Buy local they say

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

Nowhere did I make such a statement. You just did it again. I doubt that I have ever been in a store with no employees. 

You're right. I did take a leap from "Your 6 store chain is clearly not one operated by the people who own it". However, you didn't answer the question - why on earth would you think that?

[Kirk W]

On 8/8/2022 at 4:58 PM, RV_ said:

What about Target? I never hear folks complain about it, or Bass Pro Shops or Costco? Why do they skate by when everyone complains about Wally world?

I have often wondered that same thing? We seem to want the benefits from economies of scale and so shop at the very stores that we complain about. 

3 hours ago, Chalkie said:

 However, you didn't answer the question- why on earth would you think that?

I went back and read all of your posts and never found that question in any of them. You did ask why I said that local stores could not have any employees but since I didn't say that, I'll not answer. When did you stop beating your wife? That is the same sort of question.   😉

Edited August 15, 2022 by Kirk W

[Chalkie]

18 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Which goes back to my earlier statement that one must first define exactly what makes a store a local one. Your 6 store chain is clearly not one operated by the people who own it, like Ray's Apple Market in Council Grove or Hilard's Hardware in Van where the owners and their family actually work in the store. It seems that you disagree based on your perameters which are different than mine but without defining them. 

Right there.

2 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I went back and read all of your posts and never found that question in any of them. You did ask why I said that local stores could not have any employees but since I didn't say that, I'll not answer. When did you stop beating your wife? That is the same sort of question.   😉

You said that a small chain was clearly not one operated by the people who own it. I asked you why on earth you would say that. That was in the second from the last post on Page 3. You have yet to answer that question. 

[Pappy Yokum]

On 8/4/2022 at 10:11 AM, sandsys said:

Because local has to pay for retail space, utilities for that space, furnishings for that space, and people to staff that space. Warehouses are cheaper and workers there don't stand around waiting for customers to arrive.

Linda

"Maybe" -or-  Maybe Not !! 

Are you willing to buy from Neiman Marcus - also known as "Needless Markup", or elsewhere?

Many years ago I worked in "retail" (not RVs) and many lines were marked up 100% - just because the retailer "could" - and.... the buyer was happy to pay the (non-negotiable) price!

A friend of mine who was not in the RV business in any way, had access to the Wholesaler for just about everything "RV", which at that time was via Coast Connection.  Huge catalog with retail prices - with a *separate* catalog with the wholesale prices for the dealers.   BTW - he was able to do that as he had a contractors license - again nothing to do with RVs. He just wanted to purchase "things" for his Class A  DP - without paying an arm and a leg.

The markup was very shocking!  Emphasis on "very".

So *if* I needed an expensive item - he was my source.

Enlightenment:  I needed some small inexpensive items from a *local* dealer.  Find them in the same (retail) catalog at the dealer.  When I happened to joke about the markup - the sales person said, "How do you know that?"  The retail price was no big deal, and I just said I had accidentally seen the wholesale (dealer) cost.

No clue if Coast Connection is still a wholesaler or not - if I need something now (large or small) I just visit one of the on-line parts suppliers - to find a price I am OK with.

BTW - the last expensive item I purchased -via my friend- was a a Pullrite Super Glide hitch for my (then new) 2005 Dodge Ram. It was drop-shipped to the friend's (personal) residence. Xln't price!  (We installed it).

Which was for the (then new) Jayco 5th which I didn't buy "local", as the local dealer/s were way, way overpriced with sales pitches from know-nothing* sales personnel.  *One year at the Pomona, CA RV show - the sales person "admitted" it was his first day on the job as an RV salesperson - after I showed *him* where the (his)  brochures were.

My "local" dealer was about a thousand miles away - and a genuine pleasure  (and price) to do business with.

As the saying goes, it is what it is. 

😉

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Pappy Yokum

[bruce t]

Ok I'm old enough to remember the travelling merchant. Old truck. When the guy opened the rear doors a whole world of goodies were on display. He visited about twice a year. Boy was that an exciting day in the life of a small boy.

Mind you in them days the milkman delivered the milk in a can with a lid. The baker jogged to the front door with his big basket of bread. If we were lucky we would retrieve the milk and bread from the front door step before the cats and birds arrived!

But neither milk nor bread would last as we had no refrigeration. Come to think of it we had no electricity. When I tell my daughter these things she rolls her eyes. The grandkids just wonder what I have been smoking.

I won't even mention the long drop at the far end of the yard or the night cart who came around once a week to clean it out.

Good ol days! Why do we complain about what we now have and not about what we no longer have?

[2gypsies]

BRUCE T:  Thanks for the good memories!

I remember the fresh fruit and veggie truck coming slowly down the street ringing his bell.  I can still recall the awesome aroma we were treated to as we walked down the short aisle picking out things.

We also had the ice man who would always toss us a chunk to cool ourselves down.  The ice was for our refrigerator.

Also good thoughts of the wire basket setting at our doorstep of the bottles of milk with a layer of thick cream on the top covered with a cardboard lid.

Good ole' days, for sure!

[Kirk W]

38 minutes ago, bruce t said:

Ok I'm old enough to remember the travelling merchant.

I am too but we were much too far for groceries to come that way. Our milk came from our cows, vegitables from our garden and fruit from our trees. My mother canned pretty much everything and meats and such were kept frozen in a rented freezer locker in the town of Dwight, KS. But once or twice each year we would be visited by the Rawleigh Man with his panel truck full of all sorts of exotic things that we could not produce on the farm. Occasionally we would also get a visit from the Jewell Tea man!

[sandsys]

I lived in the city. We had milk delivered to our door and a rented meat locker a few blocks away but the rest of our food came from the grocery store. We did get visits from vacuum salesmen and brush salesmen and Avon ladies traveling door to door, though.

Linda

[VC 23RSS]

It pays to price shop.  I need one 357 cell for my digital calipers.  Stopped by the Family Dollar on the way home from the Dr. this morning.   $5.85 for three.  Grudgingly I took them to the self checkout and they rang up over 7 bucks.  After waiting a few minutes for assistance I walked.  Later today I checked Amazon.   Three 357 Eveready cells delivered this coming Monday for less than three bucks.  I'll give the other two cells away.