Good friend closing business after 28 years.

iamwhatiseem

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Aug 19, 2010
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Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."
 
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Too bad the Tea Party's magic negro, Cain, couldn't make to the Whitehouse. With tax cuts for the rich and tax increases for the middle-class, that should have helped the average Joe. Tea Party idiots.
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."

Fair isn't a valuable commodity.
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."


just wondering...what was his business?
 
Sad thing about your friend. I lucked out and sold my small business at just the right time. Unfortunately, the fellow that bought it managed it badly, fired the few employees that were already in place so he could hire his buddies and he ended going belly up. It was sad to see this happen. I'm sure your friend will hate to close his doors but it's pretty brutal out there right now. You described it to a T.
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."


just wondering...what was his business?

His was the same as mine...only smaller.
We are one of the last remaining manufacturers where to this day most are still single owned businesses. But, at the same time, we could very well be what the grocery business was in the 1990's...by 2000...almost none were single owned: Printing.
Not the mom and pop copy shop...the multi-full color shops cranking out 100,000's of pcs a day. What we have going for us is paper is very heavy. Therefore costly to transport. So far that has been our saving grace. But at the same time printing grew nearly every year decade after decade. The internet? Fax machines? Cell Phones? These have affected printing very little. Direct mail is the most effective means of advertising by faaaar. But the economy has shredded our industry. Since 2007 the industry has dropped a staggering 27%. Printing is of course a B2B business. And businesses have been forced to cut expenses - advertising is one of the first things businesses cut.
 
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Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."


just wondering...what was his business?

His was the same as mine...only smaller.
We are one of the last remaining manufacturers where to this day most are still single owned businesses. But, at the same time, we could very well be what the grocery business was in the 1990's...by 2000...almost none were single owned: Printing.
Not the mom and pop copy shop...the multi-full color shops cranking out 100,000's of pcs a day. What we have going for us is paper is very heavy. Therefore costly to transport. So far that has been our saving grace. But at the same time printing grew nearly every year decade after decade. The internet? Fax machines? Cell Phones? These have affected printing very little. Direct mail is the most effective means of advertising by faaaar. But the economy has shredded our industry. Since 2007 the industry has dropped a staggering 27%. Printing is of course a B2B business. And businesses have been forced to cut expenses - advertising is one of the first things businesses cut.

If the industry is down 27% and his revenues are down 50%, then he is doing something wrong. Every business I have ever worked in always stressed savings in every possible way.
 
If the industry is down 27% and his revenues are down 50%, then he is doing something wrong. Every business I have ever worked in always stressed savings in every possible way.

Not necessarily. A smaller shop is not as able to lower prices as much as a larger shop, meaning the smaller shop would be hit harder by pricing pressure. Smaller shops try to compete in ways other than having the lowest price.
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."

Solution?
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."

Solution?

Lower wages. This has been the go-to solution to a price-crazed population for the past 20 years.
If you ask any previous grocery owner 30 years ago - what could you have done to stay in business? Everyone of them would say the same thing - nothing. They could not compete with big box stores with their price leverage abilities and logistics.
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."

Solution?

Lower wages. This has been the go-to solution to a price-crazed population for the past 20 years.
If you ask any previous grocery owner 30 years ago - what could you have done to stay in business? Everyone of them would say the same thing - nothing. They could not compete with big box stores with their price leverage abilities and logistics.

So lower the minimum wage?

Did your friend go out of business or did he just decide to close shop?

I couldn't discern that from the post.
 
Solution?

Lower wages. This has been the go-to solution to a price-crazed population for the past 20 years.
If you ask any previous grocery owner 30 years ago - what could you have done to stay in business? Everyone of them would say the same thing - nothing. They could not compete with big box stores with their price leverage abilities and logistics.

So lower the minimum wage?

Did your friend go out of business or did he just decide to close shop?

I couldn't discern that from the post.

Out of business. He does not want to stay in the industry, unsure of what he will do going forward.
Lowering labor cost has been what businesses everywhere have done for the past 25 years tying to satisfy a consumer base that only cares about a cheaper price. In practically every product you buy there will be at least a part of it made with near-slave labor. That is the result when the price is the only concern people have.
People could care less if the clothes they wear or the vacuum cleaner they use or the television they watch was made by extraordinarily poor people living and working in unbelievable conditions...no one cares as long as they can incubate themselves from it by not thinking about it.
 
Lower wages. This has been the go-to solution to a price-crazed population for the past 20 years.
If you ask any previous grocery owner 30 years ago - what could you have done to stay in business? Everyone of them would say the same thing - nothing. They could not compete with big box stores with their price leverage abilities and logistics.

So lower the minimum wage?

Did your friend go out of business or did he just decide to close shop?

I couldn't discern that from the post.

Out of business. He does not want to stay in the industry, unsure of what he will do going forward.
Lowering labor cost has been what businesses everywhere have done for the past 25 years tying to satisfy a consumer base that only cares about a cheaper price. In practically every product you buy there will be at least a part of it made with near-slave labor. That is the result when the price is the only concern people have.
People could care less if the clothes they wear or the vacuum cleaner they use or the television they watch was made by extraordinarily poor people living and working in unbelievable conditions...no one cares as long as they can incubate themselves from it by not thinking about it.

Not to be an ass, but being forced out because the customer is seeking lower prices elsewhere just sounds like capitalism.

On the other hand, if he's trying to compete with foreign labor, he is at an unfair disadvantage that no one seems willing to do anything about.
 
We are the ocuntry of lowest prices to maximize profits.
Which means lower salaries, more chinese imports and less American jobs.
Which is a long term downward spiral for the USA.
 
So lower the minimum wage?

Did your friend go out of business or did he just decide to close shop?

I couldn't discern that from the post.

Out of business. He does not want to stay in the industry, unsure of what he will do going forward.
Lowering labor cost has been what businesses everywhere have done for the past 25 years tying to satisfy a consumer base that only cares about a cheaper price. In practically every product you buy there will be at least a part of it made with near-slave labor. That is the result when the price is the only concern people have.
People could care less if the clothes they wear or the vacuum cleaner they use or the television they watch was made by extraordinarily poor people living and working in unbelievable conditions...no one cares as long as they can incubate themselves from it by not thinking about it.

Not to be an ass, but being forced out because the customer is seeking lower prices elsewhere just sounds like capitalism.

On the other hand, if he's trying to compete with foreign labor, he is at an unfair disadvantage that no one seems willing to do anything about.

Call it "uber capitalism"...another word is "Walmartization".
Changing providers or suppliers over price is obviously nothing new. That is what competition in a free market is all about. However in the past 15 years or so this has gone to a whole new level. I have been in business for 24 years I can tell you for myself and the plethora of other businesses I know - price is everything today. I would say in the 1990's about 70% of our orders came in without an estimate request. Today almost zero. People go online and check your price against anybody they can find, everything - EVERYTHING is about how low can they pay for it.
 
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg9qB_BIjWY&feature=related]1992 Presidential Debate with George HW Bush, Bill Clinton & Ross Perot - YouTube[/ame]

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We are the ocuntry of lowest prices to maximize profits.
Which means lower salaries, more chinese imports and less American jobs.
Which is a long term downward spiral for the USA.

Exactly. And this is yet another example of serious problems in this country that are not to blame liberals or conservatives. Not Democrats or Republicans...everyone looks the other way. Everyone fools themselves into believing that it is always the other guy that causes the problem.
This nation is on a fast-track to a permanent decline in the standard of living and no one even pauses to consider that it is the person in the mirror that is causing it.
 
Mr. Foxfyre and I closed down the last of our business last year. We had been winding it down toward that end. Part of the problem was what has been described.

When the economy is rotten, everybody takes hits, even those businesses providing indispensible products and/or services. As the economy tightens, the available clientele shrinks, and that remaining is also struggling to make a profit so is more diligent in finding bargains and giving their business to the lowest bidder.

In our business, we had the experience, track record, expertise, and reputation so we were getting the lion's share of a greatly reduced pie. Because they could, however, our clients were demanding more and more service for less and less money. A job we had loved and enjoyed was becoming difficult and unpleasant at times.

And because we are getting on up in age we were aware that other folks providing the same services were literally starving. So, because we were contemplating retiring soon anyway coupled with the fact that there was little joy in the work anymore and knowing that there were younger folks out there who desperately needed the work, we decided to pack it in. At least in the short term.

Had the economy been good, I'm sure we would still be going strong.

Just as there are buyers markets and sellers markets in real estate, there are buyers markets and sellers markets in every other kind of business too. When the economy is good and we can pick and choose what jobs to take, those giving the jobs are far less demanding. When it is bad, those giving out the work can be far more picky and demand pretty much whatever they want from those they hire.

All in all, everybody is happier when the economy is good.
 
Hate to see this. A good friend and colleague bought a business in 1984 that had been in existence since 1952. Between 1984 to 2000 he nearly tripled the business. His revenue last year was half what it was pre-recession.
In February he lost another large account...he can no longer survive.
I talked to him for a good 45 minutes this morning. His words hit home for me, and I bet a lot of you...

"I am so very disappointed in the direction this country has been going for the past 10-15years. For 16 years I provided great service and a consistent product that other businesses needed - and the orders just kept coming in. I would say 80% never even asked a price, they knew we took care of them and that my pricing was fair. In the past 12 years or so little by little it reached the point to where it is today - every single order people want the price up front so they can compare your price to someone else. They call back and ask if we can match a price they got from so and so, they call to see if I can do the job faster at the same time can I work with them on the price? There is no such thing as a fair price anymore. There is only the lowest price. I just can't do it anymore. I am sick to death of this "kill or be killed" environment where the only way you get new business is if you undercut someone else while they are trying to undercut you - all to try and satisfy a client base whose only concern is the price."

Gently, I merely point out that this is market force competition. This is what happen when business comes before people. Simply is. I am sorry for your friend.
 
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