New Direction For Club---Post Ideas Here

[mntl]

I dont think the discount will amount to anything near what is mentioned above. Take an expensive salt for instance (TM pro-reef), it is about $60 for a 55lb (25kilogram) bucket. If the company got a dollar off per pound on a 55 lb bucket that would make the cost only $5 a bucket? The amount lowered for volume (assuming there is much of any) will be minor on things like salt, maybe $5 a bucket? Group buys like the ones on luminarc reflectors work because they are done directly from the manufacture or wholesaler level, asking a local shop to make significant reductions on dry goods is asking them to bring profit down to the couple dollar range, we are trying tio help support them not guoge them. If a shop is making $15 a bucket on salt, and the group buy brings that down to $2 and only 20 people buy in, then that is not a realistic benefit to the company. That is a ton of work for very insignificant gain. The local shops support us for various reason, prime on that list is to turn a profit, remove this, or lower profits to insignificant levels and the only thing you can expect is a lower willingness by these companies to cooperate.

Live stock is a whole other matter though, there are greater margins, but this hard to organize due too availability. I think a strait discount (%) made to club members and actually given by the vendor (maybe a discount card is necessary) and allow them to make acceptions (ie x% on live-stack y% on drygoods z% on equipement, etc) is more realistic.

It is great to see a vendor on here discussing what they are willing to offer, and the points being made from both sides are understandable. This is capitalism though and if a company wants to come on here and compete/say-their-peace openly I applaud and respect that and feel it should be noted.

-John-

 

[Csxno1]

I must say that the "group buys" thing doesn't always work well for Hardgoods as the profit margins are way too low for most retailers. As far as livestock that works out a little better.

I cannot see it a bad thing for retailers to donate livestock every month. Or if the club sees fit then buy from several retailers alternating months.

Our idea was based on the fact that not other vendors in cleveland besides the two of us that are already supporting the club seem to want to be involved, to my knowledge. We were looking to fill a nich of something that memebers wanted, but also gave us something in return also for our troubles. Just a thought and idea. Obviously the board has final say.

 

[newsalt1]

The discounts I gave were for example and grossly overly inflated for the purpose of illustration of how a discount can be scaled. Obliviously .50c or even .25c a pound would be hard to get if not impossible. But I stand by the principle that buying in volume increases the discount to the buyer I purchase products for our company almost daily and practically everything has a price break or annual or semi annual discounting for stock purposes. Also salt was just tossed out there as that is what is most commonly sought or talked about as a group buy.

Also there is an added benefit of additional exposure or advertising, if we talk about the group buy here say for a month while it is getting organized, thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s 30 days of exposure for say "Danteââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s Tropical Fish Mart". Not only does it give exposure to Dante in the club but all who read the forum, and what a swell guy Dante is and look what heââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s doing for the club etc, etc,. We discuss it with our friends, tell them that Dante did a group by for the club and his store is really well stocked. We talk about it in the monthly news letter and post about it on the web site, all of this has value besides the 2.00 per bucket of salt profit that poor Dante got from the group buy. In essence we return the profit to the store in other ways. Thats why Mike and Daniel were donating corals for the raffel, along with a tax write off.

Mike is correct that hard goods have a much smaller percentage of profit and are carried by most retailers because they have to for customer satisfaction. Live stock on the other hand have a much higher profit margin in theory, until you add in the loses in shipping and man hours to bag and acclimate, care and feeding, maintaining a quality environment, and long term housing for getting that cute little guy that you thought would go like hot cakes and nobody wants the little bugger.

For every upside there is a downside and thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s why we need to support those who support us, group buys or not.

 

[bond007069]

Dry good group buy are very prevalent, especially from what i have seen on the RC club forums

I have seen everything from Carbon, salt, filter socks, OceanMotions devices, Aquatronica controllers, Luminarcs as well as live goods (corals and critters)

The problem i see with wanting to do group buys with a retail store(LFS)............................. Is the retail(LSF), WANTS TO MAKE MONEY.

Ya baby ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Group buys with retail (LFS) are NOT going to appericate cutting their profits, PLAIN and SIMPLE

Just take the example if we wanted to do a group buy from say PGS with Luminarcs, you would need at least ten reflectors in the order.

Pro for the Supplier, they unload ten reflectors at slightly above wholesale, shipping costs are cut and they get their products to the consumer in a very efficient manner. They dont even have to SELL it, the consumers wants it.

Pro for the Consumer, they get a nice product at a considerable savings.

Con for the LFS They lose retail sales, they not going to like that.

I dont belive group buys should be transacted with the LFS, i dont think they will be ageeable.

I feel that if the club want to appoint a person to head Group Buys that would be great, ideas could be submitted to the individual. And the person in charge could begin contacting the appropriate avenues.

Please dont get me wrong i have supported many LFS, verbally and with my credit cards!!

These are just some of my thoughts, not meant to get any one Booted

 

[newsalt1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7453847#post7453847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by newsalt1
Concerning group buys, I think when we find a product that we wish to pursue as a group buy should first be offered to the clubs that support us the most first.

The whole premise is to first offer it to the local stores. I know that dealing directly with the manufacture is the cheapest ( also the hardest to do unless a retail outlet ). Yes it would not be a high profit item for the store, but if you do not offer the local retailer the opportunity to be involved then you run the risk of alienating a friend to the club, far, far worse than asking them if they would like to participate.

Again this is only my thoughts, and not trying to make waves. I consider this type of thread as being a friendly and open discussion between intelligent adults and not meant to flame or incite a war of words

 

[cheelo]

looks like we have some good discussions for the next meeting. lets get some of these ironed out before the break. if we don't, i'm afraid they will get swept under the carpet, as before. although the meeting might not be as attractive to some, neither is a poorly organized club. is this logical? while we are at it, maybe someone can take chuck by the hand and teach him the abc's of the computer

 

[CaveManNOhio]

Hope nobody mines a CORA member chiming in. Our floating day of the week meeting day's I think works very well. We usually have very good turn outs at our meetings. A lot of the same faces as well as some of the ones that can't make it to the one that may have been held on the day of a week that they couldn't make. We make sure to get the word out at least a month in advance and some times even farther out if possible.
I know for this CORA member I would have no problem carpooling to an event or speaker that we all could benefit from. I think it would be great if the Clubs could do more together, it was really nice to meet many new people in the Hobby when I attended the Frag Swap up in Cleveland earlier this year and again at the DIY our group hosted. I also hope to see many new faces and some that I have already met at the Auction we will be having June 25th. (The location is on the other side of the Lake for those who Attended the DIY.
It was also very refreshing to read all of this thread, to see so many people getting involved with the direction they want to see the group go. Good Luck and Best Wishes to all of you.

 

[bond007069]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7459349#post7459349 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cheelo
maybe someone can take chuck by the hand and teach him the abc's of the computer

HA
well said Cheelo

 

[bond007069]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7460144#post7460144 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CaveManNOhio
Our floating day of the week meeting day's I think works very well. We usually have very good turn outs at our meetings. A lot of the same faces as well as some of the ones that can't make it to the one that may have been held on the day of a week that they couldn't make. We make sure to get the word out at least a month in advance and some times even farther out if possible.

Good point, i think this works well for you guys because CORA has such a nice website, very informative and lets all the club members know what is going on.

:thumbsup:

 

[Stottlemire]

Whats this hold my hand stuff buddy you think because Im not posting Im not watching the boards.

 

[Kreeger1]

LOL, he found the password

 

[Caryliss]

I'm sure everyone is anxious to hear from the board--please know that board members are reading this thread and taking notes, and that we will be discussing everything at our next board meeting this Friday. Please be patient with us and give us a chance to get together (with the holiday and other events it was difficult to get everyone together any sooner). I think maybe we all feel that it would be inappropriate for any of us to comment before we have had a chance to come together and decide what we are able to do this year. Anything I might comment on would be my personal opinion only, and might be misconstrued as "fact."

Having said that I will make a few comments, and I am speaking for myself only. It is very important that our new board be given a chance to get their feet on the ground, get organized, and make sure that everyone figures out their job and how they are going to do it (and still have a life :bum: ).

Regarding the website: please realize that I was as frustrated as all of you that it was not updated more regularly. Only one person, the webmaster, had the ability to do this and I don't know why it wasn't done. That is old news however. We have a new webmaster (Amy) who shows every sign of being much more attentive and reliable. She has gotten a lot accomplished in just two weeks--be patient.

Group buys: I think it may be necessary to have a volunteer be formally assigned this job. Setting up these buys, taking orders, collecting money will be a fair bit of work. Kevin, or anyone else who has shown a strong interest in this, are you available? This goes for other club activities too. It sounds like there are a lot of people coming up with good ideas for the club. Are some of you willing to help see them become reality? Everybody has busy lives, but many people can accomplish what few can't. (BTW, you all do know that Petsmart prices matches their website, and that currently IO is $32 dollars a bucket?!? I doubt a group buy could do much better than that).

Purchases for an equipment "library": this can get very expensive for the club, and I am concerned about equipment getting "lost." I can speak from my past experience when I took over the job of librarian and discovered how many expensive books had been checked out years before by people who were no longer in the club and couldn't be tracked down. Believe me, I tried! How do you want to handle more expensive equipment? Should borrowers leave a deposit? Charge late fees? Need some form of ID? I don't mean to sound petty, but the concern is valid.

Aquarium Systems in Mentor was previously mentioned--historically they have not been very interested in working with the club (would have loved to set up a tour of the facilities!) but we can try again.

Kevin mentioned "sharing" speakers with other clubs and having a central meeting location. Actually we have already sort of done this--that's how we got Eric Borneman this spring. He spoke to CSEA on Friday and Pittsburgh on Saturday. That arrangement worked out very well since we split costs and were still able to have our meetings locally.

Future club events:
Is there any interest in renting a tour bus and making a tour of LFS's from the westside to Toledo to Michigan and back? I thought that sounded like a great idea. We might even be able to arrange special discounts or maybe a guided tour of Tropicorium if they knew a busload of reefgeeks were coming.

Speakers: do we want to focus on speakers who will talk just about the aquarium hobby, ie coral culturing, lighting, disease, etc? How about speakers who address marine habitats (I loved the talk a few years ago about the artificial reef construction in the Caribbean). Any suggestions? Everybody keep their eyes and ears open for potential speakers. I just received some seahorses from DanU (seahorsesource.com) and he expressed interest in speaking to the club about seahorse propagation.

Meetings in general: we currently have quite a mix of beginners, intermediate, and advanced hobbiests. I think we need to have topics (whether they be workshops or speakers) that address that full range. I know we have some knowledgable, experienced members--would any of you be willing to do a presentation/workshop on setting up a system/plumbing/"what do I do with that kalk reactor?" type thing?

Maybe the general theme I'm working on is that it is OUR club, meaning everybody's, and that we ALL need to work together to develop a general consensis on what the club should be and then make it happen. Realize that we can't make all of the people happy all of the time but will do our best with the "most" part.

Carole McLaren, former CSEA secretary and librarian, veterinarian, new seahorse mommy, gardener, sunburnt amateur house painter, kitten fosterer, orchid grower, and new CSEA vice president :eek2:

 

[johndawg]

Carole, well said!

It is great that everyone has ideas, but having spent 3 years on the C-SEA board, I know how difficult it is to implement all the great ideas that the board members and members have. Even for a group so small, the politics are big!

Last comment: too bad we did not have a better turnout at the last meeting so that we could have possibly had more than 2 positions require an actual vote.

John

 

[greg10]

I'd really like to see separate c-sea forums on the website.

There could be seperate forums for selling, trading, announcements, group buys, upcoming meetings, and so on. Individual forums for some or all of the elected positions could be set up. The reef central forum could still be used as a general discussion forum.

 

[EYESEEU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7461206#post7461206 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stottlemire
Whats this hold my hand stuff buddy you think because Im not posting Im not watching the boards.

Ohh my god your online!! Welcome Mr. President

 

[Morgandy]

Guys, the ROUGH DRAFT of the new site will be available tonight for you to poke around in. I have some stuff to do, and then will post the link (it is temporary until we have our domain back)...THEN, I will be totally upgrading the site with super-charged software in a few weeks. I'll explain more later. THe forums you suggested Greg, some have already been incorporated. So, standby and I'll post later about the site. thx..

 

[bond007069]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7465863#post7465863 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EYESEEU
Ohh my god your online!! Welcome Mr. President

That was Chuck's post, someone for the love of ... put the "welcome to ReefCentral" on chuck's post.

I would but dont know how, maybe you have to be a premium member...................please someone!?

 

[scottfarcuz]

Hey Chuck

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

You put brackets like this [ ] around the word welcome

 

[bond007069]

SWEET

Interesting Quote too? LOL

I got two of the three.... hehe

 

[ChickenCannoneer]

Yeah that quote is kind of funny I guess.