Am I a bad person?

[passedpawn]

Let's not forget that there are human beings in the online stores, too. Americans. Selling online. It's OK, no animals will be harmed if you buy online.

It's nice to have a local store to go to. I have a GREAT one. I'll be getting over there in a day to two. But I buy online too. No regrets.

 

[brettg20]

You were not wrong for asking for a discount, and they were not wrong for saying no...not a big deal IMO. I buy almost everything but grains online now and don't feel bad at all about it. It's your money spend it where you want to...I am all for supporting local business but I am more for having extra cash in MY pocket not theirs...and I don't think that is selfish at all

 

[rhythmsteve]

I don't think your bad at all, this is a quite natural situation when you feel you spend enough money at a local store. What the owner doesn't realize is that you spent a lot of money and he gets none of it. By being creative with the billing of other items he could have made up the difference, and was a terrible business decision on his part. I completely disagree with the above poster about not getting discounts at grocery and hardware stores. I get discounts all the time because I'm a loyal customer, that's what good business owners do....help you out and realize eventually you'll pay it forward and help them to provide goods, services, and jobs to the local economy.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[StressedPenguin]

Really? People here think it was presumptuous to ask for a discount? No. Just no.

I agree. On every purchase no, but for $500? I have actually been offered purchases at local stores if I pay that much without asking. I definitely go back to those places not for a future discount, but because they demonstrated they appreciate the big purchases like that.

I don't think you are a bad person at all for asking, and like others have said if the conversation was pretty abrupt then maybe they don't need your business anymore. I am all about supporting local businesses, but if I felt like if the respect i gave isn't returned then I won't be back, no matter how good it is.

 

[Zubius]

This is a bit of long rant but I wanted to get it off my chest.

In anticipation of a decent-sized tax refund, I’ve been planning to change out some of my brewing equipment and add some new components.
The biggest item on the list are burners. I’ve been using two propane units that are both long in the tooth. One was purchased 15 years ago from Sabco, the other is a more recent but much more cheaply made turkey fryer from my local hardware store. Both suck down gas with abandon, so I was going to get two Blichmann’s to both replace and upgrade things. There are also a couple of other higher cost items on the list, such as an additional Corny keg and some other CO2 gear, as well as a bunch of less costly items. All told, I was planning to spend about $500 and headed to my LHBS last night with the cash to purchase the equipment. I returned from the shop with no new gear and a feeling that I’m being taken for granted.

The LHBS sells the Blichmann for $169. Since I was buying two, as well as a bunch of other stuff, I asked if they could give me a little bit of a break. My suggestion was to make the burners $155 each. I pointed out that this amounted to about a pretty small discount on the total bill. They refused. The stated reason was that Blichmann forces them to sell for a certain price and so they can’t discount them. I suggested they simply apply it to the other 200 bucks worth of stuff I was buying. The answer was “can’t do it dude.”

I always try to support local shops rather than using web stores. In fact, at the LHBS, I always try to pay in cash rather than by card, to help them out a little. But this episode makes me feel that I’m not very valued and in fact am being taken for granted, especially since this the first and only time I've asked for a discount.

This has left such a bad taste in my mouth, that for the first time, I'm thinking of buying over the web. The burners even with shipping will still be less (state and city sales tax adds 7%). Ditto on the Corney and CO2 gear. In the past, I would have sucked it up, reasoning that it was worth it to help out the LHBS. It appears that the feeling isn't mutual though.

Do I take another run at things, suck up the extra cost or be a bad person and just buy over the web?

Do you ask for a discount at your grocery store?? Or any other store that you frequent??

 

[MaxStout]

Let's not forget that there are human beings in the online stores, too. Americans. Selling online. It's OK, no animals will be harmed if you buy online.

This.

Also, remember that many of those online brew supply stores have brick-and-mortar salesrooms to serve their local communities. Midwest, Northern, Austin, and so forth. In their respective communities, those stores are the LHBS.

Whether you purchase your gear from your hometown store or order it online, you are pumping $$$ into someone's business, a place that employs real people and pays taxes. No matter where you buy from, you shouldn't feel guilty.