On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:52:28 -0500, "Percival P. Cassidy"
wrote:


The reason I thought that I *might* get a better price from HD is that
HD -- the whole chain -- must buy a lot more stuff from Clopay than our
3-store local "chain" and would therefore be able to negotiate better
prices. And *perhaps* HD would deal with Clopay directly rather than
having to go through a regional distributor -- IOW, cutting out a middle
man.

Not about garage doors or doors or Home Depot or really big chains or
home improvement stuff, but in general, I've wondered for a long time
about the "cutting out the middle man" thing.

Doesn't this sometimes mean more work for the vendor, and so he
charges middleman prices instead of true wholesale prices? Or
something in between the two, and whether it really makes more work
for him or not?