Bit of a Vent

[Tom R]

This hobby is not for the faint of heart.

It is a very expensive endeavor. You are constantly having to spend real dollars (canadian or us) just to replace lights, supplies and equipment. Then you still have to come up with money for that new and exciting fish or coral. Without our LFS it would be almost impossible for us to continue in the hobby. They not only bring in inventory (paid for on yesterdays exchange rates) that sits there waiting for the day we need it, but they also are our main sounding board for the best first hand information available. You know they have nothing better to do than stand there and explain the many options available to help solve your little algae or fish conflict problem. Oh ya sometimes they have to explain it to you more than once and then you go buy what you need from the states to save what 5 - 10%.
No I know that after 9 years in this hobby I for one would not likely be in this hobby if not for the J&L's and the OA's of the world.

Thanks guys as I really enjoy this hobby.

Tom R

[digital-audiophile]

Just my two cents.

The price differential does not sit at the level of the retail shop. The change needs to come at the manufacturing level.

If two of the exact same skimmer are manufactured in Germany and one is shipped to a LFS in Canada and one is shipped to a LFS in the United States with the dollar at parity and assuming that both stores have the same overhead and expected profit margin there should be no real difference in the price.

This of course should only apply to material that has been manufactured and shipped since the dollar has reached parity and it may take some time to ensure that the dollar does not vary from parity or near but in a years time I would expect to see prices on an equal footing. I know that we have to expect some differences on price based on different shipping lanes, duties and so forth.

Personally I have bought 99% of all my fish goods dry and live from local fish stores in my near three years in this hobby. I would persoanlly rather support my local retailer than even an online source like J&L. I have made a few purchases online but only becuase there were products I wanted that I could not find locally.

[Ken]

Hi Neal, I sincerely support and understand your frustration and venting because I have a similiar business and maintenance company that we operated. I live in a small town on Vancouver island, population less than 50,000 people, and the few aquarium reef hobbyists supports mostly online or out of town. My percentage of retail is less while my maintenance clients is my living. As our town is fairly small, there is not a huge reef hobbyist here compare to larger city like the mainland. Maintenances takes me up and down the island just to make a living. I have been in this hobby for 37 years and very passionate about, I am still learning and I am not about to quit. We have spent many hours with maintenance clients just staring at their prize aquarium because they are themselves passionate about the hobby. I just took a drive around town lately and noticed many retail stores have closed down. I feel supporting your local store for whatever at a reasonable price is fair, considering where you live. We are small but we provide good service and support our local stores and local charities. Where in our town can you come by at 10:00 pm and get a 10k MH bulb in an emergency? Tonight, we just picked up 3 boxes of Bali shipment, each and every one of these livestock will be accilimated carefully, housed in a stressfree environment, fed the best quality food and trained to aquarium life and then after 6 weeks or more, will be sent to one of my maintenance client's aquarium. They will not be advertise as "new shipment in" tomorrow. We are passionate and we do care about the livestock that are placed in our hands for their well being. Neal best of luck to you sincerely. Regards Ken