as flat as when she went out

[New POD]

1 hour ago, chadders said:

Do you have one of these then?

If not I can see why the Finance Manager is wondering WTF you are on about. I'd read up about the different sorts of Costing before speaking to him again.

Yes.  We have quite a bit of automation.  Probably £6 million in the last 5 years, and we are currently in the middle of 3 projects totalling £3 million. 

Depreciation tends to be over 10 years where I am now.  Which seems a little long to me. 

There's also lots of manual assembly, with 100s of operators, but when you allocate the costs to product on the basis of direct operator hours, this ends up being £85 an hour.  

I can hold my own when it comes to costing. Spent the first 5 years after graduating, running a Design for Whole Life Cost research project with universities and industry. Had my name as joint author on papers published  by Professors for what it's worth (not a lot) 

And have been heavily involved in activity based costing, and something Lucas Industrial called "Product Group profitability analysis". 

What I'm struggling to do is work out a cost of a key machine being down, which disrupts production.  How do you work out the cost of lost production? 

 

[chadders]

I suggest that you really need to speak to your Cost Accountants. My impression is that you think that you know a lot more than you actually do.

Regarding the cost of lost production it's a piece of string job depending on your accounting policies. For example if you quote customers on a cost plus basis and are using absorption costing then the results will be different from if you use marginal costing.

This is all before Opportunity Costs raises its ugly head but I suspect those might not apply depending on how you deal with the production disruption.

[richardmorris]

6 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Royal mail prices

I went to the post office to post something today 1st class signed for. It weighed less than 100g and was tiny, but still a small parcel.

£5.55 😳

It was £4.85 a couple of weeks ago!

Second class £4.45, used to be £3.85

I know it's only 60p but how can they justify such a hike on the signed for service, when it's not even signed for anymore "due to Covid"?

They used to increase it by 5p or so a year but 60p!?

I only went with signed for to get the necessary compensation and signature because it was an eBay sale

Fuck sake

 

Really, don’t bother with signed for- we’ve not signed for any of these at work For two years.

[sheffcortinacentre]

2 hours ago, myglaren said:

And she is back with the tyres as flat as when she went out

It's ok it drove perfectly fine & it's not her job to sort this sort of thing hubby or the garage see to it.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

That's interesting to know, I've sent and received a few signed for items in the last month or so and the signature has still just been logged as "cv19" 

I think the posties in my area have got very used to not waiting around (I don't blame them) so will see how long it takes for things to revert to normal. 

Even still, I don't see how a service they used to offer anyway can be justified by a further 60p hike. 

Yes fuel is expensive, but have their running costs really increased by 20% overnight!?

How much has fuel alone gone up since their last increase, never mind wages?

[AnnoyingPentium]

3 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

They know who owns the dirty, battered and somewhat knackered Golf.  And I'm far too big to pretend I'm not in when they knock...

I'll come down and leave the Fabia there if you like, they won't know who I am anyway. If it gets me out of the tea tomorrow then even better. 

[RoverFolkUs]

18 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

How much has fuel alone gone up since their last increase, never mind wages?

That's a valid point. But I don't somehow think they are going to drop the prices if/when fuel drops 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

I'll come down and leave the Fabia there if you like, they won't know who I am anyway. If it gets me out of the tea tomorrow then even better. 

8 hours of driving according to Google.  Just how petty do you think I am?  On second thoughts, don't answer that.

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

How much has fuel alone gone up since their last increase, never mind wages?

The wages haven't gone up at all. Our last pay rise was just a drop in hours. The hourly rate went up because we dropped from a 38 to 37 hour week but the basic weekly rate is exactly the same. We now have a slightly earlier finish time every day but they haven't changed the duties at all so we have to do the same work in less time. 

And I'm sure the price rise was planned long before the fuel prices started going up. I don't know how they justify it any more than you do. 

And yes, from two weeks ago, we were supposed to get signatures again but after two years of not doing so it does come hard. Some I am doing properly but if it's someone who gets stuff regularly and I know them they don't mind if I still do it. It's easier for both of us. And now we have to take photos of half the packets we deliver just to add to the fun. 

[RoverFolkUs]

4 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Really, don’t bother with signed for- we’ve not signed for any of these at work For two years.

That's the issue, I don't gain anything from the signature, it's just the compensation, especially when its eBay,  it'll be the one time I go with standard that it'll get lost or damaged and the measly £20 compensation won't be enough

[Dobloseven]

19 hours ago, myglaren said:

I an the same with regard to electric cars.  There are parking spaces, none of which are designated except in the minds of one or two of the residents.

I would have to have a fifty metre cable to charge one at my closest point and it would have to trail over my neighbours exit path at the rear of their house.

Even further at the front and the cable would have to cross the road into our parking spaces at the rear of the house and over a public footpath.

I opened my curtains this morning to see this:

 

 

Every time she drives in she hits the kerb with those two tyres.

I went and told her, she said she knew about it.  Half an hour later she comes out and drives off.

Her husband is home and has an electric pump.  I know this as I blew his flat up with mine last year and he went out and bought one.

Probably in his van that is parked just out of shot there.

He may well be in bed, he usually comes home after work at 05:00~06:00 at weekends but the keys would be there and her son was probably there too.  But she could have asked me to reinflate her tyres if she didn't know how.

 

Do tyres like that, contribute much to the driving experience anyway? I ask because I often see folk driving with them flat, oblivious to the fact. 

[myglaren]

2 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Do tyres like that, contribute much to the driving experience anyway? I ask because I often see folk driving with them flat, oblivious to the fact. 

I'm sure they do, when they part company with the wheel.  May be too much excitement though.

It is more than likely that she has the flat tyre warning system on the CRX but ignores it.

Her husband has had several flat tyres on his van, he does fix it quick though.

May be linked to his work, he has a pizza bakery on an industrial estate so could be picking up screws there, it was a screw in the one I told him about on the first one I saw.

Prior to the van he had a Ka and was forever blowing tyres up with a foot pump.

I have no idea if she works there too.  Doubtful as she seems to just swan about and comes and goes at pretty random times.

I doubt that she would be as unconcerned if the police spot her and she gets a couple of thousand in fines.  The tyres must be on their last legs now.

[richardmorris]

14 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

That's the issue, I don't gain anything from the signature, it's just the compensation, especially when its eBay,  it'll be the one time I go with standard that it'll get lost or damaged and the measly £20 compensation won't be enough

When we do check it’s signed for by “CV19”

[RoverFolkUs]

12 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

When we do check it’s signed for by “CV19”

Yes same with me for everything so far. Since I only sent the last one yesterday I'll see if it actually gets a proper signature as they are apparently supposed to be doing now 

[robinmasters]

First proper sunny weekend has brought out a load of bellends. Do these people hibernate in the winter?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, robinmasters said:

First proper sunny weekend has brought out a load of bellends. Do these people hibernate in the winter?

Yes.  See also the drivers that pull out in front of you on fast A-roads but then don't put their foot down so you end up having to brake heavily and crawl along behind them at 25 MPH.

[carburettor]

On 4/12/2022 at 7:19 PM, High Jetter said:

Do we have a 'Trusted products you can't get anymore (shite or non-shite) thread? If so, I can't find it.

That's not the grump though. Mrs J sometimes makes burgers from fresh turkey mince. We like dollops of Branston Hot Dog Relish with them to make them edible even tastier. Tesco dropped it, and now Morrisons and Iceland have removed it from thier shelves. Anyone used it and know of a similar alternative?

 

 

There are burger relishes, I make my own burgers (out of brisket from cow) and use Morrisons own tomato burger relish, you can get red peppers in a jar too, I buy them. Chop ‘em  up and put them on top

[grogee]

1 hour ago, robinmasters said:

First proper sunny weekend has brought out a load of bellends. Do these people hibernate in the winter?

Motorbikelists. And they are ALL driving past our house, throttle pinned open, unsilenced exhausts preventing rational thought let alone conversation. 

I've no quarrel with bikers, it looks like good fun, but why does it have to be so feckin loud?

[carburettor]

On 4/15/2022 at 8:25 PM, mitsisigma01 said:

Did he even make allowances for all Ed China's labour ....🤔

No, never!

watch the one where he fixes the merkedez SLK, if I remember correctly he says nothing about the exhaust which appears to be new, something to to with the steering rack and a front fog light…

absolute fucking wanker he is

[Rocket88]

1 hour ago, carburettor said:

No, never!

watch the one where he fixes the merkedez SLK, if I remember correctly he says nothing about the exhaust which appears to be new, something to to with the steering rack and a front fog light…

absolute fucking wanker he is

“Would you buy a used car from this man?”

[sheffcortinacentre]

Not even if he paid me 

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, Rocket88 said:

“Would you buy a used car from this man?”

He has his own brand, he must be alright