My Life and Adventures with cars PART TWO

 My career took me to different companies that all involved driving in some cases involving commutes of over 40 minutes and others that involved fair size sales territories.  Working with my brother in law who was a partner in an ad agency I ended up doing a lot of freelance sales work for a personal client Orange aPEEL  I helped set up wholesalers and then the strategy was to convince some of their retail clients to stock our product.  Fortunately the wholesalers were expanding from a small base in Ontario to a bigger base.  One factor I noticed was that sales declined in the summer and felt one reason was that many of our pet owner  consumers left for cottages.  One of our wholesalers was expanding to cottage country and beyond.  I went on longer and longer trips and eventually overnight.  I went as far north as Kapuskasing, west as far as Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor and as far east as Gananoque and even Ottawa.  Vet clinics were added on expanding the calls I could make.  Read more more on my Ontario expanded driving.

http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/06/travels-of-salesman-part-1-ontario.html 

 My daughter, Heather insisted that she wanted to go to King's College in Halifax.  Nobody in our families had ever been to Halifax, but in fact it enriched us all.  It was agreed that Heather and her mother would fly, but that someone would have to cart some furniture and other supplies.  I asked the boss at Orange aPEEL if he would help pay hotel expenses if I sold in the Maritimes.  Some of our existing wholesalers (mostly ones I had set up) had a toehold in the Maritimes.  It was agreeable to us all.  Heather ended up there for five years and I made two two way trips each year.

An important step in the process was staying in my sister's home in Brossard, on the  south shore of Montreal.  I learned two routes through New Brunswick and looped around Nova Scotia covering most of the vet clinics and pet stores in those two provinces and Prince Edward Island.  A conversation with my brother in law, Ali while in Brossard suggested I would as an anglophone do better in Quebec than a francophone would do in Ontario.  I got some help from a French speaking co-worker, Jacques Major who helped me with an introductory speech and later with a special story aimed at receptionists.  Beyond that my French was pretty pathetic, but could struggle with a helpful francophone who proved to be the majority.  But the bonus was that many clinics hired bilingual receptionists or even better they called in their bilingual boss so I was able to talk directly to the decision maker.  I was able to add in two more wholesalers and one of our Ontario wholesalers expanded in both Quebec and the Maritimes.  One co-worker joked that I was really on a vacation, but in fact I was very busy.   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/07/travels-of-salesman-part-3-quebec.html

On my first trip studying maps I found a shortcut to a stop in Windsor, Nova Scotia.  It reminded of where I learned to drive, with hills and curvy roads.  Ironically Windsor was home to Thomas Halliburton whose name was taken for the county where I learned to drive.  Most of the places I called in Nova Scotia were on the ocean and I wondered what was in the middle.  I discovered with one single call that cut across the middle and it turns out the answer is trees.

Read about expanding to the Maritimes.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/07/travels-of-salesman-part-two-maritimes.html

At the beginning my trips to the Maritimes were ignoring the bigger audience in francophone Quebec but that too entered my life.  

Car rentals weren't part of my life until one vacation where I had won a trip to Florida.  My father in law advised us to rent a car from Rent A Wreck which we did from the Tampa airport.  Unknown to me the condo manager had not been told of my visit, but even though the car didn't look like a trustworthy person was driving he believed my story, my wife and four year old daughter were grateful.  We visited Disney World, Busch Gardens, Cape Canaveral and lots of other sites.  On my only other trip to Florida we used them again, but my brother in law had to have his towed away.

 On vacations we often flew to a site and rented a car.  From Montreal I rented a Prius, my first experience with an environmentally friendly car.  All I can remember is after returning from Quebec City I had a lot of trouble turning off a loud alarm at my sister's.  Other vacations were to British Columbia.  One time we flew to Vancouver, took a ferry over to Victoria and the next day took another ferry ride to and from Vancouver so my son could compete in a track meet..  Then again we took the ferry back to the airport.  The next time we flew directly to Victoria.  One memorable trip was after we picked up my friend, Bob Stone at the ferry depot in Nanaimo we headed to Tofino, but Bob steered us to the old route that took us by Coombs for a unique retail experience where you could see goats eating grass on top of a store..  We hit Tofino in the off season, but an interesting place.

The most interesting rental experience came after my car was called to garage and I was told they needed it for a few days.  This happened at the start of the Easter weekend when I was supposed to leave for Halifax.  I had well over 100 sales stops planned.  We couldn't get hold of any rental cars that had any available.  Someone suggested try an airport and we were able to rent one from the Toronto Airport and with not that many choices I ended up with a high performance car.  My son was thrilled when I brought it home and the next day I left.  I soon found it could accelerate much faster than my car and I found myself passing other cars, even long streams on two lane highways.  When I met my daughter she was disappointed that wouldn't let her drive it because of rental rules.  When I returned it they at first tried to charge me for all the extra mileage (about $800 as I recall), but they reverted to original agreement considerably cheaper.

Backtrack a little.  On my previous trip to Halifax my daughter had a beginners permit and had taken driver education.  The lens on my glasses came out about 8 in the morning.  Anxious to get going I had my daughter drive to the next town,  Truro where I got my glasses fixed and I realized if I let my daughter drive I could make my sales calls a little bit better prepared.  I made lots of calls and finally decided around 5 pm or so in Edmonston I would take over as it would soon get dark.  Reaching my sister's I remembered my brother-in-law's original instructions and although I was too confused to use them, this time coming from the opposite direction I did remember.  The next day we got early and left as the Montreal rush hour was in full swing and Heather drove through that.  Again I made lots of calls and when we reached Toronto we again hit very heavy traffic.  Heather handled it very well.  Shortly after our trip when Heather went for her license test the tester pressed for time asked her if she had any highway experience and after she explained she had driven most of the way from Halifax, including three rush hours he let her get the license on her first effort. 

My career has wound down.  Towards the end I found myself once a month delivering newspapers (The Rider, a horse lover publications) over a wide area.  It was my idea to set up a number of librairies spread over four counties.  Another thing happened when one of the partners' mother needed a ride to visit her husband each day in a retirement home.  We had an interesting conversations and I learned to play a game she was fond of.  The game was trying to figure out what vanity plates meant. I got to the point where I could sometimes ask a driver.  Read more:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/02/driving-with-miss-jane.html

Some of you may have duplicated some of my favorite drives and others looking for something interesting.  Here is a list of some of my favorites.

When I decided to make a few sales calls to Sydney, Nova Scotia I saw two routes so I took them both.  One was the old highway with lots of winding and lake views.  Rita McNeil had a stop along the way.  The other way was a modern highway that wasn't at all boring. At one point I stopped at Baddeck which overlooks Bras d'or Lake where Alexander Graham Bell flew the first airplane in Canada. 

The normal route to Halifax had been done a few times and I needed to expand my sales efforts so looking at a map discovered the Atlantic side of New Brunswick which meant driving a little further through Quebec past Rimouski one could head down to Campbellton, New Brunswick through Matapedia country that was another hilly, curvy road with lots of trees.  Very entrancing.

Switching coasts and under the guidance of Bob Stone, we decided to seek out Tofino.  Bob suggested we take the old road that included Coombs with a most interesting retail store.  Along the way we passed Port Alberni (earlier I had interviewed Bill Robinson, a famous basketball player from there) where a tsunami had once reached.  Tofino is a backpacker's ideal.   The three of us stayed overnight.

In Ontario I became attached to Picton in Prince Edward County.  Mostly I approached it through Belleville, but on one occasion curious about a different route out of Kingston I discovered there was a ferry boat ride to the town of Picton.  Just my idea of a quaint village with lots of pleasant landscape in an out.

Another pleasant drive was from the town of New Liskeard which sits on Lake Temiskaming lead to Hailebury with the lake on my left the whole way.  Only one time I approached New Liskeard through Quebec on the other side.  Also scenic.

In case you missed it link to Part One:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/02/my-life-and-adventures-with-cars-part.html

When the public (that means you) are lied to. What can you do?

My concern for this post is with large organizations that have discovered something dangerous about their business and chose to hide it.  Three examples that prompted this are the Tobacco industry, the Oil business and the National Football League.  They have all crossed my path and that of virtually all North Americans.  Part of me is self-righteous, part is practical and part is hypocritical.  Many, if not all can identify with being pushed and pulled by tobacco, oil and sports.

Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to Europe and it must have seemed very weird to Englishmen at first.  Perhaps addiction wasn't really noticed, but somehow smoking came to be prestigious and pleasurable.  It was mostly restricted to men, at first and relatively wealthy ones as the product would be in short supply until demand rose.  A few centuries later and it had become universal with both sexes indulging.  Along the way there must have been suspicions that it was unhealthy, but nothing definitely had been established until late in the twentieth century.

We now know that among the first proofs of the harmful effects of tobacco came from within the industry itself only they chose not to disclose.  Some of its early defenders did so because they saw attacks on tobacco as attacks on free enterprise.

I have written about tobacco in a post about movies http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/06/smoking-and-movies.html  I do not understand how I escaped the lure as my father smoked cigars and many of my friends smoked when I was a teenager.  Many of them have since quit and I would say the majority of my acquaintances do not smoke.  Although my mother didn't smoke she died of emphysema, perhaps due to second hand smoke.  The hardest thing to understand is that teenagers (that most vulnerable age of humans) are attracted to it, often as rebels, not realizing they are being used by big money tobacco.

I try not to be self-righteous about my abstinence, as I like and admire many people who do smoke.  And I have other bad habits and addictions.

Global warming and climate change have been talked of for at least two decades that I remember, but not taken too seriously until more recently and not seriously enough.  Exxon has made the news having done research that proves climate change is real going back to the 1970's and not only hid the information, but spent large amounts of money detracting from the problem.

My involvement in environmental concerns is a little more spotty.  Recycling and cutting waste were habits I cultivated, but in some substantial issues I found myself trying to be practical. With my limited funds I was always looking for investments that would lead to wealth or at least financial independence.

My experience with Suncor didn't start out to support the Tar Sands.  One of the outlets for Orange aPEEL (more down below) was Ontario Co-ops who had an arrangement with Sunoco to blend in ethanol to gasoline served at many of their locations.  At the time they were one of the few gas station chains using the term and my curiosity got the better of me.  Ethanol was supposed to give improved engine efficiency and was natural being derived from corn.  Seemed like a good thing to invest in and I wrote away for an annual report from Sunoco.  I spent a lot of time looking for any mention of ethanol and finally found it, but it was pretty miniscule.  Still I thought I was very clever and bought about 100 shares in my self-directed pension fund.

Ethanol became more common, but more importantly Sunoco turned out to be the most successful investment I ever made.  The dividends at first were small, but I  bought a few more shares, then noticed it seemed to split every few years.  A few times thinking I was ahead of the game I took the profits after a split to diversify into a few other stocks, some of which did ok, but none performed as well as Suncor.  I became more conscious of the Tar Sands, but still saw ethanol as my motivating driver.  Oil from the Tar Sands was much more expensive to extract, but Suncor and others invested large amounts of money for what was seen as the inevitable rise in prices.  Lots of political turmoil had made both Canada and the United States dependent on foreign countries and in fact our purchase of gas seemed to be financing lots of Mid-East jihadists.

At one point I actually looked for an environmentally friendly energy company and thought I had found it--hydro electric power and some renewables.  It never made much money, but seemed promising.  Then it was taken over by Trans Canada Pipeline that I had been persuaded to buy 100 shares.  I took this as a sign that Trans Canada Pipeline wanted to be part of the new energy, but I now think they just wanted to stifle a potential rival.

In the last decade or so the dividends from both companies became significant and while interest rates declined my income and capital gains from Suncor and Trans Canada Pipeline were more critical to retirement plans. Another thing I noticed on a few day trips to the States and a major trip to New Zealand was that the Canadian currency had more power than earlier.  The Canadian dollar seemed to track the price of oil.

I would like to think I am both smart and ethical.  The smart part of me thought although fossil fuels were bad, nothing I did would change their power, so I might as well keep the two stocks.  I had some advice that reinforced that thinking.  A decade or so ago, spurred by my son Michael I started voting for the Green Party and in general more concerned and informed about Climate Change, but still clung to my two stocks.  Eventually my conscience troubled me more and I began to believe that renewables would eventually conquer the fossil fuels and that soon there would be a big adjustment.  I sold both stocks, though I confess I timed them until just after the date of record for dividends.  In total my Suncor investment increased by about 20 fold.  Looking back over a year my sell decision seems to have been both smart and ethical.  There are sure to be some harsh adjustments.  I used to drive more than the average person because of my jobs (http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/02/my-life-and-adventures-with-cars-part.html) and personal interest--that has already been curbed.  The Canadian currency has become weaker and that will also affect my travels and probably even local purchases. Hopefully the air will be nicer and perhaps the climate more controllable, but both are long term projects.

We have always been aware that football is a brutal sport, in fact that is one of its attractions.  Many years ago it was pointed out to me that another big reason for the popularity of the NFL was gambling, and that NFL really stood for National Football Lottery.  I saw it as a strength, speed and skill game and the toughest of the major sports. In the past few years there has been an increase in knowledge about concussions.  The owners have been very resistant to publicizing the information or doing much about it.  There is still concern that the luster might be taken from football.

High school, the CFL, university (Canadian and American) and the NFL consumed several hours each week during the season and I was a true fanatic.  I did not play organized hockey or football, but followed them almost religiously and had been very active in neighborhood sports until my twenties.  Then a friend, Michael Bromilow involved with education told me he couldn't support any sport that deliberately set out to injure players on the opposing side.  It wasn't hard to see the truth of that and my interest, particularly in football petered out quickly.  Now we realize the NFL has known for a long time that concussions are a threat to the health of their players.  My favorite sport was basketball and I was coming to appreciate soccer, especially after my son got involved.  All sports have tension and drama, but I came to appreciate skill, team play. and discipline.  A book on basketball had the title, "The Name of the Game is Deception. " I still get pumped up for an athletic display of skill and the tension between well matched teams or individuals.

Near the end of the Roman Empire entertainment for the masses involved violence and  actual killing on a scale we haven't yet reached.  Football and other sports can still be enjoyable, but for some without the violence it is a bit of a letdown.

Orange aPEEL, a cleaner was the one thing I sold that most made me feel I had a purpose in life, more than just to make money.  But I was naive in many ways.  Some huge companies were well aware of the ingredient d'limonene and all its many benefits, but they preferred to sell it in pre-mixes to keep the costs down and increase its shelf life.  My original boss really got caught up in the product as a concentrate and so did I.  I came to realize that almost any concentrate is both more environmentally friendly and economical than a pre-mix.  The problem is modern consumers much prefer the convenience of a pre-mix and the illusion that it is cheaper.  Marketing understands and exploits this and I thought I was knowledgeable about marketing.  Those with the resources can get their message out more effectively.

I also learned some unfortunate aspects of my product.  In some cases it was allergies and it could be either animals or people that suffered.  I learned for some tasks it was too strong and for others not strong enough.  I felt my future lay in repeat and referrals so I was as honest as practical.

I was forced out of that product, but still recommend it.  A few understand it, but most just buy whatever is most convenient and that they have confidence in.  Some of their success was with pre-mixes.  I have written about an eye glass cleaner and there was a shampoo, both of which are terrific, but under appreciated.  Some more on Orange aPEEL:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/03/applications-in-selling.html

I have written about how there is a lot of resentment of regulations.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/10/regulation-how-we-protect-ourselves.html
What I learned from my experience is that regulations often favor big companies over small companies as they have the money to meet standards where often small companies suffer.  There might also be some concern that some big companies can skirt around regulations.

What does one puny person do against corporate conglomerates?  Some may have the power to change things, but most of us have limited resources.  But we all have some power and using it wisely can make a difference.  Examine everything.  Look for alternatives.  Set an example.  Encourage your acquaintances when prudent.  Vote carefully.  Help put things in motion so they can develop some momentum.