Stores loose money on Boxing Day sales?

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

It's not so much the cost of the fish, corals and supplies that is expensive but the crazy cost of transportation that hurts the bottom line. For instance, a few hundred dollars worth of livestock can easily be over $1000 in shipping, transhipping fees, etc.

Where do you get this information? I used to work in this industry (less than 2 years ago) and your right there is a few hundred dollars in fish but if your paying $1000 to ship please ask for vaseline when they rape you. We rarely seen shipping costs at half that and we had to fly stuff to calgary then to lethbridge (and extra $100). Generally it was $300/box when they got to Calgary international Airport.


I will however say you guys in edmonton are getting SCREWED HARD! I was up in october and visited a few shops about the only one I seen with decent pricing was RCE. I didnt get a chance to stop at Blue World but I will say I stopped shopping when I seen a Purple Tang for $300 at another shop. Same fish is a $90 fish in Calgary.

Thankfuly Lethbridge stores have finally clued in that people are making trips to calgary for cheaper prices, ordering from JL, and thankfuly they have lowered their prices to keep people local.

[jorjef]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH wow, I want my life rewind button after reading this thread.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I got it from the invoice of an LFS where I helped out my friend during several recent deliveries of fish and corals. Trust me, the local transhippers are charging an arm & a leg for shipping and handling. I am not "pulling numbers out my whazoo". The $1000 was for several boxes, but the fish and corals cost far less than the actual shipping/handling charges. They also charge far higher than bank exchange rates and that can quickly add up too. My numbers are accurate as of yesterday, not two years ago.

Originally Posted by Ryan

Where do you get this information? I used to work in this industry (less than 2 years ago) and your right there is a few hundred dollars in fish but if your paying $1000 to ship please ask for vaseline when they rape you. We rarely seen shipping costs at half that and we had to fly stuff to calgary then to lethbridge (and extra $100). Generally it was $300/box when they got to Calgary international Airport.


I will however say you guys in edmonton are getting SCREWED HARD! I was up in october and visited a few shops about the only one I seen with decent pricing was RCE. I didnt get a chance to stop at Blue World but I will say I stopped shopping when I seen a Purple Tang for $300 at another shop. Same fish is a $90 fish in Calgary.

Thankfuly Lethbridge stores have finally clued in that people are making trips to calgary for cheaper prices, ordering from JL, and thankfuly they have lowered their prices to keep people local.

[howdy20012002]

OMG, this place always cracks me up.
imagine LFSs wanting to make money.
its not like they put their entire financial well being at risk or anything when they start up a business and hope that they make it work.
It must the difference between owning a business and working for someone else.
I truly don't think that people get how strenuous and nerve wrecking owning a business can be or how much is truly on the line when you decide to open the doors.
Employees generally always get paid for the all work they put in.
Employers generally never get paid for all the work they put in.
Employees, when they lose a job, they go find another one.
Employers, when they lose a job, they lose their business, most likely their home because most of them have mortgaged it once or twice just to help get the business off the ground, and potentially all of their life savings...GONE.
starting over sucks.
Imagine everything you worked for since you started working gone.
would you open a store??? would you risk everything??

so again, imagine a store wanting to make a profit...boxing day or not.
why shouldn't they?????
btw, if they are selling a purple tang for 90.00 they aren't making money.
and the cost of shipping from indonesia overnight is the same if not more money than the corals and fish in the boxes and certainly can cost a 1000.00 for a few boxes.
just my 2 cents.
Neal

[MarkoD]

I don't think anyone said a lfs isn't suppose to make money. Obviously they're open to make money. Even a store that sells crap and looks like crap has managed to stay open this long.

My original point that selling something at cost on boxing day will not hurt the business in the long run, got twisted and blown out of proportion

[MarkoD]

Even with my own business. When I first started I was shooting all day weddings for free. (I was actually losing money because of the initial investment required)

Now 3 years later I am still reeping the rewards from the referrals I got from those weddings. And I still give a discount to all these referrals in hopes that they'll send more business my way.

For me it's all about building rapport with a client. And with any business I believe it's important. Since price is the biggest initial influence on people's decisions on where to shop, bringing them in with a sale is important. And when you satisfy them with service or quality of product, price becomes secondary.

Being a money hungry business person (like some people who own lfs)( and no this doesn't mean giving stuff away and not making a profit) will do nothing but hurt them. Ive gone into lfs where all the owner wants to do is sell me things. I told him I had cyano and in a 2 min span he tried to sell me bio pellets, gfo, fluval phosphate remover, and phosdown.
I'll probably never go there again (even tho everyone praises this shop)

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

I told him I had cyano and in a 2 min span he tried to sell me bio pellets, gfo, fluval phosphate remover, and phosdown.
I'll probably never go there again (even tho everyone praises this shop)

Aren't those all viable options for dealing with cyano?? So the fish store guy that sells stuff for a living tried to sell you stuff to fix the problem you complained about? Weird....

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Aren't those all viable options for dealing with cyano?? So the fish store guy that sells stuff for a living tried to sell you stuff to fix the problem you complained about? Weird....

dont ya just hate that lol the nerve of some people who do they think they are lol

i hate when i dont get any help jeesh its nice to hear that people actually try to offer advise now its being ignored is what i hate.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Aren't those all viable options for dealing with cyano?? So the fish store guy that sells stuff for a living tried to sell you stuff to fix the problem you complained about? Weird....

Oh so I need all 4 products to lower my phosphates?
I went to another store and got a straight up answer "using phosdown is the least expensive and equally effective way to lower phosphates"

[BlueWorldAquatic]

This may help clear up some questions people are asking.

First and foremost, you as the consumer always have the choice to where you shop, we as the retailer have the option to refuse services (Which we have in many cases). We as the businesses need you as much as you need us. If we don’t have customers we go out of business, if you don’t have more places to shop your prices WILL go up.

As for prices, all stores try to be consistent, most LFS’s in Edmonton deal with the same suppliers with the exception of the large BOX stores. If a price is out of whack, maybe mention it to the store as prices are not written in stone, maybe someone just priced it wrong.

As for a $300 purple tang, that should get you to wonder why it is that pricy? Especially the fact I can price an Achillies Tang at $350. Is it supply and demand? Since purple tangs are rare now as only places that have them readily are Yemen and Sri Lanka. Since Yemen is war torn right now, and no one is allowing any products from there on air cargo that only leaves Sri Lanka to fill the needs of consumers.

No business can sell things at a loss on an extended period of time, that’s not even considered “non-profit”, that is considered “bankruptcy”.

I have done some things in the past for “cost” for a new customer, got him a RSM250, blew away a box stores price, the customer swore left to right that we would be his “main” store, guess what? In a year no sight or sound of this customer, karma’s a bitch though, I hear from other sources that a pump died on it and he didn’t have the nerve to call us for support in which we would have helped him regardless.

Just the other day, a customer asked me for some salt at box store prices, I wouldn’t match the price, but was off by $2 (for 8 boxes). The customer didn’t see it as I was dropping it $18 from my retail price, but the fact I $2 short from the price the “other” store was offering. The only problem was I had it in stock, and they didn’t and were not offering rain checks.

Running a LFS is a lot of work, long hours, and later runs to the airport. In Edmonton we don’t have proper direct international flights to keep costs down. Flying inventory from Vancouver or Toronto or even Calgary can increase shipping costs by 100%, it costs as much to fly inventory from LA direct as it does from Vancouver.

Unless you are directly involved in dealing with the orders, you do not now the costs involved with them. Shipping, CITES, USFW, CFIA, and a lot of other acronyms I haven’t even listed, all of these take a piece of the pie, that is not including the businesses that supply the livestock or the agents (transhippers) cuts.

Where it comes down to, as a consumer you have final say. You can shop at your LFS, box store or online. That is your choice.

The moral of this story…..

Loss Leaders are a ploy from box stores to bring in new customers, as for retention if the services, knowledge and the vibe aren’t there they won’t be back. I speak from personal experience.

This will be my last post on this topic, as I feel a flame war arising soon.

Enjoy your holidays, enjoy the sales, enjoy your hobby.