[Shaun_Ashmore]

yeah but you have to look into the television sales war, if Panasonic drop the prices of their tvs it gets in the papers, imagine Prochem doing the same ? it wouldn't reach the same audience. Also the mark up on a tV is probably 5 or 600% also they could be doing this to wipe out a smaller manufacturer, or the TV mountain in manufacturer is too high so to get rid they could sell them off cheap to get money or a new model is on it's way.

I heard a stat on the radio last week that 1 in 6 people in the world have a TV so it is a different market.

I also was talking to a man who hires bouncy castles out and he said he paid £500 for a 1/2 hp air mover to keep the castle up so I don't think we do too bad in our industry, although the internet does help to keep prices affordable.

Shaun

[craigp]

lost me  a bit there shaun all in all its bad for cusumers cus we are not going to benefit from e-tailers low over heads.

 i know this not really effect cleaning stuff i didnt think there was a saving on internet anyway with cleaning products, prices i see on net are same as my local supplier, so i just go there. or hav i been wrong?

1ltr bottle of solvall tenner everywhere in it?

[tomh]

ok this is the way i see it & it changes the thread a bit but !
i brought a TOMTOMONE  satnav online through dixon's at xmas who's head office is also in hemel hempstead ( i live in hemel ) is a walk for me to there hq.
now you may remember bunchfeid petrol holding site explosion where it took out some of the industrial site at xmas which inc dhl who were to deliver this thing, beening unable to be in on day of delivery,  i  got carded & had to pick it up from borhamwood ( dhl ) now i never read the instruction's & plugged it straight in & off we go, instead of the full charge which was needed as touch screen, loads of flashing lights came on screen & it was reading in dutch !
when to dixon's in town centre who werent intrested so up to there hq who said it had to be sorted out online !
after many hours f****** about with it i sorted it out !
buy something online in usa me think not  my leson learnt

[carpetclean]

i think a good point. as you are not paying only for the product but the back up service. we know some companies are not tooo good at this, but on the whole they are OK. companies with premises have high over heads, support systems that need to be financed. its the company who sells the product not the manufacturer who is responsible if anything goes wrong with a machine in the guarantee period, not all machines and the like are perfect and it can be expensive repairing and replacing dodgy parts. it has  already been said about taxes import costs transport costs from the docks or airport all in all an expensive game and the most important point is businesses are in business to make a profit . saying that we all like a deal which is why i joined another forum at http://s14.invisionfree.com/cmslimited/index.php? which is an idea that if enough people clubbed together and bought, prices would go down so the more members they have the better for all of us.
regarding buying on line it can be dodgy as a lot of companies do not have a support system and just want to sell the product when it goes wrong they fob you off with all sorts of excuses and never rectify the problem so in effect the few pounds saved was in fact an expensive mistake. but obviously not all Internet companies are the same there are plenty that give good value and back up their promises

[Ian Gourlay]

I havwe been wondering at what price to US Manufacturers sell to their US dealers distributors.

Because that is the price Suppliers like JOHN , VERNON, ROBERT, MATT, DEREK, RON, STEVE ,NICK. etc should be paying on any supplies they import from the US, or China , not the retail price you see advertised.

[John Kelly]

Unforunately Ian they don't offer you a discount and you have to buy at the retail price, at least thats what I'm finding. Tough cookies those yanks.

[Liahona]

The pros and cons about buying abroad will always be an on going thing........So regards the difference

in pricing and what it really means.....Here in England I think and again say think, that the average

price to clean carpets is or very close to 50p a square foot. This depending on the exchange rate of

course is very close to 3 times the amount you can get for cleaning carpets in the U.S...... Fuel here is

twice or 3 times as much, as is chemicals, food, toys, clothes and just about anything else you can think

of, save mars bars, they are about the same. So, granted most machines in the U.S. are what appears

to be half the price of here in England but you have to remember the cleaners are only getting half or

less than half the amount we are getting here. I have said many times on here that here in England we

make oh so much more than the yanks do but it costs a damn site more to be in business. Having a

business here now and still my business in California I am fortunate to have a direct comparrison of

what costs what and how much "profit" there is....as opposed to GROSS which is pretty much a useless

figure.........As John said a lot of it is pure volume which of course the yanks have. The machine I have



although no one sells them in this country as far as i know would cost I am guessing the best part of

£20,000....... I paid £9,000 and then brought it over to this country. My point is that in 1993 I think, one

 company in the States and yes just one, bought 187,000 of the same machines. Accordingly on such

mass suppling the yanks are able to offer much more for much less..... Last thing, on the whole we are

always moaning that we should get more for what it is we do, as is said above on another post by

better service etcetera...... and then we moan again for not getting it, we want our cuatomers to pay

more for what we provide so shouldnt our suppliers want more from us too? Please note this is an

opinion, not mine as I also think our suppliers could be a little kinder to us. After all they want us to

clean 3 for the price of 2, yet charge us for the price of 3 and only supply 3, anyway I am sure the

debate will continue and for here at least it has got people posting again, been kind of boring recently,

due to the world cup I am sure, best as always, Dave.

[John Kelly]

As regards chemical prices being the same on the net. You have to differentiate between out and out e retailers such as Amazon etc and ordinary suppliers who also have a website. It is the former who are able to offer the big discounts. The latter still usually have showrooms etc to finance.

[Ian Gourlay]

John,

Maybee I will start an import company, if thats the way it works


Dave do not know about States but in Canada the average wage seamed to be higher than it is in the UK.

[Liahona]

Ian,  is that in direct comparisson between the states and Canada? If so dont forget that the Canadian dollar isnt

worth as much as the U.S. dollar. So you would need more Canadian dollars to get the same pay so to speak. Other

than that I have no idea. Accordingly you would need a boat load of Canadian dollars to equal a decent amount of

 pounds. Also on the subject, the dollar is in the toilet for many reasons so it appears that things are cheep over

there. When it was a dollar fifty to the pound it wasnt so cheep and when it was almost a dollar to the pound it was

down right expensive. Just remember the price only changes because we compare it to what the monies are at any

 given time. Other than that the prices in the U.S. just go up the same as they do here.....apart from fuel prices but

that is another long story...best, Dave.