On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:08:56 -0500, in message

sherwindu wrote:



Ryk wrote:

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

Ryk

This is a typical problem with boating stores, in general. They sell common use
products at inflated prices, and put special labels on them to make them look like

specialty boating items. I'm curious who did this comparison shopping you talk
about. I shop for a lot of marine supplies, and my results are to the contrary.
WM
is not cutting as deep as I think they should, mainly because there are not enough

competitive stores available to force them to do so. In our economy, you can't
depend
on the good will of these companies to keep prices down.

Maybe I should have said as deeply they *have to* I have a great local
independent supplier. His prices are generally better than West,
except on the big ticket items where West knows people will compare.

Note that I said they were doing a great job of *marketing*, not a
great job of getting the best prices for the consumer.

Ryk