<snip> You would think it would work that way, but Volume Buying ends up eating the organization and the organization becomes caught up in being a volume club. </snip>
We all know that there's more to a WISP than just putting up an AP and getting a T1 line Having run both a WISP and a distribution company, I can personally attest to the fact that there's more to distribution (which is what your proposing) than breaking up a 500 pack amongst WISP Have you considered all the risks / implications that the buying group faces? For starters, there's the question of payment -- given that the buying group has no / limited credit, chances are that any vendor will require cash up front for the purchase So, for example, say Motorola Canopy is the product WISPA chooses Then WISPA / Buying Group needs to come up w/ $100k to purchase that 500 pack (at say, $200 / unit for simplicity's sake) Then, WISPA / Buying Group needs to come up w/ a warehouse to store stuff Then, WISPA / Buying Group needs to come up w/ a shipper/logistics guy to repackage / ship stuff On top of that, chances are, 50% of the WISPs who committed to purchasing the packs will renege and/or delay their deliveries due to unforseen things that always happen in deployments (e.g., lightning, customers don't sign on, interference from competitor, DSL coming to town) So now, WISPA / Buying Group needs to hire a sales guy to sell excess units Now, you've added overhead (and you need to add an administrative fee / margin to compensate) In the meantime, either 1. Motorola to announce a 50% price reduction in their Canopy line, and all WISPA members now wanting the new lower price (therefore causing a huge loss) 2. Trango (or some other company) to come out w/ the new "flavor of the month" and no one wanting the inventory anymore, sticking WISPA w/ $100k worth of boat anchors -Charles ------------------------------------------- CWLab Technology Architects http://www.cwlab.com -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/