Group Buys - PLEASE read!

roxtonkrux, I could not have said it better. And if giving Group Orders to LFS, you will simply not get as good a price unless the LFS makes no profit from it. Sorry, that is just the way it is.
 
Thanks for all of the outstanding input!

Every opinion helps, so keep them coming. The only way we can come up with a plan is to fully discuss all sides. I hope most of you can join us on the 20th for the CMAS meeting! :)

Boyd :D
 
I for one think it's a sad state affairs in this country regarding small business. The little guy barely stands a chance and he/she is not likely to get rich.

I'm personally tired of the walmarts, petsmarts, and borders putting all the little guys out of business. I miss customer service, I miss going in to a corner store and having the shop keeper know my name, I miss going to a bar and having the bartender know what I'm drinking. I miss going to the diner down the street and having all the waitresses say hello to me. I might be young but I remember these things. I can say with certainty that I'll miss going to places like Rod's, Dave's Oceans Floor and Jim's Coral Paradise. They may not be close and convenient but I don’t mind the drive, my wife and I make a day of it. I think it’s worth it for sure.

Again just my .02, I can’t tell people how to spend their hard earned money either.
 
I support both LFS and online vendors. I think each serve their purpose. The problem i have with this discussion is we seem to be in a situation where an organization is deciding whether or not they should impose some rules on how we, as hobbyists, should spend our hard earned money. imo, that is not good....
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8904863#post8904863 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flapjack1439
We should try and organize group orders, preferably through lfs.

sounds great but i have a hard time believing any LFS can match the price, or come relatively close to the price, offered by an online vendor through a group buy. and if they can't then what is the purpose of even doing a group buy????
 
Naperville Reef is right. Some products, such as fair trade products are irrelevant since price is always the same. For other products, LFS simply cannot match the price on a group buy and if they do, they will make zero or negligible profit. But even if everyone wants to give LFS group buy opportunities: A. Which one do you go to? B. What is the consequence of them not matching price? C. Aren't you alienating both LFS and online supplier by playing one against the other?

I don't think Boyd or anyone is trying to regulate how we spend our money as it is infeasible to even think about it and impossible to regulate in any case. But, the economics of this hobby ARE an interesting topic, at least for me.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8894969#post8894969 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mhurley
If memory serves, there was previous discussion about allowing the LFS to come to the swaps and sell...just not to take over the whole thing. I don't know where that ended up though. I can tell you that at one or two I went to, I will guarantee there were some businesses there..just didn't make it known.

Commercial guys at the CMAS frag swaps were breaking the rules of the library. The space is not to be used for commercial purposes. The CMAS board didn't realize this at one point. After that time, we did try to make sure that commercial sellers were no longer coming to the library.

As the library is no longer being used for frag swaps, this is no longer the issue.

Boyd, I am going to speak up on this topic on the 20th, if only to provide background for people who haven't been around CMAS as long as I have been now. We need to have a public airing on why CMAS was formed as it was and CMAS's relationship with RC (how we ended up here). There is a crapload of misinformation floating around in this thread. :)

Regards.
Mike Kirda
 
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