How do they do it?

[Bren]

I ordered a pair of cabin filters for the A6 - they were from ebay.

 

Crossland, delivered by DHL in less than 48 hours.

 

The price? £6.79.

 

I cannot see how anybody comes out with a profit. No wonder high street motor factors are going to the wall.

 

In my defence, I would have gone to my local (very good) factor but with all that is going on with my wife's mother I simply did'nt get chance. It took 30 seconds on tinterweb.

[Tickman]

They must get a massive discount on carriage.

I can only imagine there is a very large mark up on some* parts and a person selling stuff on the internet who has no real overheads can make a lot of money by selling a large volume of stuff without ever seeing it.

[brickwall]

When I worked for a machinery company I organised a large discount on carriage. it's cut throat out there.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

This morning, the Mrs and I went to a cafe in town for breakfast. Large latte and equally large blsck coffee, carrot and coriander soup with bread and two croissants ith butter and jam. £6.20. How DO they do it?

 

The one we (used) to go too started taking the piss at over a tenner.

[spartacus]

It's all done with smoke and mirrors...

[New POD]

Virtual Stock.  There is one massive warehouse and 1000 different online shops all with different prices, and anything that moves quickly is discounted.

 

I mean how much mark up on this stuff do you think really exists? The difference between and OE manufacturer's PRICE to a Car marker and the Car DEALERS' retail price.

 

2 examples from my past.

 

Lucas CAV made 1 Million DPC pumps a year in the early 90's and they made the solenoid in La Rochel on the west coast of france. It cost them about £2.50 to make one every 6 seconds and ship to Blois about 2 hours away.

 

I was involved in making the replacement with electronics but our bit was in Keighley (although ended up in Brum), where we also made solenoids for looms in very high volume, but we couldn't compete with china competitors, because we couldn't get the copper wire at a price less that they were charging for the whole thing.

 

I digress. I left Lucas and needed the old none electronic solenoid for my AXD Prices at different dealers which used exact same part in every European car makers range, went from £65 to £95.  £2.50 to £65 quid, minus some vat, some shipping some storage costs. ? So if you went direct to the maker and said "I'll buy XXX K a year" how much would you pay ? He might get £3 from the OE, so he'll be happy to sell you 1000 for £3250 plus shipping and Vat.  And if you sell them online for £6.50 plus shipping and Vat, you might get the volume.

 

The other example : I worked at Allied signal in 1998 to 2000, and we made a wasted gated Garrett Turbo for Ford Mondeo and the standard manufacturing cost was £80 ish (we could buy 3 turbo's a year at cost if the car we wanted it for had the V5 in our name and a work mate bought a new turbo for £80 ish. Ford Dealers wanted £800. Refurbed turbos were £500.

 

now the parts to refurb a turbo are buttons if you have enough volume, so on ebay, you can get a rebuilt and balanced centre housing assy for £90.

All you need is the machines and the volume and you MUST* be making 100% mark up

 

* an educated guess.

 

So I ask - how much does it cost to make a filter in volume ? "FUCK ALL" would be my guess. There's enough old machine end up in some sweat shop in the arse end of the world. All you need to do is find them and order a shit load.

[carlo]

When I worked for a machinery company I organised a large discount on carriage. it's cut throat out there.

 

Which probably explains the general quality of your typical courier service these days.

 

They're offering jobs down here of delivering around 80 parcels a day at 50p each, that's using your own car and your own fuel/feet.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

40 quid for a day driving about burning your own fuggin juice? The mind boggles.

[colnerov]

 Hi, I was once told that most supply chains for anything works on a 100% mark up at least every time it changes hands, so by the time you get manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor and retailer it mounts up.

 

I was with a mate once who was trying to get a better price for something at the motor factors, he was looking over the shoulder of the stores guy and there was a line of about 7 or 8 prices across the page the last being retail and the others were traders different discount rates for volume. So my mate says why can't I have it for the first (low) price and was told "No, that's the price the branch buys it in for from the distribution centre"  So it doesn't take long for an oil filter costing pence to make to be a tenner over the counter.

 

 Colin

[Lacquer Peel]

40 quid for a day driving about burning your own fuggin juice? The mind boggles.

Crap jobs endorsed by the Government to rig unemployment figures.

[fatharris]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12x-Waxing-Polish-Foam-Sponge-Applicator-Pads-Fit-Cleaning-Car-Glass-Yellow-/262225168407?hash=item3d0dd68817:g:NzoAAOSwZG9Wi6~f

99p.

NINETY.

 

NINE.

 

PENCE.

 

DELIVERED.

 

FROM MALAYSIA.

Just.....what?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Crap jobs endorsed by the Government to rig unemployment figures.

[ian Duncan Smith]Its Britains flexible workforce showing resourcefulness and embracing the benefits of self-employment, etc etc[/ian Duncan Smith]

[cobblers]

80 parcels a day if you're lucky, My old man does it - You'll start off on a shit route out in the sticks where it'll often cost you more in juice than you'll earn, if you stick that out for a while you might get bumped up to a better run, but most people sack it off after a few weeks after realising they're out of pocket. Repeat with the next guy, and the next guy until you get enough complaints from people on the run or lost parcels that you really have to stick a salaried bloke on it for a month or so.

 

He's stressed out to fuck, not had a day off on holiday or sick for 4 years because if you want a week off, you'll have lost your run by the time you come back and it'll take you a month or two before you're on a good enough run to earn a wage again.

 

I'm honestly surprised that Yodel and MyHerpes etc manage to drag this state of affairs out for as long as they have TBH.

[Cavcraft]

I got some 99p inc. delivery cycling glasses from China and they lasted absolutely ages.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

They all need fuggin destroying all these cheap courier services. They're all total cunts to deal with if you're the 'parcel receiver' and you cant have a go at the drivers if they are earning 20p per hour. The whole lot is a massive pyramid of shite with no winners. I bet they are all owned by spurious shell companies in Bermuda as well.

[cobblers]

The people making the decisions don't know what they're getting into  - Our gaffer was about to sign up to use Yodel instead of UPS for our deliveries of parcels because they were half the price of UPS and would save us about £400 a week over the 150 parcels we send out.

These parcels are usually containing a Bus ECU or something - which would cost £2.5-£3.5k each to replace if they got lost, plus extra time off the road where the customer is potentially hiring a vehicle. Mental.

[xtriple]

It is a bloody shame that it's all so cut throat out there.

 

The problem is: as a consumer, it is sooooo very easy to sit down, laptop out, eBay or Amazon and it's delivered (sometimes/eventually) to your door for fuck all, so much more appealing than going into town, trying to find somewhere to park, pay for the privilege, schlep through the throngs (ha!) and buy the same item for five times as much.

 

I would like to say that I support the local trade, but it is so easy......

[Lacquer Peel]

They all need fuggin destroying all these cheap courier services. They're all total cunts to deal with if you're the 'parcel receiver' and you cant have a go at the drivers if they are earning 20p per hour. The whole lot is a massive pyramid of shite with no winners. I bet they are all owned by spurious shell companies in Bermuda as well.

Yodel is owned by the weird and tax avoiding Barclay brothers.

I applied for Yodel when things were desperate, I'm glad nothing came of it.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

It is a bloody shame that it's all so cut throat out there.

 

The problem is: as a consumer, it is sooooo very easy to sit down, laptop out, eBay or Amazon and it's delivered (sometimes/eventually) to your door for fuck all, so much more appealing than going into town, trying to find somewhere to park, pay for the privilege, schlep through the throngs (ha!) and buy the same item for five times as much.

 

I would like to say that I support the local trade, but it is so easy......

I'm all for buying stuff online, I do it loads, but i want it delivered by someone who gives a fuck, in return i realise that i have to pay an amount that's going to cover him getting at least the minimum wage & basic employment rights.

[fatharris]

If there were large motoring stores that had free parking and were readily available/not taking the absolute piss with their prices, I'd be there.

But they don't, so I don't. 

[HH-R]

I end up uttering an "ah, shit" every time I order something and get given a Yodel tracking number.

[UltraWomble]

40 quid for a day driving about burning your own fuggin juice? The mind boggles.

I'll get one of these for when I retire then and do some delivery for My-Herpes on the side - 50cc should be frugal enough

[Pillock]

I did a few weeks as a courier, using my own car. Paid per parcel, and only once per parcel - if your customer is out and there's nowhere to leave it, you have to go back the next day up to three times in total and you're only getting paid once. That's why crystal decanters get lobbed over walls.

Also, I was parcel delivering in a 1.8 Mondeo which was hardly going to be the most efficient method

[Timewaster]

You won't get enough speed up to do anywhere near the required amount of damage to all those "fragile" parcels with that thing.

 

 

This whole discussion reminds me of the old story about a man who received a scrunched up envelope marked "Photographs Do Not Bend"

And in biro someone had written "yes they do!"

[Chris2cv]

Working for a main dealer, we regularly get "why wont you give me the part number, I want to buy it on Ebay!"  Answered your own question there!  The trouble is, we know that you can order much of the stuff online, often for much less than we pay for it. If you buy a part we have said will fit, we are responsible for It if your car goes wrong, have to provide a warranty etc. lf an ebay user says it is the same as our part, it might well be. Or it might not.  We have to buy from our parent company, who seem determined to drive customers away, regularly having parts for production cars on back order for months (one part last week had been on order since November, for a car currently in production!) and their own customer services tell people to buy things online!

 

 I am not asking for sympathy for the dealers, we make money, but not at anything like the rate people think. On the majority of parts we make 20% or so, some things more, some less. Last year a really nice guy got talking about old cars ( a way to get a discount from me!) and wanted a set of wheel trims for his car. They were £70 on a 10 year old car! I tried to give him 10% discount just to sweeten the deal a little, but found that we were actually making 8%. Not 80, eight! Someone was making a killing, probably the manufacturer, and also the car manufacturer, but certainly not the dealer.

 

 Saying that though, I haven't even tried to buy 2cv stuff from Citroen for over 20 years, no idea if you can get anything from them, and have always bought online!

[Chris2cv]

I used to do deliveries for the car dealer where I work, and was usually tense and stressed, constantly fighting traffic and deadlines to get all the stuff delivered on time. I was on a regular salary and it was bad enough, how these home delivery drivers make any money without going mad, I have no idea!

[robinmasters]

Which probably explains the general quality of your typical courier service these days.

 

They're offering jobs down here of delivering around 80 parcels a day at 50p each, that's using your own car and your own fuel/feet.

 

I'm starting to feel some sympathy for the delivery person that chucked a box over our fence yesterday (it was raining, the box fell apart, contents all fell out and got wet).

[Uncle Jimmy]

This morning, the Mrs and I went to a cafe in town for breakfast. Large latte and equally large blsck coffee, carrot and coriander soup with bread and two croissants ith butter and jam. £6.20. How DO they do it?

 

The one we (used) to go too started taking the piss at over a tenner.

Says a fella with six BMWS!

[Uncle Jimmy]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12x-Waxing-Polish-Foam-Sponge-Applicator-Pads-Fit-Cleaning-Car-Glass-Yellow-/262225168407?hash=item3d0dd68817:g:NzoAAOSwZG9Wi6~f

99p.

NINETY.

 

NINE.

 

PENCE.

 

DELIVERED.

 

FROM MALAYSIA.

Just.....what?

Some of these transactions are merely to get feedback bare in mind.

[lisbon_road]

I suspect that a lot of bad publicity comes from one bad experience with a courier.