No more Jet tools for me

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Very inaccurate. In my company, we can ship a single item that will cost maybe $50 to process and minute later ship a triler of floor loaded product that takes 3 people 90 minutes. Should I add the cost and divide by to to get my actual cost per order? If the same exact process has to be gone throu for each order, it will work, but if a $5000 order takes more time to process, pull, pack, ship, than a $20 order, the average would be scewed.

In the case of the belt, they should have them to just drop in an envelope, put on a label and stamp and it is done. That is far less than gathering six items, packing them for a single shipment weiging and doing a UPS shipment. How about a truckload order that takes over and hour load on the trailer?

Agreed

[Owen Lawrence]

What would Robin Lee do? Tell you that the syringe tip that comes with that $8 2oz bottle of Chair Doctor glue can be cleaned with water and reused indefinitely, then charge an arm and a leg for a couple of replacement tips when it glues shut anyway, inspite of a thorough cleaning immediately after using it.

- Owen -

[Tim and Steph]

If they've got patina, penicillin should clear that right up.

[George E. Cawthon]

Want to try again. I quote from my message "....$10 an hour (wages, benefits, etc.)"

Doesn't make any difference? the cost of another letter, another order, another anything often is nothing because the employee(s) is often underutilized. In fact, they may only be doing

50% of full utilization, especially if business is somewhat cyclical.

[George E. Cawthon]

Ah, but I didn't say it was a useful number. One would be a fool to just put all orders in a pile and divide the cost by the number of orders. That sounds almost like what they did for the belt. It makes little sense to combine highly different activities and charge the same for each activity. Most local firms, for example, have an at store price and a delivery cost. That makes sense and lets the customer choose and if the store is honest and charges the actual delivery cost, it should make any difference to the store.

Separating handling charges from the actual cost tends to be fraudulent anyway, since customers often/usually look at the item cost, compare companies, and then are shocked by the handling and shipping costs. If the handling cost is actually a part of the item cost, it should be handled that way. A company that sell items for delivery (mail order for example) shouldn't be charging much more for delivery than the actual cost of mail or freight; the handling charge should be included in the selling price just like other operating costs.

[George E. Cawthon]

Well of course you could just go to the local pharmacy and buy a needle or a whole pack. Or better yet just talk to a person that uses insulin and get a used syringe (cleaned of course).

Of course that isn't the point. OD is correct, they should just include a spare belt, which probably would cost the manufacture pennies to do. Vacuum cleaners come with a spare belt, and an expensive piece of machinery doesn't?

[Jim]

check with

next time and see what you find.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

If you sell strictly mail-order, you can include the handling costs as part of the price. If you sell both retail and mail-order, the handling cost will be different for each and will vary according to order size.

The problem with including handling charges in the price is competition. No one want to be first to do it. I've seen a few TV infomercials where they sell you some junk for $19.99 and you get a second one free, just pay separate shipping and handling charges. Now that is pure scam as they know ahead they will be giving you two and it is no more time to pull two from the bin as it is to pull one.

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 2 Apr 2005 19:16:06 -0500, the inscrutable "Owen Lawrence" spake:

So RTFM. Have you learned to maintain your glue tip yet? Proper maintenance is a part of any hobby or vocation, dude. Learn or pay.

Did you try soaking or boiling it in vinegar? Did you ask a diabetic friend for an extra syringe tip? Do you have a set of 61-80 number drill bits or a piece of piano/guitar wire?

Moving on...

Hey, I hadn't seen these short auger bits before today. Handy!

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[Leon]

LOL.. That reminds me of the infomercial with Dan Ackroid on SNL. He answers the age old question of how they could afford to sell the BassOMatic below cost. The answer, High VOLUME Sales.

[Leon]

DAMN those automobile manufacturers that sell cars with tires that wear out. Don't get me started on the tool companies that make sanders and include 1 sheet of sand paper in the box.

[Leon]

Obviously no business management back ground. but if the employee did not have to take a crap, the cost of doing business would be lower. Besides paying the employee, you have insurance, local taxes, the cost of the facility, cost of equipment, cost of maintaninence, and the cost of the product that you are selling. Workmans comp, Utilities, Office Supplies, Advertising, Retirement Plans to name a few. If anything is left over after all those expenses, you have your Net Profit which Uncle Sam wants to share with you.

[J. Clarke]

That depends on the method they're using. If they have all the product warehoused at FedEx then FedEx may have it prepackaged for example (warehousing of products that will be shipped via FedEx is a service FedEx offers).

[Leon]

OD would be pissed because there were not 2 extra belts or enough to last a life time.

[Leon]

I guessing because she took the van to a quick lube center. Those places would try to sell you new hub caps if they stocked them. For the most part the people that work in those places know ABSOLUTELY nothing about automobiles other than replacing the parts that they stock.

[Unquestionably Confused]

And we all know how well that worked out. Have any of you tried to pick up a replacement Bassomatic? Mine died two years ago when my daughter mistakenly tried to puree a salmon. Bad move...

All this business planning and cost accounting is enough to make a Wharton graduate's head spin.

The crux of the problem and Jamie's problem is that if the customer PERCEIVES that they are being hosed, they will take their business elsewhere. Perception is, in the real world, reality.

Yeah, they could toss that belt in a USPS Priority mail pack and send it off to Jamie and if they'd charged him $6.50 shipping AND HANDLING, they likely would not have heard a peep. However, to be so inflexible and demand $20 for something that small is their downfall. Jeez, what would they have done if he'd needed, gasp!, a shear pin or a washer?

Common sense isn't!

[Roy Smith]

It works in the other direction too. If I call up a company and say I need a new left-handed frobnitz, and the person I talk to on the phone says, "Aw heck, that's not worth the paperwork to bill you for, just give me your address and I'll send you one, no charge", they've just earned a customer for life.

There's a couple of sayings:

1) It's a lot harder to get a new customer than to keep an existing one happy. 2) It's a lot harder to get a old customer that you've pissed off once to come back again than it is to get a new one.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Exactly!

John Deere (and every other manufacturer) gets an hefty over the counter price for the shear pins used on their snow throwers. Something like $2.95 each. Needed a couple, including spares, and went to the dealership I'd bought it from (to the tune of $1,600) and they whacked me full price. Oh well.

Two years ago I needed more and happened to be in the next county over when I remembered I wanted to pick up some more as spares with winter coming on. Guy at the counter quoted me the same price but when he came out of the back, said "I know you said two but these damn things always go out at the worst times. There's six in the bag. That'll be $3.14 total."

Guess where my next parts, service and equipment purchase will be made.

[Leon]

Keep in mind also that Jet does not as a rule sell direct.. They prefer you to order from the dealer. If there is no close dealer to service the tool then this would be more of a courtesy convenience to sell to him directly. The dealer can place a stock order that will have much a smaller freight charge if any due to the volume.

[Greg O]

Missed that! But then no one at that company was getting less than $10 per hour, plus benny's. Greg