Should I be pissed?

[magkelly]

Local stores aren't immune to greed anymore than those online. I don't mind paying a bit more to get personal service and a chance to review what I buy physically before purchase either but when the local stores ask you to spend 2-3X as much for the same item and you still get lousy customer service besides? I think asking their customers to stay loyal and not go online isn't very reasonable.

I actually spent a lot of years and money keeping certain local stores alive only to end up dealing with major apathy and bad attitudes the moment they apparently made a success of it online. I sure wasn't "redundant" for a lot of years while they still needed my business, but boy was I ever once they started an online site and switched the majority of their business over to supporting that end more.

It's not just their customers who are flocking to go online. It's the retailers too and I'm not too sure it's not hurting their physical businesses in a really bad way long term because the people who did support them do notice the difference in how they are treated when they do buy in the stores. I'm all for supporting the Mom and Pop stores, but they have to be fair and treat me well too, respect my loyalty. If they don't I'm surely not going to apologize for going elsewhere, online, or for not supporting them.

It's a two way street. If I am spending my money there over the years, making a point of helping them keep their door open, then I'm not just a cog in the machine. Far from it. That little bit every month it adds up. They may get one sale every now and again from a guy online for $500, sure, but they can't be sure he'll be back.

If they treat me well? Then I likely will come back. Over 20-30 years how much will I "Ms Loyal Customer" spend when I pop in to see them and how much impact will I have on their profit margin? Far more than Joe Schmoe one time internet customer that's for sure. (Will they have 20 million Joe Schmoe's? Maybe, maybe not?)

Let's see, let's say I take two months off a year, let's try the minimum desired sale $20x10 months in a year, that's $200 x that by say 30 years? That's $6,000 and that's not such a small sum when you think about it. If I spend more than that say $40 per visit? That's $12,000 in 30 years. Now, multiply that figure by 100 and include the 99 other people in this town who likely frequent that same store with similar regularity and who spend that small amount of money and OH, there's the store's profit margin taking a big dive when we STOP.

I'm not saying don't go online and don't try to maximize profit by doing that. But I am saying that unless you want to close your doors and do nothing but online sales (and you may just likely risk your shirt doing that because online shoppers are fickle and they tend to buy where ever they can get it dirt cheap mostly) then you DO need to keep your regulars happy and recognize the fact that they are indeed the bottom line of any profitable retail business.

Bite the hand that feeds you, and it may just fade away...

 

[Sachphotography]

Just FYI the 28-105 f/2.8 can be had on KEH for 180-250. I have seen it on there many times. I would think if you could get over 200 for it you would be doing fine. The Promaster I have no idea but I guess they offered maybe 250-300 for the set on a good day. Try Ebay or other places. Somebody always wants to buy something. And dont get mad that they wont give you what you think you should get. You will never make back every penny you spent in this hobby or profession.

 

[Foxwolfe]

Did you ever tell us how much credit they gave you?


I know all of you want to know!!

I'm even more curious now as the thread is up to 3 pages and it still hasn't been mentioned

 

[ann]

just read this tidbit. for every 100 dollars spent locally, 45 stays in the community

 

[AgentDrex]

just read this tidbit. for every 100 dollars spent on the internet, 0 stays in the community

 

[vtf]

Look at the past 25 years in retail, there will be no local stores after the next. It will be the ineternet overseas.

 

[Gaerek]

The great thing about living in a capitalist society is that you can always vote with your wallet. If you aren't getting your money's worth, don't buy it!

Can you imagine why our economy is so screwed? We don't support the local guy anymore. We go "online". Does that money wind back up in our towns? Nope, goes right overseas most of the time (for us U.S. Americans).

So yeah, I spent more on the Rebel by getting it from a local shop. I do get to have a face-to-face critique of my photography from a guy who runs the shop. He used to teach Mass Communications at the college here in town and has been at photography for over 40 years. I don't think you can get that at B&H or Amazon. Also I didn't pay S&H and if anything goes wrong, the shop is three blocks from where I work. The money I spent partially stays in town.

But if we keep going to the internet to purchase everything, don't be surprised when the local economy goes kerplunk down into the toilet...

And it looks like someone has bought into one of the greatest myths of all time. There are certainly advantages to buying locally, but using the "keep the money local" excuse just doesn't hold water. The bottom line is, mom and pop shops are chump change when it comes to the economy as a whole. Money is made in industry, not in retail. In retail, money just changes forms. If you live in a town who's entire economy is based on retail business, then I feel very sorry for you. Your communities economy is literally on the brink of collapse, and you can't blame the Internet for that one. You can blame people who curse the Internet because of the business it 'steals' but refuse to change their business practices to survive in a new economy. Luckily, I live in a community where over 50% of the economy is fueled by commercial fishing. Money is literally made with nets in water. If the local electronics store goes out of business because they wanted to sell me a 50d for $2000 (not making this up), when I can go online to B&H and get a 7d for $1600, then so be it. Them closing will not make an impact on the economy at all. There will be maybe 5 jobs lost as a result?

I support local mom and pops when they are willing to support me. When they aren't willing to do that, my hard earned dollar goes online. If they want my business, they'll do something to actually get it.

 

[Derrel]

The biggest lesson here is that third-party and fourth-party lenses (ProMaster,for example) have almost no retail or trade-in value compared with their original retail price...

 

[AgentDrex]

...mom and pop shops are chump change when it comes to the economy....

Yeah, well I guess it WOULD be a "myth" if by economy, you mean the world economy. However, being there are more small communities spread around the world than large ones (small towns versus cities), than I guess I would have been referring to the economy of a town (such as the one I live in) and "mom and pop" stores are NOT chump change when it comes to that type of economy. We can't live on the internet.

Sure, there are city taxes charged to citizens, but wouldn't most money the city gets be coming from businesses?

If businesses don't find themselves staying afloat in a small town, because people want to do all their shopping on the 'net, what happens to that town?

 

[Gaerek]

Yeah, well I guess it WOULD be a "myth" if by economy, you mean the world economy. However, being there are more small communities spread around the world than large ones (small towns versus cities), than I guess I would have been referring to the economy of a town (such as the one I live in) and "mom and pop" stores are NOT chump change when it comes to that type of economy. We can't live on the internet.

Sure, there are city taxes charged to citizens, but wouldn't most money the city gets be coming from businesses?

If businesses don't find themselves staying afloat in a small town, because people want to do all their shopping on the 'net, what happens to that town?

Let me ask you something. Is there any industry where you live? Is there a place where either:

a) products are created (such as cars, computers, etc)

or

b) raw materials are produced (minerals, agriculture, animals grown for food, logging, fishing, etc).

If there is none, then I ask, why does your town exist? The figure of only 45% of all money spent in a community stays there. If all you have is retail business, then do you see the downward spiral? The economy will collapse. Retail businesses are only there to support the industry. Retail businesses come and go, and when they do, they have a fairly negligible impact on a communities economy. If an industry collapses, thriving communities quickly become ghost towns. As much as I hate to invoke Michael Moore, go look at Flint, MI, and tell me if that was the result of a few small businesses failing, or an industry. Small businesses failing do not collapse economies.

My original point was this, and it was somewhat buried in with other information. Local businesses do not deserve my hard earned dollar, simply because they are a local business. They need to give me something for the extra money I'm spending with them. I've been to local businesses whose customer service was WORSE than amazon.com. There was absolutely no compelling reason for me to waste my money with them.

I'm about to reveal myself as a complete geek here, for the sake of making a point. And before the "you must live in your parents basement" jokes come in, I am married, to a woman, we have a child, a house, two cars, and are successful. I play Dungeons and Dragons on occasion. There's a hobby shop in town who lets us use his space for free to play our games. Even though he sells his books for almost 160% of amazon's price, I buy from him, because I get good service and a place to play. He has free workshops on how to play the game, and is willing to take time out of his day to teach someone how to play. He's kept his shop open late on serveral occasions for our games so we could finish up. I get more than my money's worth with him. As a result, I support him, because he supports me.

However, the electronics store that's (still) selling the 50d for $2000 will not see a dime of my money because they have almost zero customer service, and charge between 150% and 200% of amazon.com's prices. The owner of this store famously wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper basically saying that if you don't support local businesses, you're a terrible person. There were three replies later that week (mine included) that basically said if you don't support your local customers, you're a terrible business.

Please understand that I'm not against small business, I'm completely for them. I'm against small businesses that refuse to change their business model in today's Internet connected world, and complain that people don't buy locally.

 

[ann]

well agentd , that was my point if you spend money in your community a lot of that stays in the local community.

spending it out of town, does nothing but help the other town
'

 

[mishele]

No never......life is too short!!!

 

[AgentDrex]

Owners of small businesses will definitely have to keep their customer service skills in check even more so now with the availability of more casual shopping on the internet. I understand about the industry keeping towns alive. I live in Northern Minnesota, so we have the lumber industry up here and of course the touristy things like State Parks, and lots and lots of lakes and resorts.

I'm slow, but I'm catching on bit by bit....

 

[Gaerek]

Owners of small businesses will definitely have to keep their customer service skills in check even more so now with the availability of more casual shopping on the internet. I understand about the industry keeping towns alive. I live in Northern Minnesota, so we have the lumber industry up here and of course the touristy things like State Parks, and lots and lots of lakes and resorts.

I'm slow, but I'm catching on bit by bit....

No worries.

I want you to know that I'm not really disagreeing with you. I just believe that I work hard for my money, and I'm not going to give it to someone for the simple fact that they are a local business. They need to work hard to get my money from me. I need to get value for my dollar, especially in the economy today. If my value is with a local business with awesome customer service, even if their products are more expensive, then I will shop there.

The economy is tough these days, for everyone. Consumers will go where they can get the best value (not always the best price). Give me a reason to shop at your store, and I will. If not, you won't get my money. If enough people believe that way, the place will close, and that's not always a bad thing.

And by the way, the way you describe it, it sounds like the local shop you got your camera at would be the type of place I would be willing to drop my cash at also. Not because they're local...but because they offer value beyond the sticker price.