In article , Leanne wrote:

"Peggie Hall" wrote in message
t...
They bought out all their "bricks and
mortar" competition, but as online chandleries continue to poliferate, I
believe their perceived monopolistic attitude has already begun to bite
them in the @$$...I expect them to be in chapter 11 within another 5
years. I THINK they'll survive it, but only by coming marine
"convenience stores"...on every corner, but only stocking those few
items people typically need right now, and therefore have no choice but
to pay list+50% for.

Here in Beaufort, we have a WM Express which just about that. I was
disappointed with the selection of stock. It seems that they weren't even on
a par with the fishing and boating gear in the sporting goods section at out
local Wal-Mart.

Interesting... when I owned my own boat a while ago, I signed up for
some part time work at the local WM, so that I could get the employee
discount for my project.

It was an interesting experience. There were some people who worked
there who had a vast amount of experience, others were strictly retail
clerks with no experience other than ringing up stuff. I don't claim
to have vast experience, but I think 30+ years of sailing counts for
something. :-)

I found it to be a depressing place to work. The "managers" were very,
very concerned that I was interested in stealing their jobs (masters
degree, etc.). I wasn't at all. I was only there for the discount and
would have worked for zero $ if they had given me the option. I tried
hard to explain that to them, since their unease was obvious. It
didn't help mostly. The store manager was not much better. He was only
interested in getting the registers working continuously, and while
there's nothing wrong with that, he really didn't care about the
customer beyond them buying something. Actually, he was quite savvy
about that, constantly reminding us to not discount customers who
looked poor. (My experience was that these guys, mostly asian, would
walk in and buy several outboards in one pop in cash, and they weren't
even concerned about a discount through their advantage or port supply
cards.)

So, I, thinking that I could possibly help customers make some good
choices about what they were looking for, would sometimes spend a few
minutes talking to them about such things as anchoring techique,
equipment to buy, merits of this item over that. Man, did I get in
trouble. Apparently, I didn't always recommend the most expensive
item, and had the temerity to actually talk to them, when I was
supposed to immediately hand them off to a more "senior"
person... e.g., someone with more retail experience. :-)

Well, I got the parts I needed, then I quit. But, I do know a couple
of people who've stuck it out. They had bigger projects. :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com