'Little Earners'....Maps......now what could be interesting about maps??

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has been involved with Cruise Ships for any length of time that there were always opportunities to make money on the side, (in the good old days).

The Maitre D’, Hotel Manager, Chief Purser, Doctor, Cruise Director, Chief Officer, Chief Engineer, Food and Beverage Manager, even the Captain had chances then,  to supplement their salaries.

The maps scenario is just one of many ‘little earners’ which benefited the Cruise Director and his staff and so simple you may wonder why it was never discovered.

The ship was the Cunard Countess and as I explained on previous blogs, she had a regular two week run around the Caribbean, so regular in fact that you knew the day of the week by the port you were visiting.

Passenger Giveaways, as they were called, were items such as pens, wallets, the famous umbrellas etc. usually with a company logo and used as prizes for passengers participating in entertainment activities such as daily quizzes, crosswords, fancy dress competitions, talent shows etc. They were bought in bulk and could be used for other ships in the fleet. However, the maps were personal to the ship as they showed the ship's two week itinerary.

As with other ‘giveaways’, the ordering and printing was arranged by Head Office in New York  and flown down to San Juan, Puerto Rico. During a cost cutting exercise, it was ’discovered’  the maps, including printing and air freight, were actually costing the company around $3.50 per map.

Step in Jose’ (yes him again!)….the Assistant Cruise Director who visited a print shop in St. Thomas and presented the company with a price of $1 per map. (not actually true, but I’ll explain later) and no air freight involved as we visited St. Thomas every Friday.

The company was pleased with the large cost reduction and gave the ship permission to purchase ‘locally’.

The actual price given by the print shop in St. Thomas was 50c per map, which was the first 'rub'.

The rest is a fictitious scenario, but close to actuality…..

1,000 maps were ordered at a real cost of $500 however the company were happy with the $1 per map they had been advised  and the printer was happy  receiving the order and made out the invoice for $1,000. That was the first $500 ‘in the pocket’.

If we said, for arguments sake, we gave away 50 maps per week (through the books) in reality, we only gave away 25, the other 25 were put to one side (under the bed). By the time all 1,000 maps had been ‘given away‘, there were still 500 under the bed.

With a blank invoice acquired from the printer in St. Thomas, we received another $500 for the 500 maps, which were then transferred from under the bed, back to the prize cupboard.

That’s the second $500 ‘in the pocket‘ for the same batch of maps.

Working on the same principle, when the next 500 maps were ‘given away’, there were still 250 under the bed and with another blank invoice from the printer, we had an additional $250.

So, a batch of 1,000 maps had made upwards of $1250 profit.

Returning to the print shop for a re-order of 1,000 maps, the system would start again.

The costing of the ‘passenger giveaways’  as a whole, was still within budget, therefore, never queried.

Thanks Jose’

The beachbum