As a co-operative, the business is owned by its members and revolves around the supply and demand of goods and services between its members. We’ve been asking our members what they value about Ringlink.
We hear the thoughts of Ian McHattie, from Newfield Farm, Elgin.
“Ringlink are easy to work with, we’ve never had any issue with them over the years. They’re knowledgeable people and you can have a bit of a craic with them too.
We’re tenant arable farmers and contractors in Elgin, and we’ve been members of Ringlink since 1990. It was my father that was a member first – there was a growers’ co-operative in the region and the equipment hire was processed through the Ring.
Nowadays, we sell and supply most of our straw through Ringlink: baling it, carting it off, etc. It was the Ring that came to us with the contract as their customer co-ordinates all the straw supply through Ringlink.
The invoicing process is important as it gives you confidence, especially if you’re dealing with a customer or supplier for the first time. If Ringlink are involved, you know you will get paid and won’t be left high and dry. The regular payments represent a steady bit of financial security.
As a contractor, it definitely saves me time as well. I can do all the work schedules online, they process them and this generates the invoices automatically. I do all my own admin, so I can keep right on top of schedules, as it means I can efficiently process half a dozen invoices at one time. It also helps with traceability, as everything has an individual number for each job schedule or invoice.
To be honest, they’ve reminded me on a couple of occasions when I’ve missed a charge for a wee job like hedge cutting or unloading a lorry. The staff do regular sweeps and will get in touch to remind me to invoice, if there’s something awry. It may only have been a £100 job but it’s an efficiency. If I’d forgotten about this altogether, in a normal business it could easily be lost. These actions help justify the society levy of two percent commission.
If I was speaking to someone thinking of joining Ringlink, I‘d say ‘it’s been really good value, so crack on’.
In my experience, you can rely on Ringlink in an emergency. For example, if a lorry is on farm to be loaded and your forklift breaks down, you know you can give them a call and they can always source one within a couple of hours. I’ve done this before and because they know all the local businesses, they can sort it.
We also use Ringlink for training. With two full-time employees, if we’ve things like regular first aid training to arrange, they will co-ordinate with others to all meet up and host training somewhere central like Keith.
Being a member of Ringlink is very good value. Taken in the mix, the annual fee is really nothing compared to the value of service. As a contractor, you need to be getting work out of it, but we’ve found it just takes one little job and then another, and in no time it’s paying its way.
If I was speaking to someone thinking of joining Ringlink, I‘d say “it’s been really good value, so crack on”.
- What do you value about Ringlink? Get in touch and let us know
