Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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The solution to spending as much on supplies as you are spending on stamps is to buy better stamps.
As to new supplies, I've bought from Subway - and even used them as a philatelic reference - and think only good of them.
Some folks buy old collections (esp 'remainders') just for the albums, with necessarily mixed results.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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I try to buy my supplies like hinges, mounts, etc....from my favorite dealers at my local stamp shows. I may spend 50 cents to a dollar more, but I like to help support them to make sure they keep bringing me stamps every month.
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Hi Everyone;
@ seanpashby;
Your idea is the best, and time and time again it has been proven, that the cheapest is not always the best way to go.
When greedy American consumers demand cheaper prices for retail purchases, they get just what they actually wished for....Walmart, shoddy Chinese goods, and poor customer service, or none at all. Along with Walmart, they lose local businesses that have been around for generations. Hardware stores, toy stores, dress shops, bakeries, everything gone. Whole families out of work and on relief.
But you should see that great bargain I got tho....which I'll need to replace next Xmas, because the dang thing broke two months after I used it.
When consumers ask for cheaper prices, what do the dumb a**es think? Do they actually think, that the manufacturer is going to take a cut and have less for their own families? No they just have the item made in a sweat shop using inferior materials.
I'm glad to say that all the members whom I have made friends with on here, care more about "our family" and about people in general than the almighty dollar. They are not always expecting to steal stuff at 5% - 10% of its value, just so they can buy more stuff.
Just thinkin' too much again....
slinkin' off to my hole....
TuskenRaider
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"... Along with Walmart, they lose local businesses that have been around for generations. Hardware stores, toy stores, dress shops, bakeries, everything gone ..."
? Hardware stores ?
Actually, Wal-Mart's internal studies show that certain businesses thrive next to a Wal-Mart.
(These studies were done in the 80s, when there actually was such a thing as being next door to a Wal-Mart.)
One was hardware stores. They benefited from the foot traffic, and there was no way that Wal-Mart was going to compete with them on service.
Another was ... shoe stores! Again, there was no way that Wal-Mart was going to compete with them on service.
I always hit my neighborhood hardware store before I hit the Home Depot; no matter how garbled the question or clueless the question, my neighborhood magicians just reach under the counter and pull-out exactly what you need ... "over-paying" for the occasional light bulb is the price I pay for civilization.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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Hi Everyone;
@ ikeyPikey;
ikey said:
"Actually, Wal-Mart's internal studies show that certain businesses thrive next to a Wal-Mart."
If you want to find out the impact of big-box stores like Walmart, ask the man in the street, not the ones who have a vested interest in making themselves look good. Self generated PR is called "tooting your own horn" and is always very one-sided, and possibly not even verifiable.
Actually, Walmart does not locate most stores where they will benefit their competition. They are most ofter located in malls that also feature other big-box stores that are also full of mass produced shoddy goods, like Lowe's for instance.
Does anyone remember the 60 Minutes news piece about drywall from China. It was so full of Sulphur, that it caused everything metallic in new homes to corrode so bad that the house was not livable and had to be gutted and thrown out, and completely redone.
Lowe's doesn't sell that brand anymore. So the lesson learned, don't buy from a store that doesn't know anything about what it is selling.
I too just like ikey, always go to all the other stores first, and only then to Walmart last. However usually I fill my shopping list long before, and don't go there at all!
I agree that Subway and perhaps a couple other stamp supply wholesalers are very good at customer service, and great discounts for large quantities.
If you want to buy for instance 1,000 # 3 glassines, contact fellow collectors in your area and see if they will need some too. Then maybe you can buy 5,000 at a serious discount, and share the bounty, with them.
If you do order 5,000, but can't use them all, place a for sale notice on SOR and you will, no doubt find many takers.
Just stampin'....
TuskenRaider
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Thnere are exceptions to every rule. I mount my all world used collections in 4-ring ( non stamp album) binders. The standard 2-ring type doesn't hold the pages stiff enough.
I find that I can only get these at what I guess is the UK equivalent of Home Depot ( although we do have a smaller chain of that brand here too). The normal stationery stores do not often have those in stock.Specifically philatelic items like album leavers and hinges( yes I do use them still)I get mail order from reputable dealers via e-bay or Amaazon. High street shops do not exist anymore
While these are no doubt made in China, there is "Made in China" and "Made in China".SOME Chinese goods are actually very good, and the ones that aren't are quite obvious. In a global economy it is not just about price but market size. China sells its goods worldwide and takes advantage of the economies of scale which it commands. Most Western economies are unable (or unwilling) to pitch at the whole world, but tends to pitch at individual countries.
As an ex-logistics professional I can tell you that the cost of shipping in bulk from China to say Rotterdam or Antwerp and then distributing from there to every country in Europe is much cheaper than shipping in penny-ante numbers the other way ( and there is demand on China for Western consumer goods). The demise of Western manufacturing is as much due to the economies of containerisation as it is to cheap manufacture.
My son works for a multinational ( U S owned ) chemical company here in the UK in procurement and buys raw materials and finished product worldwide. Often the source depends on availability rather than price ( other than for the most common products), but it is interesting to note that it costs less to ship a sea container from China to Rotterdam than it does to ship it from Rotterdam to the English Midlands ( less than 1000 miles ).
No wonder that one of the fastest growing industries in the UK is inward shipping/repacking/onward logistics.
Malcolm
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01:54:04pm
I'm not sure where most of my stamp hobby allowance is going to? Between topical stamps for my growing collection, and the pages, notebooks, and different supplies I need to purchase, one has become as costly as the other. I purchase most of my stamp supplies from Subway in Altoona, Pennsylvania. They have a real nice 240 page spiral bound catalog and offer some great discounts from time to time. Where do the SRO members purchase their supplies from and could we get a good discount "collective" in mass dealing with one supplier.
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this post
re: Stamp supplies
The solution to spending as much on supplies as you are spending on stamps is to buy better stamps.
As to new supplies, I've bought from Subway - and even used them as a philatelic reference - and think only good of them.
Some folks buy old collections (esp 'remainders') just for the albums, with necessarily mixed results.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
re: Stamp supplies
I try to buy my supplies like hinges, mounts, etc....from my favorite dealers at my local stamp shows. I may spend 50 cents to a dollar more, but I like to help support them to make sure they keep bringing me stamps every month.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp supplies
Hi Everyone;
@ seanpashby;
Your idea is the best, and time and time again it has been proven, that the cheapest is not always the best way to go.
When greedy American consumers demand cheaper prices for retail purchases, they get just what they actually wished for....Walmart, shoddy Chinese goods, and poor customer service, or none at all. Along with Walmart, they lose local businesses that have been around for generations. Hardware stores, toy stores, dress shops, bakeries, everything gone. Whole families out of work and on relief.
But you should see that great bargain I got tho....which I'll need to replace next Xmas, because the dang thing broke two months after I used it.
When consumers ask for cheaper prices, what do the dumb a**es think? Do they actually think, that the manufacturer is going to take a cut and have less for their own families? No they just have the item made in a sweat shop using inferior materials.
I'm glad to say that all the members whom I have made friends with on here, care more about "our family" and about people in general than the almighty dollar. They are not always expecting to steal stuff at 5% - 10% of its value, just so they can buy more stuff.
Just thinkin' too much again....
slinkin' off to my hole....
TuskenRaider
Login to Like
this post
re: Stamp supplies
"... Along with Walmart, they lose local businesses that have been around for generations. Hardware stores, toy stores, dress shops, bakeries, everything gone ..."
? Hardware stores ?
Actually, Wal-Mart's internal studies show that certain businesses thrive next to a Wal-Mart.
(These studies were done in the 80s, when there actually was such a thing as being next door to a Wal-Mart.)
One was hardware stores. They benefited from the foot traffic, and there was no way that Wal-Mart was going to compete with them on service.
Another was ... shoe stores! Again, there was no way that Wal-Mart was going to compete with them on service.
I always hit my neighborhood hardware store before I hit the Home Depot; no matter how garbled the question or clueless the question, my neighborhood magicians just reach under the counter and pull-out exactly what you need ... "over-paying" for the occasional light bulb is the price I pay for civilization.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp supplies
Hi Everyone;
@ ikeyPikey;
ikey said:
"Actually, Wal-Mart's internal studies show that certain businesses thrive next to a Wal-Mart."
If you want to find out the impact of big-box stores like Walmart, ask the man in the street, not the ones who have a vested interest in making themselves look good. Self generated PR is called "tooting your own horn" and is always very one-sided, and possibly not even verifiable.
Actually, Walmart does not locate most stores where they will benefit their competition. They are most ofter located in malls that also feature other big-box stores that are also full of mass produced shoddy goods, like Lowe's for instance.
Does anyone remember the 60 Minutes news piece about drywall from China. It was so full of Sulphur, that it caused everything metallic in new homes to corrode so bad that the house was not livable and had to be gutted and thrown out, and completely redone.
Lowe's doesn't sell that brand anymore. So the lesson learned, don't buy from a store that doesn't know anything about what it is selling.
I too just like ikey, always go to all the other stores first, and only then to Walmart last. However usually I fill my shopping list long before, and don't go there at all!
I agree that Subway and perhaps a couple other stamp supply wholesalers are very good at customer service, and great discounts for large quantities.
If you want to buy for instance 1,000 # 3 glassines, contact fellow collectors in your area and see if they will need some too. Then maybe you can buy 5,000 at a serious discount, and share the bounty, with them.
If you do order 5,000, but can't use them all, place a for sale notice on SOR and you will, no doubt find many takers.
Just stampin'....
TuskenRaider
Login to Like
this post
03:09:51am
re: Stamp supplies
Thnere are exceptions to every rule. I mount my all world used collections in 4-ring ( non stamp album) binders. The standard 2-ring type doesn't hold the pages stiff enough.
I find that I can only get these at what I guess is the UK equivalent of Home Depot ( although we do have a smaller chain of that brand here too). The normal stationery stores do not often have those in stock.Specifically philatelic items like album leavers and hinges( yes I do use them still)I get mail order from reputable dealers via e-bay or Amaazon. High street shops do not exist anymore
While these are no doubt made in China, there is "Made in China" and "Made in China".SOME Chinese goods are actually very good, and the ones that aren't are quite obvious. In a global economy it is not just about price but market size. China sells its goods worldwide and takes advantage of the economies of scale which it commands. Most Western economies are unable (or unwilling) to pitch at the whole world, but tends to pitch at individual countries.
As an ex-logistics professional I can tell you that the cost of shipping in bulk from China to say Rotterdam or Antwerp and then distributing from there to every country in Europe is much cheaper than shipping in penny-ante numbers the other way ( and there is demand on China for Western consumer goods). The demise of Western manufacturing is as much due to the economies of containerisation as it is to cheap manufacture.
My son works for a multinational ( U S owned ) chemical company here in the UK in procurement and buys raw materials and finished product worldwide. Often the source depends on availability rather than price ( other than for the most common products), but it is interesting to note that it costs less to ship a sea container from China to Rotterdam than it does to ship it from Rotterdam to the English Midlands ( less than 1000 miles ).
No wonder that one of the fastest growing industries in the UK is inward shipping/repacking/onward logistics.
Malcolm
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