On 08/17/06 11:41 pm Tom G wrote:

Worked the retail floor for 25 years. We referred to it as the "bean
counters" in the head office controlling the stores, If their computer told
them that a certain profit or sales volume wasn't met on a certain item,
they no longer allowed the stores to sell it. Sears, a few years ago
dropped bicycles from their lineup because as the "bean counters" said, it
accounted for only about 1% of their business and wasn't worth the bother.
Now, a lot of companies would have killed for a product that accounted for
1% of a 40 billion dollar business. The following Christmas, I can only
imagine where people finished up their shopping after coming into the store
and were told they couldn't buy the kids Christmas bike, there. I'm seeing
the same situation at WalMart right now. I've been restoring an old pontoon
boat and I went in to buy a pedestal stand for a seat. Always saw them
there before, along with the paddles, trolling motors, etc. None of that
was there anymore. The "associate" said that the department had been
"downsized". When they stopped selling guns, they said that it was because
they didn't sell enough to justify the carrying of them. Sounds like the
"bean counters" talking again. I guess, I'll just do my shopping at Gander
Mountain from now on. The price difference isn't worth the extra gas spent
in driving to WalMart.

This may tie in with something I read or heard recently: Many businesses
stock only good-turnover items in their bricks-and-mortar stores but
have a far larger range of stuff available on line. It's possible that
walmart.com would have had what you wanted for less than Gander Mountain
(even after taking shipping charges into account).

Perce