Bigger West Marine Discount?

[Finistere]

West Marine is expensive but not if you take advantage of price match. One of the biggest bargains is the additional warranty you can buy on electrical/electronic gear, if it breaks walk into to the store and get a new one, if over $750 they will come to your boat and repair or replace. Never used to buy this type of insurance, but since the quality of a lot of items ( not just marine) has gone down it is worthwhile.

[cburger]

Originally Posted by xymotic

It depends on the product. Sometimes WM handles warranty directly, sometimes the MFR wants you to send the product to them.

And believe it or not sometimes there is a communication failure, and sometimes you get a not-so-great employee maybe even sometimes they are just having a bad day.

(full disclosure: I do work at a WM store but I am NOT a spokesperson, the opinions shared are my own only.)

Thats what happens when you work your people to death and pay them poorly.

[avb3]

One thing one can say about WM is that they have been profitable ever since 2007 - in a tough economy. That says good management, and it also says that they must be responding to the bulk of their customers, otherwise their same store sales would be declining, not growing.

I would rather have a reliable supplier who I know will be in business around, then some internet wonder who may or may not be there next year. With price match, what do you have to lose? Selection, price, locations and stability are huge.

Are there issues? Of course. Not all staff are knowledgable. Some pricing seems out of line. etc. etc. But all in all, I would rather have them around than not.

[xymotic]

Originally Posted by cburger

Thats what happens when you work your people to death and pay them poorly.

Make up your mind:

They are too expensive, but they should pay their employees better.

They are more expensive than Defender, who has one building, but West Marine should build more stores in multiple states, and each one of those stores should have a few million dollars tied up in inventory.

And surely you have some evidence that the phone operator @ Jamestown is making more than the retail clerk @ WM?

Haters are going to hate, but the bottom line is that WM will match the best price out there, and then also give you a 4% rebate back. You can hate WM for all kinds of reasons but being expensive just isn't one of them.

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by xymotic

Make up your mind:

They are too expensive, but they should pay their employees better.

They are more expensive than Defender, who has one building, but West Marine should build more stores in multiple states, and each one of those stores should have a few million dollars tied up in inventory.

And surely you have some evidence that the phone operator @ Jamestown is making more than the retail clerk @ WM?

Haters are going to hate, but the bottom line is that WM will match the best price out there, and then also give you a 4% rebate back. You can hate WM for all kinds of reasons but being expensive just isn't one of them.

Glad you like your job, sorry but, I'll never walk into your door again. Just been screwed to many times.............

[xymotic]

Originally Posted by rubyjean

Glad you like your job, sorry but, I'll never walk into your door again. Just been screwed to many times.............

"my door"? Were <we> holding a gun to your head?

I don't mind if people don't like West. I do mind when they use logical fallacies to try and make their point.

you said WM doesn't pay people well.
Well, they have about 300 store managers that do ok. Not great but ok.
How many people do you think are full-time with benefits at Defender?

I'd really like to know how to run a company that pays the most, has the highest fixed infrastructure costs and the lowest prices on every item, all the time. Seriously, please tell me how to do it and I will go put Wal-Mart out of business.

[Celestialsailor]

Luckily I live in the Mecca of marine stores. I go to Svendsens in Alameda. Since I work on boats for others, I have a wholesale license. I tried to get a Port Supply account at WM but the dog and pony show was a joke and the discounts pathetic. Why go through all the smoke and mirror tricks of haggling WM on a price match? They should just discount down to what other retail stores are doing. Their inventory for "real" marine items are less every year unless you want to buy their yachtie clothing.

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by xymotic

"my door"? Were <we> holding a gun to your head?

I don't mind if people don't like West. I do mind when they use logical fallacies to try and make their point.

you said WM doesn't pay people well.
Well, they have about 300 store managers that do ok. Not great but ok.
How many people do you think are full-time with benefits at Defender?

I'd really like to know how to run a company that pays the most, has the highest fixed infrastructure costs and the lowest prices on every item, all the time. Seriously, please tell me how to do it and I will go put Wal-Mart out of business.

I'm not the one that said anything about WM pay scale..Michael..

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I go to Svendsens in Alameda. Since I work on boats for others, I have a wholesale license. I tried to get a Port Supply account at WM but the dog and pony show was a joke and the discounts pathetic.

I too do most of my wholesale buying at Svendsen's. But the fact of the matter is that Sven's just doesn't have the inventory that West Marine/Port Suppy does and there are times when the item I want simply isn't carried by Sven's. The very few hoops that Port Supply requires you to jump through are no big deal. I buy very little on my Port Supply account but it's enough to satisfy them and keep my account alive. Maybe you can get everything you need at Svendsen's but I wouldn't deny myself a Port Supply account simply because I didn't want to deal with a corporation.

[Celestialsailor]

With WM, it was the more you spend, the better the discount. Seeing as they had little in the way of fasteners, f/g cloth, it didn't pencil out. I'm wondering what WM has that Sveds doesn't...shirts?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I'm wondering what WM has that Sveds doesn't...shirts?

Off the top of my head, here are a few items I've bought from West Marine for my business recently that I cannot get from Svendsen's:

Boat trailer tires
Hypalon material & glue
Heavy duty waterproof tool bag
2-stroke motor oil
Motor oil measuring bottle
Spark plugs
Trailer brake systems
Trailer brake lights
Trailer hitch parts
Trailer tongue jack
Non-toxic holding tank treatment
Fuel line parts
Fuel tank
Pre-spliced dock lines
Trailer bunk carpeting
And any number of tools, fasteners and zincs that I might need when I'm not working in Alameda or that Svend's may happen to be out of stock in.

All of these items are essential for my being able to do my job each day. Maybe you have limited wholesale buying needs, but for me, a Port Supply account is very useful.

[Renasci]

Ah, but.... no, I'm not going to go off on another tangent, but after reading the replies since I chimed in, I realize that it seems like everyone is right. Everything depends upon the immediate situation as far as what, where, when, and whom. I would like to add that I've seen lots of folks use hardware parts and have them fail years later. I'm not some sort of guru, it's just I've seen this with my limited experience of racing for 15+ years and cruising about 7 yrs now. I admit that I've used a nut or bolt from HomeDeport, but only when it didn't matter what grade of stainless it was. I think, think that WM uses a good grade of SS, I've not had any problems. The other thing that you pay for at WM (and you may not need it, depending upon your situation) is the ability to tear into something, find that you got the wrong stuff and you need to exchange/return something. No mailing things back, etc. What can you say, ya gotta pay for the brick-n-mortor store presence and benefits of having one, somehow. I'm not part of WM, nor any parts house, and GOD I love competition.
Kb
s/v Renasci