"PrecisionMachinisT" writes:
And if a contractor had to always walk around for 40 minutes with no
customer service, wait in line while other stupid peoples questions get
asked, wait for their checks to get cleared with the bank ( like at home
depot ) and all that other bull****, the contractor would be looking for
someplace else pronto.

A contractor calls in advance, he knows exactly what he wants, the
wholesaler either has it in stock or brings it in, and he puts it out on the
dock--the contractor comes along, picks it up, signs papers and in ten
minutes flat he is outa there, very little time being wasted on the whole
deal by either party.

According to your logic, sounds like the contractor should be willing
to pay "extra" for this service relative to the DIY who is willing to
wait.

Again, your argument has nothing to do with the fact that price
competition and transparency is intensifying and thus driving down
margins which in general leads to lower spreads between retail and
wholesale pricing.

If a supplier believes he can make more profit by offering consumers
discounts and pulling business from other suppliers or from big box
retailers then he should do so.

Whether or not he has to offer different levels of service to his
business vs. layman customers is a different story and is not directly
related to relative pricing.

What I object to (and indeed what the market is inexorably
eliminating) is the sense of entitlement that certain groups feel
towards receiving preferential pricing which ends up resulting in
consumers subsidizing the profits of contractors even when they choose
to go it alone (this is analogous to the push by record labels to add
a tax to the sale of all blank media even if you choose to use it for
non-copyrighted materials).