Cable % mark up by retailers ???

[pirate]

Me? Glasgow North...somewhere North of the city center, as I need more characters!

 

[baldelectrician]

I use my local wholesalers and I am in Kilmarnock and we have a few- CEF (no), Electric Centre, Riverbank - good independent- excellent at Schneider and Holland House

I have accounts at all bar CEF Kilmarnock after they promised me discount and didn't honour it.

 

[pirate]

and yes, I am insomniac too!

 

[pirate]

Not a fan of CEF here. Staff not friendly or helpful. My pal took a MCB to them for a replacement, they gave him the wrong one, made a fuss when he took it back...just poor service

 

[pirate]

Maybe I am blessed...I have Screwfix, Toolstation, B&Q, Halfords (don't laugh, they have some excellent tools) and even a Howden's on my doorstep...and for those really obscure items, Home Bargains is brilliant, and 2 minutes away! Plus of course, Aldi and Lidl...if you haven't been, try them! Aldi are currently selling a 4 pack of wood plug-cutters for £4, excellent for removing chipboard flooring. They won';t last long, but who cares? Forgotten your drill bits? Pop into Aldi etc and you get a set of cheapo ones for a fiver. They will do the job for the day!

 

[pirate]

and while i'm on a roll. has anyone tried the Screwfix on-site delivery in an hour for an extra fiver?
That has to be nuts!
The mutt's nuts
The canines cojones...

 

[Zlodej]

Fair point, @baldelectrician ...but as you say, you use Screwfix as a back up...or for stuff that wholesalers don't do! and that can be quite a lot of stuff.

I guess then you live in an area they have destroyed. I find toolstation bit more moral (that is not a hard achievement), generaly at-least attempting to offer UK/EU made options even when not forced, and generaly listening to sparkys about which brands to stock, now including Click, Wera, Heller or V-tac( I know that one is hit and miss) or UK made cable (Doncaster), but losing it by numbers stocked. One of mine local branches keeps 3x25mm appleby metal backboxes as a "full stock".
But I still find the whole-sellers more cooperative with what people want. The point is that good whole-seller will keep all your daily needs, because they need you... I generaly only use screwfix when helping plumbers out of trouble, because they do Flo-plast or when its too late for mine local independent shop.
That wasn't the point I was making. Mine point was that If a chain has too much controll it will abuse it. There are precious litle good quality manufacturers surviving in chainstore controled consumerism, and only way they can survive is if we avoid the abusers of power and go through in a way that enables good manufacturers to keep some power and stay good manufactures.

 

[Zlodej]

and while i'm on a roll. has anyone tried the Screwfix on-site delivery in an hour for an extra fiver?
That has to be nuts!
The mutt's nuts
The canines cojones...

Havent done a job close enough to be within a range, but I have pulled an owner of mine local shop at 10PM to come to the shop and get me a new 3 phase fusebox when badly fited one in a local hostel got quite a lot of watter in keeping >50 guests without power. (Pitty they wouldn't let me post a picture of that box...

 

[pirate]

I take your point, but they have not "destroyed" my area, they have provided a service which was non-existent. Yes, a chain will take control, but I see no abuse here, as the tiny shops went out of business by natural decline in the face of superior marketing models. it's sad, but it's inevitable.
It's reversible too, in some industries. Greggs stopped selling bread...artisan bakeries are flourishing...but you can't flush 240V through a baguette and get anything useful out the other end...
Competition is the game, and that is why you will see a Toolstation next to a Screwfix, an Aldi next to a M&S, a Lidl next to a Waitrose...the customer actually has a choice. and makes that choice.

 

[pirate]

Say I want to buy something electrical...Amazon has it for £3.99, and Screwfix has it for £4.99...where will I buy it?
Another item...Amazon £99...Screwfix £109, where will I buy it?
CEF have it too, at £139.99...
It just makes sense to go for the Screwfix deal, cos it's same day,.. no hassle returns...and it's throwaway if all else fails.

 

[Zlodej]

The abuse is the part you dont see and its targeted towards UK/European/Quality manufacturers. What I speak of is about making a choice not based on marketing but based on responsibility, the now retiring generation got loot of manufacturing skills from the previous ones. Mine generation has a tiny fracture of even Indian manufacturing capabilities with Africa slowly creaping to owertake us (China already shot pass, only bothering to take the knowledge of few superiour profesors in UNIs to china). So if our choices are based on consumerism or superiour marketing then the generation of our trainees wont be able to do manufacture much more then the baguete... Wether for lack of skill (with no oportunity to practice) or with no manufacturing dies the infrastructure for manufacturing...

 

[pirate]

Look at cable clips...say you use 100 on a job and that's a lot for a small domestic...you might pay £2 more if you buy the dear ones, which all work fine, don't break and hammer in fine...can you get them that cheap anywhere? Does it matter? Is it SO important to do the job as cheaply as possible that you have to buy the cheapest clips available?
No, it isn't! However, you won't find cable clips as cheap anywhere other than your local Screwfix or Toolstation, so the buying power is important to you as the end user.

 

[pirate]

I'm sorry, but I don't get your point...abuse is a strong term, and while I accept there has been exploitation in some areas this is not relevant to the current discussion, imho...
I buy stuff, I like it, I buy more...i don't like it, i return it...or just bin it, whatever...
That's the reality. amigo...
We have reached this point, and there's no going back, consumerism being what it is.
I hate the fact that grammar and spelling have no prime place anymore, but that's the fact...I deplore the exhortations online for me to get "Grammarly" to improve my writing,,,I don't fekn need it! I speak English, i write English i don't need some American telling me how to do it...it's a product that has been founded from a basic lack of good teaching.
Thus, we have the superstores...be glad you have them, because there isn't anything else for your day-to-day needs.

 

[nicebutdim]

Gotta hate screwfix, as If there is a company which will abuse their controll ower manufacturers its kingfisher (owners of Screwfix/B&Q), wether its pushing manufacturers to lower standard to lower Price, when the manufacturer is at a quality low enough to be beeten by chinese then offering chinese version cheaper under screwfixes own brand and when it goes bancrupt lifting chinese items brands price above the originals... (though this is more known as a tescos approach in Europe), wether its the kingfishers habit of bringing cheaper (lower quality) Chinese version of the products (rather then better Europe made version) and when company protests abandoning the brand all together (No more Siemens Thermostats).
Then its a case of taking better makes to china and having them "nearly" copied, but lot cheaper (Those LAP sockets might be sh*t but front used to look suspiciously like click sockets ant their best salles) and then putting their chinese imitations in searches in front of originals while making it harder to focus on a proper (UK/ EU made) originals,
Such as in case of flomastas JG imitations (I know its plumbing) , which when you search, and try to filter by brand, the UKs no1 sold brand wont get displayed as an option untill you chose "more options".
then there are tons of their own brands (could believe that half of all the brands their sell, but did not check) often making them sound german to trick customer.
With the buying power, they can get cable directly from china/turkey so their costs would be lower then that of smaller retailers, but outside price will be more based of what they can charge, rather then cost...
And no, most quality brands just cant manufacture in quality under that kind of pressure, so many of the best brands like Click, Wera, Heller, Bahco, Hagger, Scame, Hilty just aren't there. For quality you have to go either to smaller retailers or online

Can't say I'm a fan of big box shifters like Screwfix, but there are quite a few inaccuracies in your post.

For cable, the top 10 search results on their site are Prysmian products.
197 results for Wera.
82 results for Bahco products, not that I'd consider their tools a 'best brand' these days.

Hilti aren't widely available from any retailer and, other than buying directly from Hilti, the greatest selection of their products can be found on ebay.

Scame a top brand? A widely stocked brand due to their pricing perhaps, and not the worst, but certainly not a top brand. in terms of quality.

The bottom line is very simple - manufacturers can decide who they sell to and many won't sell to companies that don't suit their business model or that want unrealistic prices. Similarly consumers can decide where to buy and many will avoid outlets like Screwfix.

What's good about Screwfix? Well I can think of a few occasions when they pulled me out of a hole on a Sunday afternoon.

Let's compare them to a well known, large electrical wholesaler who are known for poor stocks, poor quality products and eye watering prices...

Toolstation sell a large number of Einhell tools. Designed in Germany, but made in China.

Many other brands assemble goods in Europe and label them as 'made' in a European country, but manufacture of component parts takes place in China.

I can think of local wholesalers where customers are treated as though they're an inconvenience. I can think of products stocked by Screwfix that can be obtained anywhere else locally.

Do I like Screwfix? No.

Do I frequent Screwfix? No.

Do they provide an invaluable service, which can not be fulfilled by other local retailers. At times they do.

You pays your money and takes your choice.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Remember that days you had to pick up the phone to place your order with Screwfix and it was only free next day delivery if you spent £45 or more...

At that stage I was only really buying tools , drill bits , screws and wall plugs from screwfix and still got most stuff from WF or Edmundsons locally. My Edmundsons closed down and WF moved about 5 miles away so I started using TLC.
About 3 years later screwfix opened in my location, and now i pretty much get about 95% of my gear from them now just so conveinient and they are cheaper on 99% of stuff