Arriving back from work in UK this week I expected spring to be in full swing so it was a bit of a shock to see that it was still snowing. Topsy turvy weather this year to be sure. I also noticed near the airport that the buildings under construction for the new business park were now lying idle. They look like concrete half finished works of modern art. This is sad because I went to the RIXPORT opening only 6 months ago amid great fanfares, grand speeches, cocktails and free umbrellas.
On the tram Friday I noticed a few more shops had closed and for the first time in years there was a beggar trying to convince the hard hearted occupants to give a few centimes. He was out of luck. The bus to the countryside has also become affected by the crisis. The drivers now go so slowly to save money that you have plenty of time to admire the snow covered scenery and look for deer and foxes. The downside is that you have to listen to Latvia radio 2 for longer.
But all in all the population seems to be holding up well. The wit and humour written as comments on the Latvian Internet portals show that they are more robust than most. But any country that survived the Nazis and the horrors of Soviet occupation should be able to last through this crisis, even with a government that shows no sign whatsoever that it knows what to do.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
PICKPOCKETS
Friday morning I caught the bus to Riga airport and a white faced drug charged man of about 22 years of age got in behind me. He brushed up against me and I realised immediately what he was up to. I gave him a hard stare and then watched him from the other side of the bus. About 3 stops later the woman next to him gave a shout that her purse was missing. Someone pointed at me because I was closest to her (thanks lady!) I pointed at the lad and said - its him! -he dropped the purse and tried to pretend he wasn't there. Lucky for him the bus stopped then and as he got off I gave him a real face to face earbending in my best pompous military fashion (years of training for that of course!).
What was amazing was that I was watching this pickpocket all the time and he still managed to unzip a large bag and take out the purse without me or anyone else seeing. Reminded me of a good party magician. Two things struck me, the first was that the conductress had stayed overlong at the other end of the bus. I think she knew he was there and was keeping safe. The second was that after he got off I was astounded to see that just two seats away from the woman was a Riga policeman. He had sat through it all and done nothing. What a bunch they are........
What was amazing was that I was watching this pickpocket all the time and he still managed to unzip a large bag and take out the purse without me or anyone else seeing. Reminded me of a good party magician. Two things struck me, the first was that the conductress had stayed overlong at the other end of the bus. I think she knew he was there and was keeping safe. The second was that after he got off I was astounded to see that just two seats away from the woman was a Riga policeman. He had sat through it all and done nothing. What a bunch they are........
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
PENSIONS
The decision of the Latvian government to reduce their pension contributions by 40% does not bode well. Pensioners are already the lowest of the low in payment terms. There are so many other things they could do to save money first. I wonder if they really have a clue?
I note in Dienas Business that Oberhouse Estonia are talking up the housing market in the Baltics. They are clearly not looking at the same figures that I am. Rental prices are dropping rapidly. Mind after a few phone calls to owners, customer service has not improved yet.
I note in Dienas Business that Oberhouse Estonia are talking up the housing market in the Baltics. They are clearly not looking at the same figures that I am. Rental prices are dropping rapidly. Mind after a few phone calls to owners, customer service has not improved yet.
Friday, March 13, 2009
WANT NEW STAIRS - COME TO LATVIA!
Yesterday I visited the Latvian building exhibition in Kipsala looking for new clients. I went with a colleague who is fixing up his old house so we needed to ask loads of questions about basic stuff like costs and delivery times. I also needed to do some research for the British Ambassador Richard Moon about who wanted to Export to UK and what UK companies were present.
Crisis there may be, but it has not made the industry improve its customer relations and selling ability. On stand after stand we met bored looking staff who did not want to talk or help. On one stand selling wooden doors the staff just surfed the Internet while we opened all the doors by ourselves and then left - unhelped. At the Lode brick making stand, the front man was totally rude and dismissed us not even listening to what we wanted to ask. We were horrified. I know the Lode boss so will be phoning him today.
There were exceptions. The wonderful man trying to sell us baths, from company Vannas, was as good a salesman as it gets. He was committed, funny, knowledgeable and dynamic. We struggled to get away! On another stand the also very dynamic wooden floor salesman said without a hint of irony that his company had not yet seen evidence of the crisis. I hope they pay him well and realise what a gem they have. I also had a super chat about water pumps on one stand. I hope they sell some, they deserve to.
Things that were also noticeable were the disproportionally large amount of Russian speakers involved in the building and interior fittings trade, the lack of English within the trade as a whole and the fact that virtually every stand was selling foreign goods (not much from UK and USA mind) from all over Europe and Canada even though most of those articles could have been sourced and made here in Latvia. It beggars belief that wooden products should be imported from Canada and Italy. The best things made in Latvia were the stairs. They were pure works of art. I have never seen such design and quality before. Please come here if you want stairs....
It was an interesting day but I was left with a feeling that here was a national industry in crisis and not trying to help itself at all. It was sad really.
Crisis there may be, but it has not made the industry improve its customer relations and selling ability. On stand after stand we met bored looking staff who did not want to talk or help. On one stand selling wooden doors the staff just surfed the Internet while we opened all the doors by ourselves and then left - unhelped. At the Lode brick making stand, the front man was totally rude and dismissed us not even listening to what we wanted to ask. We were horrified. I know the Lode boss so will be phoning him today.
There were exceptions. The wonderful man trying to sell us baths, from company Vannas, was as good a salesman as it gets. He was committed, funny, knowledgeable and dynamic. We struggled to get away! On another stand the also very dynamic wooden floor salesman said without a hint of irony that his company had not yet seen evidence of the crisis. I hope they pay him well and realise what a gem they have. I also had a super chat about water pumps on one stand. I hope they sell some, they deserve to.
Things that were also noticeable were the disproportionally large amount of Russian speakers involved in the building and interior fittings trade, the lack of English within the trade as a whole and the fact that virtually every stand was selling foreign goods (not much from UK and USA mind) from all over Europe and Canada even though most of those articles could have been sourced and made here in Latvia. It beggars belief that wooden products should be imported from Canada and Italy. The best things made in Latvia were the stairs. They were pure works of art. I have never seen such design and quality before. Please come here if you want stairs....
It was an interesting day but I was left with a feeling that here was a national industry in crisis and not trying to help itself at all. It was sad really.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
SNOW
Well I mentioned spring on my twitter blog and down comes the snow. Loads of it. Politically we are still waiting for a complete list of the new Government. Some of the lesser posts are part of below the surface haggling. The SCP has its party congress this week so we shall see what the leaders there say about the whole affair. There is still no apparent leadership from the new cabinet and without this there can be no clear progress. I suppose my hope is that Latvia really is like Italy and manages without a Government!
No visible new evidence of change on the crisis. Depressingly I saw two beggars sitting in the slushy snow near Hotel Latvia last night. They were both soaked through. That is no life for any human being. It has got to be wrong. A police car drove past as I was there and both policemen looked out and laughed. That was the saddest thing of the day for me. When the official part of a nation does not care then it is a short run to the whole society losing its soul. The good news is that some new shops have taken over the premises of one or two of those that closed. There is still hope.....
No visible new evidence of change on the crisis. Depressingly I saw two beggars sitting in the slushy snow near Hotel Latvia last night. They were both soaked through. That is no life for any human being. It has got to be wrong. A police car drove past as I was there and both policemen looked out and laughed. That was the saddest thing of the day for me. When the official part of a nation does not care then it is a short run to the whole society losing its soul. The good news is that some new shops have taken over the premises of one or two of those that closed. There is still hope.....
Friday, March 6, 2009
CAR SALES
Not all of Eastern Europe is dying of starvation yet. In Latvia the February new car sales dropped from over 4000 last year to under 400 this. Warsaw Voice reports that new cars sales in Poland has gone up by 13% monthly to over 13000 sales last month. This is an annual increase of 7%. What are they doing that we are not? Buying cars is the simple answer!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
NETWORKING EVENT - AND SCAMS
Well the networking event in Arena Riga wasn't. It simply was not a business event. There were too many speakers, unrehearsed and simply wanting to spout political nonsense. We all know that the government has failed but until the SCP get in there is little point wasting time trying to tell any of the current lot what to do because they will not listen. There was virtually no chance to network in any effective way, no name tags, no ideas of companies or products, just faces and nonsense. What a wasted evening it would have been had I not been rescued by Jevgeny who took me home for beer and snacks and chance to talk proper business.
Now to scams. I have got bored of the Nigerian nonsense. The numbers of scam messages do not seem to decrease. It is time that this was pursued internationally and people were put in prison. But yesterday I got a clever one from Amazon.co.uk trying to get me to give my card details, then one from Hong Kong about selling domain names and last night a phone call from Japan. The world wide recession is going to increase the number of people doing things like this and Internet crime will rise exponentially. People need to be on the lookout for dishonesty and really trust no email that they are not expecting. If something sounds too good to be true, it is...........
Now to scams. I have got bored of the Nigerian nonsense. The numbers of scam messages do not seem to decrease. It is time that this was pursued internationally and people were put in prison. But yesterday I got a clever one from Amazon.co.uk trying to get me to give my card details, then one from Hong Kong about selling domain names and last night a phone call from Japan. The world wide recession is going to increase the number of people doing things like this and Internet crime will rise exponentially. People need to be on the lookout for dishonesty and really trust no email that they are not expecting. If something sounds too good to be true, it is...........
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