^ I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who dreams about fish. I've been having dreams with fish as long as I've owned them.
i thought i struck gold but...
- Thread starter the big kahuna
- Start date
yup alot of ppl would be shocked to know the prices that lfs pays for fishes from these wholesalers. almost fell down the first time I went to Poseiden in SoCal.
as usual many fail to realize the cost of doing business especially in live stock. Over head etc. Cost of employees, rent, insurance, & so on. There's cost in just about everything. How do you think your employer makes money? Walmart pays pennies on the dollar for some stuff that retails for $3. They can not build multi million buildings & tons of employees if they did not make $$$!
The prices you seen there are even cheaper from the exporter. Did you know the average cost per fish box can run about $100 to even $150 each & typically you need to ship in fifty boxes at a time to wholesale to the many retailers etc.. How many fishes you think you may lose without No guarantee. It can be in the thousands of dollars you may lose in a shipment. It sucks when you have a box full of something not to common or you new was nice & all dead on arrival. So a lost of $150 in shipping cost. then maybe another $100-$300 in fish depending on what they are? That is One box! I have been there done that. And wait the cost of fish is & will be on the rise because the gov will be taxing more for these importers to bring is stock from around the world plus shipping cost will only go up & not down.
That is just some of the cost of doing business in todays market.
& who ever let you walked into that wholesaler would have been in trouble working for me.
me Dave
The prices you seen there are even cheaper from the exporter. Did you know the average cost per fish box can run about $100 to even $150 each & typically you need to ship in fifty boxes at a time to wholesale to the many retailers etc.. How many fishes you think you may lose without No guarantee. It can be in the thousands of dollars you may lose in a shipment. It sucks when you have a box full of something not to common or you new was nice & all dead on arrival. So a lost of $150 in shipping cost. then maybe another $100-$300 in fish depending on what they are? That is One box! I have been there done that. And wait the cost of fish is & will be on the rise because the gov will be taxing more for these importers to bring is stock from around the world plus shipping cost will only go up & not down.
That is just some of the cost of doing business in todays market.
& who ever let you walked into that wholesaler would have been in trouble working for me.
me Dave
the big kahuna;4377564; said:
Rubbish. You want them to make a profit, right? It costs so much to maintain a few walls of aquariums that if they didn't wholesale for that cheap, there'd be no way any fish business would survive. I pay about $10-15 a month to maintain my 46 gallon, multiply that by 300.
Also, why do fish wholesalers need a store? Can't pet shops just order online? Going to another store to get stock for your store sounds awful redundant.
Oh that really sucks, you must have been SOOO bummed out. Sorry that happened to you. I guess we are getting robbed, lol.
Well the wholesaler is not really a store. There are some going into retail because the independents have been disappearing over the years so they are have less to supply. But at the same time the wholesalers also have been going out of business because the lost of the independents.
Some have adapted to change as I have to survive & make a okay living doing it. The pie gets smaller & smaller.
Also note that many LFS can not ship in direct because of the volume of stock you must bring in to make it worth it & or they are unable to because of cost, license, fees, customs, taxes etc.. There a lot more to it then many people realize. So the middleman served a purpose to the retailers. Everyone would get a piece of the pie for the cost of doing business. Unfortunately the quality issues of some live stock has become a problem in the last few years & hurts the industry as a whole.
me
Some have adapted to change as I have to survive & make a okay living doing it. The pie gets smaller & smaller.
Also note that many LFS can not ship in direct because of the volume of stock you must bring in to make it worth it & or they are unable to because of cost, license, fees, customs, taxes etc.. There a lot more to it then many people realize. So the middleman served a purpose to the retailers. Everyone would get a piece of the pie for the cost of doing business. Unfortunately the quality issues of some live stock has become a problem in the last few years & hurts the industry as a whole.
me
MeiTnerium109;4393837; said:
The fish ordered on line have to come from somewhere don't they? Wouldn't it just make sence for that location to also be open for retailers to come in purchase directly rather than have to ship?
I should think that a store with good common sence would send a runner a long ways in a van to a wholesaler like that to keep shipping costs down. A three hour drive once every 2 weeks in a cargo van would be cheaper than shipping, even if the van was rented!
rent a van, insurance, labor cost etc.. That's what the middleman does is usually deliver to the LFS with a minim order.
A lot of fish come from all over the world, so they have to fly into a Port of entry & get inspected, go through customs & usually handled by a broker (another cost) etc.. Trust me there is more to it.
Unless you buy fish from a local breeder but you would be limited in what you sell. I have a on site hatchery at my main location & I still ship in stock.
I shipped in 70 boxes of livestock in March & my shipping cost was about $3000 total. & I lost some fish here & there. Some had to be pampered etc. to get back in shape before selling. It sucks but a part of the business.
A lot of fish come from all over the world, so they have to fly into a Port of entry & get inspected, go through customs & usually handled by a broker (another cost) etc.. Trust me there is more to it.
Unless you buy fish from a local breeder but you would be limited in what you sell. I have a on site hatchery at my main location & I still ship in stock.
I shipped in 70 boxes of livestock in March & my shipping cost was about $3000 total. & I lost some fish here & there. Some had to be pampered etc. to get back in shape before selling. It sucks but a part of the business.
