Thomann prices?

[ambient]

4 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

it said £8 on the Behringer desk....  some things are free, others clearly not....

It used to be anything over £100.

[MoJoKe]

31 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

£138.27 on Amazon..... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-XENYX-QX1832USB-Channel-Mixer/dp/B00C3ZR19S/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Behringer+Xenyx+QX1832USB&qid=1609867388&sr=8-1

The point being, it makes sense to shop around and compare prices. Personally I've always looked at Thomann but never actually used them, because they weren't the cheapest for the items I needed at the time. So their price increase/extra admin/extra fees are rendered irrelevant.

Very valid point.  Buy it from an online retailer who pays zero tax in the UK and pretty much singlehandedly destroying UK based shops.

Don't misunderstand me please though.  My point is definitely NOT an anti EU one...  (its far from perfect, but I definitely voted to stay - enough of my politics now).  I'm all for globalism, but I'd like there to still be a high street to shop at, and I'd like to walk into a music shop and be able to try out the bass I want to buy, wherever it was made!

[taunton-hobbit]

3 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

I'd like to walk into a music shop and be able to try out the bass I want to buy, wherever it was made!

I have 'customers' who do this with clothes - 

come in, see what it looks like on and then gypsy's kiss off and buy it online.

To the extent now that if anyone phones & asks if we've got so & so, we just say no..............

😎

[paul_c2]

11 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

Very valid point.  Buy it from an online retailer who pays zero tax in the UK and pretty much singlehandedly destroying UK based shops.

Don't misunderstand me please though.  My point is definitely NOT an anti EU one...  (its far from perfect, but I definitely voted to stay - enough of my politics now).  I'm all for globalism, but I'd like there to still be a high street to shop at, and I'd like to walk into a music shop and be able to try out the bass I want to buy, wherever it was made!

That's another topic entirely! I think the utopia of there being many high street shops to choose from, competitive with online suppliers, is somewhat of a hope. The reality is, online shops are more efficient and have less overheads so will naturally do well. Of course, we have a bit of a pandemic at the moment which favours online retail; but also its partly the fault of landlords who haven't caught up with the times and continue to charge high rents for high street shops, long-term shooting themselves in the foot.

Unless they make a change in DSR, I think the slide towards online retail is inevitable, irrespective of the pandemic.

[MoJoKe]

56 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Very neat thread summary. 

Not sure what I'm going to do with rest of my evening now that's all sorted? Maybe time to go play a Japanese bass made in Indonesia, bought from a store in London...😁

you surely mean.....  maybe time to play a Japanese bass, designed in the US, made in Indonesia, bought from a store in...... 

other than that I have no idea what your pointless point was, given that the UK has imported world produce for centuries.

My point was simple.  Our high streets continue to get decimated by offshore online retail like Thomann and Amazon, to the point where there is insufficient margin to pay the rates, let alone salaries, and god forbid, even think of making a profit and taking an income out of the business.

If you want cheap, and want it to get even cheaper, then don't expect customer service, don't expect anyone to carry stock or be able to try gear out, and when it goes wrong have a way of getting it fixed...  and thats before you even think about bagging a coffee while you're there, and maybe pick up a dep or your next full time gig while you're hanging with the other guys who share your passion.

Also, I don't want to do that in London frankly.  It's not the only place on the bloody map.  I want to be able to do it in Bristol, Exeter, Worcester, Stoke, anywhere in the UK to be honest.  Preferably somewhere near the theatre/club I am playing, so I can hang out, meet local musicians and pick up a spare pack of strings or whatever...

 

[MoJoKe]

3 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

That's another topic entirely! 

Unless they make a change in DSR, I think the slide towards online retail is inevitable, irrespective of the pandemic.

Sadly too true.....  😫

[AndyTravis]

On 04/01/2021 at 17:19, Al Krow said:

Ah Swinton...that explains why we have this said brew in the house, brought down here (with appropriate Customs declaration forms completed) by daughter who's currently up in Manchester.

PS btw where did the EU get those "EU funds" from that it kindly gave us - was it a Brussel's magic money tree? 😁

Swinton (Manchester) is a land of the gods 🥸

I should know...

I live not far from the old Agecroft Colliery where there was a disaster in the 1880’s.

[MoJoKe]

17 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

I have 'customers' who do this with clothes - 

come in, see what it looks like on and then gypsy's kiss off and buy it online.

To the extent now that if anyone phones & asks if we've got so & so, we just say no..............

😎

I guess thats rather my point really.  Even local people don't recognise the benefit of supporting their local businesses

[MoJoKe]

21 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

I have 'customers' who do this with clothes - 

Shame you're in South Devon, and not East Devon... if it fitted I'd help you bar the exit while you grab their dosh...

 

[EBS_freak]

13 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

you surely mean.....  maybe time to play a Japanese bass, designed in the US, made in Indonesia, bought from a store in...... 

other than that I have no idea what your pointless point was, given that the UK has imported world produce for centuries.

My point was simple.  Our high streets continue to get decimated by offshore online retail like Thomann and Amazon, to the point where there is insufficient margin to pay the rates, let alone salaries, and god forbid, even think of making a profit and taking an income out of the business.

If you want cheap, and want it to get even cheaper, then don't expect customer service, don't expect anyone to carry stock or be able to try gear out, and when it goes wrong have a way of getting it fixed...  and thats before you even think about bagging a coffee while you're there, and maybe pick up a dep or your next full time gig while you're hanging with the other guys who share your passion.

Also, I don't want to do that in London frankly.  It's not the only place on the bloody map.  I want to be able to do it in Bristol, Exeter, Worcester, Stoke, anywhere in the UK to be honest.  Preferably somewhere near the theatre/club I am playing, so I can hang out, meet local musicians and pick up a spare pack of strings or whatever...

 

You see, I was kinda with you... but the trouble is, Amazon do it so well.

It's next delivery. It's no quibble returns. It can be cheap - and there's a selection of vendors to choose from for some products. Amazon will even gift you vouchers to keep you happy and retain your business. They don't need to bother with coffee - because you can your own choice of coffee from your own house. They don't give your the faux smarm salesmen routine.

And during lockdown, they can still carry on the same with no interruption. They adapted adapted far better than any other commerce site to ensure that their logistics were not impacted by Covid for example.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong - but you aren't going to convince the millennials to shop any other way. This is part of the change. There's people who want the High Street - because it's always been there in their lifetime. The millennials? Well, they don't care. They live their lives online. Why should shopping be any different? Most millennials won't even realise the issues as long as they can continue to "add to bag", get it the next day - and then review it on Youtube.

[pete.young]

24 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Swinton (Manchester) is a land of the gods 🥸

I should know...

I live not far from the old Agecroft Colliery where there was a disaster in the 1880’s.

I think the original comment was about Swinton in Rotherham.

I was an engineering apprentice in Patricroft, that can't be far from you. The factory is all gone now, a housing estate and industrial units.

[paul_c2]

15 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

you aren't going to convince the millennials to shop any other way. 

What is the argument for convincing them to shop another way? There needs to be some kind of incentive to use a local music shop. If I go to one (in the past....), and they offered good advice etc I'd buy from them even if they were dearer. But I've also been to some where they fall short of expectations - badly.

[NickD]

3 minutes ago, pete.young said:

I think the original comment was about Swinton in Rotherham.

I was indeed referring to Swinton, South Yorkshire. 

Based on my limited experience, Swinton, Manchester, rather than being 'the land of the Gods' is more 'the land of folks drinking meths at 11am, then getting a bit stabby later on'.

(By limited experience, I mean playing at Yates Wine Lodge there in a Glam Rock Cabaret type band in about 1996... To be fair, the fact we were in the environs of a Yates may have dictated the type of locals I encountered).

[MoJoKe]

13 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

You see, I was kinda with you... but the trouble is, Amazon do it so well.

Most millennials won't even realise the issues as long as they can continue to "add to bag", get it the next day - and then review it on Youtube.

Yes, nailed it. However, I don't know how many millennials there are here in Basschat, probably not enough to affect this discussion anyway! 

[MoJoKe]

4 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

What is the argument for convincing them to shop another way? There needs to be some kind of incentive to use a local music shop. If I go to one (in the past....), and they offered good advice etc I'd buy from them even if they were dearer. But I've also been to some where they fall short of expectations - badly.

Yup, me too. But back in the day they were more commercially viable so It used to be "the good ones will thrive/survive"... not so easy now... 

[peteb]

52 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

My point was simple.  Our high streets continue to get decimated by offshore online retail like Thomann and Amazon, to the point where there is insufficient margin to pay the rates, let alone salaries, and god forbid, even think of making a profit and taking an income out of the business.

If you want cheap, and want it to get even cheaper, then don't expect customer service, don't expect anyone to carry stock or be able to try gear out, and when it goes wrong have a way of getting it fixed...  and thats before you even think about bagging a coffee while you're there, and maybe pick up a dep or your next full time gig while you're hanging with the other guys who share your passion.

 

 

There was a big music shop in the town where I went to school. We would go down there at lunchtime and weekends to look at guitars we couldn't afford and get advice and impromptu  lessons from the old timers who used to also hang out there. Ten years later, I was mates or had played with everyone who worked there, they would make me a cup of tea / roll me a cigarette when I walked in there, I would give them a hand moving stock and it was me teaching kids the odd lick or how to play certain songs. 

They went bust nearly 30 years ago. I have known a few pretty similar shops to that, but none of them have been in business for at least 20 years. 

Edited January 5, 2021 by peteb

[AndyTravis]

25 minutes ago, pete.young said:

I think the original comment was about Swinton in Rotherham.

I was an engineering apprentice in Patricroft, that can't be far from you. The factory is all gone now, a housing estate and industrial units.

Ah Patricroft...(PATICROFF) a delightful area of Manchester; the perineum between Eccles and Trafford.

Its sort of a place you pass through. 

I spent a lot of my youth there as my Nanna And Grandad lived there in the 90’s.

noice.

[AndyTravis]

15 minutes ago, NickD said:

I was indeed referring to Swinton, South Yorkshire. 

Based on my limited experience, Swinton, Manchester, rather than being 'the land of the Gods' is more 'the land of folks drinking meths at 11am, then getting a bit stabby later on'.

(By limited experience, I mean playing at Yates Wine Lodge there in a Glam Rock Cabaret type band in about 1996... To be fair, the fact we were in the environs of a Yates may have dictated the type of locals I encountered).

Ah mate, Yates’ was a hellhole for that kind of stuff - the bulls head around the corner was also known for attempted decapitation and stuff of the ilk.

Mrs T was head waitress at Puccini’s next to Yates’ around that time.

It was eventually closed when their two bouncers killed someone. Awful.

Anyhow, anyone fancy a visit?

 

[taunton-hobbit]

Yates - that's a sort of downmarket Spoons, right?

😎

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Yates - that's a sort of downmarket Spoons, right?

😎

Yeah. Like a Mos Eisley Cantina but with lower class of clientele. 😆

[LukeFRC]

22 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

Yes, nailed it. However, I don't know how many millennials there are here in Basschat, probably not enough to affect this discussion anyway! 

Technically I am a millennial. @AndyTravis too maybe. 
I think the comments are combining millennials and Gen Z into one though (typical boomer thing to do really 🧐)

[MoJoKe]

7 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Yates - that's a sort of downmarket Spoons, right?

😎

I think thats being a little over-generous..... 

[AndyTravis]

6 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Technically I am a millennial. @AndyTravis too maybe. 
I think the comments are combining millennials and Gen Z into one though (typical boomer thing to do really 🧐)

I don’t really know what a “millennial” is. I was born in 1984. Do I win?

[AndyTravis]

48 minutes ago, pete.young said:I was an engineering apprentice in Patricroft, that can't be far from you. The factory is all gone now, a housing estate and industrial units.

Was it Shackleton’s? Near the canal?

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Technically I am a millennial. @AndyTravis too maybe. 
I think the comments are combining millennials and Gen Z into one though (typical boomer thing to do really 🧐)

Ah Boomers vs Millennials! Hooray another excellent topic to keep me from spending quality time with my quality Japanese bass designed in Japan and built in Indonesia before being shipped to London, very possibly via Suez and a warehouse in the EU. 

I just call it a Yammy.