[Boatanchors] OT Fair Trade Prices

[Richard Knoppow]

    I am still a supporter of local stores. I am near an old 
fashioned hardware store and buy as much as I can from them 
rather than Home Depot. The prices are not that much greater and 
I get a lot in return.

On 11/21/2021 1:18 PM, D C _Mac_ Macdonald wrote:
> Currently, I believe Icom is doing this, at least for their HF rigs.
> Selling prices are at MSRP and no bonus combos either.
> 
> For ham gear, I believe this all got started with Hoss Trader
> Ed Moory (DeWitt, Arkansas?) around 1965 or so selling gear
> at "discount" prices from maybe his garage.  At that time, I
> was a regular customer at Ed Juge Electronics in Fort Worth.
> Some locals considered me to be a sucker for dealing locally.
> I would always tell them that it was worth having to pay the
> sales tax to have a local source to see the merchandise first
> and to have that local dealer if things went haywire early.
> 
> The fact that we have no "local" dealers is likely the result!
> 
> Recently, Icom (maybe other builders?) added this to their dealers.
> If the dealer does not comply, I guess they might find themselves
> permanently shut off from any resupply from the manufacturer.
> 73 - Mac, K2GKK/5
> Since 30 Nov 1953
> Oklahoma City, OK
> USAF (Retired) 61-81
> FAA (Retired) 94-10
> 
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> <boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Rodger Singley 
> <wq9nsc at live.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, November 21, 2021 13:25
> *To:* Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>; David Stinson 
> <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net 
> <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [Boatanchors] OT Fair Trade Prices
> My doctoral dissertation was on free riding which is a related 
> area.  Part of the rationale for fair trade was it protected full 
> service retailers, who bore the cost of providing service (stock 
> and displays, salespeople, other before and after sale support 
> functions) from the discounters who simply sold the product and 
> somewhat depended upon “free riding” consumers who determined 
> what they wanted/needed from the full service retailer and then 
> bought the product from the discounter.
> 
> In the dawn of the PC era, VARs (value added resellers) became 
> another part of the issue.  A VAR typically sold a computer 
> system with additional hardware and peripherals for specialized 
> markets and bought the PC itself from the manufacturer at a 
> discount. Because of the discount schedule, VARs were motivated 
> to buy more PCs than needed and sell the excess into the gray 
> market channel.  Gray markets are non-counterfeit, legitimate 
> goods that are being sold through a distribution channel not 
> intended by the manufacturer. Many camera products are readily 
> available through the gray market and the not so careful consumer 
> won’t even be aware their purchase was through a non-authorized 
> channel until they find they have no manufacturer’s warranty.
> 
> Rodger WQ9E
> 

-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL