Assquatch Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 What would someone who doesn't work in your industry be surprised to find out? I don't have a great example but I know you can do better. I work in manufacturing. We sell our widgets to resellers who then sell to the end-user. We happily print our resellers logos and part numbers on our widgets' packaging so the end user never knows whom the manufacturer is. We also provide phone support to the end-user - but most of the time we have to be careful not to mention who we are so the end user thinks they are receiving tech support from the reseller. This also means that sometimes the end-user switches to another distributor who charges more he same thing (still our product) and the customer thinks they are getting something better. A friend of mine once told me he used to work for a bakery that made Wonder bread. When it was time for changeover they just switched to different bags to put the same bread in, and that was the store brand. (Sorry, first, last or middle post doesn't win a darn thing.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 What would someone who doesn't work in your industry be surprised to find out? I don't have a great example but I know you can do better. I work in manufacturing. We sell our widgets to resellers who then sell to the end-user. We do the same thing. The REAL secret is to be one of these re-sellers. They make 10-20% margin without ever touching the product. Buy it from us and drop ship to their customer. I swear some of this guys have no office or anything, just work from their cell phones. Well I guess they need an office for invoicing and to count their cash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 What would someone who doesn't work in your industry be surprised to find out? As a worker in the IT field, I hate to break the following news to you but.... They didn't set up your network, build servers, and give you a fancy new laptop so you can surf TSW, check out Youtube®, update your Facebook® page and send chain emails to your cousin in Kalamazoo Now get back to work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assquatch Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 As a worker in the IT field, I hate to break the following news to you but....They didn't set up your network, build servers, and give you a fancy new laptop so you can surf TSW, check out Youtube®, update your Facebook® page and send chain emails to your cousin in Kalamazoo Now get back to work You're watching me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockpile Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 It is often cheaper to buy component crap and ship it here from China and rework or throw half of it out, than to "Buy American". Friggin sad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockpile Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 As a worker in the IT field, I hate to break the following news to you but....They didn't set up your network, build servers, and give you a fancy new laptop so you can surf TSW, check out Youtube®, update your Facebook® page and send chain emails to your cousin in Kalamazoo Now get back to work LUNCH TIME! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 We do the same thing. The REAL secret is to be one of these re-sellers. They make 10-20% margin without ever touching the product. Buy it from us and drop ship to their customer. I swear some of this guys have no office or anything, just work from their cell phones. Well I guess they need an office for invoicing and to count their cash This is the guys I hate in our industry(screen printing). There are a bunch of these marketing/trinket and trash companies that are merely middle men that often never touch the product. A lot of the bigger corporations go to them to get their shirts, bottle openers, golf towels etc. Their buyers are trained to bust the balls of printers like us on price. So for example, they will work us down to say, $3 a printed shirt and resell it to Intel for $10. We do all the printing. Handle the shirts(which they often supply so we can't even make a markup on that). Do art, output film, burn screens package and ship to their customer. We do all the work, they make way more profit than we do. We could sell directly to Intel for much cheaper and we would also make more profit. We restructured 3 years ago and actually got rid of the 3 companies that worked like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyT Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 That snozzberries actually do taste like snozzberries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assquatch Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 I would love to hear some "behind the scenes" stories from folks in retail or food service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 That 99% of the music on the radio is mind-numbing pre-fabricated pablum...and that's the GOOD news. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Investment advisers aren't allowed to charge their customers based on performance unless the client's account is worth $750k (and the client is worth at least $1.5 million). They have to charge either a flat fee, hourly, or a percentage of assets. It's a terrible rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NyQuil Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Phase 1: Collect underpants Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: PROFIT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike In Illinois Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Phase 1: Collect underpantsPhase 2: ??? Phase 3: PROFIT. "Yeah, but what's Phase Two?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booster4324 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 "Yeah, but what's Phase Two?" That actually says ???. Every time you type ??? though the forum filter renders it as ???. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assquatch Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 That actually says ???. Every time you type ??? though the forum filter renders it as ???. The filter is making your explanation of the filter nonsensical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 That 75% of nursing staff in long term health care facilities are lazy and really don't have your loved ones best interests as their #1 priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 That 75% of nursing staff in long term health care facilities are lazy and really don't have your loved ones best interests as their #1 priority. Shocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damj Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 It doesn't take very long to design buildings. Sincerely, Art Vandelay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 As a government contractor, I should tell you all that your government is actually MORE incompetent than you could possibly believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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