Re: Prepay for items is this the trend around you???

Posted by js305 on November 27, 2015 at 08:07:44 from (70.195.194.158):

In Reply to: Prepay for items is this the trend around you??? posted by jocco on November 27, 2015 at 05:59:50:

I have worked for an electronics parts place that sells components and related tools, etc. on a wholesale and retail basis. When I went to work there in 1995 we had a pretty large number of 30 day accounts, over 1000 of them. Most were not all that big, TV shops and small repair centers that bought small amounts at a time. Made sense to have an account where one bill could be paid instead of two or three a day. As far as I know, there were a few delinquent accounts but hardly ever did we get stiffed from non payment. And then it was because someone died or went bankrupt. That has changed over the years. Now we still have those accounts, and will entertain opening new ones. However, the vetting process has changed. Good ole boy tactics have just about gone away. The worst offenders have been old friends of the owner.

Also, more and more customers are using credit cards. Their reasons are varied, but one is the bookkeeping is evidently easier, as indicated by one of the posts here. Many purchases but one bill to pay a month that is easier to track, etc.

20 years ago we had many TV shops here that all together did a lot of business with us. Now there are only two that trade with us, the rest are gone. No rocket science here, TV's aren't repaired much any more. My point is that business and cash flow has changed a lot. Money is too easy to acquire, and lose.

The cash up front references hit home here with us. We also have an area in the back room full of ordered, but never picked up items. It hasn't been too much of a problem yet, but it's a source of irritation. I now size up the situation before ordering a non stocked item. In all likelyhood we will soon have to adopt the same pay in advance policy before ordering. It's funny that about 20% of our unclaimed items back there were paid for up front, and still not picked up. Don't know what's up with that. One person, when finally contacted with a new phone number, said he simply forgot about it, but wondered why we hadn't called him earlier. I don't know about everyone else, but if I paid for something and was waiting for it I would be checking up on it myself.

I know this is kinda long, but it hit home on several levels.

One last thing about freight damages. We ship a lot. We use UPS for the most part, because we are on a "route" and it's much easier. With that said, we always over insure stuff just a bit. The reasons are obvious to those who use them and the other competitors for shipping. We have a camera in the back room to take photos of incoming packages that appear damaged or mishandled. This has been very helpful in recent years. The drivers know us, and often point out damage that might be missed now.

Bottom line: Get used to it. It ain't gonna get better soon.

Replies:

Add a Reply! You must be Logged In to Post Name: E-Mail: Subject: Comments: Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Optional Video Title: Optional Video URL: Advanced Posting Options Email Notification: If you check this box, email will be sent to you whenever someone replies to this message. Your email address must be entered above to receive notification. This notification will be cancelled automatically after 2 weeks.   Advanced Posting Tools   Upload Photo  Select Gallery Photo  Attach Serial No List  Return to Post  Upload Photos/Videos Choose Files from your local computer Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo filesizes should be less than 300K and Videos, less than 2MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]