bremereric
Well-Known Member
On a lighter note...if the president's stimulus package would have targeted the correct people...we probably would have spent more money to keep them alive...JAT
What happens with business is that they often get to big for their own good. Cheap doesn't mean better. Look at the PC market. Ha, Ha there was Dell thinking they could cut out the middleman and sell direct a product for cheap and then often great customer service. Didn't work. You can chase to the bottom for the a cheap price, but nobody ever wins. Who gets to the bottom last does? Maybe? Apple is a good example of success, keeping it fresh and building new products where price is not as much of an immediate concern. They are dropping prices on slow movers, but again old inventory has limited value...
That wasn't the case at the location here. They closed long before the latest economy woes. Also, cars are still selling for good money so that is not the total issue. We must remember not all of us are working class guys doing this. There are plenty who pay whatever to have it done for them. What happens in those shops is a whole nother story. I am currently unemployed but still find ways to fund my project and have found bargins here at FABO and the dreaded e-bay. These are items I would have spent 3X or more from the paddock or YO. I went through those catolog for years while getting ready for my GTX build, but won't use either now. FBBO here I come.
Not trying to be a jerk its just more then the economy going on for thier failure.
I dont call dells customer service great.Every time I've had to call it's a huge hassle because I get someone who doesnt even speak english.
As for people not getting or understanding the costs involved in a business, thats because theres no transparency. If there was Im sure we would either have a much better understanding and put up with high prices or we would be buying prouct at a reasonable price. However there is no transparancy with any company. Why? Because our culture is based upon greed and no company wants to be revealed as such.
I worked for quite a while in the auto parts industry and can tell you for a fact that many products have a 1000% markup or more. I was able to see the purchase cost to the company and the MANY levels of pricing offered. The truth is that huge companies get huge by ripping people off. After all, we dont voluntarily hand over large amounts of cash. So lies are invented to raise the prices. Just look at gas if you dont believe me. Gas crisis my ***....
Thats to bad. I have got a lot of parts from them.
again with the R&D BS. These are repro parts that don't need any further R&D. It's a matter of a distributor finding someone to produce them with the cheapest materials possible. That's what they're doing right now, and there is no shortage of Chinese manufacturing companies out there to do it.
Different story for custom or specially designed performance parts.
The bankrupcy auction for The Paddock is coming up in July.Here's the inventory:
http://www.keyauctioneers.com/auction_detail.php?id=137739
Mopar parts don't sell as fast, thats why its higher, it cost the same to R&D a part and market it.
I did have a few tings done for A-100's and looked into lots more. At $20,000 + UP FRONT 6 or 8 years ago for headlight rings It would have taken a very long time to recoupe. Yes you make the part for $5.00 but many thousands for makeing the die then a set up fee every time you want it run.
Not so easy.
Exactly the point. You can ***** about offshore products all you want, but the fact remains that it still costs real money to repop a part. You have to take into account not only how much it costs to make a part, but how long it will take to just break even on that part.
Bad economy = fewer parts sold, but overhead continues to grind away at your bottom line.QUOTE]
Overhead is always the killer. The the hardest part of running a business is keeping the overhead down. You end up getting nickle and dimed to death for everything. Everyone wants a bite of your piece of pie until there isn't any left for you.