which shop in calgary is the best in service??

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by Canadian Man

I have a huge tank and make a very low income. I also know alot. Does that count for anything?

Mitch

[EmilyB]

Hey.. aussiefishy...picked up your card today...

[Stretch]

I didn't add my .02 to this thread mainly because i don't really make my way to calgary as often as edmonton. With the Calgary stores each has a something to offer that the others can't. I'll stay clear of the other debate.

How ever going to edmonton yesterday I wasn't to impressed with AI.


But beening in Alberta we have to take what we can get.

[aussiefishy]

who picked up my card?? i have only been asked by Bob who i am and what store i work at.... next time say hi ok?

and may i use this chance to thank you for people who welcome
me in this forum .

by no means i am an expert in marine aquarium, but i am very interested and learning everyday... and i have been ordering fishes and corals specially for customers before... majority of times i can tell customer about waittime and estimate price...

i think majority of customers have been "burnt" to some extend, that is why they are building up a very protective barrier. and i totally agree something needs to be done for communication and building their relationship with employee.

to be fair with the shop owner, it is the POV of a client and owner, i guess it is kind of touchy, because in the pet industry after-sales service is very important... maybe the club should issue an invitation to recommanded stores in calgary, or invite one store at a time.... to really talk to the owner and it's marine employees, to really see who is there for you.

cheers

[EmilyB]

Originally Posted by aussiefishy

who picked up my card?? i have only been asked by Bob who i am and what store i work at.... next time say hi ok?

It was almost closing time. You weren't there.

By the way, if you stick a bunch of anemones in a tank together, they will sting each other and die. You should rectify that.

[aussiefishy]

oh! those anemones....

something to think about is that, it is a shop, not a zoo... i totally agree that a shop should provide suitable environment for livestock, but to what extent?? proper salinity, lighting, currents, protein skimming i think,

we are not importing them to put into a tank for 5-6 years... things have to remember is the rate they are selling at, and also available space for anemones in a shop. from our experience, the amount of time each anemone in our shop is between 1-7 days. IMO, the stinging do not take long enough to harm anemones. (we have not seen anemones dying in our store in that system).. and if you ever take up diving into the tropics, anemones are somehow aggregates together as well.

anyway, if space is available, as we are renovating, and building new stocking tanks, we can certainly do that.

something for your thinking, if a shop can retify every little things for customer without looking at reality such as cost and benefit analysis, would that be nice?? it will be like looking at a world where no tax, free education and transport, welfare (all in the good names in providing nice environment for us to live)... will anyone open a store without thinking about cost??

something to think about


Cheers

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by aussiefishy

something to think about is that, it is a shop, not a zoo... i totally agree that a shop should provide suitable environment for livestock, but to what extent?? proper salinity, lighting, currents, protein skimming i think,

If you read through the first five pages of this thread, you'll see that this topic has already essentially been covered. If the stores want the respect of the reefers on this board, they need to start being responsible. Even if you want to put profit ahead of livestock health, you still have to remember that a happy animal is a happy customer. You're an Economics major right?

The marine aquarium trade is fundamentally different from most other industries. If a car comes off the line a lemon, it can be replaced. If a poinsettia has a pest on it, the nursery can throw it out and grow another. But every animal that comes out of the ocean is one less in the ocean, and one less to propagate the species. The environmentalists know this, the governments know this, are the stores going to clue in before it's too late and harvesting/importing of livestock is completely banned?

[aussiefishy]

after reading what i have wrote, sounds like everyone is thinking that i am defending the store owners... well, enough of this topic, some people think i don't read my topic thread... some think i might be thinking, business is business... then i have to defend econimic theory to some people i don't even know. but basically, it depends on if it is demand driven or supply driven market... as far as i know, i am still very green on everything, i am young and needs to learn alot.

i guess i will try my best to change the store owner POV, educate beginners one at a time, and try not to educate beginners wrong concepts. and do my bit to the marine industry.

it is tiring sometimes to see people just ignore the problem the industry/hobby are in, while only commenting wrong things people did. it sounds to me some individual is trying pick at tiny stuff while ignoring the fact that LFS are improving.

encouragement is needed in this industry because workers earn low salary, and why are they staying?? maybe they can't get other job?? or they earn repect from their loyal clients??

[incoma]

I missed it what store he at. I was at big Al's met Nate there where a few neat things. I hope they where just gettin things moved around when I was. I hate the drive out there. Franco's will be gettin saltwater soon. I m not sure when soon is. She did offer to get me liverock. I need like 50 more pounds errr.

[Quinn]

Someone is going to PM me soon and tell me to stop trying to keep this thread alive...

Originally Posted by aussiefishy

encouragement is needed in this industry because workers earn low salary, and why are they staying?? maybe they can't get other job?? or they earn repect from their loyal clients??

I think it's safe to say that saying that staff stay because of client loyalty is grasping at straws (there's a tongue twister for you). I'd speculate it's more likely convenience (finding a new job takes more effort than staying at one you've already got) and having reached a glass ceiling (ie. inadequate skillsets to move any higher). Certainly there are some people who do it because they love it, but in our money-oriented society those individuals are few and far between.

As far as economic theory goes, this world hardly runs on supply and demand these days. Government subsidies, anti-monopoly laws and organized consumers groups have done away with that type of thing. If companies like Shell and Imperial Oil have become environmentally-minded to protect their reputation, there's no excuse for pet stores not to be. I think that the age of everything being a commodity to be bought and sold is coming to an end. The problem this industry has is greed. Cyanide use and unsustainable collection volumes are testimony to this. Everyone involved needs to become aware of this before any headway will be made. It's one thing to ship nets off to the collectors and try to certify all imports - how much is actually being accomplished. Unfortunately most of our livestock comes from southeast Asia, an area with larger problems than just unsustainable fish and coral collection. Europeans and North Americans are perfectly happy to buy natural resources and labour from former colonies. 3rd World nations are desperate for foreign investment, and they will sell their daughters, forests or fish to get it. We can't ask them to regulate everything on their end. At some point in time the nations bringing in the fish and livestock will have to start turning back unsuitable or at-risk species, and regulating how many of each animal enter the country. If animals keep getting sent from Indonesia or the Phillipines just to die in a glass box in Alberta, soon enough there won't be anymore.