Palmetto said:
Keep in mind also that clams are usually priced according to their beauty.
Just because one place has a 4" clam of the same type for $40 more than somewhere else does not mean they are ripping you off.
There may be no comparison in the quality of the clams, and the more expensive ones may be a better deal.
The rare colors also run more-
They are often referred to as "Jewels of the Sea", which is quite true. Like diamonds and other valuable gems, they are priced according to the rarity, coloration, and quality of the mantle patterns.
I have also found that the cheapest wholesalers are not the best places for me to purchase clams from. Sometimes paying more for healthier, better quality animals is the best choice.
Yes, there is a difference in price on different grade clams, but perhaps the difference is simply the number of times that the clams had to be shipped and how many 3rd parties they had to go through before they got to their destination. This in turn results in a markup of that retailer to recover his shipping cost.
1) Some clams are directly shipped into the US at a few select airports around the US. This results in a box of "only God knows what condition they are in" clams. For the retailers that are close to these airports, they can pickup their own clams, have them checked and bring them home. This usually results in the better prices, but a lot of crap comes in those bulk shipments that many times are passed off to the customer. The prices from these places are attractive, but sometimes the clams are questionable.
2) The clams are shipped into a wholesaler which eats the cost of the questionable clams. If a retailer is close to one of these wholesalers, they can come in and hand-select the better looking, healthiest looking clams. This results in a slight increase of price over the first scenario, but better looking and healthier clams.
3) A retailer mail orders from a wholesaler. This is the only way that many retailers and LFS can get their clams. This results in clams that are marked up from a wholesaler in addition another markup will result from being shipped a second time or more. These clams are usually pretty nice clams, but not as good as hand selected and they have been submitted to much more shipping stress than the first two. What you end up with is a fairly quality clam that has been put through a lot of stress and double marked up in price.
Point being, all other things being = (health, grade, etc), shipping, greed, and quality is going to determine your cost. Number two is going to be your more desirable scenario in most cases. This will be more of a medium priced clam.
Of course then you can also run across some number 1s, charging number 3 prices because some people are willing to pay for it. This skews everything, and the customer gets the raw end of the deal.
This is why it is important to know where your clams come from, how many times they have been shipped, having actual images of the clams, and knowing that the clams are properly taken care of while in the hands of a retailer as well as the wholesaler. Once someone knows these things, then they can justify the price they paid. While it would be a novel idea to believe the more you pay the better quality you get, but this always isnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t the case.
In this particular case, you can go to both sites and see that the actual clams are of the same ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œgradeââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ and color. Clams Direct goes into detail about how they select their clams, Aquatic Reflections states that they hand select their livestock as well, but nothing as detailed as Clams Direct. If I was going to order from AR, I would call them up and want to know a little more. But, letââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s just give AR the benefit of the doubt and say they hand select the clams in the same way that CD does. From first glance, everything seems to be = except for price. So why would you want to pay more since the additional price is either from a higher markup or simply recovery of multiple shipping cost. For Terra Ferma, the reasons for paying more were very good. They were able to go get their clams and not have the shipped to their residence. This saves both in shipping and stress on the clam. This totally justifies paying the extra $40 for Terra. But for someone else that would have the clams shipped to their residence, what would be the incentive?
Anyway, the moral of the story is to do your homework and know WHY you are paying for something and donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t just assume that you are getting better (prettier, healthier, etc) animal based only on the fact that it costs more.
