Bruce wrote: > Tom, > <snip> > How many > individuals will go into a store to touch and figure out what they > want, taking the salesman's time only to leave and buy mail order for > a little cheaper. Retail stores are trying to compete and the way > they can do that is to treat the customer much like a mail order > house. It reduces expenses thus allowing more competitive prices. > > CompUSA on the other hand treats it's customers poorly without passing > on any savings. It will eventually catch them. > > > Bruce Dayton
Bruce, I've done that multiple times and don't have a problem with it. Let me clarify before I get flamed off the list. :-) BTW, I'm not disagreeing with what you've said... only blabbing a little. 1. It's only natural to want to see, touch, hold, possibly operate the item that we may invest a lot of money in. You have to go to a retail outlet to do that. 2. I have found that *most* salesman in stores don't know what they're talking about, couldn't answer a question whose answer wasn't already on the fact tag on the shelf, normally wish to sell me the higher(est) priced item, or simply agree with whatever I say, in the hopes of making the sale. In the case of when I bought my PZ-1p, I had looked at Nikons first. When I asked for the Pentax, the salesman pulled it off the shelf, handed it to me, and very palpitatively, was no longer interested in continuing a conversation about this camera. Their price was $799 + 8.2% tax (I think I paid $479 + shipping). 3. Most times I find that I will know more about the product than the salesperson, and the questions I have to ask are more than the salesperson could possibly have an answer for, because they haven't used the product themselves. 4. I would guess that stores, to some degree, have this expense of *helping no sale customers* factored into their prices. The salesman is getting paid and that affects the price of products. I realize, as well, that a smaller stores cost may be higher on an item because of not receiving big volume discounts from the vendor. 5. I have no doubt that the salespersons themselves, would buy a given item mail order for a significantly lower price, were they not getting some kind of store discount. For those good, highly respectable, knowledgeable salespeople out there, who make their living by providing exceptional customer care and service, I do think it's unfair to monopolize a salesperson's time and pick their brain, doing so intentionally with knowledge and forethought, that one will not be purchasing the item there. I would *not* do that. I'm trying to think of my inventory and where/how I purchased. PZ-1p - mail order ZX-10 - mail order 500 FTZ flash - mail order FA 28-200 lens - mail order FA 80-320 lens - retail store FA 43 lens - retail store Tamron 28-300 lens - mail order Two Bogen tripods, a ball-head and another head - retail Other stuff like remote cables, etc. - mail order Minolta film scanner - mail order First desktop PC - mail order Another desktop PC - retail Laptop - retail 3 printers - retail Sony digital camera - retail Pentax binocs - Mail order Lot's of used stuff (2 bodies, 5 lenses) - retail Almost all my filters - retail (needed while on a trip or right away) And from now on almost all my film will be purchased mail order (paying twice the price locally is a little ridic). Must come out close to 50/50, on the side of retail vs. mail order taking into account used items. I find as I look over that list, a surprising trend. Most of my retail purchases *tended* to be impulse buys. Either I wanted the item really badly or I thought it was an exceptional deal. CompUSA's high prices/no real service, may indeed catch up with them someday. Vote with your wallet. Tom - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
