You Can Have That Back.

[SimonG]

Had a good day until called into Jewsons at about ten to five.

All I wanted was a Danfoss HSV3 valve body I ordered yesterday and a 15mm bent tap connector.

First of all the gave me the valve body but 28mm not 22mm that I wanted. Then they gave me the advice note on the 1 fitting. £4.69 inc.

Well the air turned a little blue, 'Oh you won't pay that for it', 'well how much then', 'Oh £3 plus the vat'.

'You can have it back then'

They didn't even have a mask on!

 

[AWheating]

i got told at plumbs once it was £13 for a outside tap. I just walked out without saying a word.

 

[SimonG]

That was the good thing when Jewsons took over the build center, you could get the prices on the pink copy they give you and not have to wait or ask for it.

 

[Leo21]

Some big electrical chain tried to charge me 75p a 3amp fuse. I'd bought a box of 100. Aparantly the staff re dive bonuses the more they charge you. Cnuts.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Bl00dy merchants. Robbing toads, the lot of them.

Tee hee.

 

[Dotty]

Specially all them down hampshire way!

Splitters!

 

[AWheating]

i dont think its offten the price that offends, its the fact it changes dependant on who serves you and sometimes what you look like ie. tradesman, old dear etc.....

 

[Rickster123]

I bought a bag of overflow elbows from plumbs before without checking the price. 46 quid!!!

 

[Ray Stafford]

I need to move up Simon's way.

I wish I could get over £4 for 15mm bent tap conn. I take my hat of to them for sheer unadulterated cheek.

 

[Dotty]

i dont think its offten the price that offends, its the fact it changes dependant on who serves you and sometimes what you look like ie. tradesman, old dear etc.....

How far over the counter you've dragged them............

 

[SimonG]

I need to move up Simon's way.

I wish I could get over £4 for 15mm bent tap conn. I take my hat of to them for sheer unadulterated cheek.

Thing is they didn't get it, well not from me anyway.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Thing is they didn't get it, well not from me anyway.

They don't need to get it from many people though, with that margin. Thats close to a 1000% markup.

 

[tamz]

That is why you are better using the independents if you can. They won't rip the knitting out of it as much as the nationals :wink:

 

[Ray Stafford]

That is why you are better using the independents if you can. They won't rip the knitting out of it as much as the nationals :wink:

Yeah, we will. We will just grease you up more first, so you don't feel the shafting so badly.

Seriously, having employed plenty of staff who used to work in the big chains, the managers are under enormous pressure on both margin and volume. They go chasing large contracts to satisfy the volume requirement, but that is at rubbish margin. Therefore they end up trying to subsidise that low margin business with high margin over-the-counter stuff.

Then they wonder why indies and internet dealers nick all their customers...

Long may it continue.

 

[REDSAW]

That is why you are better using the independents if you can. They won't rip the knitting out of it as much as the nationals :wink:

right!.

went into local independent yesterday been trading 110 years.

2x 8mm e/f elbows
2x 8mm e/f coplers
2x 8-10mm e/f reducers
3x 8mm comp cap ends

£15.36.........................................................we saw you coming sir:/

 

[tamz]

right!.

went into local independent yesterday been trading 110 years.

2x 8mm e/f elbows
2x 8mm e/f coplers
2x 8-10mm e/f reducers
3x 8mm comp cap ends

£15.36.........................................................we saw you coming sir:/

They certainly did
It was those elbows that killed it :wink:

 

[TerryWaite]

i got told at plumbs once it was £13 for a outside tap. I just walked out without saying a word.

I like it

 

[REDSAW]

They certainly did
It was those elbows that killed it :wink:

if i remember right the comp caps were £6.36 ex vat for three!
the 8-10mm couplers were £2.16 each ex vat!!!!!!!!!!!
aint got the courage to get the invoice out of the van, sigh!

 

[Ray Stafford]

if i remember right the comp caps were £6.36 ex vat for three!

We're undercharging! 64p + VAT each.

And to be honest, we are making a respectable profit at 64p.

I don't know whether to be outraged or jealous!

 

[REDSAW]

i am going to have them next time i go in.
they have 3 prices.

1, landlord/diy price
2, trade
3, major trade (bg, council etc)

in fact, i am going to send my sister up for one of them!!

 

[REDSAW]

is it worth me setting up my own place up trade only?

 

[Leo21]

I miss the days of trade and retail. You could hide some profit in there.

 

[mfgs]

We're undercharging! 64p + VAT each.

And to be honest, we are making a respectable profit at 64p.

I don't know whether to be outraged or jealous!

Just out of curiosity, how much do you pay for say a 15mm compression cap. You don't have to answer and if you do I wont then ask about every item. I am just genuinely interested on how much they can be got for and also what your profit is haha.

 

[REDSAW]

100% a nice figure!.

tbh, things like that can be made by a local engineering shop or by the ship load for a tenner from china..

sorry ray, its your 'q' lol

 

[Ray Stafford]

is it worth me setting up my own place up trade only?

Only if you are going to give up your installation business to concentrate on merchanting. I know it looks easy...

 

[Ray Stafford]

Just out of curiosity, how much do you pay for say a 15mm compression cap. You don't have to answer and if you do I wont then ask about every item. I am just genuinely interested on how much they can be got for and also what your profit is haha.

Not telling. A lot of people think that a merchants profit depends on its markup, but that is way too crude a measure. Markup is simply one factor, and you would be staggered at the range of markups across different product sectors. Everthing from fractions of a percent to many hundred percent.

They key figure for any stock line is the ROI (return on investment) - the profit made divided by the value of stock that you have to hold to support the sales that generate that profit. The other key figure is the Cost-to-serve, basically the overhead of processing any given sale.

 

[peteheat]

Trust me Gents, retail is a whole other world, having opened a small retail outlet for renewables all I can say is given what I know now it would never have happened.

I think the trade only outlet is possibly the better model, your customers are supposed to know what they are buying and are the buffer between you and the Law laden consumer

That said you have to know your business, retail is every bit the time served trade that plumbing is, constantly evolving and changing so Redshaw enter at your peril

 

[TerryWaite]

Haha a diplomatic answer from Ray there but I can understand what you are saying about different mark-ups on different products.

I always think to myself I would love to own my own merchants, and when I go into the likes of B & Q (not very often) I think to myself they must be making an absolute mint mainly on small one off items that they buy in bulk and sell for high single unit cost, the likes of your compression fittings, light bulbs etc.

That said though I bet it is not all rosey for them.

 

[stevetheplumber]

sandle perkins once tried to charge me 35 quid plus the vat for a durgo and this was 20 years ago and also the last time i went in one

 

[cr0ft]

I have to say, and it's a plug for Williams and Co, really enjoyed using them in Hampshire. Didn't matter who you spoke to, the price was always the same and you could work out how much to quote your customers before hand like that.

Most independent merchants though crack me up, with their 1980s style till systems where you have to hit 10 million different keys to input each item. What's wrong with a simple barcode scanner so I can get on my bloody way faster I say.

Don't use any merchant now where the price varies depending on who serves me, might as well just hand over your bank card and give them your PIN.

 

[Barry98]

I have to say, and it's a plug for Williams and Co, really enjoyed using them in Hampshire. Didn't matter who you spoke to, the price was always the same and you could work out how much to quote your customers before hand like that.

Most independent merchants though crack me up, with their 1980s style till systems where you have to hit 10 million different keys to input each item. What's wrong with a simple barcode scanner so I can get on my bloody way faster I say.

Don't use any merchant now where the price varies depending on who serves me, might as well just hand over your bank card and give them your PIN.

Worth every penny ray lol

 

[Ray Stafford]

I have to say, and it's a plug for Williams and Co, really enjoyed using them in Hampshire. Didn't matter who you spoke to, the price was always the same and you could work out how much to quote your customers before hand like that.

Your cheque is in the post Cr0ft! Your obviously wasted in Lincolnshire. Hampshire needs discerning, intelligent, goodlooking plumbers like yourself.

/creep

Most independent merchants though crack me up, with their 1980s style till systems where you have to hit 10 million different keys to input each item. What's wrong with a simple barcode scanner so I can get on my bloody way faster I say.

We keep looking at barcode scanners, but a large proportion of our stock doesn't come bar coded. We can buy it in B&Q style carded packs - but at a price.

The lads who have been working for us for a while can key the numbers so quickly it amazes me, but watching a newbie can be painful.

 

[cr0ft]

Lol. When are you guys going to open a merchant in Lincoln. All there is here are national merchants, there's a real gap in the market for a good indie merchant here.

Can see what you're saying about barcodes, what about putting your own barcodes on the stock bins then? I've done that in my store-room and I use the same gun for stock-taking and booking parts out to jobs etc. Works a treat.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Lol. When are you guys going to open a merchant in Lincoln. All there is here are national merchants, there's a real gap in the market for a good indie merchant here.

Its going to be a while. After the two we have building at the moment, we need another 5 or 6 in Kent and south London. Can't go too fast, or we'll run out of money.

Can see what you're saying about barcodes, what about putting your own barcodes on the stock bins then? I've done that in my store-room and I use the same gun for stock-taking and booking parts out to jobs etc. Works a treat.

Whisper it quietly... we are still using an ancient, DOS-based system that MickW and I wrote back in the 1980s. We keep promising ourselves that we will get a new one, then introduce all this whizzy new modern technology (like bar codes and electric light!) but keep putting it off. Never the right time.

 

[Keefy]

if i remember right the comp caps were £6.36 ex vat for three!

I think some merchants presume that if you're after a stop end you must have an emergency on and you'll gladly throw any amount at them.