"The petco way"

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anyone that is in business wants to make money, some more then others. How do you think these big box chains pay for building or lease a prime space & stock it with product & fancy display cases etc... Plus the over head cost They gotta make a bunch of dough plus make investors happy.
Independents are usually but not all in it to make a living while doing what they love. But its not easy let me tell you but I won't since I already put in more then 60 hours this week & 12+ more tomorrow with no day off in over two weeks. AS you think you get nickle & dime to death think how a business owner feels? Its usually ten times more between more taxes, insurance, merchant fees, product, shipping cost of livestock keep going up & up & never goes down!!!
k I'm done.

me
 
^^^^
Someone with experience finally! Good job! Appreciate people who like you who can explain some things once in while. I'm not saying everything big chains do is okay, but try and understand. Even the big chains are hurting nowadays, as much as a small independent retail store...no. But losing money is losing money.
 
Foster;4239853; said:
Its nice to see that petco thinks highly of their fellow animal keepers. Its also nice to know why they were charging for a rescue fish. They had a foot long common plec that someone dropped off last month... I was looking for a pleco and expressed that I had a tank big enough for the monster but the nice employee had to call the manager to ask about it to come back and say it was indeed an adoption fish but it was also $20. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of their rescue fish? :screwy:
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What makes you think that adopting a fish should be free? You think that you can adopt a dog or cat from one of their fairs for free. IMO charging an adoption fee ensures that someone who really wants the fish gets it, instead of some kid getting a free fish that he can take home and throw in his 10 gallon tank.
 
Bderick67;4240609; said:
What makes you think that adopting a fish should be free? You think that you can adopt a dog or cat from one of their fairs for free. IMO charging an adoption fee ensures that someone who really wants the fish gets it, instead of some kid getting a free fish that he can take home and throw in his 10 gallon tank.
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this is a good point . . . my GF and I have adopted two cats, and it cost us about $75 each time . . . the 3rd cat - - my avatar - - we actually did get for "free", but then he cost almost $700 in vet bills because of the condition he was in at the time . . .

"rescue" does not equal "free"
 
Bderick67;4240609; said:
What makes you think that adopting a fish should be free? You think that you can adopt a dog or cat from one of their fairs for free. IMO charging an adoption fee ensures that someone who really wants the fish gets it, instead of some kid getting a free fish that he can take home and throw in his 10 gallon tank.
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:iagree: i've rescued animals. my two rabbits cost i think eighty bucks. as they say on petfinder when you post to the classifieds, "asking a small adoption fee helps assure the animal goes to a good home" or something along those lines. although an animal who is older and is a rescue should definitely be a little less than a "brand new" one, because that also helps ensure that the animal /gets/ a home, rather than being passed up for a less expensive, younger animal. but bigger also means more cost to house [by the pet store or whoever is adopting it out]. it's rarely a "win-win" situation in everyone's eyes..

on a side note in relation to the "some kid taking it home", i was at my local pet store today to pick up some plants for my aquarium, and there was a ten year old girl there with a few friends and her parents [who were dumb as posts, by the way], and she was getting a girl guinea pig because her brother has a boy and they can put them together and they'll have babies and then we can sell them for money and the pet store has to give us at least twenty percent!! i was thoroughly disgusted, as was the woman working there, and we both tried to explain that that's not how it happens, and i told her that it is aweful to make baby animals on purpose without the intent of keeping them, because it's already hard to find homes for some animals, and if she's adding more, that's gonna make it even /harder/ for those poor little pigs... :[ it was horrible, and she got the little piggie anyway.. it's aweful for me to know that that pig isn't gonna be treated the way it should be and deserves to be...
 
Welcome to big business.. the part that bugs me the most is the Managers attitude towards the animals not being well cared for. Unfortunately she is right.. but if you don't expect to Find good owners for the pets then don't be surprized if you don't sell them. And unfortunately the associate was in a pickle.. Corporate rules are there.. and they are not broken. I delt with this personally in reguards to fish compatability in tanks, socialization of the large birds, and some of the reptile habitats. Corporate is right.. and you the associate are always wrong. Petco and Petsmart, as well as most the LF/pet stores I know have policies allowing employees the right to refuse an animal sale. I don't blame the idiot who's trying to buy an animal that is obviosuely not going to do well in that persons care, I blame the money grubber selling it. And sometimes it just can't be avoided, and there has to be a line drawn as to refusal of sales.

It's a rough industry to work in for any animal lover. There are days I miss working in a petstore, and others I'm glad I don't anymore.
 
How about my local lfs, that sold me 5 'red finned acara's' today, which turn out to be green terrors and told me I could fit 20 in a 4ft tank :eek::eek::eek:
 
Sometimes I take fish on donation because some fish can cost me more to house & feed and they are not always fast movers. When fish take up tank space that I could have something else that sells more on a daily bases. I can cut my own throat taking in giant plecos or pacu. If it is small fishes then they can be food for my Piranha collection or Bertha the Emperor :).
If it is a good fish to sell then its like a bonus in which there is far less often. Plus to profit on a freebie is needed at times to make up for losses of fish and or bad shipment in which I do not get anything on my return. Example; I imported some medium size Koi & some other stuff. The Koi had parasites then fungus then tail rot & after treating & retreating plus mega water changes & everything else under the sun I finally gave up & tossed $800 worth of Koi into the dumpster. It cost me more trying to keep them from dying while tying up a 700 gallon pond & unable to sell & would not sell sick fish and we do not have much of a summer/pond season time frame so everyday counts in getting stock in & sold before its over. So far this & last pond season has been a lose in money so If I can get a nice fish for free or trade for a couple bucks credit & make a few bucks then that's what I'm going to do & need to do in order to stay afloat.

And on getting wrong advise or fish at the chains then that's why support a lfs or turn them on to a site like this or some others that provide good info on fish keeping. People need to educate themselves when buying anything pet! But you will always have a store or a customer that will not listen to someone that is trying to guide them in the right direction.
Not that I dont care but I dont & have told people I would not sell them a fish because they were pretty dumb did not listen to what I was saying so I have told them to go to Walmart for help & good service ")~ Door can hit them in *** on the way out I will not lose sleep over it. Then their mad because I would not sell them the fish.
A lot of times these same people come back down the road with their tail between their cheeks wanting help with their tank after doing everything wrong from the start. Some learn the hard way & some poor fish suffered because of it.

my $.99 cents :) because of the times its no longer 2 cents lol.
 
this is a good point . . . my GF and I have adopted two cats, and it cost us about $75 each time . . . the 3rd cat - - my avatar - - we actually did get for "free", but then he cost almost $700 in vet bills because of the condition he was in at the time . . .

"rescue" does not equal "free"
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wow we give away kittens for free




our lfs is selling foot long plecos for 10 bucks and they bought 'em too really strange that you would pay more for an adopted oh well
 
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