From the Owner

On June 23, 2009 I changed our pricing policy from one of a dual pricing structure (one for Retail sales and one for Commercial sales) to a single tier system based upon discounts solely based on quantity. Now, all customers, both retail and commercial pay the same price. Discounts are only given by specific levels of purchase quantities. General prices have been reduced substantially from those of the past.

Why? Our economy has tanked and along with it, the welding industry and my 30 years in this business tell me that it's going to get a lot worse.

I steered my company through the oil depression in 1982 and learned many, many things on how to survive while my competitors didn't. The most important thing I learned during that fight for survival (and later) was that the "little man" (the welder) wanted to buy our products but could not justify the "Retail" price...and didn't. Worse yet, many service shops and welding supply houses "jacked" their prices far above our published retail prices simply to squeeze all they could out of the customer during depressed times. Consequently, that too resulted in many lost sales when the customer balked and didn't buy. Have you ever noticed that the welding supply industry and service shops don't normally apply price tags to their wares? There is a reason for that...and that is that the industry is based on a antiquated system of "haggling" over the price. We don't haggle.

Why didn't we simply lower the retail price so that everyone could easily afford (or justify purchasing) our products?

The reason was that we were forced to set a retail price high enough so that we could make a profit when we gave our commercial customers 20%, 25%, 35% and 45% off the retail price based upon their buying status and quantity. Lowering the retail price would have drastic impact upon our "bottom line." This is normal standard operating procedure for manufacturers and distributors throughout the country.

The main question asked by the resellers and commercial buyers are: "If the retail customer knows what the advertised price for your product is, how the heck can I buy it and make a profit? How can I compete with you?

First of all, before I answer the question, you must know that every screw, resistor, electronic part and component, shipping materials, machinery, test equipment and every other thing we purchase in this business is bought from huge wholesalers who sell strictly based upon quantity, no matter who you are, commercial reseller or retail customer. Don't believe it? Go to Grainger.com, McMaster.com, Mouser.com, Alliedelec.com, Digikey.com, Newark.com and any other major wholesalers and the first thing you will notice is that all of their prices are published for all to see. Those prices apply to my business and the "average Joe" off the street.

Now, in answer to the question: First, if you are in business and don't know how to mark a price up from the price you purchased it at, you should not be in business...period! Second, if you don't realize that when a customer asks you to buy one of our products he is going to make you money by having you install it...and...if you marked it up, you make even more money. Third, if the customer was ignorant as to where to buy the product he needed, or was too lazy to do it himself... and you did it, there is nothing wrong in marking the product up simply because you have provided your money and time to do it for him. That's called "value added."

So, now we go to a fair and simple single tier pricing system. If I had known then what I learned from the lessons learned back in 1982, I would not have lost my life's savings just in order to keep the business alive back then. My survival philosophy (learned back then) during this severe recession is "Make it affordable and they will buy it!"

Well, that's the business philosophy and reasons why we made the changes to our pricing schedule...to sell product and survive the onslaught of even worse things to come.

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