Supporting Local Audio Stores are we?

Hi Larry,

Given the context of your writings, it looks like you are establishing price by attaching values to service, product availabilty, demos, expertise. Given that there will always be customers who appreciate and happily pay for these attributes, do you then end up with a business that caters exclusively to the very few who are willing to pay 40% or 50% of the sticker price for these benefits? Seems to me you could do a whole lot better selling services a la carte to shoppers who need them. Bundling the service with the product is a solution for some, but it's patently obvious that, for the majority, they would prefer a choice. What if i call you with an order for a product, need no help or guidance in selecting it, just a fast over the counter transaction. If i pay your service surcharge without receiving or needing the service, am i not paying more than i should? If you want to call that extra payment 'supporting' my local dealer, i wonder what i get in return for said support, other than the uneasy feeling that I'm 'supporting' a business model that may no longer be relevant. i do apologize for being so blunt, but the answer to the thread is that, no, for many of us, we do not support our local dealer. Why? We think we can do better with our audio spending dollars elsewhere. It really is as simple as that i think.
i guess as long as I'm in this deep, i may as well articulate another belief i have regarding pricing and its impact on the industry. i believe that nothing has marginalized, isolated, satirized and damaged the high end more than the price structure neccessary to 'support' the infrastucture. When less consumers buy into the value proposition, retailers buy less product from manufacturers, they in turn need to derive more profit from weaker sales to support their business, and the end result is 50k amplifiers. So, in a very real sense, supporting my local dealer contributes to this flawed system and perpetuates the damage done to the industry.
It takes a brave man to ask the question you did on a used equipment forum full of value shoppers; hope you take the answers you receive in the spirit they're offered! I'm certain we all want the high end industry to succeed and be profitable, but it looks like we're on shaky ground based on the evidence before us. Maybe the high tech industry will save us from the death spiral that has become the high end industry; people do love music and are buying audio equipment; they just don't see any value in buying ours anymore, sadly.

Chadnliz, if that wasn't meant for me, I apologize. As I read it I was the only 'John' on the thread. Yes, it is a common name (thanks Mom), but I was unaware of your inside joke.

As to 'who am I?', I seem to have been here much longer than you, though you do seem to be much more active than me in these threads.

Peace,
John

Chadnliz, I have noticed your last few threads on Audiogon that have been said quite vitriolic and venomous, as if one had a trailer and the roof had gotten a nasty leak, ( I am not implying that you live in a trailer btw).
May I suggest some chill pills? and learn to relax, try some camomile tea, listen to some Mozart, and Breathe.
Everyone is not out to get you.
As the only John on this thread says,
Peace.

Gawd with all due respect stay out of it, John and I had an issue that was started when he insulted me based on his misreading of my post....it has nothing to do with you. Please save judgement and lectures for you kids.

John, sorry for the interuption...I went back and edited the post when it hit me you must have been misundetood and I noted that so no worries, when I asked who you were it was because I didnt at first know who you were or why you came at me but in a previous post you noted your real name was John and thats where I put it all together. My joke was for John a dealer and he would get it...trust me.

I’ve never inquired as to how much a thing costs to produce. Never have I begrudged any for the differences between presumed or known, production costs and those fees invested in bringing it to point of sale.

As was said, It really is none of my business… unless I’m an investor in that enterprise.

I think some now not too distant inventions have simply changed how we are now able to do business. Regularly. Routinely, and with a bit of safety…. The ‘web’, is just that invention.

It’s changed the face of sales at large. Mighty quickly now folks are turning to it more so every day as a viable instrument for gaining both needs and wants. As familiarity grows and comfort levels increase by it’s presence and use, more dollars will go it’s way. Given the current retail atmosphere in general, B&M retailers are hard pressed to compete with it.

It is solely my preff that IF at all possible I would rather deal face to face than electronically, ‘byte to byte’, as it were. Always. Sadly, such is no longer the regular case… in my area, at least. Mostly.

The web factor has made it’s mark on audio for sure. The days of the affluent, aloof, and erudite high end audio establishments are numbered.

If I want to be ignored, or condescended too, I’ll just go over to my friends house and try to get her cat to come to me when I call it.

The days of sellers ‘catering’ to buyers have been changed. Albeit, this take it or leave it, … it’s not my job…. You want a what? Attitudes are more a sociological fall out, than anything else.

I doubt seriously those who do inventory goods, and have a commitment to service and support for their customers past, present, and future are likely doomed if not already entrenched in a major metro area… for little more reason than current and ongoing social attitudes, as well as the apparent ease of double clicking…. Or reaching out and touching someone across the globe by phone.

Routinely displayed elements of “Class” or it’s absence, also seem in short supply these days…. Or there’s far too much distinction between them, by some…. And adds into the mix of reasons for some of my statements as to why home grown affairs are falling away as of late.

As for value … in a valueless society, price remains king…. And that’s a tremendously sad epitaph.