WHS Sir : Mr Nuttall in his letter (12 FebruarY )
replies to my letter of the previous week wig continues the attack on W. H. Smith Lw' I found it uninformed and, in parts, rattler strange (e.g. his pretentious phrase ah°11t 'cultural needs' and the peculiar sentence about 'dirty raincoats), However, I would like to answer his fallacious argument that WHS have a monopoly. Obviously Mr Nuttall has no understand' ing of what constitutes a commercial mon°. poly. Allow me to explain. If, for examPle,,,a small village had just one shop then it COWL; be said that that shop had a 'monoPolY. However, if the village was too small t°,. support two shops then the accusation e.1 'monpoly' would be meaningless. And so It is with any business, including wholesale newsagents. WHS do not have a 'monopoly' anywile,r,!, in the country. What they do have (and I ta" Mr Nuttall's word for this) is the only wil°1e: sale newsagent's business in AberystwYr"I. And that is a co.npletely different thii1g. would further hazard a guess that the tell is too small to support more than one su, firm. In general wholesale newsagents ge" plenty of competition—there are still over 500 independent ones left in the country. f Mr Nuttall also accuses WHS staff being 'indifferent.' All I can say is that I fiuut and I'm sure most people would agree, thae WHS's staff are very much like the staff on_ would find at say Marks and Spencer 0.1 wherever. That is, well presented, norrnallYs courteous, and up to the job. But perflaPi, Mr Nuttall expects the little girls who %or: at WHS to engage him in a conversati°11 about his 'cultural needs.' Finally, Mr Nuttall finishes with a snide attack by accusing me of 'singing the prals? of a firm who are benevolent to him business.' Benevolence, Mr Nuttall? ty afraid not. When WHS buy a few of MY lications they do so because they judge can sell them at a profit and the transactiofl has no more to do with benevolence tha. your wmreiatinndgerings have to do with de le cent A. E. Dean
Wensum Books, 33 Oxford Place, Norwich
Previous page
