I wasn't going to say anything, but some of the comments on here are not just naive - they're delusional and stink of a selfish "me me me" attitude that has become rampant on this forum at the expense of what was not too long ago the very best resource you could find.
I'm fairly confident in saying that I charge bloody fair prices for everything we stock - most of the time considerably under what others charge, and that's at the cost of sacrifices that both myself and my family have made for some years and continue to make in the name of looking after customers and providing a better deal. (ie: not drawing a wage for the last 4 years...........) I'm not the only one who has made considerable sacrifice to do this, I know of others around the country who are doing it real hard at the moment.
I have the 'luxury' of keeping this pump in stock simply because I use them regularly on the breweries I make. If this wasn't the case, I probably wouldn't bother to stock them at all because of their cost and the bulk buys that happen that simply destroy the market for the product. It is true and fair to say that bulk buys can and do make things much harder for your local HBS - I had 3 orders for pumps that I had already pulled into stock cancelled without warning because of the last bulk buy......fair? no I don't really think so. The result? Less cashflow to be able to further broaden the stock range to be able to offer more, until they sell because that's another $600-700 of my cash sitting on the shelf there, costing me more for every day they do.
I'm not sure if the references to hearsay about someone tryng to stop bulk buys is related, but I'm not ashamed at all to say that when the prices for the last pump bulk buy were posted on here, I spoke to Greg Moorhouse (manager at process pumps) simply so I could ask to be supplied the pump at the same price at least as was being made available to AHB members so we could continue to make them available at all...and I also questioned the good business sense of shafting the people who work hard to try and sell this pump into this market at a low margin.....see, the funny thing is that with both of the last 2 bulk buys, AHB members were being offered them $15 cheaper than we could buy them at for the shop regardless of numbers...and this has now happened twice in a row. The price for the bracket was also lower, as was the cost of having a plug put on.
Now I in no way asked for or implied that I wished the bulk buys to stop, all I asked for was the same price in consideration of the deal Karl had offered to all and sundry. I am aware of the fact that Karl is just trying to do a good turn for AHB'ers - that's great...for those who get one of the pumps at a cheaper price..but in the real world that's not how the wholesale supply model works and this kind of thing results in higher prices all round for everyone else, and less circulation of/education about the product. I've spent sh*tloads of time talking to people about and helping people with these pumps in the shop, and what a kick in the guts it was to have a couple of the local guys spend that time squeezing me for information on how to set it up etc etc etc, and then cancel their orders at the last minute leaving me holding the bag. All for a grand total of 11% margin or $26.40(yes GB, you were right on the money). Compare that to the over $2000 a month that we pay for rent & outgoings and it doesn't seem much worth it does it?
A clever person could easily see that the people involved in the bulk buy get a small win, but the hundreds of other home brewers that wander into HBS's around the country don't - because they won't see the pump at all because it won't be in stock..............so a few win but the vast majority lose lose lose...........including the HBS owner and their family.....
So go on, sell your local HBS out to save $10 or $20...but don't expect them to be there when you need something else. In today's financial market, they just may have gone belly up or decided that it's no longer worth working 60-80 hour weeks to try and put food on the table.....
Quite simply put - We the HBS's NEED YOU the customer in order to survive. Unless you want to HAVE to do bulk buys to get stuff at all, you had better think about the fact that the only reason half the products available to you ARE available, is because some of us have put our necks, homes, marriages etc on the line and made sacrifices to do so. THINK about it. It's about time someone did.
Anyone who thinks HBS owners get rich is fooling themselves. (Well...maybe a Brewcraft shop owner might.......but then you'd pay $450 for a pump from them if they stocked it ... )
Support your local. We depend on you.
I'm sure there will be those who will try and crucify me over these comments - so be it. They are the truth, and it's about time someone shattered this myth that us HBS's are ripping you all off and laughing our way to the Bahamas........
Good to see GB and Ross speak up too.......I know Ross has copped lots of crap that he doesn't deserve in the past....but has anyone thought about how much of his own money he has tied up, how much work he does, and how many products he has made available by doing so? It's all relative.
