B&Q Trade price increase again !!!

[eggflan]

Im fuming with the large orange shop :twisted:

I buy a lot of their planed smooth timber for a product that i sell a lot of , i could probably get it cheaper elsewhere but it would need machining to the finish i need and the time saved by using it straight from the pack suits me for the items i use it for .

Last year they had a masive increase in the price so i went to another supplier , a few months back i took out the B&Q Trade account card and the price fell dramatically :lol: so i started using them again , i buy a lot of this timber and the 18mmx70mmx2100mm was £7.53 inc vat per pack of 4 , this evening i went to pick half a dozen packs up for an order i have and they have put the price up to £11.94 :shock:

I know prices have to go up but stroll on thats nearly 40% (not the best at maths) i have just spent the last half hour on the phone asking the chap what reason was there for such a huge rise and he said well its probably inflation sir :shock:

So was the B&Q trade account card just a temp to get back lost trade customers before a huge price rise , guess im off back to my local timber yard in the morning ..

Rant over , wow i feel better for getting that off my chest ,, aaaannndd relax

:lol: :lol:

 

[ondablade]

Can't really speak for the UK, but my sense is that B&Q have to be under considerable pressure over here in Ireland. Blew into the country in 2002, built branches all over the place to ride the construction boom, and are now faced with what is an economic collapse as well as the underlying reality of what has always been a small and not very DIY oriented market. (about the size of Birmingham)

They are already showing clear signs of being very slow to replace stock, rowing back on returns policies and the like.

My sense (?) is that they have been expanding very rapidly all over the world too, and must be quite heavily leveraged. (or else they make far too much money ;-))

In the more general sense it seems to me too that in a recession once the now reduced level of sales is established and ideally as competitors drop out that businesses in general will also try to up prices to restore margins/cover overheads - on the basis that those still buying (a) have money, and (b) either don't have as much choice, or are residual 'hard core' buyers. i.e. they will move on from a pile em high strategy to maximise volume to maximising margins.

A final factor is probably the credit squeeze. Restricted capital availability, and the throwing around of state money must surely eventually lead to inflation - albeit not until there's some signs of recovery and renewed demand for capital.

Seems to me that it's probably going to get quite a lot more expensive to live than it has been....

 

[Shane]

One of my best mates was middle management at our local B+Q, he had to take demotion or face getting 'pushed'. Funny though he is on better money now cos of getting paid for weekends. He says they have been too quiet for a considerable time now, busiest day is wednesday - grey wave discount day

 

[devonwoody]

Went to Sainsburys yesterday, a bag of new potatoes had increased by 50% for the same brand as previous week.

So stand by here it comes.

 

[Doctor]

Went to Sainsburys yesterday, a bag of new potatoes had increased by 50% for the same brand as previous week.

So stand by here it comes.

What, chips?

 

[devonwoody]

and BBQ sauce.

 

[AndyT]

Aren't both potatoes and timber seasonal products? They can't be harvested all year round, so when there's not so much left in storage, the price will go up.

 

[jeffinfrance]

somewhere in the world it is always in season.

this is just a sign of things to come.

for what its worth this list of 100 things that dissapear from the shelves in times of high crisis, was originally compiled by someone during the war in central europe in the late 90's.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/top-100- ... ppear.html

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Number 7 on the list is missing from my local Sainsburys :wink:


Pete

 

[AndyT]

Phew! I have plenty of number 85 and number 96. I'll be ok.

 

[devonwoody]

I'm well stocked on number 4.

 

[frugal]

So was the B&Q trade account card just a temp to get back lost trade customers before a huge price rise , guess im off back to my local timber yard in the morning ..

I think they used the price hikes to fund their awful radio adverts for the Trade counters.

 

[jimi43]

I think we are starting to find out the consequences of us as consumers patronising them in the early days so that we could get a "cheap deal" and putting local wood yards and hardware stores out of business.

Ye reap what ye sow!

:roll:

Jim

 

[JoinerySolutions]

So don't use them.
Plan ahead and get a local timber yard, one that only does timber products, to machine to order. You will get a better product, better service (none of this self 'service' tills that I refuse to use, wheres our discount for doing the staffs job and where the heck are the staff?)
and help keep a local company going that employs people who know the product. Well at least the ones I use fit that criteria. :wink:

Until my new workshop is finished we are buying in prepared timber and making the joinery from that rather than outsourcing the whole contract, the system works and not an 'orange' box store or equivelent in sight. :lol:
Rob. (stepping down off his soap box) :lol:

 

[big soft moose]

So don't use them.
Plan ahead and get a local timber yard, one that only does timber products, to machine to order. You will get a better product, better service (none of this self 'service' tills that I refuse to use, wheres our discount for doing the staffs job and where the heck are the staff?)
and help keep a local company going that employs people who know the product. Well at least the ones I use fit that criteria. :wink:

I agree - i'm very suprised to find a proffesional maker using B&Q white "propellor" wood (my local B&poo also sells redwood grade but man is it expensive) - surely for proffesional volumes a timberyard is going to work out more economic and less wastage anyway

 

[Woodchips2]

Last week went into B&Q for some picture pins with a brass head. A pack of six hardened pins were on the shelf at £2.78 which I thought was a bit steep. Went through the checkout and got charged £3.58. I complained and was told there had been a price increase but they refunded me 80p because that price was still shown on the shelf.

Was passing Homebase which I generally find is the most expensive of the DIY shops and an identical pack of six pins was £1.09 plus they had a pleasant girl on the checkout rather than the self-service at B&Q.

I now have enough picture pins to start an art gallery.

Regards Keith

 

[eggflan]

So don't use them.
Plan ahead and get a local timber yard, one that only does timber products, to machine to order. You will get a better product, better service (none of this self 'service' tills that I refuse to use, wheres our discount for doing the staffs job and where the heck are the staff?)
and help keep a local company going that employs people who know the product. Well at least the ones I use fit that criteria. :wink:

Ok i fully agree with what you are saying re local timber yards however my local timber yard is around 1 mile from my front door and even with an account the difference in cost is minimal , the timber i buy from B&Q may not be the same quality but the customers im selling the end prouct to dont know the difference and i dont have to machine it to get a finish that i need .

People knock the timber from these outlets but out of a pack im left with very little waste at all unlike the timber from the yard where i have to deal with scuffs knocks and marks that the pre packed stuff does not have so therefore i take less time to prepare it so i make more which in turn makes me more money because i can get more one in the hours i have , when doing bespoke work i use my local yard because they offer a service that the big shops cant .

Im in business to make money so i use the cheapest or easiest outlet i can to get the results i need , im well aware that there is a snobbery on this site towars people using the sheds to buy thier timber but food on the table and bills paid are what matters to me esspecially with a young family and wife at home :roll: