On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 23:01:37 -0400, Butch Black wrote:
> No, you are not the only one who thinks it's sad. Unfortunately we
> have been conditioned to seek low price over almost everything.
I'm perfectly happy to pay for something of value, tangible or not. I
don't receive any additional value on the purchase of a camera body or
lens from the local camera store. These days, I don't even receive
anything of value from them on purchases of film and processing, but I
used to. In the not so distant past, the same people did the
processing for sometimes years at a time. I could build a relationship
with them. They learned what I wanted, I learned what they wanted. We
had a symbiotic relationship, and that was worth quite a bit of money
to me. These days, I rarely see the same person twice doing the
processing or behind the counter or anywhere else in the store. They
know, in general, far less about all parts of the process than I do,
including the processing ("I put it in the box, it comes out"). Most
of them aren't even photographers, though a few are snap shooters.
Provide value. I'll pay for it. Don't provide value and I'll find the
lowest price possible from someone else who doesn't provide value. Or
I'll find someone that provides value and buy it from them at a markup.
It's the intersection of the buyer's choice with the seller's choice.
TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ
