He just wouldn't give in on it. Merchandise, they didn't have any marketing department. When Rocky took over the team, on his first visit around, there's phones ringing.
But a lot of times, hearing the stories from other folks who are maybe still running 10-person companies or 20-person companies who Merchandising! We get more margin on the t-shirts.
problem. They also had--because it was a part of a larger food company, Genesee Pure Food, is they had this fleet of trucks. Now, this fleet of trucks was largely to serve the local merchants to deliver boxes of foodstuffs. But they thought, "Well, maybe what we'll do is we'll just go door-to-door and we'll sell--we would explain to people what this gelatin thing is door-to-door." The problem at that time was that there was a--to sell-door-to door in late 1800s, you need a license. That license cost money and took time. They didn't
economic exchange when you when you buy something you'd rather have the merchandise than the money the merchant would rather have the money than the merchandise you both feel you've gained division of labor where people can come together and cooperate in a way to increase the the output per capita and so on so a lot of nonzero-sum games in
where he meets uh the owner of the ship who's a who's a who's a merchant uh Merchant you know very very uh important Merchant uh he's an Englishman who spent most of his life uh in Asia his name is Benjamin Burnham and uh uh you know like many opium opium Traders like many slave
civilization so in the you know your question was uh how how do I think merchants who went uh to London applied a lot of pressure upon um the British government and they told them quite
He scanned the pages casually, but then, he froze. The Merchant of Death is dead. Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.
get on a rocket ship. And then there was just all of this sort of crazy stuff that would happen in games that are based in the world. Like, there were bouncers in the towns, and merchants, but if you really wanted to, you could try to rob these people, or kill Lord British, you know? That was something that was super hard. And when you're just a jackass kid, you spend your time endlessly trying to do these
capital and engaged in manual labor. The master craftsman who owned his own shop. Even merchant sailors were entitled to a share of the profits of the commercial voyage. We don't have a sharp distinction between manual workers and
China. It too was led by businessmen and funded by them. Four merchants put in seed funding. They got another 18 investors to put in money and they engaged this fellow, Martin Frobisher, as commander.
They basically abandoned the Northwest Passage idea and the whole idea of setting up a trading operation. And merchants and investors started to put money into a second voyage to go bring back more rock. Two more voyages went out.
So this was an opportunity they want to showcase on a global level, or at least semi-global, that they are a good stop, as well, whether it's for merchant or for visits. And Balboa Park, at the time, was sort of this large swath of land between San Diego proper, which we call downtown San Diego now, and some
You want me to add at least 40 characters by the time I'm done with the transfer. That merchant acquisition hasn't taking place yet.
So I guess I'm just curious to hear about what has improved since then, I guess. The merchant is happy because they got the US dollars.
This was the beginning of what later called the Burghers, the Bourgeois, the middle class. The merchant class got really wealthy. And no, it wasn't the best of times.
Every railroad had their own receiving stations and delivery stations. And merchant trucks from the city would have to come to them, and fill up the streets, and load cars on the streets. And there was congestion and waste everywhere.
I go to sleep like a baby. So merchandise is important.
So merchant-driven, it is like a GAP, or Banana Republic, or companies that sort of produce based on the new units.
that merchants and shipping folks were gaining political and economic power in the country, and eventually persuade the emperor not only
gross merchandise sales, but, this year, we'll be over $3 billion.
Stephen Merchant: That was not as spontaneous as I was hoping for.
Stephen Merchant: Cause we got, Stephen Merchant: "Oh, alright.
Stephen Merchant: And so I decided to do some shows here.
Stephen Merchant: 74 dynamite fans Stephen Merchant: And, um, sometimes in the UK the audience can be a bit, even though they're fans they can be a bit sort of
Stephen Merchant: "We had to come out, it was raining.
Stephen Merchant: Muscles are lean and tight Interviewer: You're ready for a long distance?
Stephen Merchant: Well I, yes, I used to do standup when I first left university and the audience was generally indifferent completely indifferent, occasionally rising
Stephen Merchant: I did it on and off for a while then we started doing these TV shows and we won awards and things and there was
Stephen Merchant: Um, once you've been out of the ring for awhile you've gotta get back in and take some punches and get match fit
Stephen Merchant: Oh, a long time, I sort of dabbled with it on and off for a couple of years.
Stephen Merchant: but out there in the real world it can be tough meeting girls.
Stephen Merchant: So, yeah, it was a lot about my experience growing up as something of a geek which I know is a surprise to a
Stephen Merchant: Yeah. Interviewer: Do you find that helps?
Stephen Merchant: Well it's interesting cause he, I remember reading a quote with him once where he said, "the thing with standup is you sort of walk to the edge of the precipice
Stephen Merchant: Unlike Eddy, so I try to be quite cautious and that was why I spent so long, I think, working out in just small
Stephen Merchant: So bizarre, it's so bizarre and I can't under, there's no rhyme or reason it can sometimes be to do with the shape of the room, the size of the room.
Stephen Merchant: If they don't laugh it has nothing to do with me.
Stephen Merchant: Yeah, I know my audience.
Stephen Merchant: I was concerned about that and, actually, there's a comedian friend of mine who I actually sent the show to, a taping of the show, for him to look through
Stephen Merchant: You know just little things like that.
Stephen Merchant: Well once I was on the road I didn't, I didn't do anything except do the show really.
Stephen Merchant: Some, some groupies.
Stephen Merchant: but there wasn't.
Stephen Merchant: No disrespect if there's any here.
Stephen Merchant: Yeah, but not the kind of playboy bunnies that I was expecting.
Stephen Merchant: but there we are.
Stephen Merchant: It lets your mind wander into other areas, I suppose.
Stephen Merchant: Radio? Interviewer: Yeah.
Stephen Merchant: Yes. Interviewer: Is that something that you, what is it about radio that you think kind of keeps you coming back?
Stephen Merchant: Well, radio and then, obviously, later pod casting, one of the great things is that it's a lot more, you know, freedom, generally, in just terms of the sense