Product pricing and freight $$$

[doged]

High cost of freight has been coming up lately as I anticipated because of rising fuel prices. Thus my plan on becoming a local car care dealer in Central California. Times change quickly!!! Still looking for a distributor?

Is high freight cost going to eliminate the middle man internet store? Will enthusiasts start purchasing locally? How will this effect on-line purchasing of car care?

[Joshua312]

Personally, the costs wont effect me - I need to get my products online soo...therefore I will pay the costs..I havent seen a jump in prices from the last orders I have made, It would be nice if there was a local supplier of the products I can buy online, however West Michigan isnt the next Florida or California for a distributor to be :(

[RCBuddha]

I try to get most of my stuff locally, not for less freight cost, mostly b/c the shipping tends be a lot faster. However, consider that you don`t have to pay taxes on stuff you buy out of state, you can get discounts at many internet retailers, the cost of shipping actually isn`t too bad.

[strat81]

High cost of freight has been coming up lately as I anticipated because of rising fuel prices. Thus my plan on becoming a local car care dealer in Central California. Times change quickly!!! Still looking for a distributor?

Is high freight cost going to eliminate the middle man internet store? Will enthusiasts start purchasing locally? How will this effect on-line purchasing of car care?



I doubt it will have a significant impact on internet vendors. Many Autopians purchase products that aren`t sold by Walmart, Target, K-mart, Autozone, Pep Boys, NAPA, O`Reilly, RS Strauss, Advance Auto, or any other large chain. And, it is unlikely that any of those stores will start carrying Pinnacle, Poorboys, ClearKote, FinishKare, et al.



But, hypothetically, let`s say Autopia Car Care.com started a chain of brick and mortar stores. It would take time for them to be built and even then, they can`t be in every town in the country. Believe it or not, some people don`t live close to a Walmart. So, people would still be stuck getting into their car and making a special trip to the Autopia store. How far away is it? 10 miles? 100 miles? What kind of mileage does your vehicle get? 15mpg? 40mpg? So now the consumer who is paying $3/gal for gasoline has to spend it on gasoline rather than shipping. And even then, there is no guarantee that the store would even carry the exact prodcuts the customer wanted.



The situation is further illustrated by people like me who live in rural areas. My town of 4,200 has a NAPA which I can order Megs professional and 3M products from. The closest large city (approx. 40,000) is 20 miles to city limits plus whatever distance I drive while in the city. My car gets about 30-35mpg on the highway and takes premium, so I`m looking at 1.5 to 2 gallons of gas per trip there. Even then, the best I could probably find is an autobody and paint supply shop. So, I`m out $5 for gas and I may not even get the products I want. (I recently moved to rural Nebraska after growing up and living in NYC for 24 years. The situation wasn`t that much different since it would take me 45 minutes to drive/idle 8 miles to a store. Still wasting a lot of gasoline.)



I think some ingenuity on the consumer`s part will come into play. Much how people will find ways to save energy by driving less often or shorter distances, running the heat or a/c less, or turning the lights off earlier in the day, some folks will find ways to save money on detailing. Personally, I recently picked up one gallon of Meg`s #80 when Amazon.com had it on sale. Three things happened with that purchase: 1) I saved $$$ since it was on sale. 2) I saved $$$ since I purchased in bulk - 1 gallon, not 16 oz. 3) Since it was more than $25, I got free shipping. More $$$ saved. Also, it pays to shop around since not all online vendors sell things at the same price.



The other, more pessimistic, scenario is that detailing sales will go down since people will have less disposable income. This may not affect everyone, but some people do live paycheck to paycheck and/or have tight budget constraints.



Of course, beer, soda, and bottled water still cost more than gasoline and I don`t people screaming bloody murder about them. I still see plenty of full-size V8 trucks and SUVs on the highway. I just laugh when I see an F-250 with one person (especially a well-dressed woman) inside of it and nothing in the back. I`ll keep motoring along in my turbo four.



:spot