The State of the Industry an Unsavoury truth!

[Stan Hope-Streeter]

Quote:

The other reason why Mackie prices have risen is because everyone is forbidden to discount the prices. Just a few weeks ago we had the Mackie rep pay a special visit just to explain that any disocunt whatsoever is not allowed and for us to report any shops/websites that are doing so...

 

Surely resale price maintenance was made illegal many years ago. Can they actually enforce this ?

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

ive no idea on the legal side of things, but many suppliers have done this

 

a big DJ supplier Prolight have a 30% rule, get the trade price, add VAT and then add 30% and thats the minimum people are allowed to sell for. It means retailers with shops can sell and make a little as opposed to trying to compete with ebay and "working from home" businesses who only want to make £5 on a £150 sale

[Pete McCrea]

Surely resale price maintenance was made illegal many years ago. Can they actually enforce this ?

 

By deciding that you ar eno longer supporting the supplier and their products, and that your account is now closed? I'm sure the contract we signed with one large video electronics manufacturer had plenty of clauses that enable them to terminate our account very quickly, and for any 'valid' reason they desire.

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

I think the reply we had off one rep was "you may find that we are out of stock of those items" when you go to order

[paul the paranoid lampy]

I have been reading this thread with some interest for a number of weeks now.

here are a couple of points

This summer, I was involved in a "youth event" 500 kids on a tented site.

When I found out who was supply the light sound and power and uged the site manager to reconseder using them from what I have seen in the past, shoddy kit and frankly dangerous practice

but no, "they are doing the job for £xxxx and that is what we are going with" ws the responce I got, fine dig you own grave I thought

low and behold, come the event, the lighting was shody, as was the PA (no Bass bins on a rock music stage) a rervsed phase on a pat tested mains cable an open back on a live 63 amp line connectot (I could see the terminal screws) no spare lamps, incorrectly assembled and dangeriusly hung truss, No ce marks on any of the rigging kit, the list goes on and on

No doubt they will be back on site next year (if they are I wont be) because they are cheap.

 

When I do local am dram shows, I hire in kit form local hire companies that I know and trust will give me good kit and a fair price, beacasue I know if I have an issue they will jump in the van and drive 20 miles with the bit if something fails (that is something that also needs to be taken into account when pricing up a job)

That is a true test of a good hire \sales company, how quick do they respond if something goes wrong,

going back to the Plasa scren issue, yes you can buy a 32 in TV from tesco for £250, but will Tesco deliver a new screen if on goes wrong on site an hour before the punters walk in? no, they wont but a company charging £300 should. and most proberly will.

 

sorry to rant on but just need to make a few points.

 

Just my 2p

[tokm]

Remember earlier in the topic, people we're saying about constant undercutting and sending out kit/rigs well below what they should be? Well, take a look at this: Perfect example of the current state of things.. People sending out mac2k's for £40 a week, per pair! :P

 

Nothing against the OP in that topic.. well done/lucky him for getting that kind of deal, but ts worrying to think a company stocking that sort of kit would be letting it out for that sort of money.

 

Or am I just getting worked up over nothing?

 

T

[Paul J Need]

pretty much EVERY supplier has raised prices by around 10-15% in the last month or so, this is because they pay for the goods in china/taiwan etc in US dollars, the exchange rate is very poor for people with pound sterling, so hence why all prices have risen. The other reason why Mackie prices have risen is because everyone is forbidden to discount the prices. Just a few weeks ago we had the Mackie rep pay a special visit just to explain that any disocunt whatsoever is not allowed and for us to report any shops/websites that are doing so

 

So, I wouldnt give up on your 1801's, im pretty sure if you approach a few smaller retailers direct, they will do you some substantial discount, on the quiet of course

 

Not all folk have done so - as a lot of audio firms for example still have old stocks when they bought quantities...... once they run out of these stocks prices will increase in the region of 20%.

 

My advice is if you need to buy anything do so before mid- late January.

[Simon Lewis]

My advice is if you need to buy anything do so before mid- late January.

 

Given this news, there might not be any Mackie product arriving in January!!

[cfmonk]

Hi Everybody!

 

Interesting topic and an interesting post.

 

I have to say I completely disagree with the original suggestions that we should in any way "get together and do something about it".

 

Among other things, I run a marquee hire, catering and event management company and I have a policy that I will not compete on the basis of "can you beat this quote" because I think it is unfair and, more importantly, those sort of clients are going to end up winding me up, I will however go back to people with a revised price if they have said they don't want to pay the first one (obviously depending on time of year, total value of job, chance of future business etc etc). Price competition is very healthy for an industry. Yes, standards may slip with the cheaper companies but who are we to judge what the "correct" standard is? If a client wants shoddier equipment for a lower price then why shouldn't they have it? Many of my competitors make a good living out of just that. The only people who can judge what is the correct standard are the clients (and of course the HSE).

 

We all get frustrated with the "how can you possibly charge that much when so and so is charging this much?" questions. I like to respond "I think you should be asking how he can possibly afford to charge that little.." (my favourite bug bear at the moment is people who see they can buy a "Party Tent Marquee" for less than hiring one of mine) and the really annoying thing is that people won't know they have bought a lemon until after the event and then the business has gone anyway! But that is, unfortunately the way of the business. If I found that people were not wanting to pay my prices and wanted to pay less for a less valuable product then I would have to change my maintainance regimes and ways of working, I would employ less office staff so responding to queries took longer etc. etc., what I wouldn't do is sit around telling everyone that marqueeing had gone to the dogs!

 

I appreciate that it is harder when the service is a personal one, I stage manage and look after production things for a large London based promoter and I charge a fairly high price for my services because a) I am good at it and b) It means staying up till 7 in the morning. In the past I have been told by my boss there that they aren't using me because I was too expensive and "so and so said he would do it for £100", there is no way I am going to work that long for that kind of money because I cannot "become shoddier" in the end I told them to go ahead but lo and behold the next gig they were back to me at my rates of pay showing that price is not everything to all people!