I'm posting this for Burton Patrick.
Response to Race Foster's thread on AMDA:
I don't think it is hard for folks to understand why bricks and mortar retailers need a voice. In earlier postings Mr. Foster bragged about how they have the best fish because they pick them before retailers are shipped their fish. I don't blame Foster and Smith for setting-up this sweet deal, but I sure blame the distributors for allowing it. If any retailer buys from a distributor that allows this cherry picking practice then he/she is digging his own grave. If an e commerce guy or hobbyist was the head of AMDA do you think the local retailer would get the time of day. None of these scenarios help the local retailer or the beginning hobbyist that relies on us.
The AMDA group believes that the bricks and mortar retailer is the cornerstone of the hobby. We believe that aquatic hobbies are a hobby of relevance. We believe that the local retailers need to be aware that for years e commerce companies and various other businesses and groups were allowed to cherry pick their fish before the independent retailers of the hinterland got theirs. The reasons for being upset are obvious. This isn't e commerce's fault. But we sure don't have to recognize e commerce as compatriots. They are competitors and their way of doing business is a lot cheaper to run than ours. I don't complain that we have to compete. I complain that we are being taken advantage of in the grand scheme of things.
For years non-retailers ran AMDA. But retailers were the primary supporters of AMDA. We felt it was time for the retailers to have a voice. Now they have a voice. The big box stores, manufacturers that support them at the expense of local retailers, and e commerce may win this struggle, but at least now we have a voice. This organization was used as a soap box for the benefit of businesses that wanted to toot their own horn and causes other than the one that really counted. The survival of local retailers.
E Commerce and the big box stores don't want to be part of the building of the hobby. They just want to take from it. E Commerce doesn't want to ship fish tanks, sell a teaspoon of live brine shrimp, or sell dog food. They don't want to be open to help a customer in need that needs help now and in person. They want to cherry pick a few nice fish that cost a lot of money that they don't even own to sell to their customers and then tell them their local retailer can't get these good fish and sell them for a good price. E Commerce didn't even have to pay for owning them to start with. They don't have the local expenses to pay for the privilege to merely exist in a community. Retailers in the field never see these animals and then e commerce wants to brag about how their fish are better. E commerce has a nice sweet deal carved out for themselves. They sell the expensive fish they don't have to house, quarantine, or show customers that they feed before they buy them.
E commerce doesn't want to send their customers a single damsel or molly via FedEx for $3 to start their tanks as part of their service. Big box stores don't want to have trained professionals in aquatics to help their customers. I'm sure the bean counters in the big box stores would rather eat nails than hire a good person for 30,000 to 40,000 a year. Maybe big box stores and e commerce should carry brine shrimp, feeder shrimp, crayfish, blackworms, tubifex, and guppies for the fish that need live food. Maybe e commerce wants to be there to show a customer how to use a filter. Maybe e commerce can get in a jet and run out to help a customer test their water.
We don't care how e commerce ships fish or to whom they ship them as long as we are competing on a level playing field. We are tied to a location and have to pay local taxes to do business in our respective towns. We have to collect sales tax. We have to be part of the community we serve. E Commerce has to do none of the above. They can find some cheap place to do business and carry out business by phone. Now if the direction of e commerce and big business is to put all local business out of business they are doing a good job, but there needs to be one organization that is there to tell us why it is happening.
Shortly the full text of my presentation made at the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in February will be posted on the AMDA website. This will explain a lot of what we want to do and who we are as an organization.
Burton Patrick
President
American Marinelife Dealers Association
Response to Race Foster's thread on AMDA:
I don't think it is hard for folks to understand why bricks and mortar retailers need a voice. In earlier postings Mr. Foster bragged about how they have the best fish because they pick them before retailers are shipped their fish. I don't blame Foster and Smith for setting-up this sweet deal, but I sure blame the distributors for allowing it. If any retailer buys from a distributor that allows this cherry picking practice then he/she is digging his own grave. If an e commerce guy or hobbyist was the head of AMDA do you think the local retailer would get the time of day. None of these scenarios help the local retailer or the beginning hobbyist that relies on us.
The AMDA group believes that the bricks and mortar retailer is the cornerstone of the hobby. We believe that aquatic hobbies are a hobby of relevance. We believe that the local retailers need to be aware that for years e commerce companies and various other businesses and groups were allowed to cherry pick their fish before the independent retailers of the hinterland got theirs. The reasons for being upset are obvious. This isn't e commerce's fault. But we sure don't have to recognize e commerce as compatriots. They are competitors and their way of doing business is a lot cheaper to run than ours. I don't complain that we have to compete. I complain that we are being taken advantage of in the grand scheme of things.
For years non-retailers ran AMDA. But retailers were the primary supporters of AMDA. We felt it was time for the retailers to have a voice. Now they have a voice. The big box stores, manufacturers that support them at the expense of local retailers, and e commerce may win this struggle, but at least now we have a voice. This organization was used as a soap box for the benefit of businesses that wanted to toot their own horn and causes other than the one that really counted. The survival of local retailers.
E Commerce and the big box stores don't want to be part of the building of the hobby. They just want to take from it. E Commerce doesn't want to ship fish tanks, sell a teaspoon of live brine shrimp, or sell dog food. They don't want to be open to help a customer in need that needs help now and in person. They want to cherry pick a few nice fish that cost a lot of money that they don't even own to sell to their customers and then tell them their local retailer can't get these good fish and sell them for a good price. E Commerce didn't even have to pay for owning them to start with. They don't have the local expenses to pay for the privilege to merely exist in a community. Retailers in the field never see these animals and then e commerce wants to brag about how their fish are better. E commerce has a nice sweet deal carved out for themselves. They sell the expensive fish they don't have to house, quarantine, or show customers that they feed before they buy them.
E commerce doesn't want to send their customers a single damsel or molly via FedEx for $3 to start their tanks as part of their service. Big box stores don't want to have trained professionals in aquatics to help their customers. I'm sure the bean counters in the big box stores would rather eat nails than hire a good person for 30,000 to 40,000 a year. Maybe big box stores and e commerce should carry brine shrimp, feeder shrimp, crayfish, blackworms, tubifex, and guppies for the fish that need live food. Maybe e commerce wants to be there to show a customer how to use a filter. Maybe e commerce can get in a jet and run out to help a customer test their water.
We don't care how e commerce ships fish or to whom they ship them as long as we are competing on a level playing field. We are tied to a location and have to pay local taxes to do business in our respective towns. We have to collect sales tax. We have to be part of the community we serve. E Commerce has to do none of the above. They can find some cheap place to do business and carry out business by phone. Now if the direction of e commerce and big business is to put all local business out of business they are doing a good job, but there needs to be one organization that is there to tell us why it is happening.
Shortly the full text of my presentation made at the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in February will be posted on the AMDA website. This will explain a lot of what we want to do and who we are as an organization.
Burton Patrick
President
American Marinelife Dealers Association
