Price gouging ailse 5, Price gouging ailse 5

[huckdavidson]

Wait, you're expecting a vendor to pack your order, shop for shipping rates and THEN communicate with the customer on which choice they would like? You think DME is expensive now, wait until I tell you what that level of service will cost you.

In general, inventory management software tracks the size of the items and narrows the selection of boxes, envelopes and tubes down so that they can be submitted to providers for estimates and purchased by retailers for shipping purposes.

 

[bwible]

Lots of emotion and passion in this thread. We get it - we are all invested and enjoy the hobby.

I think at least one of the biggest problems here is the lack of local homebrew shops, which necessitates online buying and the accompanying costs for shipping. Its been a problem for several years and unfortunately its one thats continuing to grow.

Speaking as a former homebrew shop owner whose store didn’t cut it, I can tell you its a tough business. Starting with the fact that brewing is a small niche hobby. Its not like owning a pizza place where the vast majority of the population eats pizza.

A store needs a regular clientelle to survive.
Most of the stores have a club they are affiliated with. But people talk the talk and they don’t walk the walk. When I had my store my club put together pallet orders of grain and stuff on their own. I can’t tell you how many people came in with a morebeer catalog and wanted to beat me up over morebeer prices.

Thats another thing not discussed - Morebeer and the other big stores get better pricing than your local store ever can. Retail pricing is all about volume. Your local shop might be buying airlocks 100 at a time. So say their price is .53. Morebeer is buying airlocks 10,000 at a time, lets say their price is .27 each. Your local shop is selling them for .99 and not making double. Morebeer can sell for .79 and make triple.

People talk but in the end they go buy online or do pallet orders on their own and they don’t support their local shop. Thats been going on for years and years - I closed my store in 2004. Now we’re at this point where we have no local stores and here we all are complaining we now have to buy online and complaining about the prices and the shipping. The old saying - what goes around comes around.

 

[Deric]

That's what they're offering you but that doesn't mean it's the best deal. The consumer should be able to see and control the shipping service no matter the cost of the order.

Define "best deal".

 

[Brooothru]

It might be that they don't really want to try and compete on that particular item. If they lower their prices and sell more they'll have to warehouse more. And space in the warehouse might be more desirable to them for other things. Or for a any other number of reason they just don't chose to sell it at a lower price, even if they are able to get it for the same cost as RiteBrew

I don't see it as price gouging since you have the ability to use other less expensive retailers for that item.

“Loss leader”

Offer one produce at a lower price to increase volume sales of other inventory stocks, or to gain new customers. Maybe to gain a reputation as a bargain retailer. It’s a common marketing practice in retail sales.

Try creating a “cart” of a large, broad selection of items from the same vendors, then compare the totals (plus shipping). Then compare the prices. I’d guess they’ll be a bit closer.

If not, maybe there are other factors (lower expense overhead), assuming the same quality of the products and customer satisfaction. If all factors, except price, are equal, then you’re probably found your preferred vendor.

 

[passedpawn]

Lots of emotion and passion in this thread. We get it - we are all invested and enjoy the hobby.

I think at least one of the biggest problems here is the lack of local homebrew shops, which necessitates online buying and the accompanying costs for shipping. Its been a problem for several years and unfortunately its one thats continuing to grow.

Speaking as a former homebrew shop owner whose store didn’t cut it, I can tell you its a tough business. Starting with the fact that brewing is a small niche hobby. Its not like owning a pizza place where the vast majority of the population eats pizza. We won’t even talk about shipping costs these days and why they are so much but everybody knows. Elections have consequences.

A store needs a regular clientelle to survive.
Most of the stores have a club they are affiliated with. But people talk the talk and they don’t walk the walk. When I had my store my club put together pallet orders of grain and stuff on their own. I can’t tell you how many people came in with a morebeer catalog and wanted to beat me up over morebeer prices.

Thats another thing not discussed - Morebeer and the other big stores get better pricing than your local store ever can. Retail pricing is all about volume. Your local shop might be buying airlocks 100 at a time. So say their price is .53. Morebeer is buying airlocks 10,000 at a time, lets say their price is .27 each. Your local shop is selling them for .99 and not making double. Morebeer can sell for .79 and make triple.

People talk but in the end they go buy online or do pallet orders on their own and they don’t support their local shop. Thats been going on for years and years - I closed my store in 2004. Now we’re at this point where we have no local stores and here we all are complaining we now have to buy online and complaining about the prices and the shipping. The old saying - what goes around comes around.

I shop locally at my lhbs. @VetterBrew

 

[hotbeer]

What about price gouging where every retailer has the same prices? Have you ever looked for a mattress? Do you really believe those mattresses cost them even a tenth of that price they want for them?

 

[DonT]

Late to the party here, but I wanted to add my 2 cents...
Every business has it's own "Cost Of Gross Sales". Smart business owners calculate what they need to charge in order to be able to pay their employees, themselves and all costs associated. I own an auto repair shop in one of the most expensive areas in the U.S. I have used a specific formula for setting my labor rate and a matrix for parts mark-up. A lot of thought went into that stuff and I refine it as I see fit.
For all you know, dude at Ritebrew drives his truck over to said supplier, loads up a few pallets on his flat bed trailer and his only shipping cost is a half tank of diesel. What you're nostriling and moaning about is not price gouging. And if you put in some price controls you would likely see Ritebrews price go up.

 

[MaxStout]

Upthread I mentioned loading various online vendors' shopping carts, check shipping, and see which one wins. If price is your main objective.

Every now and then one of the local TV stations here sends out one of their reporters to compare costs at various grocery chains. They have a list of a few dozen typical, commodity items, and they compile the data for the station's feature story. The disparity in pricing is eye-opening, but not terribly surprising.

Point is, it's not unusual to see a significant price spread with any commodity. Too many factors to pin it down.

I'd be more suspicious if everyone had the same price, like @hotbeer mentioned re mattresses.

 

[passedpawn]

Are the other vendors price gouging?

If you're asking "are they selling the same product for more?", then yes. That should end this conversation I'd think.

If you think it should be illegal to sell for more than somebody else, that's not how the free market works.

If you want to apply the legal term "price gouging", well then you don't know the legal definition of "price gouging".