Premier Marinas - Why haven't they furloughed staff?

[migs]

I recently received this from Premier Marinas: “We have kept all our staff on full pay, supporting them and their families through this crisis and in doing so ensuring that when you are able to visit the marina, you will be welcomed by people you know and who know your boat”

But why haven’t Premier furloughed staff? Retaining staff; surely that’s the point of the furlough scheme? “Supporting families through this crisis”? What about the hard-pressed families of people funding Premier Marinas. My family’s income has dropped by about third and I’m sure others have done far worse. At least, furloughing maintains 80% of pay.

What about Premier’s costs? They have reduced on-site staff to a skeleton service. Start of season boat movements had already been paid for, and from now until the end of the season there are relatively few movements; so not much lost revenue there. Southsea Marina (where we are) is closed but even in normal times has very few visitors; so not much lost revenue there either.

Perhaps another statement from Premier gives a clue as to why they haven’t furloughed staff? They say “we need greater clarity on the extent of Government assistance that is available”, which makes me wonder whether Premier would actually qualify for the furlough scheme at all? After all, the scheme is for companies who are adversely affected by the crisis?

I fully expect Premier’s profitability to be higher this year, and albeit with some trepidation, raise the question of berth holder rebates again. Yes, I have seen other posts on this forum saying: stop whining about rebates, that’s how it is in business - winners and losers. Yet my view is that when we finally reach the end of this crisis, people won’t forget those who behaved well, or forgive those who behaved badly

 

[Sealong]

I too am a Premier berth holder, but tread carefully !
Premier is owned by the Wellcome Trust who are active in research for a vaccine to Covid-19.

 

[newtothis]

Have I got this right? You're asking the company that cares for your pride and joy to drop its staff down to earning max £2k per month pre tax because you want to save a bit of money? Your income, on which you could afford to run a boat and pay marina fees, is down by 30% so you think a low paid marina worker to take a 20% cut?
Stay classy, and maybe think about selling the boat you can afford to keep.

 

[FlyingGoose]

I too am a Premier berth holder, but tread carefully !
Premier is owned by the Wellcome Trust who are active in research for a vaccine to Covid-19.

That is irrelevant , the Welcome trust brings in millions from its buying of cash rich businesses, to compare there cash revenue bushiness to the virus when people are struggling to pay for their berths is not the done thing ,
Many corporations and Funds buy up good cash businesses to invest the cash into their funds, pensions funds, investor funds research funds etc .

 

[Bobc]

This is such a "first world, middle class" problem. People are dying and struggling to make ends meet, and you are complaining about not getting a rebate on your mooring fees.

Gees.

 

[Sealong]

Flying Goose . . . sorry I find it difficult to follow your argument. What is it you are trying to say ?

 

[Sealong]

Bobc, quite right. And the Wellcome Trust are helping in the effort to do something about it.

 

[Bobc]

Flying Goose . . . sorry I find it difficult to follow your argument. What is it you are trying to say ?

I guess what I'm saying is that if you can afford to own a boat and keep it in a Premier Marina, then I have a suspicion that not getting a rebate won't hurt your finances too much. Better that everyone at Premier keeps their jobs and that your boat is well looked after surely?

 

[Bobc]

I guess what I'm saying is that if you can afford to own a boat and keep it in a Premier Marina, then I have a suspicion that not getting a rebate won't hurt your finances too much. Better that everyone at Premier keeps their jobs and that your boat is well looked after surely?

Sorry, wrong answer to wrong poster.

 

[Bobc]

By the way, in case you're wondering.....

I am a Premier berth holder.

 

[jac]

Isn't the point that Premier Marinas ( like many others) are not likely to suffer much in the loss of income?

All berthholders are paying their mooring fees so that income stream will be unaffected. Rental of other units should be mostly unaffected so ditto that stream. Yard work may fall off as people can;t bring boats to the yards but on the flip side, how many owners may just pay to get the job list finished as they can;t do it themselves and would rather be sailing . Visitor mooring fees will be non existent for this month and maybe next but i doubt they are significant.

SO i see no justification for furloughing which aftre all is basically companies asking tax payers to keep them going. Fine when they have no income but wrong when they are still earning

 

[Bobc]

Isn't the point that Premier Marinas ( like many others) are not likely to suffer much in the loss of income?

All berthholders are paying their mooring fees so that income stream will be unaffected. Rental of other units should be mostly unaffected so ditto that stream. Yard work may fall off as people can;t bring boats to the yards but on the flip side, how many owners may just pay to get the job list finished as they can;t do it themselves and would rather be sailing . Visitor mooring fees will be non existent for this month and maybe next but i doubt they are significant.

SO i see no justification for furloughing which aftre all is basically companies asking tax payers to keep them going. Fine when they have no income but wrong when they are still earning

Absolutely correct. The furlough scheme is there to allow a company to retain someone that the would otherwise have made redundant. Premier have kept all of their staff on under normal full employment as they see no need to make any redundancies. We should all be thankful for that.

 

[migs]

newtothis, you are right, I may have to sell the boat. If too many of us do so, that's not going to help low paid marina workers...

 

[FlyingGoose]

This argument has been done in several posts and I have made it clear my position on a service Industry in which Marinas fall into , to associate covid with your boat on a boat forum is silly , people can have a boat and still not have a lot of money,
Comparing deaths and someone else's stress and anxiety about money and their future life is not a reasonable argument, and it is a fall back of a personnel opinion , people are dying of all sorts of diseases in the UK cancer being one do we mention them on here ior constantly make people try to feel guilty of owing a boat
People have a right to voice their opinions about their life without being led down the guilt trip path or the usual barrage of STAY AT Home
Some people have to choice but to be in a Marina as it is the closet to them or easily accessible
Premier marina is a subsidiary of the Wellness trust, this is an organisation that buys up cash rich businesses , i.e the turnover is high and the outgoings are small, they do not buy poor businesses, nor do they buy business that take a lot of time ,man power to run it, is all about the bottom line.
To say your non payment or a reduction on the months you cannot access your boat , does reflect on their work is an poor argument , it is about customer service, customer satisfaction and contractual rights nothing more
Not interested in discussing the virus , who's getting it , who's getting it because they got a discount, who's dying , who's brothers aunties uncle has it , keep it to the lounge . Fear is the enemy and lack of Knowledge

 

[Aardee]

It's really quite simple - If Premier can afford to pay their staff, good for them. Better that than coming out of the public purse.

With regard to rebates etc, you're paying them for somewhere to park your boat safely and securely which they're continuing to do (and patrolling the marina I live in very frequently) so you're still receiving the service you're paying for. I appreciate the current situation has reduced your income, but since when is that Premier's fault or responsibility?

 

[migs]

The problem is long term. Some of us make considerable sacrifices to own a boat and when things get difficult, less keen members of the family may well say enough is enough - I guess this will be a familiar situation for many. The result is likely to be a long slow decline in boating, and that isn’t going to help the industry at all. Yes of course marinas should support their staff, but they also need to consider their loyal customers as well…

 

[matt1]

It's a worrying time for all and to compound the worries with financial concerns / job losses will make the situation unbearable, but I have to say I have a lot of sympathy for the Marinas on this one. They must be suffering some decline in revenues from lift outs and visitors and yet many are still keeping staff on to look out for people's boats etc.

I'm on a pile mooring and it hadn't even crossed my mind to ask if the harbour authority or crown estate will give me a refund. At the end of the day I'm paying for somewhere to keep my boat. Nobody's fault (well, maybe other than the people that frequent wild food markets in China!) that I can't make use of her

 

[JulianBall]

Premier and MDL are the big players seeming to get most forum coverage at the moment.

Premier is an interesting case.

Premier is owned by Wellcome Investments, thus ultimately owned by Welcome Trust, who undeniably are working closely with all parties on the covid problem. Wellcome Investments has a very large and valuable portfolio, I believe around £25 billion. They also have very large expenses.

The refund, discount etc argument is very complex, but there is an ethical point to be considered, if an increase in profit is realised when all this is over above the budgeted profit, due to accessing various governmental schemes should not some of this be passed back to berth holders in some form.

 

[Bobc]

people can have a boat and still not have a lot of money

and those people don't put their boats in expensive marinas

 

[flaming]

I recently received this from Premier Marinas: “We have kept all our staff on full pay, supporting them and their families through this crisis and in doing so ensuring that when you are able to visit the marina, you will be welcomed by people you know and who know your boat”

But why haven’t Premier furloughed staff? Retaining staff; surely that’s the point of the furlough scheme? “Supporting families through this crisis”? What about the hard-pressed families of people funding Premier Marinas. My family’s income has dropped by about third and I’m sure others have done far worse. At least, furloughing maintains 80% of pay.

What about Premier’s costs? They have reduced on-site staff to a skeleton service. Start of season boat movements had already been paid for, and from now until the end of the season there are relatively few movements; so not much lost revenue there. Southsea Marina (where we are) is closed but even in normal times has very few visitors; so not much lost revenue there either.

Perhaps another statement from Premier gives a clue as to why they haven’t furloughed staff? They say “we need greater clarity on the extent of Government assistance that is available”, which makes me wonder whether Premier would actually qualify for the furlough scheme at all? After all, the scheme is for companies who are adversely affected by the crisis?

I fully expect Premier’s profitability to be higher this year, and albeit with some trepidation, raise the question of berth holder rebates again. Yes, I have seen other posts on this forum saying: stop whining about rebates, that’s how it is in business - winners and losers. Yet my view is that when we finally reach the end of this crisis, people won’t forget those who behaved well, or forgive those who behaved badly

Worth saying that if you do furlough your staff that does not mean that you HAVE to reduce their pay to 80%. You are free to pay them their normal wage, or 90% or whatever you choose over 80%. You do however only get reimbursed for 80% (or £2500, whichever is less). It is more than possible that if Premier have reduced to a skeleton staff that they will be claiming furlough pay for the people sat at home, but choosing themselves to top up to full pay. If that is the case then that would, in my book at least, make Premier one of the good guys.

I rather suspect that Premier's profitability will be markedly reduced this year. The lack of visitors over their entire portfolio will be quite keenly felt, if you don't believe me work out for yourself how many visitor nights for say a 35 footer it would take to pay a month's Salary for a marina employee.