Helpless wholesalers

[Anonymous]

I was speaking with a friend of mine who works at a wholesale facility in Atlanta. He mostly covers the freshwater side. I was talking to him about the practice of some collectors and impoarters of "packing" boxes and substituting undesireables. He said that they deal with that with some of there freshwater suppliers as well, but generally a couple of complaints and phome calls usually clears it up. His remark was, "if they want to continue to do business with us they'll stop sending us crap we don't want pretty quick." So why can't this work in the saltwater side?? Why are wholesalers forced to be stuck with stuff they didn't order?

 

[naesco]

If you warned them that you will debit the undesirables and ship them back collect I believe they would stop this practice.

 

[SPC]

Hi naesco were you been?
According to my LFS owner friend they will just stop doing business with you if you do what you propose . Now if more of the LFS would do this then that would be a different story I am sure.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I was referring to the wholesaler/exporter relationship. They tend to have a little more clout and pull than the LFS and thus are in a position to demand a quality product. The question is why don't they??

Glenn

 

[Kalkbreath]

The Airlines make you prepay...... If I pay 2,100 dollars for shipping and 700 bucks for the fish ....Im paying three time as much for the water then the fish......if one third of the fish I ordered are not availible at shipping{usually two weeks after the Air booking} Then the islanders have to choose : ship only the fish I ordered or send fillers....Fillers which are almost free to send because the three fourths freight has been prepaid{75%of the cost of an animal!} or let the remaining two thirds fish exsorb the extra freight ! bumping up the cost of those fish by30 % or so......... Its all about shipping......How many fish in a box! 75% of retail price of a fish in some cases is the air freight portion. I have a huge shipment comming in from my relatives in the islands........the fish are almost free......yet I still will be paying the 60 % air freight......If I had family in the Air Cargo business the fish would be cheaper then my family catching and sending me free fish from the islands?
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[Anonymous]

Kalk-

I understand what you are saying. My point was they ship the freshwater fish the same way but were able to get their supplier to stop sending them crap. Why can't the salt water guys do the same thing?? The wholesaler in Atlanta has fresh on one side and salt on the other. They were able to control what comes in one in the freshwater but not in Salt. What's the difference?

 

[Kalkbreath]

Because they and the reefs dont have enough of what "we' are requesting.......On a Jakarta availility list there will be twenty bubble corals availible and 500 Gonipora! And twohundred customers from around the world ordering the same twenty bubble corals! the same goes for convict Tangs vs. Orange spot file fish......if I order fourty Orange spots Ill get fifty, but be luck if I get half of the Tangs. This is why its important the we the hobby take a wide variety of fish for the trade, it lessens the impact on the reefs' health and on those fish which are low in numbers. The reefs' health is all that matters......
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[Anonymous]

Because they and the reefs dont have enough of what "we' are requesting.......On a Jakarta availility list there will be twenty bubble corals availible and 500 Gonipora! And twohundred customers from around the world ordering the same twenty bubble corals! the same goes for convict Tangs vs. Orange spot file fish......if I order fourty Orange spots Ill get fifty, but be luck if I get half of the Tangs. This is why its important the we the hobby take a wide variety of fish for the trade, it lessens the impact on the reefs' health and on those fish which are low in numbers. The reefs' health is all that matters......

question:is the availability of the 500 goniopora an indication of where a good part of the problem is?i was one of those who allways preached against keeping 'em,never ordered 'em, kept on having to recieve 'em.
kalkbreath-do you have the option of having sent to you only what you ordered w/o subs, and have the balance of the prepay 'rolled over' to the next shipment?

 

[Kalkbreath]

As far I know ,when you prebook the "SPACE" in the belly of the plane, its yours for that flight only ...its not a money account issue,its a onetime space in a plane booking.
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[JennM]

I don't tranship, I buy from wholesalers. In the beginning I received a few coral surprises, no fish surprises. This was because I was choosing my fish from a list (first come, first served). Corals I was buying by the "box lot".

On my first boxed coral shipment I had 4 specimens out of 25 that I would prefer not to carry. I simply asked my salesman if I could give him a "do not send" list. SURE! So...each time I place an order with him, I order what fish I want, and I have a good idea of how many make a box, if it's late in the week and there are likely to be subsititutions, *I* call the shots and say, "If none of X, substitute Y, or Z" This way, he has a way to fill the box, and I don't get anything I didn't want, don't wish to carry, or consider unsuitable.

With the corals, I order a box, and footnote (via fax), "DO NOT SEND: Tubastrea, Goniopora, Stylaster, Elegance, Dendronepthya" and if I still have a lot of something...ie: Shrooms, buttons etc., I ask not to have those "this week". If I'm looking for Caulastrea, Euphyllia, Scolymia, etc., then I ask for those and get them if he has them. So far I'm happy with the adjustments, but it took a couple of orders for me to get all the "undsirables" on my do not send list. I'm sure sooner or later something else will sneak in that I didn't specify, but so far I've been satisfied. I have one red Goni that was in my initial order and it's doing fine in the store now, and I have 1 Stylaster and 2 Tubastrea which I target feed. Don't wish to have any more, and will try to find appropriate homes for those that are here, and if not, I'll care for them as best I can here.

As a retailer, if a wholesaler doesn't do as I request, within reason (it's my responsibility to provide options if his stock availablity can't fill up the box), then I look for another wholesaler.

I'm currently dealing with 4 wholesalers away from here, and I occasionally visit the local wholesaler, but I don't usually find what I'm looking for at a civillized price. I use that facility mostly for feeder organisms. I'm guessing my local buys from the same LA based places I do, so I'm cutting out that middle man. Two are for wild caught fish/corals from the South Pacific, one is from the Caribbean and one is a fish farm, producing aquacultured specimens.

I'm still ironing out the bugs, but I'm pleased with my suppliers' eagerness to keep me happy.

Jenn

 

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing my local buys from the same LA based places I do

yup...