Le Creuset Indigo: Black Friday Savings and Face-to-Face Understanding
Andrew Bluett-Duncan
Director
Last weekend on the website was amazingly busy, so much so, that David (Warehouse Team Leader) and Em (Reigate Manager) went in on Sunday for a few hours to help make Monday morning manageable. So, if you placed an order last week, that’s helping us to pay our way, thank you very much it’s very much appreciated. It does however, mean that unless you asked and paid for fast delivery, we will probably be taking 3 to 4 working days to send out your order*. And this is despite me helping in the warehouse! I sometimes feel like more of a hinderance than a help, as I’m not a naturally accurate person, which isn’t so good thing when picking stock! But, in actual fact, as I write this on Wednesday afternoon and I’ve just come back from the warehouse, where I offered to help. David, aware of my shortcomings, wisely asked me if I minded shredding cardboard; we recycle nearly all our cardboard by shredding it which is then used as packaging for our website orders. And, this job I accepted happily, as even I can’t go too wrong with the cardboard shredding machine**.
* You’ll still get it when promised (up to 7 working days) but through most of the year we typically deliver much quicker than this rather conservative estimate.
** Bought courtesy of a grant awarded us by Reigate and Banstead council.
Le Creuset Indigo. A One Off colour at about half price
I apologise for mentioning my chums at Le Creuset yet again, but they have brought out a one-off colour, Indigo, in honour (if that’s the right phrase) of Black Friday. Le Creuset indigo is a sort of rich cobalt colour, so much more interesting than I was expecting. Significantly darker than Le Creuset’s Azure Blue, the range comprises 12 really useful pieces.
The discount we’re offering is at least 40%-50% off the RRPs and on top of that we are currently price matching our competitors, to ensure you’ll be getting the best available price. So, at one extreme you can buy a Le Creuset “Classic”** Shallow Casserole 30cm which has a recommended retail of £305.00, but this Indigo one was down to £170.00 and we are currently price matching this to £142.50. At the other end of the price spectrum, their new Seattle Shaped Mug 400ml comes down from £22.00 to £10.94. More than 50% off ( to state the obvious).
In point of fact, you can buy a piece of cast iron now in this range for as little as £74.50 In the form of a square grill. That’s a lot of Le Creuset cast iron for the money.
**Classic has slightly smaller side handles than the Signature range, a subtly different lid design and black phenolic knob (rather than a Stainless Steel knob, you can buy spare knobs here to match your preference). These days ‘Classic’ is made as a promotional line, but is none the worse for that, especially so, when you consider the pricing.
Last Word
One last thought that has been a recurring theme of these emails of late, the importance of seeing things from the other persons point of view. This is prompted perhaps because, when growing up, my parents emphasised the importance of this to my brother and me. This was a strong value for them, and obviously it’s left its mark. So, this morning (Thursday) this got my attention when listening to Campbell and Stewart on “The Rest is Politics” podcast. They were discussing what they see as the relatively dangerous situation that the world is now in with the Ukraine war, Russian sabre rattling etc etc.
Alistair, who has recently read ‘Freedom’, Angela Merkel’s memoir, noted her observation about the importance of people meeting face to face. He quoted her saying “I don’t know if Putin would have invaded the Ukraine regardless of the pandemic, but it certainly didn’t help that the pandemic prevented leaders meeting face to face”. This thought reminded me of Justin Welby, when he said a similar thing earlier this year when being interviewed by the same pair, his words were to the effect that its much harder to demonise someone when you’ve met them, and started to build a relationship with them. And in fact, Joe Biden in an interview that I mentioned a month or so ago, said something of the same ilk in observing “it’s easier to really dislike someone and ascribe the worst characteristic to them, when you don’t know anything about them.”
All three of these examples are, I think, people seeking to understand where others coming from. I applaud this attitude and believe this approach in all our interactions, both great and small, can help create good relationships whether it’s in families, between colleagues, in companies or even countries. Universally, it seems that this isn’t an easy thing to do...
I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.
Warm regards
Andrew
Andrew Bluett-Duncan
Director
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