Yes, because their customer base is lower, but therir costs are the same if
1 person uses the shop or a 1000 use it, the fact that they have less customers means that they *have* to charge more to those who either don't worry about price or those who can't use a 'shed' for what ever reason.Very true, I really can't see why people object to the 24/7 society...
No, I'm happy with the price at Screwfix etc, and I don't have time and inclination to trawl around wholesalers as long as I know the price I'm paying is not well over the odds. Oh, and I also live in rural Worcestershire where shopping around means big miles!
See above response! Although I will usually call a timber merchants or builders yard to see whether the price is way off the mark.
Not sure why it took you so long to get to the truth...... You're partly right. We shop on line at Tesco.com so that I don't have to get off my butt even to buy food after spending the day working off my butt! I had to call in to Adsa to collect something, and was pleased to see ES lamps at a good price, AND good value GE rough service lamps, which I never thought I'd see in a supermarket. I tend to spend all weekend (and most evenings) off my butt doing up the house. In reality Jerry, you're happy with going into shops and buying your bits & pieces, and I'm happy sitting at home doing the same thing. You're probably getting better service from your local man then I am from Screwfix at the moment, and what you're saving by shopping around, I'm probably saving in time and diesel.
Reminds me of an unusual business I once visited. From the outside it looked as if the building was at risk of collapse. Half of it was boarded up. Inside it was like walking 40 years into the past, they stocked paraffin cookers, distemper, whiting, paraffin, and the sort of household appliances I doubt anyone has bought in a very long time. Tin baths were one example. Anyway, the distemper was 70p for 2.5l, and most of the colours were sold out. It was nearly half a century old. Not the best policy on stock rotation then.
The sales person was dressed in tattered and torn clothes, smelt of paraffin, and seemed more interested in a long chat than anything.
It seems a lot of businesses have real difficulty in seeing things from the customer's perspective, screwfix is no different to the rest in this respect. They mucked me about badly when I needed it least, and I'm not pleased. Will I buy again? Theyre all the same, they all employ incompetent tw--- that couldnt care less and just make stuff up as they go along.
It was easy to see disaster ahead in Screwfix's move, but they seem to have believed a very optimistic view, and are now paying for it, probably by the multiple million. They have certainly done their business real damage. Thing is, its all so easy to avoid.
NT
Had these premises been closed for 40-50 years and then someone re-opened the place to sell off the old stock? Sounds like the old chandlers. I came across a similar thing on the outskirts of Yuma in the USA. A large derserted hardware store that hadn't changed since the wild west, and even sold wagon wheels, and a very old man at the very long end wearing a cowboy hat and those twin bootlace things from his collar. I only knew he was there because I saw a light in the distance; the place was near totally dark and all sort of hardwear hid him. Most places have the counter near the door, his was at the other end. I couldn't see how he made a living. Even the coke fridge was vintage 1930s.
I remember those sort of places here. Everything was loose and they put it in brown paper bags for you. Self serve was unheard of. You had to know what you wanted, or asked the man, or told him of your problem, and then he leaned into a deep bin pulled it out and put it in a brown paper bag. I recall going to one once, the old man benhidn the counter had a long brown covercoat. I asked for 4 ft of 15mm copper pipe. He started to use a hacksaw with the 3 metre length dangerously swinging all over the place, I had a wheel cutter in my pocket. I said here use this, and cut the pipe for him. He was amazed, saying isn't that terrific. Wheel cutters had been around for about 40 at the time.
... and you actually had one of those? I'm amazed because clearly they're a rip-off conspiracy by the tubing manufacturers.
Expensive too. At least a tenner.
I have no particular disagreement with what you say but you posed the question "Will I buy again?" and failed to answer it - or was it implied that you would as they are all the same? If so it hasn't done them a lot of damage!
Yep. A Monument that is 35 years old. I occassionally replace the wheel, which as still available from Plumb Center, also the same model is still made (approx £15). If using pipe a lot get a Monument, they last and last and work out cheaper in the long run, unlike buying power tools. If you are doing just one DIY CH job get a cheapy from Screwfix.
< snip drivel >the sort
They are still displayed outside the local small hardware shop! The trouble is they seldom have anything I need.
Just how would you survive if there wasn't the internet, answer you would get off your lazy backside or move to a less isolated location....
The point is, the use of on-line shopping is killing the retail trade, WHSmiths is a good example of this, the local shop can't order a copy of a book but I can arrange to have it delivered to a shop if I buy it via their on-line store - go figure...
Yes, I have one that I bought in 1977 and it's still fine.
I find that buying good power tools works out cheaper in terms of total cost of ownership over time
< snip drivel >
Only if you use them every day. Well you got that wrong.
For my use, the economics work out perfectly.
Why does this matter?
If a bricks and mortar shop can add some value to purchasing on line, then it will and should continue to exist.
Other than that, why should the consumer pay a price premium for it?
If I want to buy something like a TV or freezer, it is relatively unlikely that the high street store will have one on display that I want anyway. They usually have to order it in and then it gets delivered by the manufacturer anyway. Comet (not that I buy anything from them) are a good example of this. They have one price for store purchase and one for on-line and openly admit that it is to cover overheads. Why would I want to do that? It makes no sense, economically, ecologically or in any other way for me to go and visit the shop, place an order and have it delivered as it would be anyway.
Margins have become ever tighter and cost of holding stock ever greater that even trade merchants hold relatively little. Not long ago, I was buying some plumbing stuff at a Plumbcenter and the guy was having difficulty in finding some waste fittings that I needed so invited me into the warehouse to look with him. We found what I needed, but it was very surprising how little stuff they had other than very bog standard bits.
When I've bought electrical stuff from WF, typically only about half of what I want is in stock in the local branch. The rest may be in stock in their main warehouse in which case I can collect or they deliver next day - they deliver - I'm not making two trips. So other than being able to negotiate reasonable pricing, they aren't adding any value really.
WHSmiths is an example of a business which is about 35 years past its sell-by date. I worked in one of their stores when I was at school (about that long ago) and frankly, it was a marginal business then. All that they can hope to do is to have a selection of the most popular things that each department guesses will sell. A lot of it gets returned or put on sale to move it. It's really a pointless exercise when you can get the exact item that you want in a day or two with two or three mouse clicks at Amazon.
The bricks and mortar retail trade needs to realise that the writing has been on the wall for it for at least five years and to react accordingly. This means either stocking goods that people do want to buy at a price they will pay or items where there is value in going and seeing and touching.
If the retail trade can't see that and react to it, then I'm sorry but it deserves to die.
Because not everyone has either computer or credit card, what do you suggest they do if and when all but the 50p and charity shops have gone over to an on-line store only ?..
It's not a case of 'If the retail trade can't see', they can see but they can't possibly compete - unless there is a change in the taxation system to level the playing field.
I can see that your wallet is far more important than the 'health' of society.
Is Mrs Thatcher a relation of yours, she didn't care much for society either?....
big snip
It isn't an "I'm all right, sod you" attitude, it's economic reality.
The proportion of people with computers is rising astronomically, now well over half of households in the UK and continuing to rise. Computers are cheap. For some people, such as the elderly, online shopping to have their groceries delivered is a godsend.
There are plenty of methods of payment other than credit card available, including debit cards and even COD from some online suppliers. The UK has the second largest number of credit cards per capita outside the U.S.
You can't spend gold sovereigns in Tescos either. People will inevitably move with the times.
That's a total nonsense. Why on earth should taxation be used to distort an economic reality? It's bad enough that there are distortions with income tax, CGT and IHT as it is.
If the retail bricks and mortar trade wants to compete, it will have to do so in the real market, not an artificial one.
Both are important. Retail shops attempting to compete with a far cheaper method of connecting supplier with purchaser are not indicative of the health of society.
It has nothing to do with caring for society. That is brought about by minimising government involvement in people's lives, not imposing distorted economics to bolster the untenable.
I'm reminded of one of her most famous quotes though:
"If you try to buck the market, the market will buck you."
It also depends who's pockets you want to line, the hardware shop proprieter or Kingfisher/WalMart executives, their shareholders and lastly their workers...
Ah, the wonders of mass discount retailing, making pounds of of people trying to save pennies!
cheers, Pete.
May be worth popping in when driving into town anyway, might save a separate trip to the sheds on the way home. I usually buy basic consumables and bits well ahead of needing them, so when I do some DIY I have them already to use.
I sometimes pop into London to shop, and there are quite a few good hardware shops in Soho (!) what with all the shop fitting going on round there. There is also a good decorating place in Shaftsbury avenue.
That's a shame. If I can't find what I want I always ask, then hopfully they will get the hint and maybe stock it
cheers, Pete.
Sorry but it is a "I'm all right, sod you" attitude, just the same as people not voting for a government that would (say) put 1p in the pound on tax so HMG can pay for more hospitals or schools etc. Think about it...
To you, to me but to Mr Bloggs on income support, or Mrs Smith on a single pension, or Miss Jones working 'part time' (read, work when and for how long we want you to) for the minimum wage ?
AIUI it's almost impossible to survive in the USA without a CC, people are certainly treaded with some suspicion if they can't transact through a CC.
So, I'll ask again. What should people do, when high street shops are either just 50p or charity shops, if they don't own a computer, have a phone line or CC ? And don't say use a internet cafe or the like, some people don't know a tab key from a shift key, let alone what 'www' means.
I suspect if you really wanted to pay in Gold at Tesscos and made it worthwhile for them they would make suitable arrangements, AIUI gold is still a valid means of payment. :~) But that's not the point, try comparing like with like, your argument would be correct if we were talking about the Pound vs. the Euro say.
Oh right, lets scrap all those little tax breaks people get for being married or having kids or any number of other tax avoidance schemes people use to pay less tax. People like you like the tax system when it puts more money into your bulging wallet but you don't like the same system when it tries to benefit others or parts of society that you don't care for or use...
But it can't, an industrial building on a out of town industrial estate is a lot cheaper to run and maintain than a town centre shop, then there are the distribution costs, savings made by buying in bulk - all of which the average high street shop can't compete with, hell even Dixons and food supermarkets etc. are gradually moving away from town centre sites.
Total clap trap, just were and how are people going to shop when town centres are waste lands of boarded up shops ? If out of town shopping parks have been accepted as a bad thing for the non car owning shopper, how do you think a (creeping) move over to on-line shopping will effect the 'health' of society ?...
It's nothing of the sort unless you care more about your wallet than you do for the society you live in, you have both a computer and a credit card but you still haven't answered the question about what should people do if they don't have one or both of the above if / when high street shopping (and possibly even the out of town parks) becomes a thing of the past.
Who dictates the market thought ? Use high street shops and not the on-line stores and the next thing you will find is those same on-line stores have high street outlets or they close will themselves go belly up. It's not the business that dictates a trend but the customer, if shop 'A' doesn't stock white paint and shop 'B' does who do you think people wanting white paint will trade with. As I said, the move over to on-line shopping is far more to do with laziness and penny pinching than any other factor - as has been stated in this thread, people will buy from SF rather than pop out to B&Q...
Four handles...
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