Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 29, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba 11 gift Flieg sunday Affel computer broker fills Niche business links setters by Bohdan Gembarski some people to Ream of starting a business from their and having it Tarn into a wild tre Vor Gregg has turned a dream into with some and a Jot of intestinal Corw 4 business machines formerly try data com outer sales has come quite a Way i from its Humble beginnings in Greggs Home in com Doest sell personal outer theres no Money in it for says Gregg but deals mostly with Miniand mainframe computers Worth tens of thousands of and Gregg says com is profitable because it fills a Niche in the Market that few others on the continent Are involved with com Puter they find equipment for prospective buyers during their Calls to sell other and its All done from a few cubicles on Bannatyne Avenue Over the Tele we Call it dealing for dollars around says the 40 year old native of Northern ire a were doing is sitting Here with Telephone Call ing buying and Selling used computers All Over the its a fascinating and a lucrative with about million in Gross sales last All done by its a unique business its All done on the one of the biggest deals weve Ever done was with Rogers Cable systems in to never met the never saw the equipment but the Deal involved about and it was All done by we dont even have a show room for any of this who was raised in Toron was transferred to Winnipeg in 1978 by his for whom he sold Colour coded Fil ing systems to left after a and looked around for a company to invest with Only in he went into partnership since dissolved try data Selling offices supplies in the brokerage diverse computer started in 1983 Al most by i didst know too much about computers i was really Selling computer says i was visiting a client i think it was Manfor a former provincial Crown corporation in j yol Yed in pulp and paper product Ion that i was talking they mentioned they had a computer for and they wanted about for i did not have want even but there was a company in Alberta called which i had contacted through and i mentioned to them that i had this they were so i sent them the they wanted so the Deal was t after that Gregg found other computers for Palliser Westcott food systems and All that Gregg was acquiring the knowl Edge he Trevor Gregg has come a Long Way from his beginnings in the High tech business spirit making things happen it started to become a numbers game knowing the feature num Bers of the what fits you have to be very cautious with i began to associate with some theres a gentleman who used to work for Superior envelopes Fred i did a couple deals with and he got me in Contact with a broker in the i flew Down to meet the and that when i really started to get going on like Gregg found that networking proved to be an important Way to get the most out of his we buy mailing lists of potential but Pri Marily we get usually from ism will be Nice to and give me a Lead or and we get Calls from people who Are looking for equip try and diverse went until Gregg acquired a Sony with three different areas to Man Gregg discovered profits began to Trail i realized i do All so i had to make a Ive now sold and amalgamated the Sony Section and the brokerage into looking to cab now specializes in provid ing transcription and word processing As Well As continuing to buy and sell used ism Gregg is not looking to ride on ibis coat tails by selecting com As a All i wanted to do was distinguish the fact that we sell to Corpora and Are looking to heighten our corporate image that despite Gregg says Hes not a born seller Gregg says he used to be painfully but some psychology and marketing courses at Seneca col lege in Toronto helped change his As did a Terry Al who took a daring for Gregg career he was working in a cil and he decided to go into i was impressed with what he was and he said to if i can do you can do he was an inspiration for even though 80 per cent of cams business is done outside of Gregg says theres Al ways a Market in this province for the company services because of continuous upgrading of were also looking to expand More into the states and Europe within the next five used equipment brokers Arent very common in especially in the soviet computer even though it can be highly int just a Gravy Gregg says there Are big risks its like the Stock Market things Are up and you can buy a com Puter today hot item ism makes an announcement of a new and you can wind up what we do is hang on to the old and Hope we find a buyer for a package but the key to this business is reselling the movie focuses on spending woes by Jennifer Lowe Orange county Register her name is she loves to her Home is filled with the latest cordless video Kitchen she watches a Cable to shopping network for in she knows the words to All the its a lifestyle defined by a lifestyle people in Orange can relate to just As easily As people living in the portrayed in the Rosalie is the main character in Rosalie goes a film by Bagdad cafe director Percy adlon set in Small town the movie looks at the american Way to live charging Rosalies growing pile of debt May be exaggerated but certainly is pos sible to agreed three self de scribed ardent shoppers that the Orange county Register invited to the we wondered How people who like to shop and face the task of balancing budgets would respond to Rosalies our panel consisted of Sharon a Public relations manager for an Irvine real estate company Winston Anaheim College student and Rosie a i Santa Ana High school the panellists said the dark comedy paints a somewhat Bleak picture of our spend Happy where living beyond ones Means is in the movie makes you think about How much trouble you can actually get said a Sopho More at California state Long the whole business of conspicuous consumption the movie took it to a real you go shopping it can be i think the message is not to take it too seriously keep it in perspex Rosalie Marianne Saegebrecht wants the very Best for her Loving but naive a crop dusting and her seven a native of Rosalie believes what american advertisers have to millions of who in trouble were in Trou ble All the we have to Abar the panellists agreed Rosalies actions went beyond the kind of shop Ping most people relate she was trying to satisfy emotional needs through Abar she was really More addicted to agreed who says she visits the mall three times a including a Daylong Outing on All kinds of things j want i have to get them or i dont know what ill its like an obligation say and heartily embraces the idea of racking up unknown to her her spend ing has creditors at her she strings out purchases on 37 credit juggles her Bank accounts and resorts to trickery falsifying checks and cleaning out her Chil Drens Bank Rosalie absolves herself by confessing to a local but continues to she eventually be comes a Power player in the system that threatened that the irony of the said who lives in Long corporate America the government Lias mounting yet its the Little Guy who gets she talked about the govern ment bailout of federally insured Irvin based Lincoln savings and expected to Cost taxpayers on a recent she was overwhelmed by i found All kinds of things i wanted have to get them or i dont know what ill ill go its like an said Martin who gets Money from her Par if Rosalie had lived in Orange she might not have made it out of South coast Plaza the panellists yet in her Small Arkansas with its limited Rosalie still Felt Over come by the panellists is All around i constantly get pre approved credit cards in the Abar Here and Well give you a credit you think that gives you status that How they pitch it to you have such great youre such a great Well give you this and you wow in a great person ill sign right Abar recounted How two friends Between them have As Many credit cards As Rosalie and believe in charging to the maximum and pay ing the they had an Atlas of California and had ail the malls and All the major stores written in so they knew exactly where they who works at tie a tie store in a Santa Ana resists the malls though he has seen some customers display so much plastic they could melt it Down and make he limits himself to four credit and cant see himself going Over the maybe the movie was trying to say that our lives Are so empty that we have to compensate with realistic stuff out and buy it sounds like a morbid but people go out and get themselves into trouble Money dominates your whole the panellists were amazed by a scene in the film for enter Rosalie and her family gather around the to and watch commercials they had they chant with the commercial an reciting ads word for i guess they didst have Martinez everyone always wants More Abar its a question of what you the panellists doubted they would be Able to cure Rosalie of her spend ing p Urana Sepianu can help soften Impact of get by Vic Parsons Thomson news service Ottawa sometime Over the next few you should probably sit Down and figure out what big ticket purchases youll be making Over the next with a Little Consumers might be Able to Duck some of the Adverse consequences of the goods fld services tax get and take advantage of potential you read that last part because despite shortcomings in the proposed Many manufactured goods will in theory be cheaper after when the seven percent get goes into in because final prices will depend largely upon How much of the savings from removal of the current manufacturers sales tax is passed on to con Ottawa has promised to Monitor and warn buyers if manufacturers dont do their but past experience shows Consumers have a right to be you can expect the prices of Many manufactured goods to but ser vices Are a different while the input costs in some services might fall plumber May pay less for parts and tools used to fix your for example this sector has not suffered a Federal sales tax since services account for about 70 per cent of Canadas economic out the Impact of higher prices in this sector will overwhelm the reduced Cost of that Why the finance department expects the get to bump up inflation by percentage Points in other authorities expect the inflationary Impact to be even but lets look at a few items you might want to Stock up on or put off buying until after the get is in place a year finance set out in its infamous leaked budget some exam Ples of How prices would be affected by the an updating of the taking into account last junes in crease in the current tax to per cent and the Cut in the proposed get to seven per produces the Fol lowing a car with a manufacturers Price of after dealer costs and would now Cost the consumer before the addition of provincial with the get in this Cost will drop to a saving of More than an air conditioner now retailing at would Cost Snow currently would drop to next on the other a hotel room that now goes for a night will sting you to the tune of after the there Are other among goods that will Rise in Price Are clothing and previously without Federal the tax firm Ernst and Young estimates to of get will bump up clothing prices by Consumers would be Well advised this year to look for seasonal cloth ing bargains and forget about wait ing for the traditional january when the get will be biting at their if you Are planning a vacation in do it this in the get will apply to air hotels and restaurant thinking of renovating nows the time to go ahead with Labori Nten Sive currently not ditto for landscaping and painting by hired Many economists anticipate Doit yourself products will undergo a if youre contemplating a remember that new houses will be hit by the although there will be Ernst and Young Esti mates new housing will Cost per resale Homes Are exempt from the but services associated with sales Are Legal sur real estate mov ing cleaning and fix up ser vices and appraisals Are All subject to the new of you decision to or May depend More on current interest rates than the tax Basic groceries because of lower processing costs household appliances and furniture Are Allex petted to Cost less when the get replaces the manufacturers you cant Stock up on haircuts and but there Are some spending decisions you can make now to protect hard earned Queen graces coins Ottawa up those shiny new coins in your pocket Arent even though the portrait of the Queen has been causing quite a few the likeness of Canadas Sovereign was changed on All coins last summer because the Queen was to put it More its changed for the Rea sons you and i know All too said Murray communications director for the Royal Canadian mint in we All get officials at the the Bank of and some Banks have been besieged with Calls about the new the loonie has been questioned the Church probably because its the most credit card rates period Days Bank of Montreal Canada Trust super card Canada Trust supercharge is Coop National Bank National Trust Niagara credit 15 0 21 21 21 Bank of Nova Scotia disc Central guaranty Centre Desjardins Laurentian Bank Montreal Trust Royal Bank Toronto Dominion Bank Vancouver City 5 12 12 12 12 8 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 other credit Canadian tire Eaton Home hardware Hudson Bay Petro Canada Sears Simpsons Sunico Ultra mar woodwards Zellers in 30 30 30 25 30 30 25 21 25 30 30 charge american express diners club Esso Petroleum of Canada husky Oil Irving Oil Shell Canada Texaco Canada 24 24 18 24 24 30 30 25 25 25 30 under certain Loo May be reduced of waived except Lor Canadian tire and Home retail stores subtract payments equal to or exceeding 50 of the monthly statement balance before calculating interest Home hardware calculates interest charges on either the month end statement balance minus any payments for on a Dally basis depending on whether purchases Are paid off within the first month or Over e longer in interest is calculated on a daily basis from the Date of which Means that All payments As of the Date of the balance that is subject to husky Oil calculates late penalties on the month end while Shell and Texaco calculate penalties on the outstanding Dally american express and diners club Levy penalties on past due balances at intervals beginning a specified number of Days after the statement ;