The Cost Of Mail Order

Two years ago I wrote to Tackle & Guns, the trade magazine, about what I called fictitiously high recommended retail prices (RRPs) that are quoted only for them to be heavily discounted. The magazine’s publisher was first on my back stating “I’m not sure what planet Mr Woodhouse is on.” and was I “waiting for the men in white coats?” I think he quickly gathered what it was I driving at after a couple of dealers supported, or at least half-supported, my argument.

So let me outline quite clearly now – I am NOT saying that tackle dealers are selling products a ludicrously high prices or that they are ripping us off. Also I am NOT saying that tackle manufacturers are fobbing us off with sub-standard tackle at ridiculously high prices. I would like to say that most fishing tackle is of a very high quality and can be purchased at reasonable prices that most anglers can afford. Okay?

What irritates me is when I see adverts for a brand new pole, for example, just introduced at the RRP of (let’s say) £ 650, but offered by just about every dealer around for only £ 300, or less than half the supposed original price. The advert is published by the manufacturer and the original RRP is also contrived by the manufacturer, but do they ever intend to sell that pole for anything like the price they concoct? I don’t think so and the reason why is to fool us into believing we have a bought into a better bargain than we actually have.

Now we all like a bargain, especially the girls. Have you ever seen the counters of Kendals in Manchester or Harrods in London after the first morning of their sales day? There’s knickers and scarves hanging from the lampshades, thrown there in woman’s desire to find as quickly as possible the bargain of a lifetime. Now we men are a little more discerning (sorry girls) and we take our time looking through brochures, weighing the pros and cons of a product and only when it’s something we want do we consider price.

However, we are all gullible and therefore susceptible to the suggestion that what we are buying is of a much higher value than what we are paying for it. Can you hold your hand on your heart and say that you can tell the difference between a £ 300 pole and a £ 600 pole or what the pole you are looking at is actually worth? I will bet there’s no-one reading these pages that can (I am going to be disproved here, I can see), all you can do is compare specifications to other poles of a similar price. The same goes for all rods and reels, etc.

BENNETTS – THE ORIGINAL MAIL ORDER?

In fact, I think we are as much to blame for this pricing culture if only because we want to see the bargains. It means, though, that it has fostered the growth of a new kind of mail order business in this country. There was always Bennetts of Sheffield for as long as I can remember and they usually sold at full RRP except for genuine ‘sales’ of clearance items, if they offered anything at all it was interest-free payments over some months. There’s nothing dishonest about that and the business rightly grew as a result, but even they now HAVE to play this same game by advertising the manufacturer’s inflated RRP and their discounted price.

The growth of the other discount mail order houses has meant that our local dealers are finding it harder to compete. When they attend the trade shows they can’t approach the manufacturer with as big a cheque book as these discount houses. So who gets the best deals?… Not your local dealer, you can bet. I’ve heard stories of offers such as “Buy 50 rods/poles of this type and get a another 50 free”, which is fine for a dealer that can shift that many, but your local man would be hard pressed to sell more than a couple. Therefore, he cannot cash in on the bonanza and if we start to lose local dealers, it means we lose also our local source for bait and smaller items.

I am as guilty as the rest of you – here’s an example: Three years ago I wanted a new beefed-up feeder rod and one under consideration was in stock at my local dealer marked down from £ 145 to £ 127, if I remember correctly. In the time it took me to look at alternatives I did notice another mail order house advertising the same rod for just £ 80 and even with the £ 6 postage it was still a bargain, or so it seemed. So I bought it mail order. Just a couple of weeks ago, whilst walking through that local store, I chanced to notice that the very same rod is still there three years later at the same price, £ 127.

This means that in three years his stock of that rod has not moved thereby tying up his capital. Let’s, just for argument’s sake, say it cost £ 70. It nevertheless is £ 70 that could have been spent on other items that would have sold for him and may well have turned-over three or four times since. He has been denied the opportunity of turning his £ 70 investment into £ 200 or so profit and livelihood because the bigger discount boys have taken his trade.

I really do believe that the tackle companies ought to restructure their pricing policies so that everyone gets a level field to play on. Then, if one tackle dealer (and there always will be one) wants to manage on a little less profit, relying more on volume, then that would be up to him. At least it would only be a few pounds that bargain hunters would save and not up to half the price as they think now. It might give some protection to our local tackle dealers who we need.

IS IT A BARGAIN?

Do I think I got a bargain with the £ 80 rod? Perhaps not, for what should the real price of the rod have been? I’m not an expert in carbon fibre to tell if it’s quality was any better than most other rods of around £ 80. I liked it, sure, and I use it and I think it was worth £ 80, but I’m certainly glad that I didn’t buy it for the higher £ 127 asking price. The same goes for the poles that you see advertised and I come back to my original question: is the £ 300 pole you pay for really worth the £ 600 RRP the manufacturer says it should be?

Well, now you should know where I am coming from. I’m not blaming so much the bargain hunters as the market which is there for you to feed on. I am not blaming all of the mail order businesses either, although some have tried to undercut a little too much, perhaps, and are now paying the price for it. What I would like to see is a little more sense applied to the way sales and promotions are conducted to the trade, fairer retail prices, fairer profit margins for every dealer, and an emphasis back on service to attract the customers into stores to spend their money.

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OLD FASHIONED SERVICE!!!

Speaking of service, another thread started by our Wendy Perry included comments from people in the Manchester area about the Irwell and I asked if anyone remembered Hardy Bott’s tackle shop near Victoria Station. Well, ‘The Monk’ claims he did and this all brought back lots of happy memories for me.

You see Hardy (yes, that was his name) was a good friend over many years, I spent quite a lot of time in his shop in the mid to late sixties when I worked close by. He was ex-army, an RSM if I remember, and had a loud booming voice as you would expect of a drill sergeant. His whispers could be heard in Piccadilly and brass bands had no chance of being heard when he shouted. If I had been in his squad in the army I would have been regarded as no more than a greasy little ‘oik’ by him, I’m sure.

But he was no longer in the army, he was a shop-owner and I was a customer, so guess what I got called? “SIR!” Absolutely, it was always “Good Morning, Sir!” and “Hello, Sir!” even after I asked him, “Please, just call me Jeff.” His wife told me though, he wouldn’t unless the shop was empty and it was just the three of us. Even then, force of habit would creep in.

I remember also that he would never accept cheques, let alone credit cards which were just coming in then. If anyone asked would he accept a cheque he would point them to the side of his shelving where, just above the phone, three dud cheques were stapled to the woodwork. He needn’t say any more.

Once, when I was looking for a new reel, I asked him about the ABU closed-face reels, the 503 and 505. They were new to us and he was one of the first ABU dealers. No matter how much he told me about them he could see I was unconvinced and so he actually offered to lend me HIS for the weekend. This gesture was hitherto unheard of and bunting was strung out along Corporation Street to celebrate the event. I felt honoured indeed.

That was Hardy Bott, but for service you couldn’t fault him. He would never try to sell you something in order to make a sale and ‘discount’ wasn’t in his vocabulary. Your satisfaction was always paramount to him and that is the kind of service I would like to see return to many of our shops. It hasn’t completely disappeared, but for my old-fashioned liking there’s a few too many ‘Alright mate’ these days when I’m not a mate at all.

I will try to field as many questions or comments as you would like to leave on the forum after this article, but I can’t promise instant responses. The reason being, my long-awaited leather-covered, reclining TV chair has just arrived and it is going to take some time to stamp my personality on it, at least before my dog does. So break out the videos and DVD’s, the beer and the snacks. “Oh TV, you ask for so little and give so much.”….(Homer Simpson, wasn’t it?)