Bill,
A couple of questions:
1. Did you include the shipping costs. That part is likely the biggest factor
in the US supplier's additional costs. They fane to
bring the parts in (usually from Britain) and then add the cost to their price.
2. Why didn't you include SpitBits and BPNorthwest in your chart. I find that
both them are cheaper than the other 3 suppliers in most
cases and might even rival Rimmer.
Admittedly, I don't deal with Rimmer. I find it difficult to make
international long distance calls.
Joe
Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>
> On Thu, 22 Jun 2000, Joe Curry wrote:
>
> > Bill,
> >
> > Again three reasons.
> >
> > 1. Prices are almost always higher than any other Spitfire supplier I deal
>with.
>
> Say what???
> Because this was not my experience, I decided to do a little test.
> I picked 5 items pretty much at random (2 I have already bought from
> on or the other of the vendors, 1 I still need and the last 2 I anticipate
> needing) and priced them according to the current catalogs I have from
> each vendor. Here are the results:
>
> Part Moss VB TRF Rimmer
> Starter 74.95 89.95 99.95 38.85
>
> Fuel Tank Sending Unit 54.95 49.95 49.95 37.50
>
> O/D Driveshaft 299.95 239.95 199.95 178.81
>
> Brake Rotor 30.95 29.95 29.95 22.87
>
> Rear Leaf Spring 159.95 149.95 159.95 114.80
>
> All prices in US Dollars.
> Rimmer beat everyone on every item.
>
> On to item #2.
>
> > 2. They are order takers with no questions answered. You have to know
> > exactly what you want before you order.
>
> They are a parts supplier, not a consultant firm. Not that I would take
> their advice anyway, but the guys down at Parts America can't answer
> questione either. I use them all for what they are and expect nothing more.
>
> > 3. Their shipping policy bites the big one! If they would charge actual
> > shipping + handling charge. But the way they do it, you pay
> > the same price regardless if they ship 100 bucks worth of foam rubber or
> > lead ballast. In my case $17.50 for shipping 8 lifters is a
> > bit much!
>
> Well, I can point to much worse here in the US. Like VB who charges more
> on any large item that has to go motor freight to deliver to a home rather
> than a business. Why would it cost more to deliver to my house than to the
> garage 2 doors away?? But Rimmer makes up for this by offering (at least
> in the past) at least once a year when they ship for free!!
>
> The only obvious problem with Rimmer is their distance from us. But when I
> needed a starter and couldn't even find anybody here who had one in stock,
> they got me one in 8 days. And that was during the free shipping offer.
>
> My first line of attack will probably stay Moss as they are in NJ and can
> usually get me stuff overnight, but when they don't have a psrt I really
> need (and, one point very much to their credit, they tell you up front if
> they don't have a part and when they expect to have it in stock) I will
> probably fall back to Rimmer. And for parts I don;t need right now, I
> will just add them to the list and wait for that annual big order to
> Rimmer.
>
> All the best.
>
> bill
>
> --
> Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
> bill@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
> University of Scranton |
> Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
|