Some foggy morning in some suburban town in some English-speaking country, a doorbell is rung and a door is opened …
Mel: Morning, Mr. Jones.
Hal: Nice weather, ain’t it?
CRASH! BOOM! DOWNPOUR!
Jones: Ahh … now that you mention it …
Mel: Heh-heh. Good one, buddy. Ha ha ha.
Hal: You’re a natural comedian, pal. Ha ha.
Jones: Well, they say it’s all in the timing …
Mel: Which brings us to the purpose of our visit. (Nudges Hal)
Hal: Oh! Yeah … our calling card. Lemme wipe it off.
Jones: Thank you … hmm … Justin-Thyme Logistics. Umm … I assure you I’m not expecting any deliveries, so …
Mel: Of course you ain’t.
Hal: Can we have that back. Only got the one.
Jones: Oh, sure.
Mel: We’re the new sixth-party logistics service provider in this neighborhood. We’ve been making the rounds to case …
Hal: IN CASE you or, or anyone else was … umm …
Mel: Un-AWARE that we are the sixth-party team.
Jones: Oh. Okay. Sixth party, eh? What are the other five parties?
Mel: Well, you got your first four parties, and they deliver the goods from the maker to you.
Hal: And then you got a fifth-party service provider who keeps an eye on your goods. Like neighborhood watch.
Jones: Ohh?
Mel: You know, after-service support.
Jones: Yes, yes … I think they mentioned something about that. Well that’s good to know …
Hal: As for us, we’re into removals.
Mel: What they call “reverse logistics” in the parlance of the industry.
Jones: Is that right?
Hal: You see, the fifth-party logistics service provider, he’s busy keeping an eye on the local “inventory,” and taking orders, and making payoffs …
Mel: TO FA-cilitate business. The old “cost of doing business” bung. Ha ha.
Hal: So he gives us a contract so’s not to stiff the customers on their after-service support.
Jones: Well, my new 120-inch Plasmatic Full-Mega-Surround TV/Family Entertainment Center appears to be working just fine.
Mel: You mean you’ve plugged it in already?
Jones: Um, of course.
Hal: Oops!
Jones: You mean … did I?
Mel: We were just in time! Mind if I …?
Jones: Oh sure, come on in …
