Brother-in-law was laid off today

[Habu]

That is how Walmart and Home Depot do business which is why I think companies will have to stop relying on them and start finding alternative ways to get their products to the market.

Direct selling, alternative stores that do value their supplier relationships, company owned stores etc.

Part of the reason for the state of affairs as it exists today is that many companys screwed over smaller accounts to get Home Depot business. Now they are seeing the error of their ways.

It is an evolution.

[TheDudeDVant]

Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone
so I play and I sing and I just let it ring,
all day when I'm at home

a defacto choice of
macro-microcosmic melancholy
but baby any way you slice it,
I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone

yeah the goons have gone global
and the CEO's are shredding files
and the democrans and the republicrats
are flashing their toothy smiles

and Uncle Tom is posing for a photo-op with the oval office klan
and Uncle Sam is riggin' cockfights in the promised land
and that knife you stuck in my back is still there
it pinches a little when I sigh and moan
and these days I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone

cause all the wrong people have the power of suggestion
and the freedom of the press is meaningless if nobody asks the question
I mean causation by definition is such a complex compilation of factors
that to even try to say why is to oversimplify
that's a far cry, isn't it dear, from acting like you're the only one there
unrepentantly self-centered and unfair

enter all suckers scrambling for the truth
exit mr. eye-contact who took his flirt and flew the coup
but whatever, no matter, no fishin trips, no fishin
cause momma's officially out of commission

and did I mention in there somewhere
did I mention somewhere in there
that I traded Babe Ruth,
yes I traded the only player
that was bigger than the game
and I can't even tell you why,
cause you'd think I'm insane.
and that's the truth

and the music industry mafia is pimping girl power
sniping off sharp-shooter singles from their styrofoam towers,
and hip-hop is tied up in the back room with a logo stuffed in its mouth
cause the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house

but then, I'm getting away from myself
as I get closer and closer home
and the difference between you and me baby
is I get ****ed up when I'm alone

and I must admit today
that my inner pessimist seems to have gotten the best of me
we start out sugared up on kool aid and manifest destiny
and then we memorize all the presidents names like little trained monkeys
and we spit into the world so many spinny-eyed TV junkies

incapable of unraveling the military-industrial mystery
pre-emptively passified with history book history
and I've been around the world now and I can see this about America

the mind control is deep here, man
the myopia is steep here, man

and behold those who try to expose the reality
really try to realize democracy
are shot with rubber bullets and gassed off the streets
while the global power brokers are kept clean and discreet
behind a wall
behind a moat
and that is all
that's all
that's all she wrote

and my heart beats an s-s-s o-o-o s-s-s
cause folks just really couldn't care-care-care less-less-less
as long as every day is superbowl sunday
and larger than life women in lingerie are pouting at us from every bus stop
she loves me, she loves me not
she loves me, she loves me not
she loves me, she loves me not

and "big government should not stand between a man and his money"
i mean, "what's good for business is good for the country"
our children still take that lie like communion,
the same old line the Confederacy used on the Union

conjugate liberty into libertarian
and medicated associated with deregulation privitization
we won't even know we're slaves on a corporate plantation

somebody say hallelujah,
somebody say damnation,
cause the profit system follows the path of least resistance
and the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked
makes it serpentine
capitalism is the devil's wet dream

so just give me my Judy garland drugs and let me get back to work
cause the empire state building is the tallest building in New York
and I have always got the feeling
you just like to hear it fall off your tongue

but I remember my name in your mouth
and I don't think I was done hearing it close to my ear
on a whisper's way to a moan

Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone
so I play and I sing and just let it ring,
all day when I'm at home

a defacto choice of
macro-microcosmic melancholy
but baby any way you slice it,
I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time alone

[Stringer]

Habu,
Just to set you straight on what you think my thinking is...I'm on the supply side in my company, which means I don't believe in the whole "make it up in volume" theory that most sales people use to justify selling at low margins and big discounts.

Please don't attribute that to me.  My statement regarding shelf space is accurate.  It doesn't mean I subscribe to it, it just means that's the reality of the situation as illustrated by Airhead's post regarding Home Depot.  It's not my logic, but the reality of how the big boxes do business.

In the Consumer Products company I was in, we eventually stopped offering WalMart the first crack at a new product because we wanted to get the margins higher on a new entry and we wanted WalMart to come to us asking for it, instead of us begging them to take it.  We always made more margins on the same products with Target then we did with WalMart, and better margins with Lowe's than we did with Home Depot.

And Target paid their bills much better as well.  Our biggest customer was Sears...we private labeled the Kenmore Product for them.  We made our margin points and so did they.

You mentioned people like to shop in a nice environment.  No question about it.  But how many people, at what ratio, at what price point does that over-ride picking up something for less?  You just can generalize like that (as you are accusing me of doing) without quantifying those type of questions.  

For me, I agree..I will shop Target over WalMart anyday when it comes to big box comparisons...the same with Lowes over Home Depot.  Will I go to a more locally focused store, it depends on what I'm looking for and what my price point is.  I'll go to a Nebraska Furniture Mart over a Benchmark, for example because of price.

**Edit..I've given you a brief glimpse into my experience in this, what is you do for a living, if I may ask?

[Habu]

I own a couple of companys, mostly in the furnature business.

I opened a retail garden products store a few years back that I recently sold. We used to kill our competition by having a diverse selection of products in an appealing setting. We avoided selling the items that any of the big box stores sold. In fact once a supplier sold to a big box store we would drop them. Not out of spite, just because we did not want them to be perceived as being as hip as our store.

Buyers from Costco and Loblaws and other big stores used to come and shop us regularly.

[Stringer]

Habu,
Thanks for the info.  I appreciate it.

[lazs2]

dude... you actually listen to that crap?   with a straight face?

lazs

[Habu]

Crap?

[TheDudeDVant]

Originally posted by lazs2
dude... you actually listen to that crap?   with a straight face?

lazs

lol lazs.. you know who that is?

[Habu]

Stringer.

My brother in law owns a company that sells to Target and Wal Mart and Costco.  He also told me Target is the best payer and nicest to deal with. In Canada big supermarkets charge "listing fees" of tens of thousands of dollars just to put the product on the shelf. There is no loyality there as well. So how do you succeed?

He does by making a good product and constantly innovating and bringing new ideas out. He is in the food business. One of his latest products are those coloured rimmers for margaritas and other drinks. He makes them under license now for the liquor companies. They get them into the stores. It is a lifestyle type product. It did not even exist a few years back.

All I can say is that there is money to be made if you focus on markets that these guys do not serve.

My garden furniture is probably some of the most expensive around and would never sell in those stores. Look at what they are looking for in those stores and make a better and more expensive version and you would be suprised to see how well it will sell.

Retail shops need to focus on bringing better quality and better designed products in to sell instead of cheaper ones. Quality does sell and branding is important as well. Wal Mart will never sell high end stereos because people who appreciate them and are passonate about their music will not shop there. So if you are in the stereo business why not make a higher end product?

I make office chairs and started selling them direct to the public a number of years ago because I was pissed off at dealers who did not pay their bills and went bankrupt on me. Today I have a number of major accouts these dealers would kill for. Identify what your big goal is and then identify what steps you need to get there. In the case of the office chairs I wanted the dealers to get me into certain markets they were not doing.

When you rely on the Home Depots and Wal Marts of the world to do your selling you are putting your faith and future in a heartless and souless organisation. I would hedge my bets.

[Nash]

Lazs is familiar with all types of dyke music. He can talk your ear off explaining all the sub-genres and everything.

[TheDudeDVant]

Originally posted by Nash
Lazs is familiar with all types of dyke music. He can talk your ear off explaining all the sub-genres and everything.

lol  Some definative truths in her little tune there..

With the originality of her guitar play, imo I see her as probably one of the top 5 guitarist I have ever heard. She, to me, is simply amazing with most of her work. 'Living in Clip' disk 1-2 is probably the best 3 piece band I have ever heard in concert.

[Stringer]

Habu,
I'm looking into a manufacturing acquisition for myself right now.  We're just getting into the due diligence stage.

I wouldn't mind conitnuing the discussion off the board.

[Habu]

artgarden@on.aibn.com

[Tumor]

Originally posted by ROCrats
Interesting few comments in here.

First off, sorry to hear about the layoff, it's gotta suck.  

with no disrespect to the loss, ya and then?.....

[edited because I spelled "idiots" wrong, ain't that just a kicker?]

You've got it all wrong ROC.  The Administration is supposed to make sure we all live in a Utopian society in which everyone is happy and gets everything they want with as little work possible.

....Now where's my freekin Mansion.  I'M CALLIN THE BUSH OUT ON THIS ONE DAMMIT!

[Airhead]

Don't blame the players, blame the game.