Sick of the Marine Chandlery "Gouge" !!!

[jim]

I am in the process of a total repowering / rewiring, currently spec-ing
out the electrical system...

Can anyone tell me how West Marine can charge $25.99 (reference page 596 of
the 2001 catalog, item 209247) for an 120 VAC outlet??? Home depot sells
them for $.46 cents! I have held both in my hands and there is no visible
difference in feel, construction, etc. The WM does have "corrosion
resistant" on it. A $25.53 difference?

Or for that matter, $529.99 for a 50A, 125/250V to 50A, 125/250V shore
power Y adapter (page 599, item 233762)??? 529 dollars? Come on! It's
just some heavy duty cable with molded plastic around it. Worth something,
but $529???

I offer this thread for fellow boaters to vent, but would appreciate some
insight into how this industry can get away with it.

[Gould 0738]

It's called monopolistic and predatory pricing practice.

Many of the "independent" chandlers buy their merchandise from Port Supply,
which is the wholesale division of........West Marine.

There's no volume in marine gear. None.
The reason that "Y" adapter is $500 might be because some little three man
company someplace is cranking them out, and the entire market demand is
possibly less than 2000 units a year. West Marine probably takes a 70% discount
from the retail, so they're paying $150 a toss.

For the manufacturer, $150 x 2000 units is a gross income of $300,000, or
$200,000 after taxes. $30,000 bucks for materials, and there's just enough left
for an owner and a couple of grunts.

The little guys in the business can't buy well enough to undercut the 800 pound
Gorilla in many cases, and when they can
they are just as likely to undercut WM by just a smidgen rather than by a
tremendous amount.

The only reason to offer deep discounts from the prevailing price is to build
volume, and there isn't any real volume to attract for
many marine products.

Then there are certain items that WM or similar businesses sell very few of to
the public, (your 120 VAC outlet might be an example), and discount by monster
margins to the repair trades. When you get your bill from the boatwright and
you start hollering about the prices of outlets, he can just pull out the WM
catalog and "prove" that you're not overpaying. He might even try to convince
you that the $25 is what he had to pay, and he's just passing the cost along
without a markup. Ha! The fact that WM paid 50 cents apiece for the outlets and
wholesales them to the trade for $5.00 each doesn't enter into the discussion
while the boatwright is collecting $20 per each gross profit.

[Calif Bill]

It is also called making a profit. I used to be in the Disk Drive world.
$25 billion / year and no profit. Maybe the chandlers are not all dumb high
tech type business people.
Bill
;)

Gould 0738 wrote in message <20020319011538...@mb-mf.aol.com>...

[Gfretwell]

I suppose this whole "marine" thing may be because there is virtually zero
standardization in the industry so every part seems to be a custom item that
won't allow a volume market to get started.
I suppose when the Chinese get in this business prices will plummet and that 2
man shop making a couple thousand $150 widgets will be gone. This wouldn't
happen if there weren't 100 different styles of the same widget.

[Jim Foros]

It is known as the "Marine markup", also "What the market will bear"
"jim" <jimmyNO...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns91D5EA1...@64.154.60.171...

[Keith]

As far at the outlet, they can ask that price, you don't have to pay it.
My boat has standard outlets. I can replace them for $0.46 if they
corrode. Let's see, at $25.99, I can replace them 56 times and break
even. I doubt that'll happen. Just say no.

OTOH, the reverse Y adapter has diodes in it that keep the unplugged
side from being energized if the other is plugged in. It's not a simple
Y. If you're not worried about that, you can just wire one up. However,
the plugs and wire are expensive enough, even wholesale. A good idea is
to scavenge parts and build your own when practicable.

--
__________________
Keith
"All that we do is touched with ocean,
yet we remain on the shore of what we know."
- Richard Wilbur

[del cecchi]

"Keith" <klem...@airmail.net> wrote in message
news:182F04AC00A8914A.0E0222FD...@lp.airnews.net..
.

Diodes? I don't think so. Relays maybe, Thyristors or SCRs maybe. But
not diodes.

del cecchi

[Gfretwell]

It's not the diode that makes these things special, it is the proprietary plug
that won't even fit all the stuff from THAT manufacturer and not even similar
to the other guy, in spite of the fact that functionally they are identical.
The rectifier on the 75 Mariner was nothing but half a bridge that sells for
about 50 cents at an electronic store. Mercury gets almost $40 for it. I
crimpted spade terminals on my cable and went with the 50 cent one. It was
still working when I sold the motor 8 years later.