The benefit of naught

Seeing beyond the plain offer

What looks like an offer may not necessarily have a benefit, as there can be many variables at play to determine if, in the immediate term, the situation might have some credible participation. In the same terms, a bargain, attractive as it may seem, is also perverse; in that, it presents an opportunity to acquire either what you do not need or more than you need.

The utility of that acquisition is elastic, as it might give you the benefit of longer use or better facility, much as acquiring excess beyond what you need can lead to waste. The balance between the durable and the perishable is somewhat lost as consumption might be sped up or storage presages the loss of quality and usability.

Not all offers should be grabbed and taken advantage of, just as a bargain might not be of any benefit to you as it is to those offering the bargain to shift stuff or get more footfall. To paraphrase an old sales dictum, if you are not paying the going and full price of an offer or a bargain on a product, you have become part of the product.

Samuel Windsor is closing down

Update (8^th March 2022): I visited the new Samuel Windsor website this afternoon and from what I can gather, it would appear our old login details were not carried across into the new ownership and management of the company, and whilst I was offered the option to change my password, it did not seem the right time to do so.

As far as I can see, they only have footwear on display, and I have seen no indication of whether or when clothes would become part of their repertoire. As the prices of things are going up due to inflation or any other factors, I can see a markup of £10 to £15 on what we used to pay for some of the shoes if my memory serves me right.

For now, the new Samuel Windsor is not the place where we used to shop for everything, maybe there is a process in play, but I will continue to provide updates on developments with the company and any other insight, can be posted in the comments below the blog.

To address, the comment that the shoes were made in India rather than what I believed to be in the UK, I have read in their FAQs that the shoes are indeed manufactured in India.

Update (31^st October 2021): I had a comment posted on the 30^th of October 2021 by Anthony Gardiner that Samuel Windsor will be returning under new ownership. The website says as much but we do not have a date as to when the service would return. I just hope the new owners carry on and build on the legacy of the erstwhile owners as I have not been able to find a good replacement for Samuel Windsor. This is really welcome news.

Screengrab from the Samuel Windsor website, taken 31/10/2021.

Successfully delivered somewhere

I was tossing and turning in bed trying to have a nap whilst possibly listening to a radio podcast and having the unfortunate distraction of mobile telephony with its permanent connection to the world when I saw an email arrive in my inbox informing me that, “Hermes (a courier/delivery/logistics company) has successfully delivered your Samuel Windsor parcel.”

I am at home, but the courier did not bother to ring my bell, the parcel was left in our mailroom where an intersexual pilferer of little social grace who has had to be forcefully ejected from our village plied her maleficent trade.

They even sent me a picture of where the parcel was left to the elements of thievery that we hope have been humanely extirpated from our midst. Whilst I would have thought a successful delivery were one where the recipient had verifiably received the goods, especially if they are present to collect the parcel.

Men’s shoes and clothing catalogue

Samuel Windsor, I discovered when their catalogue came with my The Week magazine some 6 years ago, I started with the shoes of exquisite workmanship at an outstandingly affordable prices and thought I have 6 unworn pairs, I have so far ordered 19 pairs, out of which some have been for Brian.

After the shoes, I ordered suits that fitted, jackets, trousers, shorts, socks, and accessories. They became my stockists of menswear, all done online apart from the appalling use of a less than satisfactory courier services of DX Delivery Services and Tracking that just could not seem to complete the task in one go, every time apart from when they delivered to my office.

Samuel Windsor is closing shop after 18 years, the owners are apparently retiring and there is a closing-down sale which inspired my last order that I put through some 5 weeks ago but because of the volume of orders, only arrived today.

Pretty damn good shoes

I am saddened by the exit of Samuel Windsor from the marketplace because I do not know who will be replacing them with regards to our sartorial needs. For the past two years, I have been ordering for Brian and I, we share the same trouser size and even shirt size, not the jacket size though as he is two sizes smaller with the same length of arms that are rarely in stock. We also can get the same shoes; he goes for size 9½, and I am size 12.

I would never have thought catalogue shopping could be classy, sophisticated, and quite affordable along with the breadth of choices we have. Testament to the quality of the shoes was when I had a shoe shiner at the domestic terminal of O R Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg comment on the quality and workmanship of my shoes. He would know and I was proud to say they were handmade in the UK.

There is a likelihood I might put in a final order, getting Brian to choose anything is hard enough, I just usually hope my choices pass the muster.