marillion":2b3vfjxt said:
Vitz LIVES out in left field.
Peace,
Chip
and yet, i could (possibly) teach both of you a thing or three about what to expect vis-a-vis the realities of commerce in this industry in the upcoming decade or two, having been on almost all sides of this many faceted proverbial coin that is the fish end of the pet biz
re: semantics,
and ppor - the devil is in the details
i mean, i could make a statement like ''b&m's NEVER have the knowledgable staff required to properly help clientele, at the budgets their overhead will allow, since b&m's CAN'T afford to pay what knowledgable professionals require to make a decent living "
same 'semantic' usage here
(this, by the way, is what i've seen based on personal experience, -either the b&m wasn't clearing enough to pay 'good' people, or the owner was more concerned about his short term pocket, or not concerned with the care/husbandry end of the 'moral side' of fishkeeping to the point of looking at the livestock as nothing more than a vehicle for commerce)
i'm not saying that it's ONLY b&m's where this occurs, but so far, my one 'etailer job' , in the 'morality' department, is 1 for 1, while ALL of my b&m experience is about 0 for 20 (it may be a tad lower than 20-i've lost count of all the stores i've worked in over the years).
one could argue that my experience leads to the possible conclusion that etail is superior to b&m, from that ('moral husbandry') perspective
while i'm at it-the 'logic' of a physical store being better suited to give better advice to more people simply because of the fact that it's built with building materiel rather than built out of electrons doesn't hold water either.... (and for the record, i think that the new possible direction amda seems to be gearing up for will merely polarize the industry into an economic war that, if entered into, the b&m's will lose-remember when iams swore to all that they'd NEVER be sold in supermarkets, lol? money is money, and manufacturers/suppliers/wholesalers/breeders/catchers are just as money dependent as you or i
) , for every etailer's potential sales volume-at least a few b&m's (and serious independents are what i'm refering to, not mom 'n pop sized outfits) would be needed (if not tens) to 'equate' both economically and 'politically' within the biz-i honestly don't see ANY b&m retailer advocacy group developing the clout necessary to 'fight this war'
BOTH b&m, and etailers have to deal with the same law of diminishing returns-the more time you spend helping one person, the less time you have to help everyone else-it simply isn't possible to give everyone the same level of detailed help that everyone may need, due to there being only 24 hrs in a day
(case in point-i try to be as helpful and informative as possible on the phone-those that appreciate the help then want to talk to whoever specificaly helped them, on future calls-leaving me less and less time to help new 'acquaintances')
so how can those b&m's that claim to be better in that respect, actually be better, simply by virtue of being a physical store ? whether you speak with someone face to face, or on the phone, good info is good info, and bad info is bad info - it's the messenger and message that count, not the horse the messenger's riding on
i do understand where the 'b&m crowd' is coming from-and b&m's were obviously the one's responsible for the major pushes for the hobby in the past, but Dylan pegged it all a long time ago
'the times, they are a changin'
ALL retail sectors have had to, and are, continually evolving to the new tune of the internet paradigm-i'm just suggesting that all 'potential evolutionary roads' be looked at very closely for true long term viability, for their interests, etc.
some b&m's also do etailing-it's not hard to get on that wagon, it says nothing baout you morally one way or the other (unless one subscribes to the credo that since money is the root of all evil, then ANYONE who uses money must also be evil
)
there's this amazing vehicle for commerce that can benefit both business and consumer alike-why not take advantage of it?
there's certainly, as there always will be, enough customers to go around for the better outfits that care, and time, and 'the wash', will evenually take care of the 'others', as time always does
good luck in your battles-i just hope they're being chosen wisely, for your own collective sakes
either way, the continued success of
good stores, either etail, or b&m, is simply a boon to both types
