MPB – Team Spirit Behind the Scenes
THE USED CAMERA market has been transformed in recent years, and it’s businesses such as MPB that have been leading the charge, making the entire process of buying and selling second hand kit so much easier and safer to negotiate for professional photographers.
It’s super fast to get a valuation for unwanted camera gear that you want to move on, and this is then collected direct from your door with the agreed value being paid direct into your bank account shortly after. It’s just as easy to purchase a quality used camera or to trade up to something else you need, with everything that’s sent out being provided with a six-month warranty to ensure complete peace of mind.
All very slick and smooth, but what exactly goes on behind the scenes, and how does an operation that deals with an eye-watering average of 400 parcels a day manage to stay so completely on top of everything? To find out we paid a visit to MPB’s vast warehouse on the outskirts of Brighton where everything for the UK market is received and despatched, and it was a true eye-opener to meet the team, to say hello to a few of the people that happen to work there and to find out more about the processes that ensure everything runs like clockwork.
The first thing to strike you when entering the building is the air of calmness which, considering the efficiency and speed of turnaround that’s MPB’s hallmark, and the fact that around sixty people work here, comes as something of a surprise perhaps. The second thing you notice is the fact that there are several friendly-looking dogs scattered about the place, and it transpires that staff are allowed to bring well-behaved pets to work with them, which instantly adds a far more relaxed feel to the place.
There’s also another nice and highly personal touch revealed as warehouse manager Gareth Kime, who has worked for MPB for the past ten years, shows us around. “All of the meeting rooms are named after the pets of employees,” he confides to us, “so this explains the strange names they have, such as Monkey, Elton and Chilli.”
There are a number of work stations located around the floor of the warehouse, each with a computer terminal and light tent, and as cameras and lenses arrive they’re checked over by a product specialist who assesses their condition. Those who are selling will have been asked to give an honest evaluation of their kit, but MPB commits to moving items up a grade and paying more money should something be determined to be better than specified, and this actually happens around ten per cent of the time.
Kit is then photographed from a number of different angles, and part of the attraction of buying through this source is the fact that the prospective buyer gets to see exactly the item they happen to be interested in. They can even zoom in to check out the condition in full detail before then being able to make their purchase decision with confidence.
