Many years ago I noticed interviews, one with a Petrol company spokesman, on one occasion at a time when petrol prices were going up, the interviewer suggested the profit per gallon had gone up to 22p, but the spokesman could not say the profit, he said there were problems with calculating the costs of different products from a gallon of oil. A couple of years later petrol companies were complaining of falling profits, at that time they told the interviewer they knew they were only making 6p a gallon.
Another time there were complaints in the media that Barclaycard was making very high profits, the spokesperson was only able to say as Banks provide a number of services but they do not know the breakdown of the costs of the Bank for each service. This was accepted by the interviewer. My feeling were that if someone went to a bank to ask for a loan to increase part of their business, I feel the bank would say,'but how do you know that you are increasing a profitable part of your business.' After all the part of the business that the person is increasing, could be making a loss, that is not noticed as overall the business is in profit, the banks would expect a breakdown of the costs of each product.
I felt that in both cases, the interviewer did not know much about the subject. I feel this is improving with the likes of Adrian Chiles, who when necessary, will question about the reply given, but by the same token, where you could not expect a business to give a full answer, but does the best that they can, he seems to appreciate it, after all who wants to hear the same question 15 times, when you know that it will not be answered after the first couple of times. Ian
Another time there were complaints in the media that Barclaycard was making very high profits, the spokesperson was only able to say as Banks provide a number of services but they do not know the breakdown of the costs of the Bank for each service. This was accepted by the interviewer. My feeling were that if someone went to a bank to ask for a loan to increase part of their business, I feel the bank would say,'but how do you know that you are increasing a profitable part of your business.' After all the part of the business that the person is increasing, could be making a loss, that is not noticed as overall the business is in profit, the banks would expect a breakdown of the costs of each product.
I felt that in both cases, the interviewer did not know much about the subject. I feel this is improving with the likes of Adrian Chiles, who when necessary, will question about the reply given, but by the same token, where you could not expect a business to give a full answer, but does the best that they can, he seems to appreciate it, after all who wants to hear the same question 15 times, when you know that it will not be answered after the first couple of times. Ian
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