Letters Direct to Individual BAYKO Collectors

These days manufacturers tend to use the word 'customer' to refer to the retailers that they supply directly, and use the word 'consumer' to refer to the person who ultimately buys the product. Here I've decided to use the word 'collectors' for the person who bought BAYKO, which seems more appropriate.

This section shows examples of letters sent by Plimpton [or MECCANO if I come across any] direct to BAYKO collectors in response to their enquiries.

I feel personally frustrated that, when I wrote about the restricted range of BAYKO Roofs, not long before the MECCANO takeover in 1959, I never received a reply - anyone would think they were busy!

This is a new section, and consequently quite small, but I will try and build it up as oportunities arise...

This is an interesting letter for students of the retail market place in the late 1940's.

A lady, Mrs. L. W. Byford, had evidently written to Plimpton to buy either a BAYKO set or some spare parts. I suspect the former.

The letter shown here [right] is a polite rebuttal, stating that "in fairness to our dealers, we cannot supply either Bayko 'sets' or 'separate parts' direct to the public".

This has the general appearance of a standard letter, but the use of quotes twice in the script may be suggestive of a more personal response.

If the job lot of BAYKO I recently picked up on eBay [with this letter] is anything to go by, "MESSRS W.S. COWELL LTD, Buttermarket, Ipswich" did very nicely, thank you as a result of this referral by Plimpton.

Quite whether the refusal to supply direct was born of operational convenience, or general pressure from retailers, I don't know. I'll let you make up your own mind.

I'm pleased to say that this document is mine.

It's a shame that this letter [left] is undated, not least because Plimpton were based at the address in the letter head, "Gibraltar Row, Liverpool 3", between 1938 and 1955...

...however, the storage box refered to in the letter looks very much like a 1950s product, so we can probably narrow this down to between 1950 and 1955.

Th lack of a specific date, perhaps, lends weight to the theory that this was a standard, possibly pre-printed letter, however, it looks very much more like a normal letter, so is more likely to have been 'freshly typed' from a standard script.

If you would like to know more about the Storage Boxes refered to in this letter...

...click here to find out more.

Thanks to Stan Curran for this image.

Thanks to Johan Debeuf for finding this one for me.

I'm pleased to say this letter is also mine.

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