Any interest in a Knifemakers Co-op buying group?

[RobertHankins]

After seeing the thread by Bill it came to me that a Knifemakers buying Co-op might be a good thing!

In other words $ talks bs walks as they say.

There are alot of knife makers here who consistantly use the same materials bought in small quantity.
We are paying a Premium price for doing that.

If we were to do a quantity buy say twice a year of a set amount on a particular product we should be able to save some money

If we talk real bucks the Manf. will listen. That also positions us for further price negotiations.

I would think in the neighborhood of $5000 min.

There would have to be enough people who actually come thru to make this work. Also enough people who want the same product to make it worth the manufacturers time.

Getting a business license is no big deal. We could get a tax number and buy directly from the manufacturer. Eliminate the middleman.

I see many potential pitfalls but they are outweighted by the returns.

Input!!!

 

[RHINOKNIVES]

well rob i already have a biz licence, that elimanates the sales tax. also te prob, is that some one will have to divide up and ship to the others. i dont mean to sound negitive its just how much savings are there left after this? comments anyone?

 

[Mike Hull]

Not only that, but who will handle the mountain of paperwork, the orders and backorders, who gets what, and when. Where will it be warehoused, who does the shipping, fills out the shipping labels, contacts carriers, takes care of following up on these things, like, where is my order etc. Someone will have to trace shipments, etc. It would be like running a small company for no salary. Who is willing to give up their life for zip?

 

[Lady Colt]

the knife business you've in mind, does have many good pontentials awaiting, you'll be putting more out than getting in for awhile. it is easier to create a business, than it is to become a successful business. === a lot of sacrifice and hard work

 

[RobertHankins]

Kick this around

We get the Manf to ship directly to each buyer.
Buyer pays his own shipping, They would have to anyway!

Savings is in the bulk purchase price.

We deal with only one rep. per company.

Next is getting the funds collected in one place at one time.

Contact enough makers before hand and get commitments, to ensure you are not yanking the Reps chain.

More thoughts...

 

[Brett Bennett]

Originally posted by RobertHankins
Kick this around

We get the Manf to ship directly to each buyer.
Buyer pays his own shipping, They would have to anyway!

Savings is in the bulk purchase price.

Bob,

I doubt one could get the manufacturer to break up an order and ship it to numerous sources. I think one of the primary reasons for a 'discount' is simplicity on their part.

Brett

 

[itrade]

What about a small start. One of the biggest costs in the small orders is the grinding. It's the setup for small orders that CM doesn't like (how do I know? Bruce told me). If there is alot of steel in the same thickness, then the setup cost is spread across all the bars.

Picture this, CM gets all the orders at the same time. They are organized into set sizes (like .094 x 1 x 36, .125 x 1.5 x 36, ...) You get the idea we all agree on maybe 5 different sizes and thicknesses. Then they can run them all at once.

So, instead of 20 orders of completely different setups strung out over 3 months. They get 20 orders of set sizes. Then the steel guys make 100 of these and 100 of those. Sure the shipping is the same problem, but the manufacturing problem is reduced majorly. Cost goes down for them and price goes down for us.

All that would take is for us to agree on the steel, sizes, and order date

Steve