LP Prices no longer a Bargain?

[aussie82]

I can attest to the cost of shipping to Australia. Most of my family lives down under still and shipping anything is expensive.

An Aussie (living cold and dry in Boise Idaho&#128549.


Sent from my Super-Duper iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ams511]

Walmart is very predatory. They have put hundreds, if not thousands, of small retailers and manufacturers out of business. The classic model is that in year one the manufacturer is "invited" to stock products at a few hundred Walmart stores. If the product(s) sell well they then roll out to many more stores. The manufacturer is overjoyed. The OEM manufacturer increases its work force, expands their factories. The next year at the yearly vendors meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas the supplier is told that they must reduce their wholesale price to retain the shelf space. They do it. In the meantime Walmart has the product copied and made in China or Indonesia etc. Repeated time after time.

I am sure you are correct but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about big manufacturers and suppliers like Proctor and Gamble, Kraft, Mattel, Unilever, etc. Walmart has enough market power to make demands of the Manufacturer. Historically, retailers were at the mercy of the manufacturers but now with Walmart dominating the retail market, they are actually at the mercy of Walmart. A company that I worked for wanted to distribute their product in Walmart. Once we went through the terms and ran the numbers we decided against it. We would have lost money. Also Disney has been accused of doing the same thing. They will put out a request for a proposal for an item. Then when the managers decide which item they like they will build it themselves if it is cheaper. The company that provided the sample did their R&D for free.

 

[ams511]

Correct. Walmart and similar entities do not make less on items. Initially they might but then once thay have destroyed the local small businesses the mfg has no choice but to lower the price Walmart pays since the manufacturers no longer have a local outlet for their goods. The same thing happened back in the late 70's when "super" markets really began to hurt the corner grocery stores. A&P, Kroger, etc bought items in huge quantities and not only made it possible for mfg to sell by the railcar load instead of truckload. They made it economically feasible for them to tell small business owners like my Grandfather that they would no longer ship to him as he did not order enough to make it worth it. Some independent grocers formed co-ops but they were still not big enough to get the same pricing as the chains. As a result many family businesses were wiped out. It would not have hurt the mfg to offer the same prices to the smaller retailers. The big boys were in no danger of being put out of business. All it would have done is allow the little guy to survive and provide the level of family style service customers were used to. Now ivy league marketing pukes decide what needs to be in a store and where. Then they change it every few months. It's why my local Giant Eagle managers get told the people at corporate should be slapped upside the head on a regular basis.

Jim, the little guys like your grandfather were driven out of business because he couldn't do the volume and was more expensive. Growing up in Scranton I remember the corner stores in the early 70's by the late-70's most were out of business. As far as I remember we always had supermarkets in Scranton, A&P, Acme, and Giant. The real decline came when more people had cars and could travel to the supermarket and carry things back. I shop almost exclusively at independent supermarkets but they are supermarkets not corner stores and they are cheaper than the chains. I only buy the loss leaders at the chains.

 

[Warhammer]

Why should LP's customers have to call/email and haggle over the price? A lot of online stores, especially in the electronics industry, advertise at one price, but then that price is lower once you actually add the item to your cart. Perhaps the MAPs with scuba gear companies don't allow that though. I could care less about the manufacturer warranty myself. As long as the retailer stands behind the product for a reasonable amount of time, that's all I need.

From what I hear, the federal government is looking at forcing online retailers to start charging sales tax on all purchases, then delivering that tax to local government where the item is shipped too. I've heard it wasn't going to be a flat rate tax, but would be taxed at the exact same rate of each locality. What a nightmare for the retailer, having to track and pay different amounts of tax across the entire country. If that happens it will be less appealing to purchase items from online retailers like LP. You'd think they would be looking for ways to bring in more customers, not drive them away. But what do I know, I'm no ivy league marketing guru.

 

[Rich Keller]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Obama or the economy. SCUBAPRO did not allow online dealers until recently. We were able to buy third party at great discount, but it meant no manufacturers warranty. SCUBAPRO decided to allow online dealers, but we have to follow MAP (Minimum Advertised Price). So prices went up. I've heard from people on this board that they get better deals when they call, but I can't personally confirm that since I am not in the sales department. If you see an item from another dealer, we'll beat it +5%.

I've seen quite a few LDS's lower their SCUBAPRO prices now that the public can see what MAP actually is, so that's good for consumers. Also, there are a lot of people who want SCUBAPRO but don't have access to the product line, by being an authorized dealer we have easy access to their entire product catalog.

Can you sell me parts?

 

[ams511]

Why should LP's customers have to call/email and haggle over the price? A lot of online stores, especially in the electronics industry, advertise at one price, but then that price is lower once you actually add the item to your cart. Perhaps the MAPs with scuba gear companies don't allow that though. I could care less about the manufacturer warranty myself. As long as the retailer stands behind the product for a reasonable amount of time, that's all I need.

From what I hear, the federal government is looking at forcing online retailers to start charging sales tax on all purchases, then delivering that tax to local government where the item is shipped too. I've heard it wasn't going to be a flat rate tax, but would be taxed at the exact same rate of each locality. What a nightmare for the retailer, having to track and pay different amounts of tax across the entire country. If that happens it will be less appealing to purchase items from online retailers like LP. You'd think they would be looking for ways to bring in more customers, not drive them away. But what do I know, I'm no ivy league marketing guru.

Each state has a both a sales and a use tax. If you purchase something out of state you are supposed to pay a use tax which is equal to a sales tax. The problem for states is that people do not pay the use tax and it is uneconomical to get them to do so. Also it is politically troublesome.

 

[k ellis]

Each state has a both a sales and a use tax. If you purchase something out of state you are supposed to pay a use tax which is equal to a sales tax. The problem for states is that people do not pay the use tax and it is uneconomical to get them to do so. Also it is politically troublesome.

This has been a topic especially attempt to force people in Oklahoma to pay the use tax on merchandise shipped in from out of state. Part of the problem though is people are tired of paying ever increasing taxes and getting far less for their dollar. For example in Oklahoma a car tag may cost $100.00 per year with fuel tax being somewhere around .15 per gallon (Ok I am no expert but going off memory so any fellow okies who know this please fill free to correct me). With both these taxes one would think we would at least have decent roads to drive on but instead have to constanty realign our wheels and fix broken shocks and struts. Then if thats not insulting enough we have roads that at best are a hair better shape but you have to pay upwards to $20.00 or better for 18 wheelers and up to 10.00 in a few rare cases to use them.

Now me I am as guilty as any person of opting to buy out of state but I have a philosophy on it. I can sit at my computer and shop 24/7 365 days a year and not be hassled into buying anything and depending on where I buy from (Scubatoys is my example here though) I can buy $50.00 worth of merchandise in the morning and pay for no shipping and then have it here by 10 am tommorow while I sip my coffee and do as little work as opening the door to get my merchandise. Another thing is when I did buy what little I did buy with no taxes my opinion was simple. Yes I will sometimes pay as much in shipping as I would in taxes but I can expect UPS to splurge if they choose. I can expect them to give their CEOs a bonus. Its a business in which I had the option to hand them my hard earned money or simply drive to the destination and pick it up myself. Taxes are diffrent. I have to pay them no matter what under the pretense its to build society up but instead watch them give my money away as entitlements to those who wont work and then laugh at me for getting my money in their check. Yes I have seen them mock the system as to how they get a silver spoon in their mouth.

Now that I am off that soap box I just wanted to add my 2 cents on the discussion of Leisurepro selling as an authorized dealer. I have looked at many types of Gear and one line I dont own anything from but do admire their prices is Mares. There are no Mares dealers though for at least an hour if not more from my home so if I wanted to purchase a Mares product I would have to drive God knows how far just to get something and then put wear and tear on a car as well as the cost for fuel and food so forth. With the internet I can take 5 minutes and look up a Mares dealer and within 10 minutes shut my computer off knowing my product would be here in a few days.

Now there have been local dealers within 2 to 4 hours drive who have told me they would only deal with Scubapro and aqualung because they had no internet competition. This made it awkard but more less forced you into either buying what they had in stock or having to use them as a drop ship and pay their extra markup just to get the product you want.

I am curious to see how this sets the stage for the LDS in the future now that these manufacturing companies are beginning to see the light that internet sales are increasing and the small shop sales are dropping and in order to compete they discovered they have to change their business tactics. Will this kill the LDS? Only time will tell but it is definately going to push the shops more towards rewriting their business models in a lot of cases and having to get creative to compete as the Scuba World is continuing to evolve and things are changing at a excellerated rate with more people looking to continue diving for less money (And with more avenues becoming available to do so more people will take advantage of those avenues)

With manufacturers continuing to want to keep their doors open its only a given that on the current track things are going to continue to change and in most cases as it stands they will change in favor of the consumer as they are ultimately the ones who bring in the money.

My thoughts on Leisurepro changing is its still a call and see what they can do for you world. Can you get a better price if you call? The only way to find out is to call them! If you dont call them well you have a price on the screen and thats what you will pay.

 

[knowone]

USPS PMI Flat Rate Box, or make your own box to OZ
full of regs and stuff is fifty bucks, and takes ten days

You either want it or you don't.

Or it might be sixty five bucks.

Just don't buy lead, unless you want

Reg set forty bucks

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Correct. If you are willing to pay shipping you can still save big buying on sale and closeout items. I just quoted a BC to Singapore (same price to Melbourne BTW) shipping USPS is about $75.00. BUT the BC is on closeout for 225.00. Regular price is 389.00. So even with shipping it's still 90 bucks off. Not a bad deal. And Knowone is right. Had someone taken advantage of the Black Friday sales that I had for example. I could have shipped 3 HOG singles set ups that are normally 449.99 to Australia for 70 bucks or so in a large flat rate box at 290 each. Do the math.

3 at regular price = 1349.97
3 on sale = 870.00 + 70 shipping = 940 a savings of 409.97

3 divers who got together could have saved serious cash.

 

[vladimir]

Monopolistic price fixing and manipulation of global marketing......Interesting that behind closed doors Aqualung and Scubapro have been "sleeping" together !!!!.....Too bad the Dept. of Justice doesn't see this as a high priority....But then they didn't see Enron and Madoff either :O !!!!

What commodity do they have a monopoly on? ScubaPro is a brand, for which there are many substitutes.

I am really glad this is not a high priority for the justice department, since there's no reason to believe any law is being violated.