I sat the other morning mentally typing a reply to this, checked the thread one last time before posting and someone had just added "Just get back to the original question", so I went on with my day. I've been thinking about it ever since, almost to the point of starting a NEW thread about what's wrong with distribution in this industry. It didn't take long to see that much of THAT has been covered today as well. lol

I/we do things the old fashioned way when it comes to wholesale which is not AT ALL the popular stance these days. We require documentation that we're dealing with a licensed professional from THIS industry. Pretty simple, but I bet the Girls explain WHY ten times a week to someone with a business license who wants to buy wholesale. Most just keep trying to make their case with "well your competitor sells to me wholesale..." That doesn't make a very strong case when the fact of the matter is that most of our wholesale customers buy from us BECAUSE the other guys have sold to their customers at the same cost, just because they possessed some sort of license for something/anything.

A dealer giving a wholesale discount is working on a whole lot less margin than a manufacturer selling at that same price point. There isn't gobs of profit in this stuff like many people think. In fact, the minute we need to do much besides receive, process and ship a wholesale order, the cost of sale increases to the point of a loss. Billy and I have talked about this over and over, where a wholesale customer that needs special attention in handling, sizing, etc... almost automatically puts you in the red because you had to take an extra few minutes to correct something, special order something, etc... We do it though. I should say, we do it BUT, there comes a point where you have to sit back and look at certain wholesale accounts that always (and only) need some little part rushed out because XYZ & Co. back ordered it. We don't hold wholesale accounts to an annual dollar volume, but the situation that i just described happens enough that we're going to have to start soon. One of our "regulars" that forgot a winding check or some other ten cent part that's holding a job up? It's outta here, no big deal.

Don't get me wrong. Our volume wholesale customers are a breeze most of the time and when they DO require some special attention, we're glad to give it. Loyalty deserves and gets loyalty in return. Spread your business all over the Country and hammer every dime out of every dealer that you come in contact with, and I can pretty much guarantee that you'll experience a lower service level than you'd like. I grew up in a manufacturing family and have spent the better part of my life trying to disprove my Dad's saying of "Price, Quality, or Service. Pick any two". At a retail level, I can tear his theory up all day long. Wholesale? ? think he had something there. A dealer working on wholesale margins and staying in business at the same time is practically forced to adopt the "pick any two" mentality.

I guess my rambling post did in some way address the original question. Sorry. LoL

Mark Griffin
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C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

Mark. were you able to talk today after biting your tongue for that long?? Great point.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)