Steve B. Lighten up. Nobody said that we think ELUs are beneath contempt. If it weren't for you folks we wouldn't be here and, believe me, we know that.
However, please grant us the same courtesy. Selling knives isn't rocket science, but we're not stupid either. I set what I consider fair prices based on what I need to thrive as a business, not just survive. That means I have to be able to grow with the market. Just making replacement cost plus beer money won't do that. (If I have to explain that, you wouldn't understand.)
You asked what harm comes from selling products at $5.00 over cost and why should the manufacturer care. They care because it hurts the market and that hurts them, as well as dealers and distributors who would like to be in business for longer than a few months.
That kind of discounting does not enable a dealership to sustain itself for long and the discounter, (who doesn't really give a rat's butt how they affect the rest of the industry), will soon turn to other markets.
In the meantime, the deep discounted price becomes the "de facto" retail price and mainline dealers won't touch it. Now, as an ELU, where do you go for service when the guy you bought your $200.00 cuttnstabber for $120.00 from is now selling beanie babies? The makers have likely discontinued the knife because ML dealers won't buy them and there aren't enough deep discounters out there to justify the production. You now have a broke "collectors item".
Did you really get a good deal? This may sound like oversimplification, but it has happened. Is this what you mean when you refer to a free and robust market place?
How do you think we feel when we are accused of "ripping off" a buyer who finally decides to shop around AFTER he or she bought a product and happens across a deep discounter who is offering the same thing at virtually what we pay or darn close? Who do you think gets blamed for them not doing their homework? Some folks get downright testy.
Then, after we refund their money and take the product back, when they go to buy from the DD and find out about shipping costs, or the thing isn't in stock and they come back demanding to buy it at the DD price, do you think they understand when we tell them we can't do that? Not bleepin' likely. This isn't a hypothetical. It has happened, more than once. And it will happen again. So who acts like who is beneath contempt?
Personally, I like my customers, both in the store and at the shows. We share the same interests (knives & guns), many of us have similar backgrounds (mine is military, retired) and we all need to make/save money.
The class of people I have met since starting this business is way above and fsr beyond the average person and I am proud to associate with them.
Do you know that, in the almost seven years that I have been doing this, I have not lost ONE CENT to bad checks or bad debts? What other business can say that. Oh yeah, pal, the above examples not withstanding, I have a lot of respect for the folks I do business with and hold NONE in contempt. They are some of the finest people I have ever met.
You forget that we are ELUs too on everything we don't sell ourselves. We like good deals as well as the next person and we shop around for the best deals on the stuff we sell too.
Competition IS the name of the game and God forbid it should be otherwise. It's what keeps the market alive. The other dealers have families to feed and mortgages to pay and new inventory to buy just like I do and there are enough customers to go around on a level playing field. If someone starts getting into my sales too deep it just tells me I have to wake up, get off my backside and work harder. Like I said, not rocket science.
The makers aren't trying to control prices. They are just trying to ensure that the field stays level. If that's defending the manufacturers, so be it. This isn't a "management against labor" sort of thing.
You may pay a little more and we can take a little less across the board and we'll still be around to take care of you if there's a problem. We all win then. THAT is what makes a free and robust marketplace.
I realize this is another LENGTHY explanation but you asked for it. You hit a nerve by accusing me of holding my customers in contempt and, while I don't really mean this to be a flame, I am a bit pissed. Take it for what it's worth to you.
Personally, if I had to resort to selling beanie babies, I'd go back to work for the government.
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Dennis Wright
Wright Knife & Sporting Goods
(Buy a gun....Piss off a liberal!)
La Mesa, Kalifornica
wrightknife@ixpres.com
[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 17 August 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 17 August 1999).]
