Wes Rolley on tue 29 jan 02
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At 09:11 PM 1/25/02 -0800, you wrote:
I hate to sound like a commercial, but this just amazed me. The only thing
I can guess is that my locals buy from axner (or a company like them) and
then mark it up. The moral: it pays to shop around a little! This might be
a no brainer to big time potters, but we the growing force of
electric-kiln-in-the-garage types sometimes have to learn it the hard way.
There are two sides to the question of buying local vs. buying the best
price. Large volume businesses, like Axner's, can almost always give you
the best prices. Stock turns over more quickly. They can purchase in larger
volumes at discounts gaining a price advantage that smaller, local business
owners can not match.
On the other side, my local business pays local taxes. They give services
that the mega-store can not give. They are always willing to spend time
discussing problems with me. They donate the space to allow a local
"ceramic arts guild" to hold workshops there. Yes, I know that those who
attend the workshop will probably buy something, but that is only part of
it. They also pay local taxes to support our local government. I do not
meant to pick on Axner's other than as an example of a large, well run
business. Axner's does not collect California Sales Tax and they do not pay
California Income Tax on their profits. As these monies move out of state,
I am left paying higher taxes on other things to support the building of
the roads over which UPS would deliver anything purchased from Axner.
Amazon.com is another large, well-run business. Many people purchase books,
records, etc. over the Internet. As a result, most of the local book stores
in my area have gone out of business. Soon, only the mega-stores like
Barnes & Noble or Tower Records will be left.
I guess I am complaining about the homogenizing of culture. We will all be
happier when there is only Starbucks for our coffee, Amazon for our books
and WallMart for everything else. It is the same thing that we complain
about when customer's expect studio potters to compete with Pier One prices.
Wes
Wesley C. Rolley
17211 Quail Court
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
wesley@rolley.com
(408)778-3024
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