In article >,
"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:

> "brooklyn1" > wrote in message

> > The mom-pops put themselves out of business with exhorbitant prices,
> > poor service, and in many cases arrogant attitude. The small stores
> > were so used to being the only show in town that when competition
> > arrived they simply gave up... the small stores were ripping folks off
> > for decades, good riddance.

Gosh! I never knew that Sheldon had a small business?

> I'm in the process of dealing with a local store right now.
>
> Last Sunday out clothes dryer dies (29 years old so I'm not going to fix
> it). That day we looked at various models at Home Depot and saw one we
> wanted to buy. If we ordered that day, delivery would be Thursday. I
> waited until the next day to get a price from the local store. His price
> was $30 higher and I was told delivery would be Wed. or Thurs. OK, I'll
> spend a few bucks more and keep the money in town and get good service if
> ever needed. No delivery, no phone call. Not hearing anything, I called
> around 1 PM Thursday to find out about delivery. "It did not come from the
> warehouse so I can't give you a time for delivery tomorrow until 3:30" No
> call. Today I called at noon and was told it was on the way from Hartford
> and would be delivered this afternoon, but not sure of the time. Still
> waiting.
>
> Will I pay more for good service next time? Probably not. I'm paying more,
> getting less. A simple phone call would have given me a different attitude.

Yeah, it's too bad. Too many people want to "be their own boss, and
answer to no one", and so go into business for themselves. They don't
realize that if they don't make themselves a servant to their customers,
the business won't do well. And if they want to mistreat their
employees as well? They'll face a high turnover, with associated high
training costs and less than the best workers. And if they screw their
employees too much, well, watch that shrinkage! It's pretty much
impossible to play the bigshot boss and do whatever you want, while
still watching the shop with an eagle eye to prevent employee theft.

There are a lot of good, small businesses that give excellent service,
but they just can't compete on price. I heard a horror story many years
back. The price that one big chain was paying for a line of merchandise
from a manufacturer was *less* than that manufacturer charged its
wholesale distributors! So a small retailer of that line, was not only
going to pay a higher price than a larger retailer, but even the largest
retail customer can't get a competitive price from a wholesaler since
the wholesaler is paying more than the big chains!

In effect, WalMart is its own wholesaler. If you look at one of their
distribution centers, that is easy to believe. They are huge, with a
solid line of trucks filling the highways around them.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA