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I put this on the Boating Forum; but though it needs to posted here as well.
I have been a very loyal Penn customer for over 40 years. I have not bought a Penn reel at anything near list for many many years. As a 20 year old one of my buddy's dad worked at Penn. I got some really good prices. Today a friend of mine is a big cheese at a major tackle dealer. I get great pricing. I have gotten some great pricing from Mac's and at FishBuzz until Tom went to the great fishing grounds beyond.
I was putting together a parts order at Shark River and came across this.
Open Letter to Customers
Shark River Mail Order:Open Letter to Customers
Why can you no longer buy some Penn equipment
from Shark River Mail Order?
We have been selling Penn Equipment for over 30 years. Recently, all wholesalers that deal with Penn Fishing Tackle were forced to sign an agreement that they would not sell their more popular equipment to any company that was not on Penn's "Gold Label Dealer" list. This list is made up of businesses, especially major chain stores, that sell Penn equipment at or near the suggested retail price.
Because we sell at far below the suggested retail price and try to give our customers the best deal we can,
We are not included on their "Gold Label Dealer" list. Our wholesalers, who would love to sell to us, are banned from doing so.
Some would call this "price fixing".
We let our customers decide.
Yes this price fixing. I will let Penn know this. You decide what to do.
Have you discussed this with Penn or your distributor? Some mfg's don't mind retail "sales" of their products at deep discounts, they just don't want the prices advertised. It is a form of loyalty to their bread and butter retailers that purchase and sell high volume. I would try to get in writing exactly what a "Gold Label Dealer" is. Meet the criteria and continue selling Penns.
If your customers want Penns and you don't sell them to them at any price, they will go somewhere else and buy them at the prices you refuse to sell them for in the first place. In this case you lose that sale and potentially future sales and the customer. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Play their game and figure out a legitimate way to get your customers the products and prices they want.
It's old news I got the same letter about two years ago.
Look around the internet you will still find the deals.
I just picked up a new reel for a nice price
Where are the new 130VSW's they were so quick to rid the shelves of the old ones. How come the new ones aren't even released yet. Like the Torques WTF over,
It's the same thing in many industries. Try to buy the a highly advertised tempurpedic matress set at a price much lower than the larger stores in your area. You can't unless it's from a friend or relative. Welcome to free enterprise.
It isn't just about protecting retailers it is also about protecting their product's image. Apple Computers (or whatever they call themselves now) has a similar pricing arrangements on iPods. They do it to keep their almighty iPods an "upper-crust" toy rather than the appearance of a discount store piece of junk. Apple refuses to offer iPods as give-aways or freebies at trade shows or raffles as that would cheapen their image.
I am sure the tackle companies want a similar image of exclusiveness.
The manufacturers have been forced to do this becuase certain retailers will discount the products so much that it takes out any profitability in the product. This discounting destroys the market for these items for the manufacturer and for all the rest of the retailers. You wonder why You often hear about the local tackle shop going out of business. It is simple, if you can't make a profit, you can't pay the bills and you go out of business.
Penn's hand was forced by discount retailers who were happy making $10 profit on a $100 reel. At the end, the discounter made little to no profit, violated all sales agreements, hurt all the other retailers, negatively effected the overall market and pricing for these products, and hurt the consumer's ability to find and buy the products. It is understood that everybody wants to get a deal, but I suspect that everybody also wants a high quality, nearby tackle shop available to them, too. The independent tackle dealer simply must make a certain reasonable profit on its sales to keep the doors open. The manufacturer must profit, too.
Penn is a great American Company and it deserves the support and respect of the American fishing community. With the recent acquisition of Penn by a strong publicly traded company called K2, it is my belief that an already great company will see an infusion of investment, new products, and an overall improvement in all areas.
Because one is unable to get a "deal" on a high end Penn Gold Label product, it does not mean the company "sucks". Sometimes you simply have to pay to play. There are countless other competing products available on the marketplace that you are free to choose from where you can get a deal. No one is forcing you to buy Penn, but it seems you want their products.
Please remember that there are people behind the Penn name. These people are Americans. When you say Penn sucks, you are saying the American people behind the name suck. I can tell you first hand that they are good people with a good products. From Brent Kane, the National Sales Mgr, to Betty the parts department lady, they are good quality people.
If you want one of the elite fishing reel companies, you have to consider Penn.
CB, no sympathy here... Give us a break. You're just upset because you can no longer buy stuff below retail.
As far as folks saying Penn charges too much for a small part, maintaining a parts inventory cost money. While the actual cost of producing a washer, screw, spring, ... may be small; someone has to put it on a shelf, inventory it, and then go get it when you order it, put it in a package, and ship it. I guessing you don't work for free and neither do they!
Go to your local Ford dealer and see how much they charge for a fan belt!
CB...............I too got some sweet deals from Buzzy...............Doesn't anybody realize how hard it is for the "little guy" to compete with the big box retailers?????????? This is America where anybody should be able to charge whatever they want.........Why shouldn't a local shop be able to discount his products???????? All Tackle, are you advocating price fixing across the board on all products??? I suppose you don't believe in the "FREE MARKET SYSTEM"????????? I am an American worker and I employ 25 other American workers. I don't pay all of them the same rate??? My company competes with several others in the service industry and it is my job to stay competitive. There are other ways to cut costs without price fixing. Penn just sold the company and put more than a few sheckles in their pockets. I say lets the laws of supply and demand work.........Something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it!!!!!!
Oh and one more thing.......................SHOP ON EBAY..................The same stores sell stuff for much less on Ebay and they keep their store name hidden. This way they avoid the MSRP price fixing scams............
All Tackle has come out in favor of manufacturers' fixing prices on the products that he sells. There is really only one good reason for him to do that.
Anyone care to make a guess as to what that one good reason might be?
Let me give yopu a small hint.
It is something very closely related to the quest for the 'almighty dollar'.
bravajo - 4/7/2007 11:16 AM
Apple refuses to offer iPods as give-aways or freebies at trade shows or raffles as that would cheapen their image.
Not true. I won an I-Pod Shuffle from a card trick dude at a fertilizer manufacutrers booth during the Golf Industry Show in Anaheim this past February. I luv free stuff.
As far as Penn goes, anyone who thinks they are the only manufacturer of goods that attempt to control the price af thier product probably isn't worth arguing with. This person would not be working with all the facts and most likely be difficult to convince otherwise.
__________________ Mac Solo
1985 25' Parker Sou'Wester---2005 F250 Yamaha
I don't know what to say,but I am also in retail and many of the brands that I carry don't want us to discount either.So to be competitive and take the business from the big box guys,you have to be creative and offer something extra while you still charge retail.So if I were a small tackle retailer,I would offer maybe to spool the reels free or half price,chances are the customer will buy something else while they are there.
On a side note,yeterday on Ebay I got a brand new in box 50VSW for $478 plus $10 shipping.That reel sells for $599. I still would rather buy from a local shop,but there is none close by that carry these things.
shaminao, accurate. finor all do the same thing. thats why dealers provide either free shipping and will load the reel fro free or sometime sell rod and reel combo basically the rod goes for cost. the price fixing is done on reels only. chaos will sell penn for less.
bravajo - 4/7/2007 11:16 AM
Apple refuses to offer iPods as give-aways or freebies at trade shows or raffles as that would cheapen their image.
Not true. I won an I-Pod Shuffle from a card trick dude at a fertilizer manufacutrers booth during the Golf Industry Show in Anaheim this past February. I luv free stuff.
[/quote]
Other people might give them away but Apple will _never_ offer them as a giveaway.
Personally, I would rather hear more about the "card trick dude at the golf booth of a fertilizer convention" or whatever it was.hehehehe. That sounded like fun.
Oh, the reel question. Umm, Penn sucks? Kinda harse lanquage, in my opinion. I don't own but a couple, and I don't like their drags (Penn 965's) but they don't suck.
Penn Sucks
Play their game and figure out a legitimate way to get your customers the products and prices they want.
