Covering problem and other whining

[geoffreywh]

I've had to cut a hole in the fabric of my Jodel about 8" square. Problems with changing perfectly good swages on perfectly good cables due to over-enthusiastic AWB. Anyway, I need a small quantity of Poly-Brush and Poly-Tack. ' bout a cup of each will do fine. Can anybody help?.....Minimum purchase from the shop is 2 quarts ! I don't mind buying it but it doesn't last long on the shelf. So I would probably throw most of it away. ( Or drop it of at the tip @ $30 per tin!) God, Australia pisses me off sometimes. I hear lots of retailers whinging about online trading ruining their businesses. I just had the Toyota garage check out my elderly friend's Lexus Ls 400, They want $900 to rebuild the alternator and $1600 for a new steering pump! I got the (new)alternator online from the US for $128 plus $40 post and the pump (rebuild) kit for $18.00 plus $8 postage also from the US. Sorry about that!.....................Go back to what you were doing before I interrupted you......

 

 

[djpacro]

Thanks for the info on alternators, I might get one from the US for a doorstop in the garage in case I need one down the track.

 

When I get home tonight I will look in the garage to see if I have any usable poly-stuff.

 

 

[Riley]

I've had to cut a hole in the fabric of my Jodel about 8" square. Problems with changing perfectly good swages on perfectly good cables due to over-enthusiastic AWB. Anyway, I need a small quantity of Poly-Brush and Poly-Tack. ' bout a cup of each will do fine. Can anybody help?.....Minimum purchase from the shop is 2 quarts ! I don't mind buying it but it doesn't last long on the shelf. So I would probably throw most of it away. ( Or drop it of at the tip @ $30 per tin!) God, Australia pisses me off sometimes. I hear lots of retailers whinging about online trading ruining their businesses. I just had the Toyota garage check out my elderly friend's Lexus Ls 400, They want $900 to rebuild the alternator and $1600 for a new steering pump! I got the (new)alternator online from the US for $128 plus $40 post and the pump (rebuild) kit for $18.00 plus $8 postage also from the US. Sorry about that!.....................Go back to what you were doing before I interrupted you......

I hear what you're saying Geoff. I recently got a price and an availability quote for a R912A mechanical fuel pump from a well known Australian supplier. I bloody near suffered a stroke when the reply came back .......$538 + postage. After checking out same item on CPS (Aircraft Spruce) internet catalogue and identifying a price of (A) $171.80 plus about $40 postage for the same item, I complained bitterly to the well known Aust supplier that not only was their pricing system ratsh-t but I was unwillingly being forced by their greed to spend my dollars outside of OZ. Their response was that they thought I wanted the super duper pump with the orange hoses (their words) and ultimately supplied me the correct pump at a reasonable price but only after I bitched & moaned. I don't begrudge anyone a fair profit and I realize that sometimes we get caught in a unavoidable 'gouging' situation but the generally ridiculous variance between US and our domestic prices for the same item is very hard to understand and more difficult to accept. cheers

 

 

[old man emu]

I don't begrudge anyone a fair profit and I realize that sometimes we get caught in a unavoidable 'gouging' situation but the generally ridiculous variance between US and our domestic prices for the same item is very hard to understand and more difficult to accept. cheers

Here we see the inherent problem we face in Australia: aircraft parts and hardware are made overseas (mostly in the USA). The Australian market is very small in comparison to the US market, so we don't have the advantages of Economies of Scale. Also there are costs involved for the Australian retailer that the US retailer doesn't face. Let's look at the costs involved in being an aircraft parts retailer.

First you have to set up your business. That involves registering the business and setting up a tax account so you can pay GST. Then you have to organise a bank account and get a Visa card and put some money against the card . You also have to set up your office - computer, printer and consumables. This is the very least you have to do. Then you have to decide how much stock you are going to hold, and get a place to store it for easy retrieval. Now you can go but stock.

 

Unless you can make a large purchase, or can enter into a pricing agreement with the US supplier, you are going to pay the same per unit for 1000 items as you would for 10. Let's say you can arrange a bulk discount of 10% off list price. Now you pay for the goods and shipping by Visa card. Although we are told that the $AU is above parity with the $US, by the time the banks and credit card providers have their bit of the cherry, you are about back to parity. So you don't make anything on the exchange rate. However, when we are below parity, everything goes up.

 

So now you get the goods to your post office. You may have saved 10% on the purchase price, but you get nothing off the postage. If you are smart, you try to keep your parcel weight to just under 20 lbs so you can use a USPS Flatbox rate of about $US35. Once you unpack the parcel, you have to figure out how to split the postage cost amongst the various items. If you bought a total of 1000 various bolts, nuts and screws, you might add 3.5 cents to each item (3500 cents divided by 1000 items). However, if you had bought a $500 altimeter and 500 nuts, bolts and screws, you would add 7 cents to each item (3500 cents divided by 501 items). So you can see that postage can have a big effect on price.

 

Next you have to determine what you mark up is going to be, because you have the right to be paid for the work you do, and you need to cover overheads. I can't say how much mark up should be. All I can say is that I try to make sure I am under the big guys' prices, and can show a profit over the CPI. Fortunately, this means that in my case, I don't have to whack on a great deal. Better to make a penny on each item than to make no sale at all.

 

Once you have set your price, you have to get the sales. You can pay for advertising, or pay for a website, or get know by word of mouth or its digital equivalent. Having got the sale, you have to add 10% for GST and the cost of postage to the customer. If your customers are good to you, they will pay promptly. If not you will have to spend time and money sending out statements, but if you do you can always add a processing fee to cover costs.

 

So you can see that it is not possible for an Australian retailer to compete with the likes of Spruce and Specialty, or Wicks etc on price alone. I like to think that my customers pay a little bit above the US catalogue price because they are paying for the service I provide in doing their shopping for them. The customer is paying for my knowledge and contacts. I spend a lot of time deciphering exactly what the thingamy-bob is that goes into the whatsit, then trying to source it.

 

Gouging? I wouldn't call it that. It's bad pricing. I know that one major supplier sells a particular inner tube at twice the price its competitor up the road does. When I tell the supplier the price is out of the park, I usually get told that prices are set at Head Office somewhere in the USA. They lose a sale, but I son't think they miss twenty or thirty dollars.

 

You also have to know that some parts are very expensive. This specially applies to hydraulic and fuel line fittings. I priced three types of hose fittings recently: a straight fitting, a 45 degree and a 90 degree. The straight fitting was about $10, the other two were $80. The only difference was the bend of the pipe in the assemble.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[winsor68]

It doesn't appear to be a problem with aircraft parts... Anyone else noticed that the Economic System we are relying upon is busted? Like it or not... What the horses bottom Mrs Gina Ridehard said about South Africans doing the same work for $2.00 a day is something we can be outraged about until said horses come home... doesn't change the fact. Did everyone think it could go on forever?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Just buy it direct from A/S, reading OMEs post made me weary when I realised how much work he does. Paying someone just to handle a parcel is stupid, I am sure OME has more profitable things to do with his time.

 

 

[Tomo]

I just had the Toyota garage check out my elderly friend's Lexus Ls 400, They want $900 to rebuild the alternator and $1600 for a new steering pump! I got the (new)alternator online from the US for $128 plus $40 post and the pump (rebuild) kit for $18.00 plus $8 postage also from the US. Sorry about that!.....................Go back to what you were doing before I interrupted you......

It is a Lexus after all...

 

Bit like Mack trucks, it's all in the name... buy the same part for an International or something, and it'll be less than half the price!

 

 

[old man emu]

Just buy it direct from A/S, reading OMEs post made me weary when I realised how much work he does. Paying someone just to handle a parcel is stupid, I am sure OME has more profitable things to do with his time.

It's true that you can but direct from the US and have some Wetback handle your parcel, but they don't give a damn about postage costs. I've had items the size of a matchbox come in cartons that would hold a5 litre fuel tin. The postage was more than the price of the item.

 

As I said to justify my prices: "I like to think that my customers pay a little bit above the US catalogue price because they are paying for the service I provide in doing their shopping for them. The customer is paying for my knowledge and contacts. I spend a lot of time deciphering exactly what the thingamy-bob is that goes into the whatsit, then trying to source it."

 

OME

 

 

[fly_tornado]

But wouldn't you rather be doing something more interesting with your time?

 

 

[skeptic36]

It's often worth having a look at who made the part. I needed a air con fan for a Deutz tractor, the dealer wanted $1200 and couldn't supply for 2 months. I had a look at the fan it was made by Spal Italy, sent them an email , they had a dealer in Cambelfield, $128 on my credit card and it was in my mailbox the next day!

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Bit like Mack trucks, it's all in the name... buy the same part for an International or something, and it'll be less than half the price!

Problem is some of the cheaper brands have caught on that spare parts pricing can really helps ones retirement. I have a Hyundai with a small crack in the plastic exterior edge trim of the LHS external wing mirror - that'll be a whole new mirror at $990 thanks. Good car but I wouldn't recommend them due to the outrageous parts prices. Some other brands like VW are similar apparently.

 

Sorry I can't help the OP Geoff with the cup of fabric covering fluid.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

I am surprised you would buy a Hyundai gnu, any difficulties getting a gun rack for it?

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

No, plenty of space for light artillery.