Wholesaler prices lately.

[oscar21]

What is it with the recent prices I'm getting at wholesalers, just about everything anyone quotes now is about 20% dearer than I can get things for retail. Take today, I needed some conduit, saddles etc so went to a wholesalers round the corner, I don't use them very often but I know the lad who served me quite well so its not as if I'm a randomer off the street. the bill was about £100 but doing a bit of research this evening it turns out I could of got the same stuff for about £75 from Toolstation or Screwfix etc, or slightly cheaper if I ordered it on-line.

Its the same with our regular wholesaler, they are getting so expensive I hardly ever use them anymore, luckily I'm quite organised so get most stuff on-line now from various places. But these on-line places still have trade counters and physical stores, they are basically wholesalers just like the ones I use but selling on-line as well, if they can sell for that price so can the one I use. I son't see any sense in it, eventually everyone will do what I have done and just buy on-line.

I wouldn't mind but on-line is brilliant, you can order whilst sat in the bath, it arrives anywhere in the country the next day, is the cheapest option and vary rarely does anything go wrong. Wholesalers will be a thing of the past if they don't change track soon.

 

[Lister1987]

I agree about the naff Prysmian reels in cardboard that falls apart. So much so that I pay a bit more sometimes somewhere else to avoid buying the stuff.

Take a leaf out the milkman of old; plastic reels that you return for credit and get reused.

 

[nicebutdim]

There is T&E and T&E though, our wholesalers cable is awful, all of it, you cant strip the SWA for love nor money and the T&E is jst as bad, its like stripping LSF using their stuff. The Prysmian that Screwfix sell is the best but the coils are naff, the cardboard ends keep falling off unless you keep it in the box with is another impossibility. Toolstations Doncaster cable is ok if they have any in stock.

It was Prysmian that was cheapest in Tradepoint, although I'm never in a great hurry to buy the stuff.

As you rightly point out some T&E can be a pain to strip and I've experienced this with Prysmian on a couple of occasions. Seemed as though the sheath was almost stuck to the insulation and no chalk was present between these layers.

I'd rate Doncaster above all others, but it's not widely available over here and I only occasionally buy it from Toolstation. Pitacs, which I think it a Toolstation brand (probably from one of the Turkish manufacturers), has never caused me any problems and nor have the likes of Pamukale or PX which many wholesalers stock here.

Come to think of it, Prysmian is the only brand of 6242Y that I've had problems stripping.

As for SWA, there is most certainly some awful stuff being sold, with bedding material that's tougher than the outer sheath.

 

[Simon47]

Move away from basic items, which DIY sheds buy in container loads, and wholesalers become your main option. 250A MCCB from Screwfix? 120mm Tri-rated cable from Toolstation? It's not simply a question of availability, they won't be attempting to assist you with anything that isn't in their catalogues.

In a previous job I'd use CEF a fair bit. Where the real wholesaler won for us was that I'd look at a job (networking) and (for example) see what trunking was already installed. If (as was normal) it wasn't something I recognised, usually the local staff could identify it from photos - and get the socket boxes in even for non-stock brands.

UK should be like certain parts of the world .where many items cannot be sold to members of the public as id has to be shown .mainly gas, water and electrical stuff.

And then you go down the slippery slope to restrictive trades. While that can have some positives, it has some negatives.
Take just yesterday. I went to our rental flat as the tenant reported that the boiler wasn't working and there was water dripping from it. It was immediately obvious that water was coming from the combustion chamber, which shouldn't happen in a non-condensing boiler ...
It did fire up for me a couple of times, but I noticed the pipes weren't getting very warm. Ah, so checked the TMV that's part of the circuit with the thermal store - and when I tried adjusting it to get the return temperature up, the boiler quickly got very hot and turned off. Then I realised that the very professional "engineers" that I have to use had refitted the TMV the wrong way round after removing it while on a wild goose chase diagnosing what should have been an easy fault to identify (scaled up heat exchanger causing kettling).
So thanks to employing "fully qualified" people to work on the boiler, it's failed again (after a while) because they took stuff apart they didn't need to, didn't reset it as it had been (had they done so, the system wouldn't have worked at all), and caused condensation that's probably taken out another control board. Going to be very hard keeping calm when I phone them tomorrow.

No because they didn't have the same pricelist for everyone. Trade places would have to sell at trade rates which would be the same as other trade places and retail outlets would have to sell at retail prices and wholesalers wouldn't be able to sell to the public, it was just a fairer way of doing things, you knew what price you would pay almost before you even walked in the door.

And it was illegal for the obvious feature of allowing the manufacturer to dictate prices and thus keep them up at the expense of the public. It's arguable that the other extreme is just as bad, especially when the big supermarkets drove* prices down so hard that suppliers (farmers) had to sell below cost, but retail price maintenance was very expensive for the public.
* Some have now realised that they need to support their supply chains and are less aggressive with their purchasing.

 

[nicebutdim]

In a previous job I'd use CEF a fair bit. Where the real wholesaler won for us was that I'd look at a job (networking) and (for example) see what trunking was already installed. If (as was normal) it wasn't something I recognised, usually the local staff could identify it from photos - and get the socket boxes in even for non-stock brands.

It would be great if manufacturers always placed their name in data trunking boxes. You'd think it would be a no-brainer, but invariably find yourself trying to get hold of something which can be shoehorned into place.

 

[oscar21]

I'm now in two minds about this buy everything on-line stuff. Its so frustrating as it should be brilliant but we are being let down again and again by shear incompetence. Should have had an order dropped off yesterday morning but it never turned up, no phone call, no text, no email, nothing. rings them up and its "oh yea sorry mate the courier didn't arrive to pick up the order, you will get it tomorrow."

Fast forward to this morning and the delivery guy turns up but only has two packages and not 3, rings them up again, "oh yea sorry mate there wasn't enough room on the van for everything." Then when we eventually opened the boxes on site a cooker switch was missing so had to go out and get one.

However on the other hand I had to go and purchase the missing bits from our wholesaler, it was 2 LED batten fittings, 2 Aico's, a cooker switch and 5 light switches. Not a massive order but on line I could have got everything for under £100, our wholesaler charged me £137, that's nearly 50% dearer than on-line.

If only the idiots that work in packing or delivery would get off facebook for two minutes whilst they picked my order everything would be hunky dorey. Why are they so blase about a customer that spends about £40k a year on bits.

 

[nicebutdim]

I'm now in two minds about this buy everything on-line stuff. Its so frustrating as it should be brilliant but we are being let down again and again by shear incompetence. Should have had an order dropped off yesterday morning but it never turned up, no phone call, no text, no email, nothing. rings them up and its "oh yea sorry mate the courier didn't arrive to pick up the order, you will get it tomorrow."

Fast forward to this morning and the delivery guy turns up but only has two packages and not 3, rings them up again, "oh yea sorry mate there wasn't enough room on the van for everything." Then when we eventually opened the boxes on site a cooker switch was missing so had to go out and get one.

However on the other hand I had to go and purchase the missing bits from our wholesaler, it was 2 LED batten fittings, 2 Aico's, a cooker switch and 5 light switches. Not a massive order but on line I could have got everything for under £100, our wholesaler charged me £137, that's nearly 50% dearer than on-line.

If only the idiots that work in packing or delivery would get off facebook for two minutes whilst they picked my order everything would be hunky dorey. Why are they so blase about a customer that spends about £40k a year on bits.

I wouldn't order goods online with the expectation they're going to arrive 'just in time'. Plenty of savings to be made, but better to ensure delivery is scheduled well in advance of planned works.

 

[Dustydazzler]

I wouldn't order goods online with the expectation they're going to arrive 'just in time'. Plenty of savings to be made, but better to ensure delivery is scheduled well in advance of planned works.

If going down the online route I always order will in advance and store the stuff in my garage for the job.
Or in the past I have ordered stuff and had it delivered straight to the customers house for them to store

 

[oscar21]

I wouldn't order goods online with the expectation they're going to arrive 'just in time'. Plenty of savings to be made, but better to ensure delivery is scheduled well in advance of planned works.

They can do it though, we've had a fair bit delivered without any issues whatsoever but when they fail they don't seem in the least bit interested about it and its that attitude that makes me want to use the overpriced wholesalers though. but take today, £40 dearer and it was a 20 minute drive there, a 20 minute drive back and 10 minutes in the place. So there is an hour wasted as well as the extra.

I could get the wholesaler to drop it off but then you are in the same boat as waiting on a delivery. The annoying thing is it should be so simple to sort out their end.

 

[nicebutdim]

They can do it though, we've had a fair bit delivered without any issues whatsoever but when they fail they don't seem in the least bit interested about it and its that attitude that makes me want to use the overpriced wholesalers though. but take today, £40 dearer and it was a 20 minute drive there, a 20 minute drive back and 10 minutes in the place. So there is an hour wasted as well as the extra.

I could get the wholesaler to drop it off but then you are in the same boat as waiting on a delivery. The annoying thing is it should be so simple to sort out their end.

Goods will mostly arrive on time, but it's your time at stake when things go wrong and I see no point in taking a chance on lost earnings.

 

[oscar21]

I was thinking about storing a stock of the stuff we use regularly in my shed, say 30 sockets, 20 spurs, a few disco's, fans etc. and re-order every time we use some. I figured after a few re-orders the stored stuff is basically free as we will have saved that much by keeping a stock of it and having it at hand to use.

I then thought that I could even fill the shed to the rafters with stuff but when I need something I will be guaranteed not to have the stuff I need anyway.

 

[Simon47]

I was thinking about storing a stock of the stuff we use regularly in my shed...
... but when I need something I will be guaranteed not to have the stuff I need anyway.

A lot depends on the sort of work you do.
In a previous job I got let out of the office occasionally to do some networking for a client - anything from fixing a single broken socket to a couple of hundred points for a fresh install.
I'd tend to get "and add a couple" when buying faceplates (I'd always try and get matching Euromodule plates as it grates to walk into somewhere and see a nice new install where the network points stick out lije a sore thumb) so after a while I had 1 or 2 of the common ones for those "can you pop round and ..." jobs). For the common stuff like the sockets themselves, I'd always keep a small stock in as the wholesalers weren't good for those and our suppliers generally had small order charges.
So depending what sort of work you do, I'd suggest it could well be worth keeping a stick of the common stuff and accept that often you'll need something not in stock - and then you can top up your stock while ordering - especially if there's someone else at home who can accept a parcel while you are out fitting the stock parts.
Of course, part of what you pay extra for at the local wholesaler is to be able to walk in and pick stuff up. Plus a manager you can moan to face-face if anything goes wrong ! And the knowledge - many tines I've been in, shown a sample or photo on my phone, and they've been able to say who's trunking it is and get me socket boxes/adapters to suit in a few days as a special order - and that's been worth a lot to us and our clients.

 

[LukeD]

Little things ...A 11 piece "Ring" House alarm . specced up for a client . Via Ebay sellers (seem to be mainly Amazon !) the saving has been £160. 2 bathroom Extractor fans : Saving £40 . Dimmer modules , I save £8 a time . This all lands in my pocket . So for an hours work ordering and putting offers in (the best method) . Its easy to make £100-200. All delivered .

 

[Simon47]

I make a point of trying not to use Amazon as they really are the scum of the earth in the way they treat both sellers and staff.
There have been threads on here where some of you have been griping about some of the cut-rate substandard merchants under cutting you.

Now imagine there was someone out there who'd engineered (by selling below cost for years to buy market share) a situation where your potential customers check their site first - meaning that you can't afford to not be on there. But the site gets to see every quote you do, every invoice you raise, so can adjust it's prices (and it's offering to concentrate on stealing the profitable work) to take your business - and charge you fees for the pleasure ! And for good measure, you can't quote less outside of that site or you'll be kicked off for breach of their t&cs.
Then, their staff are set near impossible targets and micro-managed - take too long or too many toilet breaks and you're out. All for "poor" pay.

A lot of sellers could actually offer better prices outside of Amazon but they aren't allowed to on pain of having a big chunk of their customer base cut off. So buyers are actually paying an Amazon tax.

 

[nicebutdim]

I buy from Amazon, but only when price difference is considerable. In general I find better prices are available through ebay (who don't compete directly with those selling on their platform) or more often from independent websites.

It is a sad reality that independent websites are often undercut by their own pricing on marketplaces.

Where tools are concerned, I find a number of independent websites regularly come out on top and usually are only beaten on price when they undercut themselves through ebay promotions. For materials, it is rare to find good deals on Amazon unless you're prepared to buy unbranded goods. I'm often envious of the range of online options open to trades in GB as many of the most competitive online wholesalers don't offer delivery to NI or else charge a hefy premium for delivery to here, meaning smallish orders aren't viable.

 

[oscar21]

To come back to this thread, definitely on-line is a million times better that wholesalers, despite the odd cock up here and there. Todays pricing differential was insane. 2nd fixing a flat today and I forgot all about a grid switch we needed, had to get one today. Screwfix was all next day delivery but would have cost about £26 inc vat for what we needed. Only place I could find that had them in stock was nicks and eddies, lots of driving about and their price was £38 inc vat.

So a trade wholesaler was £12 dearer than a retail shop, they are basically saying go away we don't want you to ever come here again, yes they had the bits in stock but this time it was my fault for not being organised. But here is the best bit, to do the same in the Click pro range which we normally use and are better than the MK range would have been under £20 inc vat and delivery. Not only that nicks wanted £40+vat for an MK cooker switch/socket.

On-line only from now on, couldn't care less if the wholesalers go bust anymore, they deserve it.