Hi all:
Ran into two interesting phenomenon yesterday while hitting surplus (MV
parts and general surplus) vendors in the Mechanicsburg, PA area.
First we hit Saturn Surplus for M151 and generator parts plus hit their
general surplus store. Mark Wisniski and his shop are a top notch outfit to
deal with. Helpful, friendly and reasonable prices. NOS (New, Old Stock) and
NEW are what they say...in box, new as original packaged, undamaged.
We then swung up to Richard Greene's and had a real pleasant visit and
got NOS, NEW and TO (Take Off) parts for our M35A2's. Wandered around his
yard, took lots of pictures of differences on the 40(?) or so M35's he has
in stock and of his "Private" collection. (Will post them this weekend to
my albums ). Courteous, friendly and reasonable prices.
We then swung over to Coleman's where we intended to drop some serious
money ($800+ on the shopping list we had, plus what caught our eye), one of
the main items being one of the dual wheel jacks they advertise ($139). I
had called the day before and asked them about the condition of the jacks
and was told they were new, unissued, unused, in the crate and showed minor
wear and tear from storage. The folks inside were cordial and we told them
we called the day before and we were there to buy a wheel jack, a couple of
deuce boarding ladders and some other stuff and we also wanted to look
around the showroom (very nice) and see what else they had.
One of the folks called out to the yard and told the crew to pull a
"good" wheel jack and bring it out to our trailer while they promptly
brought out two NOS deuce boarding ladders. Ladders were as advertised,one
in a water damaged (many times ) box and the other loose, but both new and
unused showing signs of long term storage. No problem there.
The fork lift then showed up with the wheel jack. Wow...what a
disappointment. No crate or box. The steel casters were rusted on their
axles, screw height adjusters on the back frozen due to corrosion and the
frame and rollers maybe 60% paint and 40% RUST. When I asked the yard guy
"This a good one?", He said yes, the day before he had gone through the pile
with another customer and this was the next to the best one, which the guy
took. All the rest were serviceable, but rougher. It turns out they have
been stored outside (not in a trailer) for at least the past year, if not
longer. I told him to just drop it there and I'd get my buddy to take a
look at it.
I went back inside and told Hank about it, and he said let's look around
at the rest of the goodies first and then he'd check it out. They had two
types of killer tow straps, GI issue with formed loops and an adjustable
chain assembly that were really nice. One bin had straps about 3/4" diameter
by 20(?) feet or so long and the other about 1 and a 1/4" inch diameter and
about the same length. The small was marked $35 and the large $79. All
merchandise had orange, anti-pilfer, adhesive price tags on it. The type
that tear into little pieces if you try to remove them.
I dug through all the small straps in the bin and narrowed it down to 3,
and then one, and dragged it up to the counter where our pile was growing. I
then went back for a NOS (really nice) NATO style jumper cable ($75 or so)
plus two NOS one/two pin adapters ($15 each) when Hank called me to the
counter where the clerk had told him the strap was $99 not $35. I said they
are marked $35, clerk says they are marked wrong should be more, then looks
me in the eye and says, "sometime people change the stickers". I told him
the whole bin is marked that way, another clerk goes to check the bin,
counter guy gets the manager who says it should be $49 and only the used
ones should be $35. Group at the bin are saying they are marked right and
they are marked wrong.
We then start talking about the NEW wheel jack, saying we are
interested, but that jack ain't worth no $139. He says we should try and
price them new (?), and we said " We thought we just did". He says what did
we think it was worth, we came back with $100, he says no way, that he
wholesales them for $125 and besides, there ain't no more coming.
I said, "Hey, I know as the stock gets smaller the price goes up , but
you were selling these NEW in the crate for $59 bucks 5 years ago, but that
rusty jack ain't worth $75 bucks now." He said it just needed some WD-40 and
some paint and it would be fine, and they never sold them that cheap. ( I
direct the reader to issue 50, July 1995 Military Vehicles Magazine, pg. 42.
Jack, new in crate ONLY $59 and Monster Tow Strap,New, Great deal $29.00/ea.
And they say the time you spend in the can is wasted.)
So in less than 10 minutes, we had been accused of switching price tags
and lying. But more importantly, we learned they don't need our money. They
miss-mark the product, then insult the customer. I bet most vendors would
have let the strap go for the $35, and a rusty jack for a c note.
Guess what. We didn't buy the jack, or the strap or the jumper cables,
adapters, mine detector, the ten 24 volt beacons (for another vendor and
us), the bags of birthday light sticks, the four 5 gallon pails of GAA and
other goodies. We bought the boarding ladders, and some canvas, a couple of
ashtrays and a roll of speaker wire and exited, stage left.
We got home at 3 AM this morning (after leaving there at 5:30 PM last
night) richer than we planned to be and a lot wiser. Imagine if you order a
Wheel Jack , and pay motor freight ( ad says 315 lbs) and the jack we passed
on is what shows up? Be afraid, be very afraid. This ain't the C.S. Coleman
of 5 years ago. Something has changed, and not for the better.
So make sure you praise the folks you've had good luck with on the list,
and warn us of problems. And maybe the bad will get better, or go out of
business, from lack of customers. And the average guys out there trying to
make a living, giving us fair deals will make money from satisfied
customers, who tell their friends, who become satisfied customers, and so
on....
A word to the wise....
Ron
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 01 2001 - 07:42:42 PDT