Drew, I STRONGLY DISAGREE with you suggestion to not bother with sending
the CEO a letter. If he is any CEO at all worth his salt, he will welcome
input from customers be it positive or negative so that he can either
augment the positive or eradicate the negative. THAT IS HIS JOB.
I applaud Fraser for having the spine to do WHAT IS RIGHT.
If everyone did this, can you imagine what we could have; even gasoline at
$1.25 a gallon.
j/b
"Drew McEachren" wrote in message
news:5I%Hj.9665$9X3.9662@edtnps82...
Amen Mr. Fraser:
I own and operate a fab shop, and as you stated before "I work hard for
my money/customers and I expect/demand the same from my vendors. I have
had the same feeling as you about McMaster Carr for quite awhile. ****
THEM. I have suppliers with whom I do similar volumes (some more, some
less) as you mention and if I ever came across the attitude that you speak
of, I am more than happy to cut them free. Like you say; if their ****
poor attitudes unwittingly give you better advantages towards your bottom
line via their competitors, then boo hoo for them. It's just good
business. Come to think of it, I actually won't deal with a local
supplier that is unwilling to send an outside/industrial sales rep to my
premises regularly. I don't have time to be constantly running out for
this and that. Deliver it, deliver it now, and deliver it free. Thank
you very much; in return I will pay my bill on time, and continue to do
business with you. Everyone happy? Good.
As for the letter to the CEO, why waste your time and raise your blood
pressure even more. You, I believe have gotten your satisfaction by
shouting at that dumb bitch, (don't get me wrong, I like to kill the
messenger too!) and in turn relieved them of minimum $10K annually. In
addition, you have also advertised for them on this forum (as well as
other places I'm sure). How does that saying go? Something about ****ed
off people talking to lots of others!!!! Another satisfying thought......
When you get their catalog, you can use it for reference, and then order
from Grainger, Fastenal, etc. Plus, your local reps now know that you
will not tolerate bull**** from them or their companies, and have seen
first hand the result of it.
I am sure that there are many differing opinions, especially from
people that are strictly retail purchasers. The beauty of a capitalist
system is that there is an end user/purchaser for everything, and if I am
a business that somewhere along the way handles, modifies, manufactures
goods or materials, I am entitled to my cut. You don't **** and moan
about it, just find a way to make it work in your favor. If you can't, it
is your own problem, move aside or be crushed under the wheels of the
machine that we have all created.
In closing, I would like to say (and I am sure you can agree) that
there is a certain satisfaction in 'going into these situations with a hot
head, ready to kick in some skull'. If I'm kept happy, I have a real cool
attitude and can be quite understanding and tolerant when dealing with my
suppliers.
Drew
"Rob Fraser" FraserRacing"AT"RobFraser.Net wrote in message
news
Well,
Here is where I stand. I showed the letter to both Fastenal and
Grainger in separate meetings yesterday and lobbied that given a better
price margin I would not do business with McMaster Carr over this insult.
As a result. BOTH competitors have lowered my total costing and lowered
my margins to gain the influx and were very, very eager to pick up the
business that has been lost to McMaster Carr. My profit margins have now
greatly improved and I have one less headache in my life. I flat out
refuse to run a business and be told something as ridiculous as "you
can't have a catalog" The winning point is now that both Grainger and
Fastenal have given me better pricing I would have no use for McMaster
anyhow. They offered no break at all historically. So I guess this stupid
bitch that sent the letter actually helped my business by hurting theirs.
Ironic is it not?
There has never been any thing that they offered that I could not
find elsewhere for the scope of my industry needs anyway. That letter to
the CEO is in draft and I assure you it is scathing to say the least. I
guess one person can make a difference. At least I have her name so I
never hire her for the office once McMaster fires her for her stupidity.
In the last 5 years (the purge from SAP) indicated I spent about 60k with
them as a correction to my original figure. That letter is GOLD when
presented to a competitor (who were both stupefied and left shaking their
heads when presented with it). As for the Walgreen's reference it does
not apply. I have other shops and vendors in the area anyhow. I lost
nothing by ditching them as a vendor.
Respects,
Rob Fraser
Fraser Competition Engines
Chicago, IL.