Hick received a rare complaint from a prospective customer at his Storage Unit Store last weekend. As you may recall, Hick likes to move merchandise. He will sell everyday items for a dollar profit. Sometimes 50 cents. However... he is more protective of his high-demand items. He won't let them go for a song. He's in business to make a profit, by cracky! Not to give merchandise away. Well. Except for the Wonder Woman items he buys to give to that Down Syndrome daughter of one of his regulars. He puts them on a shelf, and the daughter "shops" to find them. She's delighted when he has something.
Anyhoo... a man was looking at Hick's ammunition. It's pretty hard to come by these days. I know nothing about firearms and ammunition. I'm betting that none of you do, either. So if I mess up the details, you probably won't notice. Here's the story straight from the Hick's mouth.
"A man came up and looked around and said, 'Well, you're really gouging!' I asked what he meant, and he said my price was too high on my .45 ammunition. 'You're taking advantage of the situation.' I told him, 'Buddy, I make $5 a box profit.' He said he could get it cheaper somewhere else. So I told him to go ahead. Didn't matter to me."
"How much were you charging?"
"I'm asking $45 for a box of 50. I paid $35 for these, but they're really hard to find now. I saw Dunn's Sporting Goods HAD them for $35, but they'll only sell people ONE BOX. By the time you pay the tax up there, it will cost you $40 for a box. I'll sell people more than one box if they want it, at a price of $40 a box. If he can find it cheaper, then let him buy somewhere else. I'm betting that he can't. Because I can't even find any now."
"So you could have made $10 profit on that box?"
"Yeah. But it would have cost me $40 now to replace it. So really I'm only making $5 over what the going rate is. If that guy comes back wanting it, I have a good mind not to sell to him. I wouldn't want to cheat him!"
It's not like Hick is selling student-size bottles of hand sanitizer for $100. Or single rolls of toilet paper for $5. He's asking market price for an item that people don't HAVE to have. The seller can ask what the market will bear. Doesn't mean he's gouging.
It probably doesn't help that the same .45 ammunition was $21 a box a couple months ago... Hick can't let it go for that now. He's NOT a charity!
Hick is not gouging, but there is only so much, a percent, over the regular price that people can charge. After that, it is gouging. So, people should not be charging too much since they can keep it under whatever their state allows. I always invited people to buy elsewhere if my stuff was too expensive.
ReplyDeleteHick checks the retail stores to see the going rate, and charges a little less to account for their taxes. Then he points out that sure, people can go buy the item elsewhere, and it will cost the same by the time tax is included.
DeleteMy prices are competitive. This is a business and I certainly won't MAKE yo stay here. If you are a decent hard working sort, I will work with you and will even extend a discount at my own discretion. But, boy, it makes me fighting mad when someone tries to rip me off. I have had folks tell me that I am not charging enough in my camp store. Like Hick, I just want to make a profit that will let me keep the shelves stocked with items for campers convenience. People try to tell me that they can get a site for half the cost of my price an will I meet that price. No I won't, they should go to the half priced campground for that!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! I can't imagine Hick's reaction if somebody would ask him to meet a competitor's price!
DeleteOther vendors at the Units complain that Hick is hurting THEIR business by charging less than they do for certain merchandise. Oh, well. Hick says some of them are too greedy, and hold onto stuff too long rather than bargain with customers to sell it.
The cost of ammunition these days should save a few lives. People wont be able to shoot their neighbours over minor disagreements. Or major ones. Or for no reason except they're drunk and not thinking straight.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I'm glad we don't have that problem in Backroads!
DeleteI might feel a little safer if the price of baseball bats went up, considering that's what killed the headless body found in the septic tank a half-mile up the road.
As long as Hick is shooting from the lip and not the hip, we're safe. He's probably right about the availablity of ammo.
ReplyDeleteHick might as well start his own website, Ammopedia. People are always calling or texting him, asking about prices they've seen, wanting to know if it's a good deal.
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