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Originally Posted by intarsiabox
Of coarse they have all these expenses to worry about. On-line stores have huge warehouses that they have to pay to have the goods shipped in, orders over $35 ship free from Big Al's so guess who's paying for the shipping, the warehouse doesn't come for free (lease, taxes, utilities), lots of warehouse people to pay salaries to, plus customer service reps and people doing the accounting/billing. They have all the expenses of a retail store but since it's on a much larger scale and don't have customer wandering around the warehouse it can be done more efficiently and they also don't have the live animals to deal with reducing costs further.
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+1, people commenting on the contrary to what I am trying to explain are not realizing this, thanks for this point of view. In my opinion, I don't think online or local should be a factor... If they sell the same product, and they carry it as stock, who then cares if it is online or not. Things to consider as the retailer and customer is the cost of shipping. This is why I was accounting a cost for overhead and shipping, even though the selling price would most likely already have a padding for some of this stuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by abcha0s
I wonder why the other LFSs that many of us frequent are so untouchable. I've had the same experience with EVERY LFS in Calgary - bar none. It is very disheartening to price something with JL, drive to a LFS only to be quoted 20% more. I've just accepted that buying locally means paying more. The sad part is that this also means that I avoid buying locally.
I know that there is loyalty pricing offered at the stores here in Calgary. I'd like the owners of these stores to read this and understand that this approach is counter productive. If I had been offered the best price from the start, I would have spent A LOT more money locally.
As an extreme example: when I looked for quotes for my new tank, our favorite store here in Calgary felt that it was appropriate to mark it up by $1200 and then had the balls to tell me that they were doing me a favor? All they were actually doing was brokering the deal with the builder. It's unfortunate all around, but I haven't been back to that store.
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I am a believer that price things fairly. You may not make the big cash on each product, but then do the volume. It is funny you stated this, because if I didn't already have a business, I would seriously consider opening up a LFS in the South of Calgary, and if I did, watch out.... But it isn't happening, at least for now. Anyone want to buy an internet/hosting biz? HEHE