Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="DreadPirateMurphy" data-source="post: 1628580" data-attributes="member: 20715">To be fair, I know a little about retail and I want to answer Dragonblade's comments:As you acknowledge, small stores will never match Amazon's prices.&nbsp; Amazon's overhead for personnel/real estate in relation to their revenue is tiny compared to that for a brick and mortar shop.&nbsp; The smaller the store, though, the worse that ratio becomes.&nbsp; Since gaming is such a niche, we're not likely to get a box store (Gamer's Depot?) any time in the near future.&nbsp; Without the size of a box store like Staples or Home Depot, even 10-15% off becomes problematic.&nbsp; What makes it even harder it that small stores will lose some of their profit to bad &quot;customers&quot; who steal or damage merchandise.Books get shrink wrapped because bad customers damage them.&nbsp; They drop them, or they tear them, etc.&nbsp; Once something is damaged, it is hard to sell.&nbsp; Be thankful that they allow people to remove the plastic.You may not be a criminal, but it is pretty obvious that some of the people who frequent that store are.&nbsp; For small businesses, theft is a significant problem.&nbsp; The fault for that lies with other &quot;customers.&quot;Basically, people who frequent the store can do things that ruin it for other customers.&nbsp; I understand you find some of these things annoying, but place blame where blame is due.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DreadPirateMurphy, post: 1628580, member: 20715"] To be fair, I know a little about retail and I want to answer Dragonblade's comments: As you acknowledge, small stores will never match Amazon's prices. Amazon's overhead for personnel/real estate in relation to their revenue is tiny compared to that for a brick and mortar shop. The smaller the store, though, the worse that ratio becomes. Since gaming is such a niche, we're not likely to get a box store (Gamer's Depot?) any time in the near future. Without the size of a box store like Staples or Home Depot, even 10-15% off becomes problematic. What makes it even harder it that small stores will lose some of their profit to bad "customers" who steal or damage merchandise. Books get shrink wrapped because bad customers damage them. They drop them, or they tear them, etc. Once something is damaged, it is hard to sell. Be thankful that they allow people to remove the plastic. You may not be a criminal, but it is pretty obvious that some of the people who frequent that store are. For small businesses, theft is a significant problem. The fault for that lies with other "customers." Basically, people who frequent the store can do things that ruin it for other customers. I understand you find some of these things annoying, but place blame where blame is due. [/QUOTE]

Verification